The Comic Shop Banned For Burning Its Copies Of Absolute Batman #23

Posted in: Batman, Comics, Conventions, DC Comics, Events, NYCC, Pop Culture | Tagged: Absolute Batman, alex maleev, coverwatch, frank cho, new york comic con

The Comic Shop Banned For Burning Its Copies Of Absolute Batman #23

The Comic Shop That Burned Its Frank Cho Absolute Batman, Got Banned By DC And Whatnot, And Lost Its Alex Maleev Absolute Batman Too

Published Mon, 05 Oct 2026 07:57:13 -0500
by Rich Johnston
|
Comments

Article Summary

• A comic shop burned copies of its Frank Cho Absolute Batman #23 retailer variant live to cut supply and boost demand.
• The store promoted the stunt with AI Absolute Batman burn imagery and a Whatnot live sale countdown to buyers.
• Whatnot appears to have shut down the channel, while DC Comics banned the retailer from future exclusive variants.
• The ban also cost the shop its planned Alex Maleev Absolute Batman #25 cover, sparking online backlash and defiance.

Absolute Batman #23 has a retailer exclusive cover for I Like Collectibles and Hachimaull518, selling online and on Whatnot, from star artist, Frank Cho, the Absolute Batman fighting the Absolute Clayface.

But it seems that when selling the exclusive retailer variant cover online, the store had an unusual way to increase demand by reducing supply. And how did they reduce supply? By burning copies, live.

And then repeatedly advertising this as a highly desired collectable using A.I. images of Absolute Batman burning copies himself, saying "ABSOLUTE BATMAN #23 IS ABOUT TO BURN LIVE! Only a few days remain… and on Monday, it hits Whatnot LIVE! If this Batman is on your want list, don't wait until the fire starts." Either way, it did not go down well. It looks like Whatnot did not react well to this promotion either, as their channel now looks like this:

It may be that DC Comics had some influence there as they banned the store from any further exclusive retailer variants, including this Alex Maleev cover for Absolute Batman #25, which they had already signed up for.

As they state online "If DC gives you my Alex Maleev Batman cover and you don't sell me copies at cost you're a horrible greedy person". Seths Comics added "You made your bed, now lie in it", and Hauchimall replied "oh no a guy lowered a print run. No one's ever done this before!!! How dare you destroy absolute Batman books we didn't want to buy that you got 5 weeks after release date!! Shame on you." And to other people who mocked them, "yeah because zero retailers in the history of comic books ever destroyed comic books they purchased. I'm just an outlier…." You'll find them at Booth #3822 at New York Comic Con if you want the full story. But I do recall that once upon a time, Boom Studios did this themselves…

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!