To prevent Vandal Savage and his GCPD from raiding his caches of equipment, Batman and his allies are preparing to destroy them first. The night will see the destruction of a major landmark in Gotham, and not every member of the Bat family will still have their freedom when the night is through. Batman #9 is written by Matt Fraction, drawn by Ryan Sook, colored by Tomeu Morey and lettered by Clayton Cowles.
Will Nevin: Gettin’ antsy for that-there Lego Batman video game, Matt?
Matt Lazorwitz: Oh, you know it! I read the Free Comic Book Day tie-in last night, and I can’t wait to bash more Lego blocks as the Dark Knight. I’ve liked all the Lego DC games, but each one has widened the cast and the scope. It’s gonna be fun to be in a game that’s Gotham-centric again.
Taking it to the streets
Matt: Last issue was a very character-focused issue, with multiple plots and mostly just characters talking for the entire issue. This issue makes up for that lack of action for sure, but still is able to squeeze in a few banger character moments.
Will: After much gnashing of teeth over this book’s many, many subplots, it was nice to settle down with one: the now-extra crooked GCPD’s efforts to round up and shut down the Bat family. It was tense, exciting and still worked in some great emotional beats. I thought it was one of the better single issues of Fraction’s run to date.
Matt: Fraction is absolutely working with the fullest tapestry of the Bat family, isn’t he? Yes, we have Damian and Barbara, who appear all over the line, but he also uses Signal and Batgirl (the Stephanie Brown one). These are characters who haven’t gotten a ton of play lately. And he even remembers that Michael Lane, the second Azrael, is out there in Gotham! I don’t expect him to use that character a lot, but it’s nice to see he’s still out there with his Suit of Sorrows armor.
Will: If I had a nickel for every Duke Thomas appearance since Scott Snyder introduced him, I would have several nickels, perhaps even enough to have them jangle in my pocket loudly to make me feel like a real big shot. And speaking of characters, I thought it was a good idea to get that brief reaction shot of Officer Jim Gordon — I guess his reaction to this will be in the Babs book? This was a heck of a backdoor pilot for that, by the way.
Matt: I am definitely checking that book out. Babs clearly has a plan, because she’s Babs. She wouldn’t go down without a fight unless she and Bruce are up to something. It was absolutely the best way to get readers who wouldn’t normally check out a Batgirl or Barbara Gordon book to give it a shot.
And speaking of reaction shots, I knew Fraction wasn’t done with Tim Drake. The couple of cutaways to him trying to lead a normal life are great. He is so obviously trying, but he’s still Tim Drake. He still feels the call. The single page with Bernard is great, but that one panel on the page of reaction shots, of him looking stunned while Bernard is turned away, stretching and heading to bed, leaving Tim alone? I don’t know how much of that was in the script and how much of it was Ryan Sook’s staging, but it gives such a great view of how alone Tim is in that moment.
Will: I thought Sook’s faces were a little … plastic? But otherwise, solid work here filling in for Jorge Jimenez, who is not an easy fella to follow.
Matt: I can see where you’re coming from, and I agree, but there are also a few great faces here. The angry Alfred screaming at Bruce, and the smile on Damian’s face as Bruce opens up to him right before they blow the hell out of Wayne Manor are very good.
And that’s a great symbolic moment, isn’t it? The Rubicon is crossed, the bridges burned. Batman has declared war on Vandal Savage, so bring it, you millennia-old d-bag.
Will: Which will lead, eventually, to Batman rebuilding the manor and once again operating out of the Batcave. Comics, as you’ve said, are the illusion of change. But, yes, I loved that moment, especially with Bruce reassuring Damian that he was both loved and important — more important, critically, than the mission.
Matt: We’ve seen it throughout this run, and talked about it a bit, but here we see that Bruce has matured. He’s able to see his own failings, and since “Alfred” is just his own mind giving him a Jiminy Cricket, at least according to Fraction, that means he knows he needs to be a better dad to Damian. He’s not the Wayne Family Adventures Batman, the gruff but loving dad, but he’s closer to that than we have ever seen without completely changing Batman, and I like that look for the character.
Will: If we’re not getting an actual Alfred back, that representation of the character as Bruce’s conscience is probably the next best thing.
Matt: This is the first time in a while I feel like the Bat books, as a family, are starting to share a cohesive universe. Batman is the central book, but Poison Ivy is dealing with Ivy as mayor, Harley Quinn is focusing on Harley’s mental break because Ivy has chosen Gotham over her, and now we have Barbara Gordon: Breakout. Even last week’s Batgirl shows pretty much this constellation of Bat family characters (plus Nightwing) meeting up with Cass. Detective is still off on its own, but that’s OK, and Nighwing is set in Bludhaven, so he’s not right here in Gotham, but could come in when the moment is right. There are times where it’s nice that each book stands on its own, but at this moment in time, I like that it feels like we’re in a shared universe.
Bat-miscellany
- Patreon backer John Wickham returns to the BatChat podcast to read and discuss three stories with art by Liam Sharp.
- The first issue of Barbara Gordon: Breakout is on sale now. We won’t be covering it for the column, but trust me, it’s worth your time.
Buy Batman #9 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.
