The main Batman title has been in a creative funk ever since the end of Tom King’s run. James Tynion IV and Chip Zdarsky have both had runs on the series that were terrible and forgettable, so I’m glad DC have hired Matt Fraction, a writer who’s actually written some great comics, to attempt bringing this title back to its former glory.
So I want to say Fraction and Jorge Jimenez’s Batman #1 comes out swinging, is a banger, etc. - but unfortunately it’s not.
Killer Croc’s gone a bit nutso and Commissioner Vandal Savage has brought in a private police force that’s gonna cause trouble for the Bat family. That’s it? Oof.
It’s an unimpressive beginning. I appreciate the Killer Croc storyline is resolved without the usual throwing-hands-solution but it’s still a storyline that feels pointless and dull. Otherwise there isn’t much else to say about this comic. Gordon’s a beat cop for some reason. They found a way of bringing Alfred back from the dead without actually doing it (he’s either an AI hologram or a hallucination).
Jimenez’s art is fantastic - he’s the one through-line for all the bad Batman writers since King’s departure, and it’s easy to see why DC keeps him on this book. Loved the splash pages and Batman in general, though I wasn’t wowed by the new Batmobile design.
Also included in this comic is a preview of Scott Snyder and Javi Fernandez’s DC KO which is happening next year. Apparently Darkseid’s a city-crushing giant in that series. Yeah. Don’t care. Looks awful.
I really hope this first issue isn’t indicative of the opening arc to Fraction’s run and that it’ll read better as part of a bigger whole. As it is though, Batman #1 feels like a wasted opportunity and a disappointingly bland and underwhelming comic.
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