The Absolute Universe gave DC a great year of comics

In 2024, DC Comics launched the Absolute universewhich offered interesting new versions to stars like BatmanWonder Woman, Superman and Flash. The entire line just completed its first full year, and the publisher took the opportunity to brag about its performance. And spoiler: it works really good.

By the hollywood reporterthe entire range has sold 8.2 million copies, as of November 2025. The big revenue is Absolute Batman, Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta’s very viral current which sees a blue-collar (and quite fat) Bruce Wayne fight against crime and reinvented versions of his classic enemies in Gotham. This book accounts for 35% of the success of the Absolute book, around 3 million copies in total, and its first issue is now in its 10th edition. His top five best-selling books of 2025 include the recent Absolute Batman #15, Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee Batman #158, Matt Fraction and Jorge Jimenez Batman #1that of the publisher Batman/Deadpool crossingAnd Snyder and Javier Fernández DC KO #1.

Anne DePies, DC’s chief executive, considered the decision to keep the universe in its own continuity a big victory, as did its “new look that reversed the fundamentals of our characters, and it was an update that surprised our fans. It’s not so overwhelming that we’re changing everything all at once. It made a big difference. We knew it was going to work well, but we didn’t know it was going to work well.”

Even beyond Batman, the majority of Absolute books would do better than those from 2011 New 52 and 2016 Renaissance RELAUNCH. These five specific books were not listed by THR, which is the only outlet with these retail numbers, but it noted that Absolute Martian Manunter by Deniz Camp and Javier Rodriguez scored orders in the six figures, which is notable considering Manhunter isn’t high profile like its fellow headliners.

This book will end soon, but the Absolute books will apparently continue for as long as its various creative teams want, so if a particular book has caught your eye, go ahead and give it a go.

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