Vandal Savage sets his anti-Batman crusade in motion, Bruce Wayne does his best as Bat-Dad, the Riddler strikes and a whole lot more happens in Batman #3, written by Matt Fraction, drawn by Jorge Jimenez, colored by Tomeu Morey and lettered by Clayton Cowles.
Will Nevin: A week before it drops, I want to publicly admit that I think I’ve come to terms with the end of Batman: Dark Patterns.
Matt Lazorwitz: It’s good that you’ve gotten through all five stages of grief, Will. That acceptance one can be a bear.
Will: What if we traded the last two issues of H2SH for another arc? Do you think editorial can swing that?
Matt: I’ll address that more next week, I think, but I’d rather get a perfect 12 issues and then Watters and Sherman move onto something new and different, rather than trying to stretch out something they have so perfectly paced. But something Bat universe, preferably.
Strange Days in Gotham
Matt: When was the last time we had a Batman title with this much Bruce Wayne? Mariko Tamaki on Detective Comics, maybe?
Will: You got me, but if Bruce gets a love interest, he might actually be a real character. He’s got dad stuff in this issue, Wayne Enterprises stuff — a lot going on!
Matt: There is. And while I’d wager it all will come together at some point, it feels separate enough that it doesn’t feel like we’re being railroaded along a plot, but instead building out the world of Gotham as it is. Fraction even remembered Bernard, Tim Drake’s boyfriend! That guy has shown up about as regularly as Bruce Wayne over the past couple years.
Will: I’m surprised Bernard doesn’t know The Secret at this point.
Matt: He does. He figured it out, but since Tim hasn’t told him, he’s letting Tim come to the point he can tell him, rather than outing him. Which is a pretty nice metaphor, I think. So he can’t tell Bruce he knows, but he can sure lean into how often Tim is getting hurt and make Tim’s Bat-dad feel a little bad about it.
Will: Knowing that Bernie (I refuse to call a young man “Bernard”) knows certainly recontextualizes that scene. It’s probably hard to convey that in the space and the moment — lean too hard into it and Bernie seems dumb, go the other way and he’s obnoxious. The way it played out on the page seemed to hit it squarely in the middle.
Matt: It does give Bernie some agency and makes him more than a damsel in distress or doting significant other. He just stood up to Batman. Good on him.
It was good to see Hugo Strange pop up here, but that is a character who might have the messiest continuity in the Bat books. I’m just never sure if he’s a publicly known supervillain, like your typical Bat rogue, or some guy who most people think is a good guy (or at least not a mad scientist) who is secretly a villain, like Lex Luthor. It varies from portrayal to portrayal. Now, if we take the events of this issue at face value, he’s actually right in that scene of him on TV arguing with Dr. Zeller. Which tells me we can’t take this at face value, because Hugo Strange can’t be in the right, yes?
Will: Knowing those various versions of him, I’m guessing his ego is forcing him to do a good thing for the wrong reasons. He may appear to be concerned about the patients or ethics, but you know his ass is chapped because he thinks the world should be lauding him and not Zeller.
Matt: Possible. I also wonder if he may have co-opted Zeller’s tech and is behind whatever is going on with Riddler. Zeller did seem genuinely concerned with Croc back in issue #1. Or could she be the inverse of what you’re saying about Strange; doing the wrong thing for the right reasons?
Will: Oooh, that’s an interesting idea, like an I Am Legend sort of deal. She’s so focused on curing Arkham’s patients that she herself has become the monster.
Matt: No one thinks of themselves as a villain. And a new rogue who really believes they are helping people is certainly something we have rarely, if ever, seen in the Bat books.
Have you seen Matt Fraction talking in interviews about the Alfred in this book? In an interview or Reddit AMA or something after issue #1, he said that Alfred is not AI. This is Bruce just thinking about his late friend and what he might say. I’m glad Batman isn’t destroying the environment because he misses his dead dad.
Will: You know, if editorial is insistent upon keeping him dead, this is a mighty fine workaround. AI Alfred would be lame anyway, only telling Batman the things he wants to hear, which, as Alfred goes, is shit.
Matt: And Bruce’s personal Alfred won’t let him get away with any shit. That moment after Damian walks away and memory Alfred points out how often Bruce left him similarly floored, spiritually if not physically, does show some real self-awareness from Bruce. I like that both as a sign of Bruce’s personal growth and a good Alfred line.
Will: Also, Damian is 100% the kid who would kick his own dad square in the dick.
Matt: No argument. There’s so much happening in this book! We still need to talk about Jim and Bullock, Commissioner Savage and our new friend, Huston, who has the evidence to bring Savage’s little anti-Bat crusade down around his ears. While not as out-and-out political as the last issue, Fraction isn’t moving entirely away from themes of society and responsibility here.
Will: Oh boy, will it ever not be relevant when the government starts to crack down on the free press in this silly little comic book! That’s going to be fascinating to explore in the next couple of issues. But, yes, Officer Gordon and PI Bullock — fun dynamic, isn’t it? Although I’m a little worried we’re leaning into some of the sloppier physical tropes when it comes to Bullock.
Matt: Yeah, Harvey is definitely looking more than just rumpled, and definitely into slovenly.
I had to confirm this, but I can’t believe Savage has been commissioner for a year and a half real time. That is a real slow burn on a story. But it looks like it is going to pay off nicely.
Will: I hope so. There aren’t many big ideas that get carried over from run to run — at least Fraction knew what he was getting into here, so presumably he has an idea of how this is going to play out. Ultimately, maybe Savage tries to seize all legitimate power in Gotham, tries to become mayor? You know, just getting a lil’ fashy in our silly superhero comic.
Matt: That is definitely something I can see Savage doing. I just think we are on the trajectory of Jim Gordon being commissioner again, which I’m fine with. It’s been five or six years he’s been out of the big chair, and, aside from the Tynion Joker and Ram V ’Tec run, no one has really done much with him. He’s due, but I like him walking a beat for a little while here.
Will: There are stories to be told with Officer Gordon, for sure. Getting him on the street is a lot like putting Batman on regular patrols and taking a break from the Arkham set for a while — there’s quite a bit you can do with these heroes and how they react to smaller crimes and victims and everyday injustice. If we don’t get an issue devoted exclusively to Gordon, I’m going to be disappointed.
Matt: With all that’s going on here, I think that would be a tall order, but I would be all about it. I’m continuing to dig on this run. It is distinctly modern but has the vibe of those ’90s Bat books I loved, with Bruce and Gotham City as a whole feeling as important to the book as Batman. Keep up the good work, Fraction and Jimenez!
Will: Aye, there’s a lot to be excited about … even if we’re about to be plum out of Dark Patterns.
Bat-miscellany
- The BatChat podcast is joined again by Matt McThorn, who returned to a villainous theme from an earlier appearance, in an episode that could only be titled, “Catman Returns.”
Buy Batman #3 here. (Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate, ComicsXF may earn from qualifying purchases.)
Matt Lazorwitz read his first comic at the age of 5. It was Who's Who in the DC Universe #2, featuring characters whose names begin with B, which explains so much about his Batman obsession. He writes about comics he loves, and co-hosts the podcasts BatChat with Matt & Will and The ComicsXF Interview Podcast.
Will Nevin loves bourbon and AP style and gets paid to teach one of those things. He is on Twitter far too often.
