Batman #3 Review

 

Writer: Matt Fraction

Artist: Jorge Jiménez

Colorist: Tomeu Morey

Letterer: Clayton Cowles & Jorge Jiménez

Cover Artists: Jim Lee, Scott Williams & Alex Sinclair; Julian Totino Tedesco; Brian Stelfreeze; Jorge Jiménez; Joe Quesada & Richard Isanove; David Aja

Editors: Jessica Berbey & Rob Levin

Publisher: DC Comics

Price: $4.99/ $5.99 (Card Stock) / $7.99 (Foil)

Release Date: November 5, 2025

 

When Killer Croc breaks out of Arkham Towers, Dr Zeller insists that Waylon Jones is changing. Batman argues that people don’t change. Yet Batman finds Killer Croc beholding his surroundings with childlike wonder. Before voluntarily returning to Arkham, Killer Croc even suggests that Batman needed to change.

 

Whether Batman likes it or not, Gotham is changing around him. Vandal Savage, the new police commissioner, has hired Tactical Urban Combat Officers to tackle criminals. Police shoot fleeing criminals to assert their worthiness to wear a badge. And after Batman rescues Robin from a police van, Commissioner Savage declares Batman and Robin are criminals. How will his declaration influence public perceptions of the dynamic duo? Are Batman and Robin’s days of helping Gotham numbered? Let’s don our armored capes, leap into Batman #3, and see!

 

Story

As Huston Gray interviews a neighbor for his civics class, the boy asks how Gotham has changed. Miss Marjorie draws on her memories to share her concerns about Gotham’s future. His elder believes that people are drawing inward. They feel less responsible for their community and rely on strong authority figures like Vandal Savage to maintain order. She wishes that there were more people like Batman who feel a sense of social responsibility and work hard to protect Gotham.

 

Amid this disconnect between the leadership, the GCPD, and Gotham's inhabitants, Bruce Wayne discovers that Dr Zeller is conducting human trials of an experimental device. She believes that socially detrimental behavior results from correctable neurological imbalances. When he learns that Wayne Enterprises is funding the psychiatrist's research, Bruce decides to learn more about her Crown of Thorns in Batman #3.

 

While Miss Margorie feels Batman is integral to Gotham's future, Bruce Wayne feels increasingly isolated from his city, his businesses, and the people he cares about. As Matt Fraction shows people using force to stamp out problems, he also reminds us what makes life worth living. Bruce Wayne may not be a psychiatrist. Yet he tries to guide others toward a greater sense of completeness and social responsibility in Batman #3.

 

Art

As Miss Marjorie sits on her couch, her comfortable, well-ordered apartment exudes a sense of history. Huston wears a T-shirt bursting with all the energy of youth. On the street below, Vandal Savage crouches beside Officer Vargas' body and withdraws a Batarang from his jacket. At Mercy Hospital, his features contort with rage as he leans over Officer Davis.

 

While Tomeu Morey lavishes a loaded palette on Jorge Jiménez’s art, green links Bruce Wayne with a character he later confronts in Batman #3. As Bruce watches Dr Zeller in a red TV studio, their earlier dialogue in Arkham Towers appears as a yellow memory. After seeing her display her Crown of Thorns, Bruce dwells on her words as he puts on a yellow helmet. But his blue hood and cape link him with Jim Gordon, who best represents his ideal GCPD officer.

 

Clayton Cowles and Jorge Jiménez fill dialogue balloons and narrative boxes with black and colored uppercase letters. The letters grow bold for intonation and shrink for lowered voices. Miss Margarie's responses appear in beige cellphone-shaped panels, while Dr Zeller's responses appear above flat-screen TV images. Large and small white letters in gray fields accompany icons identifying Batman’s tools of the trade. Sound effects help us hear combat, gunfire, and a police van that looks borrowed from the battlefield. Thanks to DC Comics for sharing this story with us.

 

Now, let's take a look inside:

 

 

 

Final Thoughts

When Huston Gray glimpses Batman and Robin leaving the scene of a shooting, he records the authorities draping a blanket over a police officer and carrying his partner to an ambulance. What the boy does with his found footage and how others interpret it will influence how people in Gotham view their premier unlicensed vigilantes in Batman #3.

 

Rating 9.6/10