- September 3, 2025
Matt Fraction’s Batman #1 Review
Written by: Matt Fraction
Art by: Jorge Jimenez
Coloring by: Tomeu Morey
Lettering by: Clayton Cowles
Editing by: Jessica Berbey, Rob Levin
I’m not going to lie, it’s not hard for a Batman comic to reel me in and keep me reading. I enjoyed little over 3/4 of Tom King’s run, and about the same of Chip Zdarksy’s and everyone’s turned on those runs for their own reasons. I think they both committed the cardinal sin of starting off strong and losing the plot the longer they went on. Matt Fraction’s Batman could do the same thing, it has all makings so far.
By that, I mean that this is a good issue. Get the controversy out of the way, I nearly threw the book away on the fourth page, the second page that Batman appears on, when he says, “people never change, not really.” That’s not Batman. Batman, like any icon of DC, believes that people can be better, that they can change. He’s rehabilitated enough villains to know that they can. If Batman doesn’t believe this, why doesn’t he just kill the supervillains, or at least let them die more often? He doesn’t because he knows in his bones that they can change.
Despite this instance, which seems like a gross mischaracterization, I stuck with the issue. The art by Jorge Jimenez and the coloring by Tomeu Morey continue to be some of the best pages in the business. Their work alone is worth the price of admission. As Matt Fraction’s Batman behaves like a regression or mischaracterization of the character, and an issue that is rife with exposition, their art stands out for the better.
By the end, and for this, I will give a mild spoiler warning, because this is something I learn towards the end of the issue, Batman’s character had regressed rather than mischaracterized. The issue, by the end, heavily implies that this is a bad day for Batman after many bad days, and that he doesn’t truly believe that “people never change.”
This confirmation allowed me to go back and truly enjoy how I hope Batman will behave once this bad day is over. Fraction’s Batman is caring, but distant and cold, and this already feels deeply integral to the character arc that is going to follow.
So I recommend this new issue and series with trepidation. I know many feel burned by bat-books that have come before, but if you have patience and give the issue a chance, I think Matt Fraction’s Batman will give you hope for a good series to come. Here’s hoping it ends well too.
Check Out Batman #1, Then Check Out SomethingCentral!
I’m behind on a lot of stuff when it comes to the channel and the website, as is life. Here’s hoping I can catch up some in the months to come.
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