In this review of Batman #13, Batman stars in his own version of The Raid: Bad Seeds edition.
Batman #13 main cover by Matteo Scalera (DC Comics)
BATMAN #13
Written by MATT FRACTION
Art and Main Cover: MATTEO SCALERA
Variant Covers: DAN MORA, DUSTIN NGUYEN, RYAN SOOK, DAVID AJA, JOSÉ LADRÖNN, GUILLEM MARCH
Page Count: 40 pages
Release Date: 9/2/26
This review contains spoilers
Batman saves a man from deadly plants in the building across from the GCPD HQ, then bursts through the police window and beats down the TUCO resistance. The officers tell him Savage is waiting on the roof. He beats his way up the stairs through dozens of TUCOs, saving more officers from indiscriminate and sloppy TUCO fire. The TUCOs chant as their “Big Boy” enormous champion faces Batman in the stairwell, but though he gets some hits in and throws Batman down the stairwell, Batman quickly firehose-suffocates him. The TUCOs are struck with fear at the defeat of their Big Boy, and let Batman pass all the way up to the roof. Next to a huge tank of Ivycide chemical, Savage welcomes Batman with “You’re under arrest.”
Analysis
When Matt Fraction was announced as the next Batman title writer, I did a 2 part podcast for TBU reviewing his seminal Hawkeye run with artist David Aja (now doing incentive variants for this Batman run), Annie Wu, Javier Pullido, and Francesco Francavilla (https://thebatmanuniverse.net/the-batman-universe-podcast-episode-283/, https://thebatmanuniverse.net/the-batman-universe-podcast-episode-284/). Though Fraction has mostly done very different things with Batman than he did with Clint Barton, this issue seems chock full of Hawkeye parallels, nods, or easter eggs. From the guy Batman saves at the beginning of the issue calling him “Batmang”, very similar to Grills calling Clint “Hawkguy”, to the huge group of TUCOs chanting “Big Guy” similar to the Tracksuit Mafia calling everyone “Bro”, there’s a strong sense of Bat-Hawk-man-eye here.
Guest artist Matteo Scalera provides very strong visuals, reminiscent of Rafael Albuquerque’s looser but still very kinetic style. Fraction and Scalera make a lot of emphasis on Batman’s relationship with the regular officers at the GCPD vs the TUCOs, providing an interesting and welcome nuance. Batman saving one of the officers from TUCOs spraying gunfire in an office was another great moment.
Despite these fun elements and positives, there’s also a bit of thinness to this issue. Fundamentally, Batman repeats the plot of The Raid – going from the bottom of a building to the top, beating up people brutally on the way (also done in the underrated Dredd movie with Karl Urban). Everything is nicely in character and well done, but there’s a slight lack of momentum here, which I suppose makes some sense when you have over 24 issues covering a roughly 12 hour span of time in the Bad Seeds event. We shall see what happens next with Tom Taylor and Jeff Spokes’s Detective Comics chapter in the tale of Batman vs Vandal Savage and Poison Ivy!
Guest artist Matteo Scalera gives us a splashy main cover – Batman leaping out of a huge pink flower into a crowd of TUCOs, sinister Savage over his shoulder (also available with a surcharge as a virgin foil variant). Dan Mora’s cover features Batman leaping down into vines and Venus Fly-Traps, with blimp and chopper in the red sky above. Dustin Nguyen continues his beautiful watercolor series of covers with Batman in the chokehold of Ivy’s vines, a huge Ivy face in the background. Former guest artist Ryan Sook continues his own series of variants with Batman frantically driving the Batmobile framed by devouring vines. Frank Miller provides an anniversary cover for his own Dark Knight Returns 40th Anniversary, a Batman face shattered by his iconic lightning. Jose Ladronn’s Hispanic Heritage Month variant features Bane on a white background in a very painterly style. Guillem March gives us a spot foil variant with Batman surrounded by sparkling vines and shattered glass – a typically gorgeous March variant. David Aja’s 1 in 25 incentive variant features Batman on a fire escape leaning over the growing forest below.
Final Thoughts
Fraction reaches back to his Hawkeye roots as guest artist Matteo Scalera draws some brutal fights.
