Absolute Batman isn’t the first DC story with a heroic killer crocodile

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A frequent criticism of Batman these days is that Bruce Wayne is a billionaire who “solves” Gotham City’s problems by defeating working-class criminals. The new comic book reboot from writer Scott Snyder and artist Nick Dragotta “Absolute Batman” directly addresses this criticism by changing Batman’s origin story. This Bruce Wayne grew up in the Crime Alley district of Gotham City. Thomas Wayne was a teacher, Martha Wayne was a social worker, and Bruce also works as a city engineer.

Thus, “Absolute Batman” redefines Batman in the spirit of the times. This time, the Joker (real name Jack Grimm) is a billionaire with infinite resources. “Absolute” Batman is also a more community-minded hero, as this Bruce grew up with a group of friends: his girlfriend Selina Kyle and his best brothers Waylon Jones, Harvey Dent, Eddie Nygma, and Oz Cobblepot. Unfortunately, in the “Abomination” arc, Bruce’s friends from Crime Alley are targeted and mutilated by the Joker’s henchman, Bane. Waylon, mutated in the Ark M installation into a huge Killer Croc, probably had the worst. But even though Waylon may be a “monster,” he’s still Bruce’s friend.

Climax “Absolute Batman” #14 Sees Batman Give Bane Some Revengebut he only defeats Bane with Waylon’s help. In issue #10, Bruce jumped on Fang’s back, like a knight riding into battle on a tamed dragon. The “absolute” Batman’s enormous stature and his main weapon, the axe, make him look like a barbarian warrior, and Killer Croc as his horse completes the image. But this isn’t the first comic to use Killer Croc as Batman’s first surprise sidekick: that honor goes to “Batman: Earth One”, by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank. “Earth One” played on Killer Croc being the most monstrous Batman villain to deliver a resonant “don’t judge a book by its cover” message.

Before “Absolute Batman”, DC tried in the 2010s to modernize its famous heroes with the “Earth One” editorial line. These books were not published as continuing comics but as serialized graphic novels. This format ultimately doomed “Earth One” – regardless of quality, the years-long gaps between new volumes made it difficult to understand the comics. So, “Earth One” was abandoned; the last comic in the line to be released was “Batman: Earth One” Volume 3 in 2021. Although it was a mash-up of a series, “Earth One” offered a truly refreshing reinvention of Killer Croc.

Waylon is introduced in volume 2 and established as a villain alongside the Riddler. Gotham’s newspapers mention a “Killer Croc” hiding in the sewers and attacking people. When Batman tracks the Riddler down to the sewers, Killer Croc emerges from the water and attacks him. But it’s a misunderstanding. As Waylon tells Bruce, “I don’t eat people, asshole. I am one.”

A former circus performer suffering from ichthyosis, a skin disease, Waylon lives in the sewers because every time he leaves, people scream and sometimes shoot him. So he just wants to be alone… until Bruce offers him friendship. In Volume 3, Croc uses his knowledge of Gotham’s sewer system to help Bruce and Alfred build the Bat-Cave there. At the end of Volume 3, Waylon is still at Bruce’s side within the Bat-family.

Killer Croc is sometimes portrayed as Frankenstein’s monster: an outcast who turns to violence because people have rejected him. The “Earth One” Waylon has a frightening appearance, but a gentle soul. It looks more Merrick (a heavily made-up John Hurt) in David Lynch’s “The Elephant Man.”

Killer Croc was created in 1983 by artists Gene Colan and Don Newton and writer Gerry Conway. Speaking of Creation of Croc at SYFY in 2019Conway said he wanted a new type of challenge for Batman:

“Batman’s comfort zone is fighting crooks on rooftops, so I wanted to create a character that would put Batman in the least hospitable place for a bat, a sewer… I wanted someone who was just going to smash Batman into the wall. This was before Bane.”

Conway attributed Killer Croc’s staying power as a leading Batman villain to “Batman: The Animated Series,” which redesigned Croc to be less reptilian. Since then, most Batman stories have done the opposite. Conway’s Croc was a gangster who hid his skin condition with a trench coat, but he was gradually portrayed as a cannibalistic monster.

In the video game “Batman: Arkham Asylum”, Croc (Steve Blum) is 11 feet tall and downright beastly. One mission, where Batman must venture into Croc’s sewer lair, is from a survival horror game; Croc can jump out of the water at any time and he is too strong to fight directly. If iterations like “Arkham Asylum” amplify Croc’s monstrosity to the point where he’s fundamentally no longer human, “Earth One” and “Absolute” Killer Croc remind us of a person. look Scary doesn’t mean they’re evil.

2022’s ‘The Batman’ takes some inspiration from ‘Batman: Earth One’ -Robert Pattinson’s Batman is not a mega-competent detective, like how “Earth One” gave Batman a vigilante learning curve. In “The Batman” and “Earth One”, Bruce Wayne is also descended from the Arkham family on his mother’s side. Since “The Batman” ended with Gotham City flooding, the ideal environment for a crocodile, perhaps writer-director Matt Reeves can add a friendly Killer Croc to “The Batman Part II.”