Batman #15 is written by Matt Fraction and published by DC. Artwork is by Jorge Jiménez, colours by Tomeu Morey and letters by Clayton Cowles with assistance by Jiménez. Main cover art (left) is also by Jiménez and Morey.
Batman #15 is available now, in comic book stores and on digital platforms where all good comic books are sold. Grab your physical copy from Forbidden Planet or digitally from Amazon Comixology UK.
Synopsis
Nothing is slowing down for the Caped Crusader in the aftermath of Bad Seeds as six assassins descend on Gotham with one target in their sights: billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne. It’s all going down at El Granda Gala Enmascarado, and by the end of the night, Bruce Wayne will die before the eyes of the world. Time for Batman to get to work… A pivotal chapter in the ongoing Batman epic that you won’t want to miss!
Review
A new day has dawned in Gotham City and “Bad Seeds” is over. Vandal Savage has been deposed as the GCPD Commissioner and Pamela Isley is no longer in office. With event season behind them, Matt Fraction and Jorge Jiménez are picking up where they left off, with assassins inbound to Gotham and a bounty on Bruce Wayne’s head. But luckily for us, Bruce has a plan…
It all starts with an appearance on GNN (the Gotham News Network to you and I) where Bruce announces he’s leaving the city to appear on a reality TV show. Get ready for the ridiculously titled “B.I.L.F. Mountain”, a brand new partnership between Wayne Capital and the St. Cloud Modeling Agency. That acronym isn’t quite a salacious as you might think, it all stands for “Billionaire I’m Looking to for Financing”. Yes Bruce is headed off to a mountain hideaway with a group of beautiful minds who aren’t just beautiful on the inside. Fraction writes the scene perfectly, at face value it reads like any on-TV promo moment. But this is Bruce Wayne after all so it leaves the reader wondering what the play really is.
Fraction has never been one to make us wait too long for important information. So with a turn of the page things begin to get clearer. Bruce has hatched a plan which might rid the world of Bruce Wayne for a time without depriving it of Batman. Jiménez’s gorgeous cover might give away a certain part of the plan but we’ve got a long road to travel before we get there. Luckily for us Batman #15 is a elegantly balanced mix of action, drama and character work which manages to successfully encompass the wider ensemble cast whilst still fully exploring Bruce’s plans.
Fraction’s run on Batman has been notable for building out the world of Gotham, shining a light on the city by bringing it into the daylight. In the wake of “Bad Seeds” there’s something refreshing in both the storytelling and Jiménez’s artwork in this issue. Whilst Jiménez is showing some experimentation with his style this issue (see Superman and Wonder Woman below), it’s Tomeu Morey who is the MVP this issue. The whole book is electric in its dynamism. As a book, Batman has never felt so hopeful or so dazzling.
Bubbling away in the background are Dr. Zeller and The Joker. Zeller has been connective tissue that has run between arcs of the story so far. Now we’re seeing her captive Joker becoming more of a focal point. For starters we know he seems to be a lot more in the know about events in Gotham than perhaps we might have first thought. Now he seems to be imparting wisdom on Dr. Zeller. Fraction’s choice to include them there is certainly a breadcrumb for what’s to come, but for now I can’t tell what the direction of travel is for this subplot.
I don’t want to dig too far into the plot and accidentally spoil anything. Batman #15 is a wild ride once it hits full throttle. As Batman and Robin race to stop the assassin bearing down on the city there are special guests and brand new allegiances. Fraction is pulling hard on threads from across the city to kick off this new arc with a big swing and it certainly seems to be working. We’re left on an action-packed moment which is packed with strong duality. To some it’s shocking, to us it’s a signal that Bruce’s plan is moving to its next stage. There’s a strong balance of intrigue and truth to throttle the story forwards into the coming months.
Verdict
Batman #15 is a strong start to this brand new arc. Matt Fraction has set up an enticing story with “The Assassination of Bruce Wayne” offering our vigilante hero an interesting choice about how he is to live his life moving forwards… at least for the time being.
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