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Batman (2025) (Single Issues)
Batman (2025-) #4
As Bruce Wayne investigates the Crown of Storms, Batman pursues Anarky and discovers a criminal conspiracy hiding in plain sight that will change the game for crime and criminals in Gotham City…and the world!
Kindle Edition
Published December 3, 2025
25 people are currently reading
31 people want to read
About the author
Matt Fraction
1,224 books1,869 followers"How he got started in comics: In 1983, when Fraction was 7 years old and growing up in Kansas City, Mo., he became fascinated by the U.S. invasion of Grenada and created his own newspaper to explain the event. "I've always been story-driven, telling stories with pictures and words," he said.
Education and first job: Fraction never graduated from college. He stopped half a semester short of an art degree at Kansas City Art Institute in Missouri in 1998 to take a job as a Web designer and managing editor of a magazine about Internet culture.
"My mother was not happy about that," he said.
But that gig led Fraction and his co-workers to split off and launch MK12, a boutique graphic design and production firm in Kansas City that created the opening credits for the James Bond film "Quantum of Solace."
Big break: While writing and directing live-action shoots at MK12, Fraction spent his spare time writing comics and pitching his books each year to publishers at Comic-Con. Two books sold: "The Last of the Independents," published in 2003 by AiT/Planet Lar, and "Casanova," published in 2006 by Image Comics.
Fraction traveled extensively on commercial shoots. Then his wife got pregnant. So Fraction did what any rational man in his position would do -- he quit his job at MK12 to pursue his dream of becoming a full-time comic book writer.
Say what? "It was terrifying," said Fraction, who now lives in Portland, Ore. "I was married. We had a house. We had a baby coming. And I just quit my job."
Marvel hired Fraction in June 2006, thanks largely to the success of his other two comics. "I got very lucky," he half-joked. "If it hadn't worked out, I would have had to move back in with my parents.
- 2009. Alex Pham. Los Angeles Times.
Education and first job: Fraction never graduated from college. He stopped half a semester short of an art degree at Kansas City Art Institute in Missouri in 1998 to take a job as a Web designer and managing editor of a magazine about Internet culture.
"My mother was not happy about that," he said.
But that gig led Fraction and his co-workers to split off and launch MK12, a boutique graphic design and production firm in Kansas City that created the opening credits for the James Bond film "Quantum of Solace."
Big break: While writing and directing live-action shoots at MK12, Fraction spent his spare time writing comics and pitching his books each year to publishers at Comic-Con. Two books sold: "The Last of the Independents," published in 2003 by AiT/Planet Lar, and "Casanova," published in 2006 by Image Comics.
Fraction traveled extensively on commercial shoots. Then his wife got pregnant. So Fraction did what any rational man in his position would do -- he quit his job at MK12 to pursue his dream of becoming a full-time comic book writer.
Say what? "It was terrifying," said Fraction, who now lives in Portland, Ore. "I was married. We had a house. We had a baby coming. And I just quit my job."
Marvel hired Fraction in June 2006, thanks largely to the success of his other two comics. "I got very lucky," he half-joked. "If it hadn't worked out, I would have had to move back in with my parents.
- 2009. Alex Pham. Los Angeles Times.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 49 reviews
December 6, 2025
Batman #4 was fine, but very much a setup issue. Fraction and Jiménez lay a lot of groundwork, introduce some new pieces, and move the plot into position — but it doesn’t offer much payoff on its own. The craft is solid, the art looks great, and the direction is promising, but as a single issue it felt more like connective tissue than something fully satisfying. Curious to see where it leads, though.
December 10, 2025
Matt Fraction’s current run just keeps getting better and better, and we really see that in issue #4 with the introduction of a brand-new villain, The Minotaur. I honestly hope more Batman writers start taking this risk and introducing new villains into Gotham. It’s definitely a bold move, but when it works, the payoff is huge.
I love how everything ties together, from the news outlets to the police force working with The Minotaur. These first four issues have done an amazing job pulling us straight into the inner corruption of Gotham City.
They don’t hold back when it comes to showing just how big of a threat The Minotaur has become. It starts with smaller moments, like thugs being willing to jump off buildings rather than give up any information about him. Then it escalates in a major way when The Minotaur brings in the family members of every person in his crime organization, including big figures like The Penguin, and has them killed to drive home the message: “When one of us earns, we all earn; and when one of us bleeds, we all bleed.” That panel had me completely on the edge of my seat.
This is, without a doubt, one of my top three favorite ongoing series right now. It’s that good.
I love how everything ties together, from the news outlets to the police force working with The Minotaur. These first four issues have done an amazing job pulling us straight into the inner corruption of Gotham City.
They don’t hold back when it comes to showing just how big of a threat The Minotaur has become. It starts with smaller moments, like thugs being willing to jump off buildings rather than give up any information about him. Then it escalates in a major way when The Minotaur brings in the family members of every person in his crime organization, including big figures like The Penguin, and has them killed to drive home the message: “When one of us earns, we all earn; and when one of us bleeds, we all bleed.” That panel had me completely on the edge of my seat.
This is, without a doubt, one of my top three favorite ongoing series right now. It’s that good.
December 3, 2025
I haven't always enjoyed Matt Fraction's comics in the past because I felt like his sense of humor didn't appeal to me, but somehow that has changed entirely with this Batman run. Every issue so far has made me laugh out loud multiple times. I loved Dr. Batman and the Crocs joke in particular in this issue. Where can I get my own Dr. Batman plushie? I want one now!
December 4, 2025
Rizzler Bruce Wayne
December 9, 2025
This is a good, slowburn of a story. We get some background on the Minotaur and Bruce Wayne is dialing up his game to get information. The artwork is great as well.
December 12, 2025
There’s so much depth to Jiménez’s Gotham. Every issue is rich with visual detail, and that’s before you get to the story. Every scene feels meaningful, cumulative. When else are you going to get “internecine” used in a comic?
December 10, 2025
c'est bon, mais ça va vite
December 7, 2025
The ending had me 😨😨
Minotaur is on one fr
Really looking forward how everything will be moving forward in this Batman series
Minotaur is on one fr
Really looking forward how everything will be moving forward in this Batman series
January 13, 2026
I love this
I love this
𝙄 𝙇𝙊𝙑𝙀 𝙏𝙃𝙄𝙎.
THE ARTSTYLE AAAAAAAAA
I love this
𝙄 𝙇𝙊𝙑𝙀 𝙏𝙃𝙄𝙎.
THE ARTSTYLE AAAAAAAAA
December 6, 2025
I am really enjoying the introduction of this villain, but I am also a major sucker for the strange look mixed with full suit design. Very Peter Undine, lol. While I do find the criminal element of this book a little difficult to navigate with how many different names are thrown around for one criminal element, I like how they will introduce an event and then show us how that is tying into the other events we thought were small in other issues. And as it turns out Anarky and his goons trying to knock over a truck a few issues ago…BIG ramifications that caught the seven fingered hand and single technological eye of the Minotaur. This issue starts with a bang as a gang ambushes the port of gotham looking for a very specific truck, specifically the one Anarky was knocking over. apparently a few nights ago two of the gangs ran a job they tried to keep off the books from the bank, which the Minotaur runs alongside his clearly drug fueled broker, and they paid for this job using uncut stones owed to the thieves field (ran by penguin). The stones were stashed in the trucks gas tank, but with Anarky trying to boost it the truck got impounded and no one was paid…leading to the chaos at the port where a whole lot of trucks burned and a lot of people were gunned down. Gang wars galore! But the Minotaur isn’t buying that this is all a coincidence, this is a conspiracy and he believes they have a rat, but in the meantime he orders a freeze on all the torus accounts for the gangs and an order for a parley to talk this over like men.
As daylight comes around we follow Bruce as he visits the Wayne Experimental Sciences building, the one Nygma tried to rob last issue, to visit around…specially visiting Dr Zeller. He finds her mid walk on a treadmill, oddly in crocs that aren’t even in sports mode, all while working on projected screens. What ensues is a pretty funny scene of banter where she doesn’t even turn around to see who is trying to get her attention and instead redirects him to “Dr Batman,” a little bat toy that she has setup for people to talk through their issues with it first, as they usually work themselves out, and so her time isn’t wasted. If they can’t figure it out themselves then they talk to her, and coming from someone who works in IT…I get it. Bruce of course has a question the little bat plush can’t answer, which is why her rare, difficult to fabricate, expensive drug is the way to go. Zeller pipes up, never breaking contact from her screens, to mention they are playing the long game against the chaos in patients minds. They need to take this over time and they need to start building now to get to a usable model sometime down the line. Bruce seems to be in agreement with her, even if it is a tough sell, and apparently she would want nothing more than to get into a room with Bruce Wayne to fully explain it. He walks over and stops her machine, pulling a very Bruce move and catching her instead of following treadmill safety to show her she has been talking to Bruce the entire time. If she knew attempted robbery was going to get his attention she would have broken in herself a year ago, lol. But she has the time now and Bruce immediately sets up a time tomorrow at 7 for dinner and a talk. With how often writers throw intelligent characters at Bruce for him to date for a few issues, I really hope this is not one of those situations and instead Bruce truly trying to get more information, especially with the state we saw Edward in last issue.
We now jump over the the Gotham eye, one of the dying newspapers that is actually surprising to see considering there should be a daily planet branch in Gotham now, as young Hutson (the boy who took the video of batman last issue) and the old reporter, Jack Dean, tries to get a meeting setup. Unfortunately Jack here was not a victim of the changing times…he was fired because he was a drunk. And unfortunately that doesn’t help Hutson very much as Jack ends up getting into a yelling match with his old editor and decides to take Hutson and the story elsewhere.
Speaking of elsewhere, red steam seems to be popping up all over in the vents across the city. One of the officials claims nothing is wrong, but I can see one thing that is wrong…Little Tokyo looks a lot like Shibuya crossing, lol. While we check in across the city and all the gang territories we finally end up in the Bowery where Anarky is hiding out. He is in edge and ready to bolt at a moments notice, and that moment comes with two of his men get thrown through his newspaper window. One of them has a note clearly from batman and Anarky makes a run for it, he jumps right out the window only for batman with a beautiful blue cape to catch him. What was the plan here?! He had no safe place to land, and as batman swings them inside…Anarky quickly sprays paint in Batman’s face. Batman immediately responds by giving one of the most powerful head kicks I’ve ever seen. Geez I’m surprised Anarky’s head didn’t come smooth off, lmao. When Anarky finally wakes up, he finds himself tied up and hanging upside down with batman looking for answers. That truck he failed to steal kicking off a gang war, all hunting for him, something isn’t adding up. Anarky claims he was laid to boost the truck and dump it in the river. Anarky is scared and starts begging for protecting, he will turn over to the feds he doesn’t care. Batman wants to know who he is running from and Anarky can’t tell if he is joking because he is now realizing batman hasn’t noticed…he hasn’t noticed how quiet it has been and how only the small time gangs are pulling jobs…there is a new guy in charge of organized crime and he has it REALLY organized.
We now surprisingly cut over to the old Wayne manor, where the ladies and gentleman crime lords of Torus are meeting under the protecting of Commissioner Savage. Of course Vandal is not the big bad in charge of everything, he doesn’t have his fingers in that many pots, but he certainly takes his share and provides accommodations for the Minotaur and his parlay. As everyone takes their seats the Minotaur steps out. Not sure why everyone here needed to go through the normal intros, lol, but it helps the audience. Specifically when the Minotaur explains that the torus is a prime knot, made up of seven independent yet interconnected loops made in breakable together…like the 6 gangs and the Minotaur himself working together. But with everyone at each other throats their projections aren’t looking great, so the bank served their function by freezing everyone’s assets. But the bank is worried that won’t get the point across, so as he pulls away a sheet behind him…he reveals that they have brought some of their family, now held at gunpoint, to prove a point. Hilariously there is a penguin among the group as penguin is the leader of the thieves guild. Everyone freaks out about their family held at gunpoint, but the Minotaur holds up his seven fingered hand and silenced them. He is the one that contains the algorithm for crime within his head and has built them all during this very unique moment to be the first resilient criminal empire at scale. They have a friendly police force, a malleable city hall, an incurious press, and the bat stays too busy to even realize how entangled they have become. In 20 months Minotaur projects they will control every criminal or legit stream of revenue in gotham…in 20 years they may have the world. BUT, when one of them earns they all earn…when one of them bleeds they all bleed. And with a closing of his fist the Minotaur orders the family members to be shot. I can’t help but notice six people and one penguin. Does that mean the Minotaur included a member of his own family or did someone get double? As we close the issue out we can see batman swinging across the city with Anarky’s revelation in his ears. Batman is now aware of the presence of the Minotaur, and how he has “turned gotham into a labyrinth of crime.” Well let me tell you something Lonnie, batman knows Labyrinths. The court of owls built a hell of a labyrinth and he is out of it now, I project the Minotaur going down!
As daylight comes around we follow Bruce as he visits the Wayne Experimental Sciences building, the one Nygma tried to rob last issue, to visit around…specially visiting Dr Zeller. He finds her mid walk on a treadmill, oddly in crocs that aren’t even in sports mode, all while working on projected screens. What ensues is a pretty funny scene of banter where she doesn’t even turn around to see who is trying to get her attention and instead redirects him to “Dr Batman,” a little bat toy that she has setup for people to talk through their issues with it first, as they usually work themselves out, and so her time isn’t wasted. If they can’t figure it out themselves then they talk to her, and coming from someone who works in IT…I get it. Bruce of course has a question the little bat plush can’t answer, which is why her rare, difficult to fabricate, expensive drug is the way to go. Zeller pipes up, never breaking contact from her screens, to mention they are playing the long game against the chaos in patients minds. They need to take this over time and they need to start building now to get to a usable model sometime down the line. Bruce seems to be in agreement with her, even if it is a tough sell, and apparently she would want nothing more than to get into a room with Bruce Wayne to fully explain it. He walks over and stops her machine, pulling a very Bruce move and catching her instead of following treadmill safety to show her she has been talking to Bruce the entire time. If she knew attempted robbery was going to get his attention she would have broken in herself a year ago, lol. But she has the time now and Bruce immediately sets up a time tomorrow at 7 for dinner and a talk. With how often writers throw intelligent characters at Bruce for him to date for a few issues, I really hope this is not one of those situations and instead Bruce truly trying to get more information, especially with the state we saw Edward in last issue.
We now jump over the the Gotham eye, one of the dying newspapers that is actually surprising to see considering there should be a daily planet branch in Gotham now, as young Hutson (the boy who took the video of batman last issue) and the old reporter, Jack Dean, tries to get a meeting setup. Unfortunately Jack here was not a victim of the changing times…he was fired because he was a drunk. And unfortunately that doesn’t help Hutson very much as Jack ends up getting into a yelling match with his old editor and decides to take Hutson and the story elsewhere.
Speaking of elsewhere, red steam seems to be popping up all over in the vents across the city. One of the officials claims nothing is wrong, but I can see one thing that is wrong…Little Tokyo looks a lot like Shibuya crossing, lol. While we check in across the city and all the gang territories we finally end up in the Bowery where Anarky is hiding out. He is in edge and ready to bolt at a moments notice, and that moment comes with two of his men get thrown through his newspaper window. One of them has a note clearly from batman and Anarky makes a run for it, he jumps right out the window only for batman with a beautiful blue cape to catch him. What was the plan here?! He had no safe place to land, and as batman swings them inside…Anarky quickly sprays paint in Batman’s face. Batman immediately responds by giving one of the most powerful head kicks I’ve ever seen. Geez I’m surprised Anarky’s head didn’t come smooth off, lmao. When Anarky finally wakes up, he finds himself tied up and hanging upside down with batman looking for answers. That truck he failed to steal kicking off a gang war, all hunting for him, something isn’t adding up. Anarky claims he was laid to boost the truck and dump it in the river. Anarky is scared and starts begging for protecting, he will turn over to the feds he doesn’t care. Batman wants to know who he is running from and Anarky can’t tell if he is joking because he is now realizing batman hasn’t noticed…he hasn’t noticed how quiet it has been and how only the small time gangs are pulling jobs…there is a new guy in charge of organized crime and he has it REALLY organized.
We now surprisingly cut over to the old Wayne manor, where the ladies and gentleman crime lords of Torus are meeting under the protecting of Commissioner Savage. Of course Vandal is not the big bad in charge of everything, he doesn’t have his fingers in that many pots, but he certainly takes his share and provides accommodations for the Minotaur and his parlay. As everyone takes their seats the Minotaur steps out. Not sure why everyone here needed to go through the normal intros, lol, but it helps the audience. Specifically when the Minotaur explains that the torus is a prime knot, made up of seven independent yet interconnected loops made in breakable together…like the 6 gangs and the Minotaur himself working together. But with everyone at each other throats their projections aren’t looking great, so the bank served their function by freezing everyone’s assets. But the bank is worried that won’t get the point across, so as he pulls away a sheet behind him…he reveals that they have brought some of their family, now held at gunpoint, to prove a point. Hilariously there is a penguin among the group as penguin is the leader of the thieves guild. Everyone freaks out about their family held at gunpoint, but the Minotaur holds up his seven fingered hand and silenced them. He is the one that contains the algorithm for crime within his head and has built them all during this very unique moment to be the first resilient criminal empire at scale. They have a friendly police force, a malleable city hall, an incurious press, and the bat stays too busy to even realize how entangled they have become. In 20 months Minotaur projects they will control every criminal or legit stream of revenue in gotham…in 20 years they may have the world. BUT, when one of them earns they all earn…when one of them bleeds they all bleed. And with a closing of his fist the Minotaur orders the family members to be shot. I can’t help but notice six people and one penguin. Does that mean the Minotaur included a member of his own family or did someone get double? As we close the issue out we can see batman swinging across the city with Anarky’s revelation in his ears. Batman is now aware of the presence of the Minotaur, and how he has “turned gotham into a labyrinth of crime.” Well let me tell you something Lonnie, batman knows Labyrinths. The court of owls built a hell of a labyrinth and he is out of it now, I project the Minotaur going down!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 7, 2026
Matt Fraction ya da el necesario golpe en la mesa de su propuesta para Batman revelando un nuevo antagonista para la enésima configuración del submundo criminal Gothamita. Recordemos que Vandal Savage es el nuevo Comisario de la ciudad, que el Pingüino retomaba como nunca su rol de gran capo, que Bruce sigue saliendo del paso de unos años terribles entre la pérdida de Alfred, gran parte de su patrimonio y rol en Empresas Wayne y aquejar al fin a su edad frente a su sempiterno rol de vigilante enmascarado. Todo esto bien podría convertir al Minotauro en una gran amenaza si Fraction juega bien sus cartas. Este individuo se presenta como el responsable de un banco para los líderes criminales, creando una infraestructura blindada junto a Vandal Savage en un simil total con la leyenda griega. Gotham es ya un laberinto en el que Batman aún no sabe que ya está perdido.
Tengo mucha fe en este villano y etapa. Es cierto que la alusión total a la de James Tynion IV al tener a Jorge Jiménez al dibujo con una nueva amenaza de componentes cyberpunk, desagradará de entrada a muchos. Pero confío en que Matt Fraction se habrá fijado en ella y tenga más tino e inventiva.
Tengo mucha fe en este villano y etapa. Es cierto que la alusión total a la de James Tynion IV al tener a Jorge Jiménez al dibujo con una nueva amenaza de componentes cyberpunk, desagradará de entrada a muchos. Pero confío en que Matt Fraction se habrá fijado en ella y tenga más tino e inventiva.
January 31, 2026
Really good issue that sets up The Minotaur as the next big villain for Batman. He has 7 fingers, each representing one of the 7 knots on a Taurus knot, each representing a head of his system. He rules many aspects of Gotham, including the police and mayor force. He has forced the freaks of Gotham to stop running a muck. He is running a system that is working. Batman is part of the system, as he is being played. Very good issue! And the Minotaur is someone you DONT want to cross. If someone even steps out of line of his system, there will be serious repercussions. Only way a system works if all parts are working together. Here, the labyrinth is Gotham.
Side stories:
- Batman is concerned that his doctor Zeller might be negatively affecting patients with her trials of some helmet maybe. He is going to get to the bottom of it. So is the doctor good or bad? does she know what’s she’s doing? She’s been painted as a good person. But what if…..
- are the reporters going to expose the police force?
- what is the red smoke from the sewers?
Side stories:
- Batman is concerned that his doctor Zeller might be negatively affecting patients with her trials of some helmet maybe. He is going to get to the bottom of it. So is the doctor good or bad? does she know what’s she’s doing? She’s been painted as a good person. But what if…..
- are the reporters going to expose the police force?
- what is the red smoke from the sewers?
December 19, 2025
So far this is the most non-independent issue of them all; it has much more setup and much less of a complete story.
Still, it is entertaining and the art is stunning. The closing pages were very dramatic and might have more weight if we truly knew the victims of Torus' actions, but nevertheless the point gets across. There are a ton of different plot threads going on now but they're all very well balanced.
Still, it is entertaining and the art is stunning. The closing pages were very dramatic and might have more weight if we truly knew the victims of Torus' actions, but nevertheless the point gets across. There are a ton of different plot threads going on now but they're all very well balanced.
December 15, 2025
3.5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨
A lot more setup than things actually happening, but still really good stuff. Minotaur kinda feels like something I’ve seen a million times but I’ll wait and see what goes on with him. That scene with Bruce and Annika was cute. Art is on point as always. Again I don’t have much negative stuff to say about it! But it’s not quite great. Just very very good.
A lot more setup than things actually happening, but still really good stuff. Minotaur kinda feels like something I’ve seen a million times but I’ll wait and see what goes on with him. That scene with Bruce and Annika was cute. Art is on point as always. Again I don’t have much negative stuff to say about it! But it’s not quite great. Just very very good.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 22, 2026
I’ve seen the other review on here about this issue being set up mostly and I’d agree. But I really liked it because seeing the ins and outs of the corruption in Gotham has always been my favorite in Batman stories. I felt like minotaur and the torus is reminiscent of the court of owls and how they had control in every corner. That’s just my opinion. Can’t wait to read #5!
December 4, 2025
3,5 stars
I liked some parts, was less excited about others. Bruce Wayne was smooth though, lol. There's some decent social commentary going on, and I'm excited to see how they'll handle that. The few parts that focused on Batman weren't that great though imo.
I liked some parts, was less excited about others. Bruce Wayne was smooth though, lol. There's some decent social commentary going on, and I'm excited to see how they'll handle that. The few parts that focused on Batman weren't that great though imo.
December 23, 2025
Its ok.
I like the redesign on Anarky. Although his original look is still king, I,like that he made an appearance at least. But the story is ok. Not really all that interesting but I will stick with it for now.
I like the redesign on Anarky. Although his original look is still king, I,like that he made an appearance at least. But the story is ok. Not really all that interesting but I will stick with it for now.
December 3, 2025
"Then came the Internet... And the Money Vampires followed."
A corrupt cabal of the richest profiteers in Gotham, aiming to take over the world. At the end, a bunch of people get shot.
A corrupt cabal of the richest profiteers in Gotham, aiming to take over the world. At the end, a bunch of people get shot.
December 4, 2025
*3.5* I don’t care that he’s Bruce Wayne I’d be so mad if anyone stopped my treadmill so I’d fall just to catch me
December 4, 2025
3.5
Good but not spectacular. Just felt short, despite being good on a technical level.
Good but not spectacular. Just felt short, despite being good on a technical level.
December 4, 2025
oh bruce wayne you harlot
December 5, 2025
Bruce better not get with that Arkham doctor. also a good issue, but very setup heavy.
December 6, 2025
fun stuff!
December 6, 2025
Decent af filler issue.
December 7, 2025
I like this guy
December 7, 2025
who the fuck walks on a treadmill in crocs? that's a safety hazard
December 7, 2025
This was a good read but damn. Matt Fraction continues to edge us 😭
December 10, 2025
ISSUE #4: DROP THE SMOKE.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 49 reviews