By Ed Brubaker (writer), Doug Mahnke (art), David Baron (colors), Rob Leigh (letters)
Appeared in: one-shot, April 2005
Time period: January
Available in print: As a trade paperback and deluxe edition
By Michael Green (writer), Denys Cowan (pencils), John Floyd (inks), I.L.L. (colors), and Travis Lanham (letters)
Appeared in: Batman Confidential #7-12, September 2007-February 2008
Time period: Late January-late February
Trope alert: Minorities make up a disproportionately large percentage of criminals and are largely absent anywhere else.
Available in print: On eBay as a trade paperback or individual comics issues
There is perhaps no character in comics with more ambiguous origin stories than the Joker. Both of these stories include Joker’s physical transformation into a white-skinned, green-haired monster occurring after he fell into a vat of chemicals, but they share little else. Brubaker’s version, in which the Joker announces his plans to kill prominent Gothamites hours before their deaths and then attempts to poison the entire city’s water supply, is better known and is widely accepted as the “correct” version. Green’s take, illustrated by Denys Cowan’s uncommonly angular drawings, presents unresolvable conflicts with the established canon, but its portrayal of Joker and Batman’s obsessions with each other is more interesting and satisfying. (It’s also the rare storyline in which Alfred gets to serve as something besides a comic foil or a psychological crutch: He quips at one point that his creation of a supercomputer with “the most functional qubits ever assembled in an integrated system, including multiple interlocking neural networks” would be worthy of a “bloody Nobel” — save for the fact that revealing it to the public would compromise some of Bruce’s “more sensitive secrets.” When Bruce destroys the whole thing during one of his rageful tantrums, Alfred’s droll response is, “Sir. That was expensive.”)
“Lovers and Madmen” also includes a subplot that is verboten to many Batman loyalists: At one point, Batman forms a dark alliance with the mob to take out the Joker. Reeves uses a similar compact in The Batman as a key plot point.
First seen in: “The Man Who Laughs” draws heavily from “The Joker” (Batman #1, Spring 1940), which also introduced Joker’s trademark poisonous venom. In another story in that same issue, a fight between Batman and the Joker results in the Joker’s apparent death; he was saved by the last-minute intervention of an editor who felt the character was too good to kill off.
By Darwyn Cooke (writer and artist)
Appeared in: Solo #5, August 2005
Time period: Spring
Trope alert: Bruce Wayne relives the murder of his parents yet again. (Although that could be said for most of the stories listed here.)
Available in print: As the last story in Cooke’s Batman: Ego and Other Tails, which, as of March 29, will be in a box set of books that inspired The Batman
Solo, an anthology series that was published for a few years in the mid-2000s, gave artists completely free reign — they could work alone or with writers, and their stories could exist within continuity or not. Here, Batman’s dogged pursuit of muggers who killed a boy’s parents in front of him convinces one of the criminals that the Dark Knight is “the devil himself.” Cooke, a pulp aficionado, named the criminals’ ringleader Stark in an homage to mystery writer Donald Westlake, who used the pseudonym Richard Stark for his hardboiled Parker novels. (Cooke adapted four Parker stories into graphic novels — and used Stark as a character in his hard-boiled Catwoman graphic novel The Big Score, which is also included in Ego and Other Tails.)
Flashback: Cooke’s story is a retelling of “Night of the Stalker” (Detective Comics 439, March 1874), Steve Englehart’s first published Batman story. The update is superior in almost every way.
By Jeph Loeb (script) and Tim Sale (art), with Gregory Wright (colors) and Richard Starkings (letters)
Photo: Publisher
Appeared in: Batman: The Long Halloween #1-13, October 1996-October 1997
Time period: June (Year Two)—November (Year Three)
Available in print: As a trade paperback, a black-and-white “Noir” edition, part of the Batman by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale Omnibus, and, as of March 29, part of a box set of books that inspired The Batman
When Loeb and Sale work together, they’re credited as “storytellers”: It’s hard to think of another artist whose work drives the story as much as Sale’s does. This is a taut thriller about a killer who murders members of the mob on holidays; it also serves as a chronological re-introduction of many of the nicknamed villains that make up Batman’s classic rogue’s gallery. Especially relevant to The Batman is the history of Bruce’s father’s relationship with Carmine Falcone and Batman’s highly charged encounters with Catwoman.
By Matt Wagner (writer and artist)
Appeared in: Batman: Black & White #3, August 1996
Time period: Fall
Available in print: As part of the Legends of the Dark Knight: Matt Wagner collection
DC has been sporadically running issues filled with eight-page black-and-white Batman tales since 1996; “Heist,” by the same author and artist who did “Batman and the Monster Men,” shows Batman delighting in his ability to terrify his prey and ends with him drawing a bat on the forehead of a trussed-up and unconscious criminal.
By Howard Chaykin (writer), Gil Kane (artist) Steve Oliff (colors), and Willie Schubert (letters)
Appeared in: Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight issues #24-26, November 1991-January 1992
Time period: October
Available in print: On eBay as individual comics issues
An absolutely bonkers story about a Nazi scientist who comes to the U.S. after the war and secretly plots to start a new Aryan master race. She creates a mech-suit for her son, a Gotham cop who was injured when a swarm of bats forced down his helicopter, and orders him to capture Batman. There’s an Oedipal subplot here that’s tame compared to the scientist’s fervent belief that Batman will succumb to her desire to make glorious white babies with him.
By Doug Moench (writer), Paul Gulacy (pencils), Jimmy Palmiotti (inks), James Sinclair and Digital Chameleon (colors), and Kurt Hathaway (letters)
Appeared in: Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #137-141, January-April 2001
Time period: Fall
Available in print: On eBay as a trade paperback or as individual comics issues
“Terror” is the second of Moench and Gullacy’s Hugo Strange stories; after this, the character would disappear from Batman’s life for more than a decade. Here, Strange’s attempt to enlist the Scarecrow in his efforts to trap Batman backfires. There are some truly creepy scenes that feature Strange kissing and pawing a female mannequin outfitted in nothing but lingerie and a simulacrum of Batman’s cowl. Also featured: hot-and-heavy Batman-Catwoman action.
By Garth Ennis (writer), William Simpson (pencils and inks), Daniel Brown and Digital Chameleon (colors), and Willie Schubert (letters)
Appeared in: Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #91-93, February-April 1997
Time period: Fall
Available in print: On eBay as individual comics issues
Batman writers have traditionally portrayed drugs as only slightly above nuclear war in terms of threats to modern society. Even within that tradition, this story is bananas: An evil hippie acid casualty named Artemis “Dr. Freak” Freeker is dosing Gothamites with ultra-pure LSD so that they go nuts and kill themselves. Freeker then drains his victim’s bodies of blood so, natch, he can soak in it. Batman is dosed and trips his ass off before ultimately helping stop Freeker, who takes up residence in Arkham Asylum, never to be heard from again.
By Scott Hampton (writer and artist), Digital Chameleon (colors), and Tracy Hampton Munsey (letters)
Appeared in: Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #76-78, October-December, 1995
Time period: Fall
Available in print: On eBay as part of the Batman: Other Realms trade paperback or as individual comics issues
Bruce Wayne is in a coma; he meets other people in a kind of purgatory and tells them his name is Jeff. Then he has to battle a creature called the Soul Eater. It’s debatable whether this should be considered canon — not because of the supernatural elements but because Batman doesn’t have time for no stinking comas.
By James Robinson (writer), Tim Sale (artist), Steve Oliff (colors), and Willie Schubert (letters)
Photo: Publisher
Appeared in: Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #32-34, June-July 1992
Time period: Winter
Available in print: On eBay as part of the Batman: Collected Legends of the Dark Knight trade paperback or as individual comics issues
When Batman becomes obsessed with a serial killer who targets the elderly, a new, Zorro-esque vigilante who calls himself the Cavalier emerges. Batman, exhausted, frustrated, and coming down with a cold, figures he could use the help. But wait: Is the Cavalier actually a criminal? Sort of. But also kind of not. One of the all-time great Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight stories.
