Comics Review: "BATMAN #1" Gets a Spiffy Fraction-Jimenez Makeover

BATMAN (2025) #1

DC COMICS

STORY: Matt Fraction

ART: Jorge Jimenez

COLORS: Tomeu Morey

LETTERS: Clayton Cowles

EDITOR: Rob Levin

COVER: Jorge Jimenez

VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: Jim Lee and Scott Williams with Tomeu Morey; Marc Silvestri with Arif Prianto; J. Scott Campbell with Tanya Lehoux; Frank Quitely; Gabriele Dell'Otto; Julian Totino Tedesco; Stanley “Artgerm” Lau; Andy Kubert with Steve Firchow; David Aja; Jorge Jimenez; Jim Lee and Scott Williams

36pp, Color, $4.99 U.S., (November 2025)

Batman created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger

Rating: 13+

“Vast Colors in the Dark”

DC Comics recently relaunched its Batman flagship comic book series – the third time in 14 years.  It is written by Matt Fraction; drawn by Jorge Jimenez; colored by Tomeu Morey; and lettered by Clayton Cowles.  DC is pushing the series as the dawn of new era in Batman comic books.

Batman #1 (“Vast Colors in the Dark”) finds Batman at Arkham Towers in the wake of Killer Croc's latest escape.  Croc's physician, Dr. Zeller, urges patience on the part of Batman, but he has too much experience with Croc's acts of violence to buy into what the good doctor is saying.

Meanwhile, Vandal Savage, the new commissioner of the Gotham City Police Department, is making changes in the department – changes that may not be good for Batman.  Plus, there is a Robin in trouble.

THE LOWDOWN:  For years, I had a subscription to DC Comics' Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? ongoing comic book series.  It was quietly canceled within the last year, but I had 14 issues left in my subscription.  Midtown Comics in NYC, which manages DC Comics' subscriptions, gave me the option of choosing any new DC title I wanted to continue my subscription, so I chose Batman – just in time for this new era.

I am not going to dig deeply into this new Batman #1, which is only the fourth Batman #1 issue.  It follows Bill Finger, Bob Kane, and Jerry Robinson's Batman #1, cover dated Spring 1940; Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo's Batman #1, cover dated November 2011; and Tom King and David Finch's Batman #1 cover dated August 2016.

Matt Fraction and Jorge Jimenez's Batman #1 reminds me of Snyder-Capullo's Batman #1 in that both are fresh starts and are different in terms of narrative and graphic aesthetic from their contemporary Batman titles.  Matt Fraction's script also gives this debut issue and its star, Batman, a jolt of energy that suggests both the very modern and the near future in terms of setting.  This is similar to what writer Grant Morrison brought to the first arc of his 2009-launched Batman & Robin series (which was collected in the Batman Reborn trade.  I imagine Fraction's biggest and most shocking twists and turns and re-imaginations will be revealed over the coming year, at least.

Thus, the real sense of newness comes from artist Jorge Jimenez and colorist Tomeu Morey.  Their vibrantly illustrated first issue is as the chapter title of this first issue suggests, “Vast Colors in the Dark.”  The team of Jimenez and Morey visually and aesthetically create a sense of amazing things to come in a fashion similar to what the team of Frank Miller, Klaus Janson, and Lynn Varley brought to Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Book One.

I'm not saying that the Fraction-Jimenez Batman #1 is Batman: DKR, but you never know.  I simply felt excitement as I read this first issue.  This first issue is promising or, at the very least, hints at great things to come for our eyes and for our imaginations.  I have a subscription so I will be back.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of Batman comic books will want to read Batman 2025.

A

[This comic book includes a five-page preview of “DC KO” from writer Scott Snyder; artist Javi Fernandez; colorist Alejandro Sanchez; and letterer Hassan Otsmane-Elhadu.]

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"

A Kindle edition of BATMAN #1 is available at Amazon. The trade and hardcover editions of the first story arc of this series are available for pre-order at Amazon.

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