Comic Book Review: Batman #8

In this review of Batman #8, as Mayor Poison Ivy and Vandal Savage plot, Batman meets with Alan Scott, the Green Lantern, to counter-plot, and an old man and a boy talk about life on the train.

BATMAN #8
Written by MATT FRACTION
Art by RYAN SOOK
Main Cover: JORGE JIMENEZ
Variant Covers: DUSTIN NGUYEN, JORGE MOLINA, RYAN SOOK, JORGE JIMENEZ, DAVID AJA, GUILLEM MARCH
Page Count: 40 pages
Release Date: 4/1/26

This review contains spoilers

On the L train, at City Hall, and in a dark alley, three old men have three different meetings. Alan Scott, the original Earth Green Lantern, gets mugged by the Axe Gang, while Commissioner Savage meets with Mayor Poison Ivy. And on the train, Jack Dean tells a young boy named Huston the way the world is changing. Vandal Savage persuades Ivy to declare war on Batman, while Alan uses his Green Lantern ring to easily disable his assailants. Jack says that he started out looking for nuance, now he believes people are good or bad.

Batman applauds Alan, and thanks Green Lantern for meeting him. They have coffee in a nearby diner, and Batman opens up to Alan, saying he wants the citizens and criminals to see him not running from Savage, and not abandoning them or letting them get away with hurting others. Jack Dean continues telling Huston his philosophy, saying that bad people see everyone else as threats, driven by fear. Alan gives Batman his perspective on Vandal Savage, saying he’s driven by hunger and survival, and thinks on a timeline of generations rather than days or even years.

Ivy asks Savage what his war on Batman gives her – and he says it gives her Savage’s loyalty and pledge to use his army of police to support her radical transformation, convincing her to sign. Alan and Batman leave the diner, Batman thanking Alan for giving him insight into Savage – being stuck in Gotham, and using that problem to focus on Batman personally. Alan sees the newspapers reporting that the Mayor has signed warrants for the arrest of the whole Batfamily.

Analysis

Matt Fraction, always looking to provide structural unity for each of his issues of Batman, gives us a trio of meetings involving old men – Vandal Savage, Alan Scott, and Jack Dean (a journalist and editor). Like all good comic writers, he uses dialogue transitions to move thematically between the three scenes, and guest artist and industry legend Ryan Sook provides lovely interiors which highlight the dark and light corners of Gotham City. It’s nice seeing Batman finally addressing the Vandal Savage problem directly, asking Alan Scott to help him think through the problem. The characterization is really appealing – each of our meetings reveals a lot of character for each of the six main figures, and there’s a sense of Batman and Vandal playing chess against each other, trying to move their allies into place against their foe.

Jack Dean’s meeting seems to be a reason for Fraction to continue developing the ideas behind his Batman run. Dean’s philosophy that there are good and bad people, not nuanced and complex people, seems to fit with Batman’s grumpy statement in the first issue that no one really changes. A bit of a dark and sad message, if that’s really what Fraction is trying to convey – but good to keep thinking about as he develops his take on classic and new characters alike. Dean particularly highlights the problem of people who are driven by fear – perhaps an outgrowth of Batman’s idea of criminals as a cowardly and superstitious lot. Hopefully there IS some complexity and nuance as we keep going – I think there will be, since even in this issue, we have a lot of details and interesting pieces of the characters involved, particularly Batman himself, who is trying to change his closed off method of operating with people by being open with Alan Scott.

Tomeu Morey’s colors, while a nice continuity between main series artist Jorge Jimenez and fill-in artist Ryan Sook, sometimes sit a bit awkwardly on the thicker lines of Sook’s pencilling. Alan’s hair seems almost neon yellow instead of pale blonde, feeling a bit unnatural and distracting in an otherwise beautifully colored issue. As a whole, however, the art and coloring for Batman continues to be top notch, and even though it’s sad to see Jorge absent, Sook is more than up to the task of providing creative visuals that pack emotional and visual punch.

Though absent from interiors for Superman/Spider-Man reasons this month and next, Jorge Jimenez does provide a main cover (also available in virgin foil option for a surcharge), a lovely collage of Vandal Savage attempting to persuade Poison Ivy, Batman and Alan Scott Green Lantern, and a flaming newspaper. Dustin Nguyen, who appears to be doing a series of covers for this Batman run, provides an aqua-washed Dark Knight hanging out on a rebar-spiked broken bit of concrete, Batman: Wanted posters plastered beneath him. Josh Williamson Batman artist Jorge Molina provides a painterly Batman holding his hands up for a blurry police force, sirens visible behind him.

Interior artist Ryan Sook gives us a shadowy Batman overlooking Vandal Savage smashing the Batsignal, a huge troop of Vandal’s men and Poison Ivy vines between. As part of the “Things to Come” variant series, where the Next Level plans for the year are teased on the cover, series main artist Jorge Jimenez also provides a picture featuring a mysterious leather-masked figure behind Batman, Dr. Zeller, Matches Malone, the Minotaur, Joker in his tank, and a business suited lady with a blonde braid – all very intriguing! Guillem March provides an “April Drools” variant with Batman being licked by Krypto the super-dog. Lastly, David Aja continues to provide his incentive variant series with a nicely appealing design of Poison Ivy, Mayor.

Final Thoughts

Fraction and guest artist Sook provide a moody, lovely issue pushing the story forward in both plot and character.

Ian Miller

A latecomer to comics - I started reading Bruce Wayne: Murderer, Birds of Prey, Hush, and War Games in college. Over a decade and a half later, I'm still inspired by Batman, and especially the Bat-Family (Stephanie Brown!) I started out listening to BTO, then Stella drew me to TBUCP, I volunteered to write reviews, and the rest is history! Love recording the podcast, especially with my amazing cohosts. Also a huge fan of Jane Austen, C. S. Lewis, Tolkien, and many more books!