Batman: Dark Patterns #9

All in all, Batman: Dark Patterns #9 was a great Batman comic. The end of this arc. Excited to see what Watters does next. Read Full Review

PAREIDOLIA wraps up with a somber and stunning final bow. Watters navigates through the mental chess game with excellent writing. Sherman and Farrell continue to elevate each visual to amazing new heights with the art. There is no debate: This is THE best Batman series at the shops. Read Full Review

Batman: Dark Patterns #9 is a tense, tightly crafted thriller that proves high stakes don't require nonstop action. Dan Watters and Hayden Sherman keep readers glued to the page with sharp detective work, layered character reveals, and inventive visual storytelling, delivering one of the series' most gripping chapters yet. Read Full Review

The art is excellent as always, but this arc didn't quite have the visual strength of the first two, and its ending is unrelentingly bleak. But each arc seems to have a different lesson for Batman that he needs to learn at the very beginning of his career to be an effective crimefighter and this one is that not every corner of Gotham can benefit from Batman. Read Full Review

There's no writer today who understands the depths of Batman's anxieties more acutely than Dan Watters, and there is no team delivering on those foundations more thrillingly than Watters and Sherman. "Dark Patterns has been nothing but highlights, and this gutting conclusion to its third chapter is no different. Do not miss "Dark Patterns. Read Full Review

The fallout from this with the after-action piece of Batman back in the cave and talking to Alfred is rough. The knowing that his presence likely made things worse is a hard thing, but also the reality that everything that the old man and his grandkids did would just be "another fire" at best is its own kind of tragedy. This was a solid and strong story overall that added more clues to the larger work and another examination of Batman in this period of his life. I really liked exploring this kind of smaller tragedy, one that ends with everyone worse off in the worst ways, as a good staple of a Batman storyline is that they aren't all victories. We may get that when he plays crossover hero and engaging with others, but when it's a small storyline just focusing on him, Gotham, and the material at hand, it can be properly bleak as needed from time to time. Good stuff, but hard stuff. Read Full Review

super_rex

Aug 17, 2025

Amazing Batman title,I think one of the best in recent times.

Ryan

Jan 02, 2026

Sad

Gophfacekillah

Aug 18, 2025

Best Batman book out right now and prob the best since Snyder run started. Dan really captures the feeling of Gotham in all these issues. This one especially felt like a classic.

George

Aug 26, 2025

It's like a totally different Dan Wattsrs is writing this versis nightwing. They should give this Dan Watters the Detective Comics titles.

DDJamesB

Sep 14, 2025

The art remains the money maker of the series. This issue I didn't feel as great about as other issue. Just a lot of talking.

myconius

Aug 13, 2025

Well, this was an intriguing read. I can't say this is a story that I'll look forward to rereading again. At least not anytime too soon. This was definitely a gross ugly story. Yes it's subverted expectations and certainly caught me off guard. But again it was extremely gross and extremely nasty. I know that crime stories can usually get pretty hard hitting but... SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS I don't really enjoy seeing a kid shot and killed in a comic. Even if it is only accidental it's still pretty gross. And then to watch the kid's crooked old grandfather (evil as he was) have a heart attack and die.... END SPOILERS END SPOILERS END SPOILERS I honestly can't say that I'm looking forward to the final arc of the series. The first arc was the best one. The second one was just EH. And this one was just plain rotten. Whatever. more

Tony B

Aug 30, 2025

Gratuitous.

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• myconius

myconius - Sep 7, 2025

Yeah. This issue was an edgelord extravaganza.