Batman: Dark Patterns, written by writer Dan Watters and artist Hayden Sherman, has been one of my most recent Batman reads, and might have been my favorite. While it won't take seniority over the Dick Greyson Robin comics, its exploration of Batman and Gotham City as a concept has truly enthralled me.
The comic series follows four stories of Batman in his early days, with the antagonists Wound Man, Scarface, and The Child of Fire. While the stories feel individual, they all tie together in the fourth tale, revealing the bigger picture of these crimes. The third story didn't have a villain “character”, though several characters could be considered antagonistic towards Batman. The entire series had substantial world building for Gotham City that I hadn't really seen before, naming and characterizing neighborhoods and their inhabitants. The introduction of “Upstate Gotham” made me giggle a bit as someone from New York, as the lines between Gotham and NYC often seem to blur. The Rookery especially was very interesting to watch, as the neighborhood felt like it was modeled after third world countries more than typical low income American neighborhoods. I always find it amusing when reading Batman comics that rarely display people of color throughout the city, especially in lower income areas. This is not to make any implications against the writers of course, just a simple noticing that Gotham city tends to lend itself dearly to the Irish and Italian immigrants that came to America during the early waves of migration, and yet only briefly mention the existence of a chinatown without further investigation.
I really liked how Alfred was utilized throughout the series, but especially in the last two stories, as seeing Alfred introduce historical information Batman had not previously known about demonstrated how Alfred might typically assist Batman beyond being “just the butler”, but also as a mentor and father figure. The third story revealed information about an old Red Hood gang, which were a group of petty criminals who lived in the Rookery. More information was revealed, but I found the namesake to be quite eye-catching as I am aware of the character Red Hood, who I believe is a later name for Jason Todd’s character. I have yet to read any comics past the point of Dick Greyson being Robin, as I quite like this moment in Bathman history, but will in the future. I'm excited to find out how Red Hood’s character shared its traits with the Red Hood gang, or to perhaps find out it was just a consequence.
Lastly, I found Batman’s characterization to be refreshingly human. Oftentimes, the death of his parents or robin getting in dangerous ways are used to show Batman’s humanity, yet this series manages to do so without mentioning either, showing his strengths can become his weakness, and that even The Batman can have flawed judgment or make errors. A large part of who Batman is because of how much he cares, not how little. I’d actually love to see an exploration of how Bruce Wayne would be able to better Gotham in ways that pair with Batman, such as funding programs to keep kids in school, making resources more accessible or even interacting with politics. I know some of this might go against the “Brucie Bimbo” persona, but I wouldn’t be surprised if new father Bruce Wayne opened a few more charities after adopting his first son, or something along those lines. Regardless, from writing to illustrations, Batman: Dark Patterns has been one of the best comic series I’ve read, bringing back the feeling that Batman: Long Halloween left me with. I highly recommend this series if you haven’t read it yet.