Comic Review: Batman #6

In this review of Batman #6. as Tim Drake makes a significant choice, Batman deals with the fallout of his Date Night.

BATMAN #6
Written by MATT FRACTION
Art and Main Cover: JORGE JIMÉNEZ
Variant Covers: JIM LEE, JULIAN TOTINO TEDESCO, GERALD PAREL, JORGE JIMÉNEZ, DAVID AJA, CHRISSIE ZULLO
Page Count: 40 pages
Release Date: 2/4/26

This review contains spoilers

After Damian as Robin called Bruce “Father” while Bruce was not in costume as Batman last issue, Bruce and Dr. Annika Zellar sit very awkwardly in an ambulance. Bruce tries to explain, but Dr. Zellar says she can’t be in more danger than ninja assassins trying to kill her. Bruce leaves after apologizing, also leaving his present of indestructible material for the doctor.

Damian is training on a punching bag as Bruce finds him in Pennyworth Manor, and Bruce breaks the bag and bitterly tells Damian he’s made a huge mistake. Damian leaves, seemingly dejected, as Bruce hears ghostly Alfred’s worried chiding.

At old Wayne Manor, the crime bosses who all had close friends or family members (or penguins, for the Penguin) slaughtered in front of them leave in their black limos.

Huge Strange rages at one of those crime bosses for failing to assassinate Dr. Zellar, and declares his plan goes into effect tomorrow night.

Meanwhile, Harvey Bullock gets the evidence that Commissioner Vandal Savage planted evidence to frame Batman for killing cops.

At the ports, Batman saves a lady from rampaging monster men, but as he fights the giant green guys, a huge task force of police try to slaughter Batman and monsters alike. Batman has the Batmobile smash through their line, then heads out.

At Pennyworth Manor again, Tim tells Bruce he’s taking a break from Robin to try to have a normal life with Bernard. Bruce is happy for Tim, but Damian feels like Tim is a deserter.

The main story ends with Batman, the crime lord who failed to kill Dr. Zeller, Damian, and Dr. Zellar all sitting down, exhausted.

Epilogue: Dr. Zellar talks to what appears to be the Joker in a tank, who is burning out all of her titanographene (the indestructible material Bruce gave her a box of), and Joker says he’s reaching out to his very best friend.

Analysis

After five pretty stellar issues of Batman, Fraction and Jimenez deliver a much more mixed bag with Batman #6. The idea of a whole issue of fallout from the date night is fine, and most of it works, from the progression of the Vandal Savage/Minotaur crime syndicate plotline, to Batman’s family drama, to Hugo Strange apparently having a Monster Men mini-plotline, but it’s a bit odd that so much seems to happen in just the one night, with two returns to the Batcave (unless this is a non-sequential timeline story, which is possible, but seems unlikely given the emotional sequence of the Bruce and Damian vs Bruce and Tim and then Tim and Damian scenes. All the pieces, while generally executed brilliantly, don’t quite flow together in the same way that one hopes for the standalone issue structure used by Fraction so far.

I have to say, though, that the revelation that Dr. Zellar thinks Damian is only Bruce’s son, and not that Bruce is Batman, was pretty halfhearted as a “reveal” after last issue. The opening and closing structure is quite cleverly done with the three pages of sitting and the one page of four main characters sitting. Speaking of which, the opening being three pages of Bruce and Dr. Annika Zeller sitting awkwardly after the last page of last issue is both effective and a bit amusing after J. Michael Straczynski caught a bit of flak on twitter recently for having two pages of his villain sitting, depressed, while Spider-Man tries to get her to fight (Amazing Spider-Man: Torn). Decompression is back, baby!

The “Wollstonecrafts, Inc.” pun—a nod to Mary Shelley’s maiden name—is a classic Fraction-style Easter egg. However, the attempt to frame Tim and Bernard as a “great love story” worth retiring for feels unearned.

Between Bernard’s lack of interaction with Tim and the glaring continuity error regarding Bernard knowing Tim’s identity, the “star-crossed lovers” angle falls flat. While a retcon is sometimes necessary, this one feels forced. Hopefully, as Fraction continues this long-term arc with Bruce, Tim, and Damian, we’ll get a conclusion that feels more grounded and convincing.

Jorge Jimenez’s art is pretty spectacularly energetic and fun as usual, though I’m curious if all the time-saving devices deployed – three pages of very little changing, two pages of panels being alternated with blacked out panels at the end – are deliberate to try to keep the schedule of the book.

Jorge Jimenez’s cover for Batman #6, as usual, is very eye-catching – showing Batman kicking the teeth out of some monsters in a construction setting (also available in a virgin foil variant). Jim Lee’s cover, featuring the spoiler of Tim leaving the Batcave, background of a bunch of orange Tim Drake comic covers, homaging the classic John Byrne cover. Julian Totino Tedesco’s painterly variant features Batman being grabbed by a bunch of huge green monster hands – extremely creepy. Gerald Parel’s variant features a classic, Frank Miller-esque but more realistically rendered Batman gritting his teeth over an injury in his side.

Jorge Jimenez also provided the Bat-Gadget variant, this time with the Batsuit and gauntlets, full of blueprint details. Chrissie Zullo Uminga’s Valentine’s Day variant features a very cute Batman and Catwoman on a chimney, tied up in Catwoman’s whip, and a cat on top! The 1 in 25 incentive variant by David Aja featuring Batman with a flashlight investigating from a doorframe, which doubles as a scary monster outline above Batman in humorous but also starkly designed and appealing imagery!

Final Thoughts

Some fun action sequences and nice structural elements don’t quite make Batman #6 hang together as it a few of its story beats don’t hit home.

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!