Matt Fraction and Jorge Jimenez have quickly found their flow as the new Batman creative team. Fraction has done well adapting his style of writing to fit with what Gotham City. Having Jimenez on art certainly helps as his style has certainly done a lot to define how Gotham City has evolved around the Dark Knight. We are seeing them deal with how Vandal Savage has used his powers as the Commissioner of the GCPD to create new problems for the Batman Family. Let’s see how things go next with Batman #3.
CREATIVE TEAM
Writer: Matt Fraction
Artist: Jorge Jimenez
Colorist: Tomeu Morey
Letterers: Claytown Cowles and Jorge Jimenez
BATMAN #3 SOLICITATION
“Vandal Savage makes his move against Batman and Robin, Bruce Wayne tries to make amends, and the Riddler makes his play for arguably the most important item in all of Gotham.
Fraction and Jiménez take things to a whole new level as their thrilling new run on Batman continues!” – DC Comics
HIGHLIGHTS OF BATMAN #3
Vandal Savage Reigns Over Gotham City
Matt Fraction has certainly embraced being handed Vandal Savage as the Commissioner of the Gotham City Police Department. The entire start of his creative run has been based on the impact Commissioner Vandal Savage’s reign has on Gotham City. His own brand of charisma has made him almost obtain complete control of Gotham City. This is all done in a way that is clearly bringing in some real-world elements while still making sure to frame it around the last few years of development in the Batman books. It is a careful tightrope that has a firm balance because it’s Vandal Savage who is being used in this way.
Spotlighting Gotham City Citizens Key to Success
While its only a few pages introducing a teenage kid named Huston to react to what’s going on with Vandal and Batman is a great call. Way to often we see the franchise’s comics focus on the Batman related characters. Having an outside character witnessing certain events and looking into it is so refreshing. The hope is that Fraction doesn’t go the Robin route with Huston and keeps him and others representing the citizens of Gotham City. That would be a much more effective use of Huston character that avoids the obvious routes.
Exploring Bruce Wayne Relationships with his Sons
Even though the Batman Family dynamic isn’t very strong right now it is good to see Bruce Wayne making genuine attempts to interact with his family. Whether its checking up on Tim Drake in the hospital or training with Damian Wayne both scenes do a lot for Bruce’s character. It gives us a look at the real Bruce as he is doing his best embracing being a father or father-figure. The interaction with Damian is interesting one as it does set-up a possible solo series for Damian if he goes accepts going to college. Like Bruce says, going to college may be the thing Damian needs to mature more. Plus he’ll have something up on Tim, who skipped college.
More Steps Towards Batman Beyond Future
Fraction continues the trend of many of his predecessors of the last 15 years. That trend is giving us even more examples of the present day moving closer to the Batman Beyond future. We’ve seen it with how Gotham City is moving more towards a tech focus future. Now in this issue we see Bruce Wayne wearing a grey and yellow prototype Batman Beyond suit. The stealth technology of the prototype Batman Beyond suit was clearly still in development with the effect when Bruce got out of stealth mode. Bruce integrating more tech into his arsenal helps to show how he is adapting to evolving threats like Vandal Savage and Riddler.
Gotham City Psychology Explored in New Ways
Speaking of Riddler, we see his appearance here further a major plot point of Batman #3. That is with exploring how technology is also being used to study a person’s psychology. That comes in the way of the newly introduced Dr. Annika Zeller and the mental helmet she presents that pisses off Hugo Strange. Zeller’s new technology is certainly potentially game changing enough to capture the attention of both Bruce and Riddler. What more is revealed about Zeller’s research into psychology will certainly be interesting to see play out.
Harvey Bullock and Jim Gordon Back as Supporting Characters
Harvey Bullock and Jim Gordon once again being established as key parts of Batman’s supporting cast was refreshing. It’s been a while since they both filled this role due to the directions each of these characters have taken the last decade. Reinforcing their importance to Batman’s supporting cast does a lot to elevate the Vandal Savage story as well. Both Bullock and Gordon are set-up to serve important roles of tackling helping tackle the Vandal Savage threat from angles Batman can’t investigate or attack from. That is something this issue drives home.
WHAT DIDN’T WORK IN BATMAN #3
DC Comics Dropped the Ball with Tim Drake
For all the good Batman #3 does it does unintentional reminded us how much DC Comics dropped the ball with Tim Drake since the New 52. Tim has been firmly in the #4 spot of Robins who get attention by creative teams that it is easy to forget what’s gone on with him. It makes moments like Bernard confronting Bruce in the hospital not hit as intended. That’s because Tim’s personal life has been left to the DC Pride annual one-shots the last few years. Maybe Fraction has plans to develop Tim’s character more beyond being Robin but unfortunately it didn’t work here simply due to the lack of development for the last few years.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Batman #3 does a lot to progress several ongoing plotlines in this franchise. Matt Fraction utilizes what his predecessors work to showcase Vandal Savage’s strongarm approach to using his GCPD Commissioner powers against the Dark Knight. This has forced Bruce Wayne to respond in ways that will excite fans with how he is evolving his Batman methods in response. That along with other sub-plots that are develop make this a great continuation to Fraction and Jorge Jimenez’s early creative run.
Story Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
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