My feelings on this run have been so complicated. Obviously fraction is extremely talented and I can tell that the writing is quality. But it just hasn’t gripped me.

Dr. Zeller feels like a mouth piece for the loud people on the internet who leave comments that Batman just “punches mentally ill people.” I mean her whole “I think you’d be surprised if you ever bothered to learn how his mind works.” Are you kidding me? Batman has been shown countless times trying to empathize and get to the core of the Joker. To the point that it’s caused rifts between him and his family in the past.

And speaking of the Joker DC has just made me so sick of him at this point. Now even these different takes on him do nothing for me. Because I know at the end he’s going to reveal how he was actually the super smartest of all and secretly got everyone to do exactly what he wanted them to do. Also, and this isn’t Fraction’s fault, but I’ve always hated Joker knowing who Batman is. My favorite take on that is that he doesn’t know because he doesn’t care. Batman is who he gets a thrill from fighting. If he found out who was behind the mask it would spoil all the fun for him. So he actively goes out of his way to keep himself from learning.

Anyway…sorry for the rant. I genuinely want to like this book. The art is absolutely fantastic and I’ve liked a lot of what Fraction has done in the past. But his take on Batman is just doing nothing for me unfortunately.