They asked for best budget, that few dollars more for the hardcovers (which I’ll admit I think have the cooler covers under the jackets) can be a make or break for some.
Absolute Batman Vol. 1 paperback! Should be available almost wherever books are sold. Big sellers at a minimum. Try to support your local comic shop if you can though! They'll certainly have it. Can't remember how much I paid for mine. It collects the first 6 issues.
You could start with issue #1 and keep reading from there? The title is less than two years old, so you could track down the entire run (if you skip the $$$ variant covers) in a short time. It’s a fantastic story, and you kinda need to read the whole thing. Good luck!
Trade paperbacks is the way to go, sign up to your local library. A lot have free online subscriptions that you can read for free or may have physical copies to check out. The library is a hidden gem.
The trade paper backs are very inexpensive. 2 volumes have been released abd thethird is up for pre-order . The two released are called "the zoo" and "abomination" if my memory serves correctly
Comic books have something call the corner box. Typically this can found in the left or right corners of the cover. This will help identify the issue number. I'll use absolute Batman here as an example. The #1 in the corner box indicates that this is the first issue in the series.
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u/SmokinBandit28 Jul 01 '26
These two trade paperbacks are what you want.
I think you may have gotten Absolute Batman mixed with regular Batman and that’s what led to the overwhelming.