There aren’t a lot of people living today who can claim Batman #1 on their list of writing credits, but as of this week, Matt Fraction is joining this elitest of comic book clubs. His Batman #1, only the fourth in the 85-year history of the character, is now on stands, offering an easily accessible, back-to-basics take on the Dark Knight that still manages to feel like something wholly original and new. It’s the sort of work that could only come from an experienced writer at the top of his game, who still possesses the sort of excitement and passion for the character that you find within the Dark Knight’s biggest fans.

Still, just because you love Batman doesn’t mean you can successfully relaunch his series—one of the comic industry’s biggest and most continuously read titles. So, how did Fraction, who’s returning to DC after five years away, manage to pull it off? That’s what we sought to find out when we spoke with him about the highly anticipated relaunch. Along the way, we learned what went into the Dark Knight’s new costume design, who the most important character in Batman is other than the Dark Knight and whether the last hero Fraction famously scripted for DC might be making an appearance before he’s through.

Your last ongoing book for DC was Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen. When you wrapped that up, would you have had any idea that Batman would be your next DC project?

No, not at all. Absolutely not.

How does it feel to be writing for DC again? Is there something about that you find particularly exciting?

I find it all really exciting, especially now that I’m writing Batman. I mean, it’s the coolest character with the coolest stuff, the coolest headquarters, the coolest car, the coolest villains and the coolest friends. It’s all amazing.

It’s a really exciting time to be creative here. The sandbox is wide open and the toybox is full of great stuff. There are a lot of brilliant people all endeavoring to create a new generation of stories for these characters that have outlived us all and will continue to outlive us all.

What can you tease about your debut storyline?

I’m trying to make this a Batman for everybody. My approach is to treat Batman as the mothership. Obviously, there’s a big Bat-Family with a lot of books, but the Batman title is where you should go if you love Batman like I do. It’s Batman central.

We’re doing largely standalone stories with each issue, so every issue can be your first. They do build over time and go places, but creatively, there’s so much I want to do, so much I want to touch and play with. The idea of doing quick, sharp, standalone, self-contained, satisfying pops of Batman was what I wanted to do.

There have been many different flavors of Batman over his 80-plus years. Is there one that appeals to you in particular that we can expect to see in your run?

There are kind of two answers to that. Coming out of H2SH and Chip [Zdarsky]’s excellent run before that, there’s been a cascade of incredible Batman eras predating me and I want to honor all of those. But it also feels like all of the pieces have just now gotten put back on the board and it’s kind of a fresh start for everybody in a lot of ways, so I want to take that new energy and that breath of fresh air and supercharge all of these stories in Gotham.

Hopefully it touches on a little bit of everything. Sometimes it will feel like an old noir and early detective stories. Sometimes it will feel more like the Denny O’Neil run. I’ve been reading the book literally my entire life and there’s nowhere I don’t want to go with it.

Also, it’s Batman. It’s impossible not to have a million new ideas. We have a full dance card for Bruce coming up.

Besides Batman, who would you say is the most important character in your Batman run?

Bruce Wayne.

Oh?

I love Bruce as a character, and to me, the book is a two-hander between Batman and Bruce. Bruce is a huge part of the stories that I’m going to tell.

You’re working with Jorge Jiménez on this. Do you have a favorite page you’ve seen from him so far?

There are about three pages in the first issue where for each of them I was like, “Oh, that’s the page.” Then the second issue started and I’m like, “No, no, no, that’s the page.”

I love Jorge. He’s a genius. We’ve had a chance to reinvent everything. There’s a new look for Gotham. There’s a new Batmobile. It’s all new, and Jorge is just attacking every page like it might be the last page he ever draws. It’s fantastic. He’s so good, and so versatile that the big crazy fight scenes look just as incredible as the quiet character moments. There’s a bit with Damian and Tim in the second issue that is laugh out loud funny, just as a portrait of a big brother and a little brother bickering. And then there’s this incredible fight scene where Robin is handcuffed to the back of a police van full of criminals that he’s spent the night getting arrested, and he’s handcuffed and they’re not.

I’m going down a bit of a rabbit hole, but Jorge’s great. Everything he’s turned in has been amazing.

Also, I’d like this as a matter of record since this is with DC.com, he is really handsome. He is genuinely good looking. It’s not fair!

Speaking of looks, Batman has a new one.

Yes, on page three of issue #1, we get our first look at Batman in his new costume. It pays off a little plot thread from a story that Chip and Jorge did, but also, I think, kind of speaks to the tonal shift that’s coming. Batman’s in the blue and the grey again. I knew in my head that I wanted to see it, but it was when it was actually finished and I saw the page that I said, “God, I’ve missed this.”

Batman made an appearance in your Jimmy Olsen comic. Can we expect Jimmy to make an appearance in Batman before you’re done?

Yeah, I think that would be great. And in fact, Batman writes the introduction to the new deluxe collection of Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen. I figured that since I know Batman, why not get him to write an introduction to the book?

But yeah, I would love to get the two of them back together. And if you don’t mind a little cross-promoting, some of the stuff that Dan Slott has coming in Superman Unlimited dovetails perfectly into how I would have dreamed to have been able to do it. I feel like Dan just gave me this incredible gift. So, yes!

Batman #1 by Matt Fraction, Jorge Jiménez and Tomeu Morey is now available in print and as a digital comic book.