Matt Fraction sure loves Batman.
When I sat down to talk with him at San Diego Comic Con on Sunday (July 27), Fraction didn’t hold back on his love for the Dark Knight. His list of favorite Batman stories stretches from classics like The Dark Knight Returns and Batman: Year One to more modern writers like Grant Morrison, and even lesser-known stories like when Batman faced off against Doctor Death. It only makes sense that he’d be the next Batman writer — even if he didn’t intend to take over one of DC’s biggest book.
“Dumb luck and timing, which are the watchwords of my career,” Fraction said with a laugh when I asked how he got the job. “Batman was the first comic I ever read, I was three-and-a-half-years old…it’s the reason I love comics. When Chip [Zdarsky] told me he was leaving, he said, ‘Do you have anything?’ I said, ‘Sure.’ It wasn’t like I had a thing in my back pocket, it wasn’t like I knew what my Batman was going to be about, but when I sat down and thought about it out came a Batman book I was excited to write!”
Courtesy of DC Comics.
Fraction’s not alone, obviously, as he’s worked with artist Jorge Jimenez, who illustrated the majority of Zdarsky’s Batman run. Like many of us, Fraction had nothing but praise for Jimenez’s work.
“I love his work, I’m a huge fan, I will read anything he draws for the rest of my life,” Fraction said. “He’s so collaborative and so creative, and everything I come up with he does better. It’s a beautiful collaboration.”
Jimenez even designed a new costume for Batman that puts the Caped Crusader back in blue and gray, which Fraction says will play into his run.
“In my gut, it sort of spoke to what I wanted to do with the book,” Fraction said. “It says more about what my approach is than anything else, and Jorge felt the same.”
Batman will also be joining forces with Tim Drake, though the Dynamic Duo is going to have trouble down the road due to Vandal Savage acting as Gotham’s new police commissioner.
“It’s a dangerous time in Gotham to be Batman and Robin…and that’s where we pick up, with Tim in a lot of trouble,” Fraction said. He also discussed how Savage poses a different kind of threat for Batman: “He feels like such a natural Batman villain, it’s crazy that he’s not. He’s the only person in the DCU that has a greater or equal understanding of tactics than Batman….he lived history. Batman plays the long game. Vandal Savage plays the really long game.”
Main cover by Jorge Jimenez. Courtesy of DC Comics.
Another approach that Fraction is taking is to make each issue of his Batman run “feel like a full meal,” though he admitted it’s still quite the difficult task to accomplish.
“Part of it was just wanting the challenge,” Fraction said. “I would like to make sure everyone gets their money’s worth and gets a story with a beginning, middle, and end.”
He also expressed a desire to potentially write more DC characters, adding that he felt that his work on Superman’s Pal: Jimmy Olsen might be the last time he ever got to work in the universe.
Fraction also repeatedly called Batman “the coolest superhero of all time,” so fans will definitely have something to look forward to when he takes the reigns of the book. There should be plenty to love.
Batman #1 goes on sale on September 3, 2025.
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