Comic Review: Batman #9

In this review of Batman #9, Batman and his family (Babs, Steph, Damian, and Duke) launch a calculated defeat in the face of Vandal Savage’s all out attack.

BATMAN #9
Written by MATT FRACTION
Art by RYAN SOOK
Main Cover: JORGE JIMENEZ
Variant Covers: DUSTIN NGUYEN, JORGE MOLINA, RYAN SOOK, JOHN GIANG, MIRKA ANDOLFO, JORGE JIMENEZ, DAVID AJA
Page Count: 40 pages
Release Date: 5/6/26

This review contains spoilers

Batman #9 begins as Bruce briefs Duke (The Signal), Steph (Batgirl), and Damian (Robin) on the operation he and Babs have planned – a deliberate loss in the face of Vandal Savage and Poison Ivy’s campaign against the Batfamily. Saving what they can from the Bat-bunkers, burning and self-destructing the rest. Bruce argues with ghost Alfred about Damian, and ghost Alfred convinces Bruce to give Damian his own mission as a show of trust. During check in with Oracle, Steph Batgirl learns from Damian that Tim has quit the Batfamily life to be with Bernard, and beats up some of Savage’s heavily armed men in frustration as a reaction. Tim himself has a date night with Bernard, hears the sirens and is clearly a bit torn between his boyfriend and his former life as Robin.

Signal finds himself in trouble with a police armored car in close pursuit, and Batman swoops in with backup. Steph Batgirl finds herself in a trap, and Babs Oracle sets off the next phase of the plan – broadcasting in the clear to draw Savage’s men to the Clocktower.

In the morning, Batman and Robin watch over Wayne Manor, Bruce apologizing to Damian for overreacting, and they blow up the Manor. Duke and Steph watch on their monitor (as does patrol officer Jim Gordon from his station) as Babs is marched, bloody but unbowed, by Savage’s men to her fate.

Analysis: After a very meditative chapter in his Batman run, Matt Fraction offers his guest penciller Ryan Sook an action extravaganza and the Batfamily rushes to deny Vandal Savage their resources, and takes a massive loss. As part of the launch of the exciting new series Barbara Gordon: Breakout, Babs deliberately gets herself captured by Savage’s men, and Batman and his son blow up their ancestral manor. These are big, bold moves, but hopefully ones that will pay off with many great stories to come.

Fraction handles two new characters to his run here – Duke Thomas and Stephanie Brown – and provides interesting character notes for each. Duke struggles to avoid using his powers to prevent Savage from pulling federal resources for a metahuman problem, and Steph reacts to her former boyfriend Tim Drake quitting the hero life for his new boyfriend. Fraction has mentioned he didn’t know too much about Steph’s current situation, so he checked with Becky Cloonan and Michael Conrad, writers of Batgirls, to see if his writing of her reaction to Tim’s choice rang true. It’s nice to see Steph’s impulsive irritation as a reaction, connection both with how Cloonan and Conrad wrote her in Batgirls, but also in classics like Robin #15-16 and #35 from Chuck Dixon’s seminal run.

Ryan Sook, after the carefully paced train rides and diner conversations of last issue, provides beautifully laid out and executed action scenes, most of them vehicular, in this issue. While Tomeu Morey’s coloration of blonde hair (for Steph in this issue, and Alan Scott last issue) still strikes my eye as weirdly fluorescent, it’s still some of the best coloring in the business. That being said, it will be lovely to see Jorge Jimenez back on main pencil duties next month!

Jorge Jimenez’s main cover highlights Barbara Batgirl and Batman surrounded by a huge gang of Savage’s men, with an ominous “ONE WILL FALL” highlighting the plan (also available in virgin foil edition for an upcharge). Though Babs doesn’t appear as Batgirl in the issue, it’s appropriate to see her side by side with Batman given her role in planning the mission. Veteran artist Dustin Nguyen features Batman, Steph Batgirl, Damian Robin, and Duke Signal against a clockface background, a nice arrangement of characters from the book in Nguyen’s trademark watercolor style. Jorge Molina provides a movie poster cover, Batman and Savage on top, Babs Batgirl and Damian Robin on the bottom fleeing a massive team of Savage’s men. Interior artist Sook provides a variant cover of his own, featuring Batman, Signal, Robin, and Steph Batgirl each rushing to their own missions, clocktower in the background – a very dynamic cover! Mirka Andolfo provides a very fun Batman/Shadow Sonic crossover variant in honor of the DC x Sonic 2 miniseries starting. John Giang provides a nicely rendered but a bit confusing choice of Katana in his digital style for AAPI Heritage Month. David Aja continues his stark and brilliantly cartooned series of 1 in 25 incentive variants with Batman behind Savage’s men.

Final Thoughts

Fraction and Sook pull out all the stops for an action packed chapter of Batman vs. Vandal Savage!

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!