Batman of Two Worlds Review: Two Batmen, Two Stories, No Actual Crossover

I picked up Batman of Two Worlds on Batman Day. I was excited for it because of how I had heard it described: Batman solving the same crime in two different universes — Matt Fraction’s current Batman and Scott Snyder’s Absolute Batman. Apparently a lot of people also assumed the two of them were going to meet. I can see how some people might have read the promo language as a cross over.

They don’t meet. And they aren’t solving the exact same case, at least not in the way I expected. If that’s what you walked in looking for, this one-shot is going to feel smaller than the pitch. Taken for what it actually is — two short Batman Day stories sitting next to each other — it’s a fine little sampler.

The Setup

This is a cheap Batman Day comic-shop exclusive. I got it free with another purchase.

“Short Cuts” is Fraction with Javi Fernández. A former security guard is flying first class, talking to another passenger about how he got there. All he had to do was leave his keys somewhere. Then it cuts to Batman chasing two guys who can jump farther than he can, even with the gear. The tech callout labels are here, and they’re still one of the cooler parts of Fraction’s Batman. The twist is cute, and I won’t spell it all out, but the story is doing exactly what that run tends to do: gadget Batman, clean structure, a little wink.

“Cut Short” is Snyder with Nick Derington, not Nick Dragotta. That’s interesting for a sampler meant to show off Absolute Batman. Absolute Bruce is talking to his foreman, Lucius Fox, then smashing through a bank job by the Red Devils. He’s not really listening to the voice in his ear — presumably Pennyworth — and he’s doing what this version of Batman does: breaking faces, breaking masks, forcing the thing open. There’s an inside man again. The story also has a deeper “changing of the guard” flavor Snyder’s been working in the monthly book: the world is darker and more entrenched, and maybe the old lessons aren’t enough.

You can read the Absolute half without being fully caught up. It doesn’t move the monthly story. It also doesn’t add much to it. I’d still wait until you’ve read some Absolute Batman first — I think sometime around #16 is when Fox is more clearly established as Bruce’s boss — just so the world already makes sense.

Highlights

The comparison is the point, even if the crimes aren’t identical. Both stories are inside jobs. Fraction’s Batman is the tactician with the toys. Absolute Batman is smash-and-grab. One is brighter and more “ad for the current Batman book.” The other is darker and more “ad for Absolute Batman.” That part works.

I haven’t been fully caught up on Fraction’s run, but I still liked seeing those tech callouts again. The Absolute story is not Snyder at full strength — you don’t get the long past/present weave that makes the monthly book special, the deeper part of the story is too shallow in this book, and there is no Dragotta (no shade on the art, but Dragotta is the main man here). For those reasons, maybe this isn’t a perfect Absolute Batman sampler. You can still tell it’s that world. The violence, the job-site Bruce, the sense that this Gotham needs a different kind of Batman. You just don’t get the version of Snyder’s book that actually makes people stay.

The expectation gap may be on me. I don’t remember exactly where I got “the same crime in two worlds.” It may have been someone else. It may have just been me seeing two inside jobs and assuming they were the same job told twice. What we get is two similar jobs: an inside man, a theft, two different answers. That’s a fair Batman Day idea. It just isn’t as tight as I thought it was going to be.

Final Verdict

Batman of Two Worlds is two short stories in one cheap book. It is not a crossover. It is not the same crime told twice. It is not peak Snyder, and it isn’t the best way to show somebody what Absolute Batman can do.

If you adjust the expectation, it’s an easy read and a decent snapshot of how different these two Batmen feel on facing pages. The Absolute half is darker. The Fraction half is slicker. Together they’re a Batman Day promo more than a major event, and that’s fine — especially if your shop was handing it out.

Find the Absolute Batman reading guide here.

What did you think? Did you want them to actually meet, or was side-by-side enough? Tag me on X @NostalgicNestEg!

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