Image via DC
Published Feb 12, 2026, 9:20 PM EST
CBR senior staff writer Brian Cronin has been writing professionally about comic books for over fifteen years now at CBR (primarily with his “Comics Should Be Good” series of columns, including Comic Book Legends Revealed). He has written two books about comics for Penguin-Random House – Was Superman a Spy? And Other Comic Book Legends Revealed and Why Does Batman Carry Shark Repellent? And Other Amazing Comic Book Trivia! and one book, 100 Things X-Men Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die, from Triumph Books. His writing has been featured at ESPN.com, the Los Angeles Times, About.com, the Huffington Post, Vulture and Gizmodo. He features legends about entertainment and sports at his website, Legends Revealed and other pop culture features at Pop Culture References. Follow him on Twitter at @Brian_Cronin and feel free to e-mail him suggestions for stories about comic books that you'd like to see featured at brianc@cbr.com!
Something that Scott Snyder has been making a big point of since Absolute Batman has become such a blockbuster success is that he thinks that the series is hurt by the reveal of covers too early in the process. Historically, comic book covers are revealed four months before the book goes on sale, and thus, that means either hiding a cover to avoid a spoiler or, of course, giving away the spoiler months ahead of time (like the reveal of Absolute Catwoman when Absolute Batman #13's cover appeared in solicitations).
Snyder has been trying a new approach, where he will redact covers until right before comic book retailers have to lock in their orders, so that it won't spoil advance stories, but retailers will still have enough time to order the books knowing what the covers will look like (which is a very important thing for retailers). With Absolute Batman #17 out next week, though, Absolute Batman #18's cover, which was previously redacted, was accidentally unredacted a week earlier, but either way, the full cover is now out there, and it is the shocking debut of the Absolute Court of Owls!
What is the solicitation for Absolute Batman #18, along with the unredacted cover?
Image via DCABSOLUTE BATMAN #18
Written by SCOTT SNYDER
Art by ERIC CANETE
Cover by NICK DRAGOTTA
Variant covers by GIUSEPPE CAMUNCOLI, MAHMUD ASRAR, and DECLAN SHALVEY
1:25 variant cover by CARMINE DI GIANDOMENICO
$4.99 US | 32 pages | Variant $5.99 US (card stock)
ON SALE 3/11/26
After the explosive reveal ending last issue, and Batman continues to fight Poison Ivy’s mutated monsters and winds up uncovering an even more gruesome horror that has embedded itself in the city’s very foundations. All while the Joker’s machinations start to coalesce in a partnership with a new ally.
Who are the Court of Owls, and how do they look different in the Absolute Universe?
Image via DCThe Court of Owls were introduced in the DC Universe during the New 52 launch of Batman #1 by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo back in 2011. The Court is a sinister collection of the wealthiest and most powerful members of Gotham City society, who help control the city from behind the scenes, and have been doing so since Gotham City was founded in the 1600s.
The Court uses their agents, known as Talons, to manipulate events through assassinations and intimidation.
The Absolute Universe, of coure, is a very different world than the DC Universe, and as you can see from the cover, this version of the Court of Owls looks a lot different than the established mysterious secret society, and instead appears to be tied to the mutated monsters from the new version of Poison Ivy, or perhaps tied to the experiments conducted by Ark M, the sinister laboratory funded by Jack Grimm, the Absolute Universe's version of the Joker, who seems to have taken the role that the Court of Owls had in the DC Universe in terms of manipulating Gotham City from behind the scenes as a seemingly immortal being.
Source: DCFilmNews
English (US) · 