WEPAAAA! Bruce Wayne is pitching a dating show called B.I.L.F. Mountain while Batman sets a trap for the people trying to put him in the ground. Papo, Gotham needs a new cable package and a group therapist. Matt Fraction and Jorge Jiménez kick off “The Assassination of Bruce Wayne” with celebrity foolishness, actual detective work and masked wrestling beef, and your boy is eating. Batman #15 lets Bruce enjoy being the smartest dude in the room without making everybody around him look stupid. He has jokes. He has a plan. He also has friends looking at him like, “Bro, please tell me you thought this through.”
Fraction gets plenty of comedy out of that public performance, especially when Superman and Wonder Woman hear what Bruce has cooking. Clark’s face alone deserves its own reaction sticker. Underneath the ridiculous television pitch, though, Bruce is putting six assassins on a clock and giving them a reason to make their move at Gotham’s big masked gala. The fun comes from watching him arrange the pieces: sight lines, exits, schedules, the whole operation. My man buys an entire luxury hotel for the plan and mentions it with the energy of somebody grabbing batteries at the bodega. Meanwhile, I’m checking whether the batteries are on sale. Relax, Bruce.
Damian keeps the rooftop business moving, and Fraction understands how much personality that kid can bring without having him insult everybody for twenty pages. His observations are useful. His attitude is intact. Bruce listens to him, trusts his eyes and still finds time to remind him about tomorrow’s responsibilities while trouble is standing directly in front of them. Fam, you can have a cape, a sword and access to transportation that violates several aviation laws; your father is still going to tell you to get your little behind home. Their back-and-forth has warmth, and seeing them work comfortably together makes these stretches easy to enjoy.
Jim Gordon has considerably less fun learning what this operation requires. Captured assassins are being held under medical sedation, and Jim correctly recognizes that Batman’s confidence does not come with a court order. That exchange needed another minute. Gordon pushes back, Bruce asks for help, and the story keeps stepping before either man has really sat with the objection. I wanted Jim to press him harder. Fraction has an interesting disagreement sitting right there between two men who know each other’s habits, and he moves past it a little quickly. The creepy medical-room conversations surrounding that business deserve their space, though. Somebody’s smiling way too comfortably in that green soup.
Jorge Jiménez draws Batman like he still gets excited every time the cape enters the panel. You can feel it. Those rooftop shots have height, movement and enough swagger to make you straighten up in your chair. Batman and Robin look planted in the city even when their capes are doing acrobatics around them, and the buildings guide your eye toward the next beat. Jiménez puts just as much care into the quieter acting. Bruce’s television smirk, Damian sizing up a situation, Gordon getting aggravated: everybody has a face worth watching. Even the opening sunset earns its space because the body language keeps that conversation alive. Gorgeous pages, fam, with storytelling underneath all the flexing.
Then the lucha drama rolls through and I’m over here waiting for somebody to demand a steel cage. These dudes have grudges with mileage on them. Fraction gives the insults that oversized wrestling flavor, and Jiménez brings the impact with fists pushing toward the reader, bodies breaking across the composition and a flying entrance that practically begs for entrance music. Batman recognizing the wrestler behind the mask is a lovely little fan moment, too. He knows the history! Your boy appreciates that. Losing the exchange does not mean the other guy is ready to stop talking, either. Anybody who grew up watching wrestling knows wounded pride can book another six months of matches.
Tomeu Morey has Gotham looking beautiful and unhealthy in equal measure. That warm sky gives way to chilly blues around the planning, while the medical chamber gets this sour green that makes the whole conversation feel contaminated. The street action burns with gold and amber, then the gala hits you with red-carpet glare and camera flashes. You know where you are before another caption explains it. Clayton Cowles, sharing the lettering credit with Jiménez, keeps the busy briefings readable and the action loud. Those green words against black panels make the medical sequence especially nasty. The lettering knows when to give a conversation breathing room and when to let a sound effect swing.
Batman #15 does spend a little too long getting everybody into position. The suspect rundown and the gala commentary could lose a few lines, especially once the fashion-and-charity joke has already landed. New readers will also bump into some ongoing business around Gordon and Bruce’s allies. Still, Crusaders, I had a damn good time with this one. Fraction gives us a Batman who enjoys working a case, Damian gets to contribute, and Jiménez and Morey make the whole night look spectacular. The last page brings the promised trouble, and you can turn that page yourself. Detective work, father-and-son banter and luchadores acting like the ring cannot contain their issues? Yeah, fam. Run the next chapter. WEPA!
CRUSADERS SCORE:
4/5
Story by: Matt Fraction
Art by: Jorge Jiménez
Colors by: Tomeu Morey
Letters by: Clayton Cowles with Jorge Jiménez
Cover Art by: Jorge Jiménez
Variant Covers by: Jim Cheung & Jay David Ramos; Dustin Nguyen; Becky Cloonan; Jorge Jiménez; David Aja
Associate Editor: Jessica Berbey
Editor: Rob Levin
Published by: DC Comics
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