Matt Fraction certainly loves Batman.
When I sat down to talk to him on Sunday (July 27th) at San Diego Comic-Con, the minutes didn’t hold back his love for the Dark Knight. His list of favorite Batman stories grows from classics like The Dark Knight Returns and Batman: Year 1 to modern writers like Grant Morrison, and lesser-known stories like Batman opposed the death of a doctor. It makes sense that he will become the next Batman writer. Even if he had no intention of taking over one of DC’s biggest books.
“The stupid luck and timing that are the password for my career,” Fraction said with a laugh when he asked how he got the job. “Batman was the first manga I’ve ever read. I was three and a half years old. That’s why I love manga. I said, ‘Sure’. It wasn’t that there was anything in the back pocket, and I didn’t know what Batman was going to do, but when I sat and thought about it, I was excited to write! ”
Provided by DC Comics.
Fraction is clearly not alone, as he works with artist Jorge Jimenez, who described most of Zdarsky’s Batman run. Like many of us, fractions only praised Jimenez’s work.
“I love his work. I’m a huge fan. I read anything he draws for the rest of my life,” Fraction said. “He’s very supportive and very creative, and everything I come up with is he’s doing better. It’s a beautiful collaboration.”
Jimenez designed a new outfit for Batman. This will bring the hated crusaders back to blue and grey.
“In my gut, it kind of talked about what I wanted to do with the book,” Fraction said. “It says more about what my approach is more than anything, and Jorge felt the same way.”
Batman also joins forces with Tim Drake, but the dynamic duo is heading down the road to act as Gotham’s new police chief.
“It’s a dangerous time to be Batman and Robin in Gotham, and that’s what we’ve picked up and Tim has gotten into a lot of trouble,” Fraction says. He also discussed how Savage poses a different kind of threat to Batman. “He feels like that natural Batman villain. It’s crazy that he isn’t. He’s the only person who understands tactics more than Batman. He lived history.
Main cover by Jorge Jimenez. Provided by DC Comics.
Another approach that fractions take is to do each problem in his Batman run “feel like a perfect meal.”
“Part of that was just hoping for a challenge,” Fraction said. “I want everyone to get the value of their money and get the story at the beginning, middle and end.”
He also expressed his desire to write more DC characters, adding that he felt that his work in fellow Superman Jimmy Olsen was the last time he had worked in space.
Fractions also repeatedly called Batman “the coolest superhero of all time,” so fans definitely have something to look forward to when taking the book’s reign. There must be a lot to love.
