Absolute Batman Vol. 1

Bruce Wayne grows up with nothing. He is the son of a public school teacher, and as a child he lives through a random shooting that bends the course of his life.

This is a reimagined Batman from DC's Absolute Universe, where familiar heroes are rebuilt from the ground up. Their origins and circumstances are rewritten, while the core traits readers know stay in place. Scott Snyder writes and Nick Dragotta draws the opening story.

There is no fortune behind this Bruce, no mansion and no butler to look after him. He has no high society identity to retreat into either. What he has is his own mind and body. He has trained both into a Batman who relies on brains and brawn in equal measure.

He works in the roughest and most neglected parts of Gotham City. The setup points to a street-level superhero comic, grounded in a hero with few resources. It suits readers curious about a different Dark Knight, one stripped of the usual wealth of the legend.