Enjoy this complimentary article, previously available exclusively for Popverse members. If you like what you see, consider becoming a Popverse member.

There is a new Batman writer in town, and it's Matt Fraction, the man behind books like Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen, Hawkeye, Sex Criminals, and The Immortal Iron Fist. He's also a co-creator and one of the writers for Apple TV+'s Monarch: Legacy of Monsters show, making him part of a growing cohort of comic book writers working in television. It's hard to think of a more triumphant return to comics for Fraction than as the writer of Batman, where he'll be joined by fan-favorite artist Jorge Jiménez. 

While Fraction and Jiménez's Batman #1 isn't out until September 3, fans got a peek at what's in store earlier this year. One of the most notable aspects of Fraction and Jiménez's run thus far is that Batman has abandoned his all-black outfit for a classic grey and blue suit. The new Batsuit resembles a streamlined version of the suit Neal Adams used in his Batman run with Denny O'Neil in the early '70s - and yes, it's intentional. We love seeing a classic look reimagined for a new generation! 

At San Diego Comic-Con 2025, we sat down with Matt Fraction to discuss what lies ahead for Batman. 

Popverse: This isn't your first time writing Batman, and somehow this has to compete with the Batman prank war in Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen. Any chance we could see that side of the Dark Knight here?

Matt Fraction: Yeah, a little bit sometimes. I think Jimmy brought something out very special in Batman, but I also genuinely think Batman is funny when he says, ‘I'm hilarious.’ I think he's capable of that. So we'll see. I'm trying to limit myself to, you know, after Jimmy, which was so much about trying to be funny. We're checking the tone and making sure it's tonally appropriate, you know? But there's definitely some moments I think where prank war Batman pops out a little bit.

And speaking of Jimmy, you said yesterday that the Daily Planet has an office now in Gotham City, and that Jimmy is running it. He’s a sensitive, nice young man. How is that going for him?

You know, I don't know. I'm actually so far ahead on Batman that things are happening now that I’ve written like almost the entire first year at this point, and it doesn't come out for another two months. So although there’ll be a bit a little bit of lag as we get caught up with what's going on in the DCU, but I'm sure it’ll be a reunion that will be worth the wait whenever it comes to pass.

We did an editorial retreat, and at one point, everybody was talking about what was going to happen in March, and I had to shut up because I realized I was talking about March 2027, and they're talking about March 2026. So I'll wait for things to catch up.

And so you've said this run will be a “superhero-forward” take on Batman. What does that mean to you?

I want to embrace the comic book nature of the comic, you know?  I think it allows for a tonal flexibility. I think we can do all kinds of different [stories]. The stories all can fit, and I think the character and the medium are elastic enough to sustain them all. But it's not so much about the world's greatest detective solving the world's toughest crimes. It’s the world's greatest SUPER detective solving the world's greatest super crimes. There's an annual coming up where Batman solves the murder of a bee. I want weird cases and fun comic book and science fiction and superhero and all that kind of stuff all under one roof. We'll see if it works.

I mean, that's what's fun about Batman. You mentioned yesterday in the panel your love for the utility belt, for instance. He's got shark repellent in there, all kinds of things in there. So that's part of the fun about Batman, he’s got all these, out of this world, superhero objects around him all the time.

Right. Yeah, I loved the gadgets when I was a kid. And everything about the grammar of video games is gadget wheels and equipment, and it just felt like, ‘Oh, that's the same thing. Every game, you have a gadget wheel, of course, Batman has a gadget wheel, he's got a belt of gadgets. Let’s make it work.

And he has plenty of time to craft a little back in his Batcave. That all makes sense.

He loves to get books for people from other towns, find special mushrooms, and flowers. He's into it.

I love that. And also something that came to mind for me was, I'm a New Yorker. I live in LA now, and this sense of maps and neighborhoods and individual neighborhood characteristics, and how you said that you wanted to really define what it means for Gotham to exist as a city, and how you get from one place to the next. For me this recalled elements from your Hawkeye in that it was –

A very neighborhood-specific book.

Exactly. So what about these types of stories or even this line of thinking intrigues you as a writer?

I think it’s the happiest cliché for a writer to say, well, you know the city is a character. But I think it's really true in DC books. Metropolis is a character. Gotham is a character, so it's another character, and it's one that can serve the story and reveal things about the story and the people in it in ways that people maybe can't or don’t. It’s a whole other arsenal to play with, you know? And I just find there's, you know, I love New York movies of the 70s that are so, it's such a time machine, or even there's a Darren Aronofsky and Charlie Houston's movie Caught Stealing comes out and that's so much about New York in the 90s and Kim's video and a Lower East Side that doesn't exist anymore. It's like a little time machine, and it speaks to our own memories and stuff. And I just want to take advantage of that and really make Gotham more than just an amazing Anton first backdrop, but rather a place where real people live and real stories happen. And all of these neighborhoods fit together for one reason or the other. And there's politics and history and people and all that kind of stuff. It's like having a profoundly gifted actor in your cast. Like we should write for them, you know.

And they’ve got all this lore that you could just sit around and talk about for ages. Moving onwards, you’ve said a couple of times that Batman #316 was the first comic you ever read.

Which is why Jimmy is holding the Batman 316 sign up.

Do you remember how you got that? And how would you describe the emotional waves that this has? Like, is it going to be a special day when your comps come in?

Oh yeah, yeah. It always is. I've sort of sworn to myself that the day that that's not special is the day I'll stop, you know? But it's always amazing. I feel like it was at a grocery store and I feel like I was in a stroller or a shopping [cart]? It was somewhere that I could reach, is my memory. But I was literally 3, so I'm not entirely sure. There is something profound in it for me in that I really do feel that this is the character that brought me in, and then I wouldn't be here sort of without it, at least not in this way. You know what's going to happen when the comps come out, is it will finally become real. It doesn't really feel real yet. As far as into it as I'm in and as much as I've done. We have like an ashcan at the show and it's not quite right.

The letters aren’t there.

Yeah. Although the first three issues are done, it hasn't become real. It'll become real when it comes out, you know? So I'm trying to write a love letter to this insane industry and beautiful medium and all of the lunatics like us that have found a calling in it, you know. It is yet to actually feel like work, it is all a labor of love at this point, and I'm just having the time of my life.

That's great. Well, speaking of lunatics, Chip Zdarsky has-

Who?

Chip Zdarsky.

[Deadpan] I’m aware.

[Laughter] Chip Zdarsky has said that when talk began about who would be a good candidate to write Batman next, he brought up your name. You and Chip have known each other for a long time; how does it feel to have that kind of friendship and respect in what can be a competitive industry?

Oh, he's my best friend and biggest cheerleader, and I hope I am his. And I genuinely love his work. That's why I wanted to work with him. And through, you know, a variety of different things when he was leaving, he said, ‘I think I'm going to leave Batman. Would you be interested in if Rob [Levin] and Marie [Javins] would want to talk about it?’ And I was like, ‘[quizzical noise] Uh, sure?’

So Chip’s the best. And I love it when my friends become successful, it's great. Part of the reason I wanted to work with Chip was, I knew his work and it spoke to me and I knew we would get along. I could tell we shared a sense of humor and all that, but I just knew that like, why isn't this guy bigger? Why don't people see how great this guy is? And it turned out we got on like a house on fire. He's the best and I also wouldn't be here were it not for him. So Chip and Batman, that's who to blame, if this goes wrong.

And so if Chip were here right now, and we can send him the transcript later, what would you tell him?

Love you, chum. Also, which one is Alfred again?

So nothing against Batman, but I am lowkey thrilled about you writing Jim Gordon back as a beat cop. It gives me Year One vibes where he’s being a badass, and it’s really kind of his story, which you’ve also said that you’ve studied immensely. Who is Jim Gordon to you?

He's the last good cop in Gotham, even though there are other good cops in Gotham. He will be the last one. His indefatigable human goodness and decency, and fairness that understands that justice rendered without fairness is fiat. Did you ever watch The Wire?

Yes.

I think about McNutty in season 4, where he went back to being a beat cop, and it's the only time in the show where he’s happy. There’s that for Jim. It’s fine being a detective, it’s fine being commissioner, but being a guy who knows the name of everybody up and down the street and checks in with people and all that stuff. Yeah it’s great. I love the character.

In spending less time “working” on comics, are there things about comics you find that you gravitate more towards now because you missed it?

Oh, yeah, I missed them terribly. I like television. I had fun. Have fun. I'm still working in television, but it's also like flood water and it just takes all the space you can give it. And you know, I lived in Vancouver for six months shooting a show, and there’s budgets and locations and studios and networks and all these. It's so collaborative, which is great, but can also be supremely frustrating, especially when this thing that I do by myself in my head whenever and wherever I want, and then three weeks later, it shows up at my house and then goes out into the world – it’s great. And not that comics aren't collaborative, but like it's a smaller circle. It’s me and an artist and an editor and a colorist and a letterer. And we all work together and that's it. We're the group. Like, “Are we happy? Alright.” It’s just the speed, the velocity. And the turnaround. Like we wrapped our show in mid-December, and then it premiered at the end of the following November, which is crazy that the show was done, shot. It just takes so long to make TV happen, so there’s joy in the velocity of comics, but also our budget is only limited by Jorge’s imagination.

And yours.

And mine. Right, which is crippling, I admit. But, you know, I wrote an outline, not even an outline. I wrote a pre-outline for what my outline was going to be, and was told in no uncertain terms this would cost $300 million to make. Like just as a sketch of what it [would be]. And that was in the phase where we were blue skying everything, like “Let's pretend there is no budget. Let's go crazy. Let's write big and see what happens.” And like, “Nope, this would be more expensive than the whole season and all of next season. No, thank you.” Wherein comics, just write whatever you want and Jorge can draw it and he'll draw it fast and make it better than you thought. So yeah I absolutely missed it. I think part of the reason I have been so productive once I came back [to comics] was, it was just nice to be able to do it and just crank. 

Get ready for what's next with our guide to upcoming comics, how to buy comics at a comic shop, and our guide to Free Comic Book Day 2025.