Batman #6: One Long Night

The crux of Batman #6 is a sense of home and purpose. After Tim’s unlawful arrest in Batman #2 and Vandal Savage’s evidence planting in issue #3, it’s safe to say that nothing in Gotham is truly safe. So, when Bruce has a moment with his son in Pennyworth Manor in the first few pages of this issue, it’s immediately clear why Bruce is fighting. That’s not something any older comic fans needed a reminder of, but Matt Fraction’s run on the caped crusader has been highly accessible to both new and longtime fans.

Character growth aside, Matt Fraction and Jorge Jiménez don’t drop the ball for fans of some good ole Batman action. The specific action scenes are used as a vehicle for worldbuilding instead of focusing on plot progression, unlike last issue’s assassin chase sequence, but they work very well as a means to keep things exciting even during the later, quieter moments of the issue. It is, for the most part, about setting the stakes. As we saw in Batman #5, the Minotaur is not just any threat but one that is both calculated and brutal. After treating the new crime ring known as Torus, Gotham has become a labyrinth of crime and secrets. It can be easy to lose that sense of tension and expectation, but Matt Fraction reminds readers what’s at stake in this issue with short scenes at Pennyworth Manor that drive home Bruce’s priorities without a heavy-handed morality lesson.

Jorge Jiménez’s artwork is masterful in this issue. Sure, action scenes have a lot of different moving pieces that can make them difficult to draw, but quiet moments like an elevator ride or a two-page short and honest conversation between two brothers can have tons of fine details as well. Jiménez works a lot on the characters themselves; their expressions and tiny mannerisms are clearly visible even without huge exhilarating moments, and that adds a lot of impact to the story itself through the artwork. Tomeu Morey’s colors also do some nice worldbuilding here too, mostly to set the mood. Batman is famous for his brooding attitude, and being lit by pale bluish moonlight that accentuates his own batsuit definitely adds something to the atmosphere of the Dark Knight.

All of the above being said, some readers who come to Batman comics for a more detective-focused storyline may find the issue to be a little too slow or simple for their liking, and that’s fine. However, I would argue that a simpler Batman storyline may be just what the title needs to find its footing in a new era of comics storytelling. The likes of which Batman has always been on the cutting edge of.