Absolute Batman # 15 Fifth Printing 2026 BN

Absolute Batman #15 is a standalone, lore-heavy issue titled "The Joker". Released on December 10, 2025, this highly anticipated installment marks a dark creative milestone as writer Scott Snyder reunites with legendary artist Jock (Batman: The Black Mirror) to formally unveil the terrifying, reimagined origin of the Absolute Joker. 

The issue departs entirely from typical comic pacing, opting for a claustrophobic, horror-thriller narrative framed entirely as a briefing between Agent Alfred Pennyworth and Bruce Wayne. 

Plot Summary & Reimagined Lore

Following the catastrophic fallout of Batman's war with Bane, Alfred finally unloads the terrifying secrets he has kept hidden for years, painting the portrait of a villain who serves as a dark, multi-trillionaire inversion of the classic DC Universe Bruce Wayne.

• The Dynasty of Jack Grimm: Alfred reveals the official public history of Joseph "Jack" Grimm. On paper, Grimm is a charismatic philanthropist and the fifth-generation scion of a massive media and technology empire that traces its roots back to 1888. The family built its generational fortune across century-spanning industries—evolving from 19th-century street performance and silent film Vaudeville to cable news networks, modern microchips, and video games.
• The Immortal Con Man: Alfred exposes the horrific reality beneath the corporate facade. He deduces that the Joker is not a lineage, but a single, unnaturally long-lived individual who has survived for over a century. Through systemic self-experimentation using twisted pharmaceutical research and advanced cloning/medical technologies financed by his philanthropic fronts, Grim has achieved extended life and superhuman physical abilities.
• The Silent Predator: In a bone-chilling twist, Alfred explains that the Absolute Joker never laughs. Instead, his laughter is a weaponized final calling card; the only time a victim ever hears him laugh is right before they die, as Alfred's own former MI6 partner learned.
• The Private Hunting Islands: The briefing reveals that Grimm uses his staggering wealth to finance global atrocities, including black-site human experimentation factories like Ark M. For personal amusement, he abducts individuals who cross his corporate interests and abandons them on his private islands around the world, hunting them down for sport.
• The Lizard Monster Evolution: The horror peaks as Alfred recounts a deep-cover encounter where Grimm's heavily altered genetic physiology violently mutated. Breaking past a human facade, he can transform into a gargantuan, razor-fanged "clown monster" with brute strength capable of ripping grown men apart with his bare hands. 
• The "Ha-Hacienda" Reveal: While Bruce leaves the briefing visually shaken and desperate to locate the mutated Waylon Jones, the final scene cuts to reality. The Absolute Joker has officially arrived in Gotham City. He pulls up to a sprawling manor outside the city limits, steps inside, and moves a grandfather clock to open a hidden staircase. Walking down into the dark, he ominously notifies his unnamed butler that he will be working from "the cave." 

Issue Specifications

• Page Count: 32 pages (20 story pages)
• Age Rating: Rated Teen Plus (15+ for intense graphic violence, nightmarish body horror, and stylized gore)
• Art Style: Jock and colorist Frank Martin implement a stark, vintage watercolor wash effect for the century-spanning historical flashbacks, contrasting with jagged lines and heavy, suffocating shadows for the modern timeline.