Batman Vol. 2: Blood & Money Review

Batman continues to be my favourite book on the shelves. If you know me, I don’t think that statement should come as a surprise. But I always worry about the novelty wearing off, i.e. what if I stop enjoying the episodic nature of it? What if I want something more than what it is? Yet, here I still am with Batman: Blood & Money, in a very “honeymoon period”-esque feeling, at the end of what is the first year of Matt Fraction, Jorge Jimenez, Tomeu Morey & Clayton Cowles’ (and Ryan Sook’s) Batman.

Most importantly, I think the consistency this book has is so remarkable. Again, this always sounds like I’m describing a flaw but it’s a feature and a good one, I love that this book knows what it is. In my review for Batman: Daylight, the first arc, I talk about how long an issue of the series exists in my mind – which is exactly the week it comes out and then no longer. There is such a beauty to that, where I have a week to think about the cool Batman adventure of that month, and then I get to move on from it and come back again for that rush. That too feels like a tight needle to thread. I imagine it’s easy to suddenly aspire for bigger and broader swings and yet, Fraction and Jimenez know the exact upper limit to hit to leave me invested the way I like to be invested.

This arc also brought in Ryan Sook (Seven Soldiers: Zatanna, Legion of Super-Heroes) to illustrate two issues, and what a great two issues those are. We get two flavours of Sook in these, #8 gives us very slow, deliberate, conversationalist Sook, while #9 gives us action Sook. What is fun is that these are sandwiched between two Jimenez issues that are also about similar things, #7 is a very conversationalist issue while #10 is a big action issue. And yet, even as Tomeu Morey’s colors and Clayton Cowles’ letters give it a layer of cohesion, Fraction’s scripts allow for Jimenez and Sook both to play to their strengths and have these all be so distinct from one another where it never feels like the same beats are being hit. And to extend past that, #11 and #12 also have Jimenez doing action differently too, which allows for different escalations of tension and different scales of momentum, and all of that makes every single issue feel unique.

Batman: Daylight was about a long three days and nights in the life of the Batman, where Fraction and Jimenez establish this new status quo and this new take on Gotham. Batman: Blood & Money is about playing with a lot of these consequences. All of this is framed via conversations with the Joker, while Batman gets ready to deal with the Vandal Savage problem.

Parts of the Savage problem is set up for Bad Seeds – which also doubles as the book shifting into bigger stakes territory – and part of it is payoff for how they’ve been established in the first arc (and more broadly, since the Zdarsky/Jimenez run). I really do think that in Big Two comics, it all comes down to execution, what can seem like a bad idea can work really well if executed properly, and that’s how I feel about Savage now.

It’s all made especially clear in #8 (illustrated by Sook), where Batman and Alan Scott have a conversation about him over coffee, but it frames all of it in a really interesting light and I’m looking forward to seeing how all of that pans out in the broader scope of things. I also loved how it works out in the context of this volume; “Batman always wins” can be obnoxious to hear to some, I’m sure, but the setup/payoff here, where Batman and the team have to lose some things and a piece on the board before they obtain the advantage again was delivered really well, especially as the book gets primed to shift into high gear with Bad Seeds and what comes next.

And of course, I would be remiss to not expand more on Jimenez’s storytelling in this volume. Jimenez loves portraying speed, his action has such an unique momentum to it and on top of that he has a precise lock on exactly what momentum works where. #10 has him illustrating Batman running from one district to the next, reminding the people of Gotham that he’s still here. Fraction allows for the art to do the talking, and Jimenez takes that in full swing, showcasing just what he needs to in a panel or two before moving to the next location. In #11, you can feel just how fast The Ojo is, and also how fast Batman has to be to stand against her, without Jimenez ever having to draw a blur. The occasional motion line sure, but his panelling is the stunner.

This volume also introduces us to Verity Pennyworth, Alfred’s successor sent to Bruce and Damian from “The Society of the Midnight Key”. The concept feels like something out of the Golden Age (which makes sense, given that Fraction told me how he’s been looking at those very early Batman stories), and that is so much fun. I look forward to figuring out what her deal is, but like Annika Zeller, she’s a very welcome addition to this book that already has a stacked and well balanced roster of characters.

I look forward to seeing how they up the ante in Year Two, especially as Bad Seeds raises the stakes. I just hope I continue to keep loving this book the way I love it now.