We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.
With 2022’s “The Batman,” writer/director Matt Reeves has answered the prayers of Bat fans who have been asking for a Batman crime movie. Taking inspiration from New Hollywood neo-noirs such as “Chinatown” and “Klute,” “The Batman” featured a younger, more insecure and sicker Bruce Wayne (Robert Pattinson) tracking down the serial murders of the Riddler (Paul Dano), which exposed a deeper corruption in Gotham City.
There East a sequel to “The Batman” is in the works, but it’s still a long way off, currently aiming for a 2027 release. In the meantime, DC Comics has released the perfect comic book series for Bat fans craving something similar to Reeves’ film: Dan Watters and Hayden Sherman’s “Batman: Dark Patterns,” which concluded its 12-issue run in November. Set during Bruce’s third year as Batman, the book is divided into four three-issue story arcs: “We Are the Wounded”, “The Voice from the Tower”, “Pareidolia”, and “Child of Fire”.
Watters and Sherman first worked together on Batman, writing/drawing backup stories in “Detective Comics” issues #1074 and #1081, although these focused on the villains the Ten-Eyed Man and Doctor Hurt. In “Dark Patterns,” they focus on Batman himself, reorienting him primarily as a detective. Batman investigates one or more gruesome new murders each arc. The truly gruesome (although over-the-top) violence also lets the book descend into horror.
No recent Batman comic captures the vibe of “The Batman” as much as “Dark Patterns.” (Yes, not even the very good “Batman: The Imposter,” written by Reeves’ co-writer Mattson Tomlin.) “Dark Patterns” is dark and driven by mysteries, not for the squeamish. It also features a Batman who, like Pattinson’s Bruce, questions whether he’s really making a positive difference in Gotham. As he pursues individual cases, the answers to his doubts are what Batman must find in “Dark Patterns.”
Batman: Dark Patterns puts the detective back in the Dark Knight
There are other good Batman comics out there right now, but none quite have the classic, low-key vibe of “Dark Patterns.” “Absolute Batman” by Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta is exemplary, but it is also a ground-up reinvention of Batman. The “Absolute” Bruce is less of a detective, more of a brawler and revolutionary vigilante.
Matt Fraction and Jorge Jiménez’s new series on the main “Batman” book has been fun so far. Taking an optimistic tone like James Gunn’s “Superman,” it’s a relatively sunny comic focused on action, the Bat-family and Bruce’s compassionate side. “Dark Patterns” is here for Bat fans who want darker, grittier mystery stories and don’t need the Dark Knight saving the world every month.
There East a continuous line in “Dark Patterns”, but the mysteries that span the arc are self-contained. This structure evokes the old Batman series “Legends of the Dark Knight,” an anthology series that allowed different creators to put Batman in standalone adventures (like Mike Mignola’s graveyard ghost story “Sanctum”).
To round out the detective story, Watters and Sherman bring new supporting characters to Batman: forensic pathologist Dr. Sereika and tabloid reporter Nicky Harris, both archetypes straight out of a procedural. The book too Above all avoids the big Batman villains. There can only be so much “mystery” with a character you’ve seen Batman dozens of times.
When Watters and Sherman remove recognizable names from the market, they do so in unexpected ways. The second arc features the talking mannequin, Scarface, seemingly “owning” an entire building, a premise that may seem ridiculous. Watters and Sherman make this both a haunted house story and a “Die Hard” style thriller of Batman locked in a building with Scarface’s army of brainwashed tenants.
Dark Patterns is one of the best-drawn Batmans around
Writing is only half of any good comic, however, and “Dark Patterns” is a great showcase for Hayden Sherman. Their Batman with blue and yellow highlights resembles the style of Tim Sale, artist of the famous Batman mystery story “The Long Halloween”. Readers familiar with Sherman’s work on “Absolute Wonder Woman” know that they rarely use square panels. Take this simple scene in “Dark Patterns” #1 of Bruce and Alfred talking in the Batcave.
DC Comics
An artist could rendering this scene with repetitive panels of Bruce sitting with Alfred standing in the background, only the dialogue changing from panel to panel. Sherman instead draws from different perspectives but keeps your eyes moving to each new image. Sherman also likes to use panels within panels. In issue #8 they show a bullet traveling to shoot Batman this way. In issue #10, during a glass breaking panel, they use the shards as panels. Colorist Tríona Farrell also brings her A-game. The covers of “Dark Patterns” feature high contrasts of warm colors with Batman’s blue/black colors. The interior art is also rich in mood swings, from blazing oranges to menacing greens.
DC Comics
DC Comics
Batman observes that being a detective requires recognizing which patterns are real and which are not. Arc no. 3 “Pareidolia” owes its name to the phenomenon of seeing models that do not exist. Anyone watching “Batman: Dark Patterns,” however, can see that it’s worth noticing and why.
“Batman: Dark Patterns” #1-12 are currently available, with a collected edition planned for March 2026.
