We All Missed This Heartbreaking Detail in Absolute Batman

From its very first issue, Absolute Batman struck people with its incredible reinvention and modernization of the Batman lore. It blends the classic past with bold new ideas seamlessly, creating this special world that is both comfortingly familiar and heart-poundingly new. Even more than that, with issue #8 we are seeing the first hints of how truly long-term some of its storytelling is going to be, and how it masterfully uses every single piece of lore available to heighten its impact to the absolute maximum. This phenomenal example is how Absolute Batman reinvented the character Matches Malone, and how it turned him from a joke into the emotional heart of Mr. Freeze’s two-part introductory storyline.

Who is Matches Malone?

In the main DC Universe, Matches Malone was a small-time crime boss in Gotham with a thick Jersey accent and a stick always hanging out of his mouth. Despite his less than savory business, his fellow lowlifes actually respected him for being reliable and a man of honor. Unfortunately for Matches, one night Batman decided to chase him down for information, and in the ensuing fire-fight Matches was struck down by one of his own bullets ricocheting back at him. Since nobody saw what happened, Batman decided to adopt the Matches Malone as his own. It gave the Dark Knight a face to wear to slip inside of the criminal underworld and learn things he couldn’t as an outsider. For decades, Matches has been one of Batman’s best and most hilarious alter egos.

He’s completely different in the Absolute Universe, as Matches Malone is his own character. He was one of Bruce’s childhood friends, a man always known for his willingness to take any dare and go the extra mile for the people he cared about. Batman hired him to forge work papers so he could get inside the mysterious Ark M, only for Matches to infiltrate the prison himself to see what he could learn. Unfortunately, this led to Absolute Mr. Freeze killing Matches for what he saw. Issues seven and eight showed Batman and his friend group holding a private eulogy for Matches, where Waylon Jones dropped a major bomb that completely recontextualized Matches and the story so far.

[RELATED: Absolute Batman’s New Mr. Freeze is Chillingly Horrific (Review)]

Matches Blamed Himself for Thomas Wayne’s Death

In Absolute Batman #8, Waylon asked Bruce if his being Batman was a suicide mission to make up for the guilt he feels over his father dying. While Bruce is reeling from the question, Waylon said that’s exactly what Matches Malone’s entire life was. When the zoo was attacked by the man who shot Bruce’s dad, Matches was a part of Bruce’s class trip. While everyone else ran inside the bat enclosure, Matches tripped, and reached up to Thomas for help. We saw this way back in issue one, but we all just thought this was a random, throwaway moment of Thomas helping one of the kids. Instead, it was turned into a major moment of character development.

Matches blamed himself for Thomas dying, thinking that Thoman would have been inside the enclosure with them if he didn’t have to waste time saving Matches. This guilt drove him to do crazy stunts like infiltrating Ark M for Bruce, and perfectly mirrored Batman’s own guilt. Bruce blamed himself for his dad’s death just as much because he was the one who won the field trip for his class. This guilt is definitely part of what drove him to become Batman, and definitely what made him isolate himself from the people he cares about. He thought he had to do everything alone, but Waylon told him how wrong he was. He said that trying to die to alleviate guilt was an easy, cowardly way, and the real way forward is to live with that guilt, to use it to be a better person and improve the world around you. This inspired Batman to stand beside his friends, to bring them into the fold with him, and gave him the strength to survive his encounter with Mr. Freeze.

Absolute Batman is a Masterpiece

This use of Matches Malone totally redefines how we should look at Absolute Batman. Already we knew it was an incredible reinvention of the Batman mythos, but here we see exactly how it plans to use every little piece of every little panel to its fullest potential. It took a single image everybody overlooked and a joke character and turned them into a life lesson about fighting through the bad times to make the world a better place. This comic uses its horrid, gruesome setting to inspire hope in the best way, and that’s beautiful. I’m definitely looking forward to what they do with the rest of the actual massive changes to Batman’s lore, and if this twist is any indication, they’re going to be phenomenal moments.