In this review of Batman #3, as Vandal Savage continues his mission to destroy Batman and Robin, questions arise about the treatment activity at Arkham Tower by Dr. Zeller.
Batman #3 main cover by Jorge Jiménez (DC Comics)
BATMAN #3
Written by MATT FRACTION
Art and Main Cover: JORGE JIMÉNEZ
Variant Covers: JIM LEE, JULIAN TOTINO TEDESCO, JOE QUESADA, JORGE JIMÉNEZ, DAVID AJA
Page Count: 40 pages
Release Date: 11/5/25
This comic book review contains spoilers
Jorge Jimenez and Matt Fraction continue their run with Batman #3. A young boy in the East Coventry district of Gotham City interviews an older woman named “Miss Marjorie” about how Gotham has changed over the years. She says it’s mostly the people who have changed, they don’t help each other anymore. Just then, they hear gunshots and the boy films Batman and Robin fleeing from the scene of two gunned down cops. Later, Commissioner Vandal Savage plants a bloody batarang at the scene and then intimidates one of the injured cops into implicating Batman in the shooting. Bruce visits Tim in the hospital but gets rebuffed by his boyfriend Bernard who notes that every time Bruce and Tim spend time together, Tim ends up getting hurt.
While there, a Gotham talk show catches Bruce’s eye featuring Dr. Hugo Strange and Dr. Anna Zeller debating the causes of violent and antisocial behavior. Dr. Zeller insists that the root causes are quantitative differences in each person’s brain chemistry and she claims to have created an electronic headpiece with a Wayne family endowment that balances out these chemicals in her patient’s brains.
Back home, Bruce has a sparring session with Damian while downtown, Gordon calls Harvey Bullock at his PI business. Gordon tells him to put up the bat signal which is now a tiny bat-shaped stuffed animal device in his office window. Batman meets up with Gordon and Bullock who tell him that Savage is conducting a false flag operation to frame Batman and justify a full on mercenary attack against him.
Meanwhile at the Wayne Experimental Sciences Building, the Riddler breaks in while compulsively speaking in riddles and tries to steal Dr. Anna Zeller’s headpiece device to ‘make [his] head stop.’ Batman sedates him and questions him in the Batmobile. Together with a holographic version of Alfred, he deduces that Dr. Zeller has been experimenting on inmates at Arkham Asylum as Batman #3 comes to an end.
Eyes are everywhere in Gotham City, Commissioner Savage (DC Comics)
Analysis
With this new reboot of Batman’s main line, Jorge Jimenez and Matt Fraction had the opportunity to do something truly unique and different, but instead chose to lean into what each of them love in Batman lore from the past. It’s certainly an understandable choice and the general reception seems to be positive towards this nostalgic old-fashioned kind of Dark Knight storytelling. Batman’s line “everything old is new again” gives the proceedings a kind of inevitable cyclicity that feels fitting although I can’t help wishing this reboot took things in a bold new direction rather than circling the same tired beats we’ve seen before. And this idea of reducing all Batman’s iconography into tiny handheld trinkets (the dinosaur, the batsymbol, etc) isn’t enough to differentiate this run from past main line reboots.
Batman #3 as it is has some interesting nuggets. I do really like this down and out Gordon and Harvey. They no longer have any influence on the city politics and policing so they have to be especially crafty with their alliance with Batman and that’s always fun to see. I’ll never get enough of those two. The Riddler segment was fun as well, although I’m not entirely sure why Batman’s techno stealth suit is necessary (Batman’s regular suit should be his stealth suit, no?) I like the idea of Riddler just compulsively speaking in Riddles and being unable to stop. The Batman/Robin’s stuff feels a little clunky and juvenile under Fraction’s helm. Damian especially feels like a caricature of himself especially during the bizarre crotch-kicking scene which is even more bizarrely endorsed by Alfred’s holographic ghost.
I am curious to see where Dr. Zeller’s brain altering technology storyline goes although it feels oddly familiar and Vandal Savage framing Batman is a classic setup which is another way of saying it’s been done a million times. I think I prefer Savage as a kind of morally ambiguous antihero but this kind of Luthorian take is fine I suppose.
Jorge Jimenez isn’t my favorite artist working today, but I must admit that there were a few panels and images that really impressed me. And I gotta say, the rest looks pretty solid as well. The opening page is framed in a creative way that utilizes modern technology for storytelling which I have to commend it for. Possibly my favorite Batman artist ever is Norm Breyfogle and the police officer’s face of terror at the bottom of page 6 reminds me of some of his bug-eyed crazies from The Last Arkham. And while I feel like the way he draws Bruce and the Robins borders on generic, I love his schlubby greasy haired Bullock. Without the hat on he just embodies the sleaze.
Final Thoughts
With Batman #3, I still have this underlying feeling that Jimenez and especially Matt Fraction are playing it a little safer than what I would like in this run. This doesn’t feel groundbreaking or exciting in the same way that Absolute Batman does, but it’s solid Batman storytelling and I can’t knock it for that.
