Is he rich? No, he was born poor, in Crime Alley, where he developed several lasting friendships with people who were, in "normal" DC continuity, his adversaries.
Does he have a chip on his shoulder? Yes, he does, but for different reasons. In the Absolute universe his father, a teacher, was killed during a school field trip, and his mother is still living.
Are bats relevant to his becoming a masked vigilante? Yes, but not in the same way. Instead of falling into a cave full of bats on his parents' estate, he gets pushed into the bat house during a shooting which leads to his father's death, and he never develops the same fixation on that animal.
Is he an unassuming, normal-looking guy outside of his costumed adventures? In a way yes, in another way no. He does work a regular job, but he's also a HUGE individual - hulking even - with an interest in things like poker and boxing.
Is he the world's greatest detective? Not in the conventional sense, no. This Batman is more of a strategist ready to get his hands dirty. What he wages against Gotham's criminal element is more of a war with serious casualties, and he has zero qualms about taking lives in the process.
Does he have a Robin? Lord I hope not. The Wikipedia entry detailing his exploits in volume 3 (which I have yet to read) mentions that the Absolute Deathstroke makes an appearance with "an army of Robins" later on. I sincerely hope Robin isn't introduced as part of a lame attempt to tone this character down and/or make him more "relatable."
How about his rogue's gallery? Scott Snyder has, I think, made them all better. Gone are the more cartoonish adversaries of yesteryear, to be replaced by truly terrifying individuals acting out nearly unimaginable levels of trauma. The Bane of this series is SCARY, and even relatively minor villains such as Black Mask are very sinister.
By this point Absolute Batman represents over a third of the Absolute Universe's total revenue. I totally get this. I've read bits of Absolute Superman, Absolute Martian Manhunter and Absolute Flash, and Absolute Batman outshines them all in terms of consistency, attention to detail and sheer badassery.
It should also be said that volume 2 far outshines volume 1 in terms of awesomeness. If you've only read volume 1 and wondered what the big deal was, I highly encourage going back and reading volume 2 immediately. Volume 2 is METAL, upping the ante considerably on all the weirdness hinted at in volume 1.
I plan on reading volume 3 later this summer. For that matter I'd like to take another pass at Absolute Martian Manhunter (which I enjoyed) and track down Absolute Wonder Woman, which I haven't read yet. At this point in time DC is BURYING Marvel in terms of comic book sales, and for evidence one need look no farther than the two trade paperbacks discussed here.
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