3 TPBs on Batman

Batman. Perhaps the character who has been looked at more in depth then any other in Comic Books, if not pop culture itself. Today, I look at 3 Batman TPBs (well, technically 2 TPBs and one Graphic Novel, but get over it): Batman: Strange Apparitions, Batman: Dark Detective and Batman: The Killing Joke. The first two are written by Steve Englehart. The third is written by the incomparable Alan Moore.


BATMAN: STRANGE APPARITONS

Collecting Englehart's run on Detective Comics, along with some padding at the end by Lein Wein. Marshall Rogers does most of the artwork. In these stories, Batman contends with his feelings towards Silver St. Cloud, while dealing with a bevy of baddies as well as the more unpowered kind of threat in the forms of Rupert Thorne and Hugo Strange. These stories are quite influential, and were among the basis for the 1989 movie and several episodes of the Animated Series. It's a pretty good read, but drags in places.

Body Count: 8

1.Some singer dude in the Gotham Sprang Memorial Arena killed by Phosphorus
2.Hugo Strange killed by Thorne's thugs (gets better, but there is a body until the end of the TPB)
3.The Joker throws some thug in front of a moving truck
4.The Joker gases G. Carl Francis (who refused his idea of a patent of laughing fish)
5.The Joker kills Thomas Jackson... through his cat!
6.Clayface (Preston Payne) kills Starlabs guard Henry Matlock
7.Clayface (Preston Payne) kills “Helena” (in flashback)
8.Clayface (Preston Payne) kills “Lester”

Number of mano-a-mano fights (and winners/losers): 7

1.Batman/Dr. Phosphorus I: Tie
2.Batman/Phosphorus II: Batman wins
3.Dick Grayson/Magda the Monster: Dick wins.
4.Batman/Deadshot I: Batman wins
5.Batman/Joker I: Batman wins due to Joker being struck by lightning and falling into a river (no body though, so Joker is alive)
6.Batman/Clayface (Preston) I: tie
7.Batman/Clayface (Preston) II: Batman wins.

Number of kisses: 2
1.Batman (as Bruce Wayne) kisses Silver for the first time
2.Batman (as Batman) kisses Silver for the second time

Cameos, particularly of the gratuitous nature: 1
1. Donna Troy/Wonder Girl

Geographic coordinates given: 0

MVP: Batman (obviously)

LVP: A stupid singer dude who dies at the hands of Phosphorus... LAME!

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BATMAN: DARK DETECTIVE

Collecting the miniseries of the same name, this is very much like Strange Apparitions. It's actually a semi-sequel to Strange Apparitions, since it wraps up the Silver St. Cloud storyline of Strange Apparitions. It's fun to read, but it's tone at times seems to be a bit jarring. We have crazy plots, deathtraps, clones, Bruce Wayne seducing the engaged Silver St. Cloud (although this is Bruce Wayne we're talking about, who is second perhaps only to James Bond in the womanizing category) and, O yes...it has the Joker running for governor. Read that again. It's a very good read if you like the days when Comics didn't take themselves too seriously.

Body Count: 9

1.Joker throws some cop off a roof (off-screen, but since we at least see the body and we know it had to have been the Joker, I'll count it)
2, 3. The Joker gases two people who didn't pay him.
4.The clone of Two-Face's good side is blown up and smilexed by the Joker.
5-9. Various SWAT members killed by Joker's death traps.

Number of Mano-A-Mano fights: 3

1.Batman/Joker I: Tie.
2.Batman/Scarecrow I: Batman wins
3.Batman/Joker II: Batman wins

Number of kisses: 4

1.Batman kisses Silver in Flashback to Strange Apparitions
2.Batman (as Bruce Wayne) kisses Silver after surviving a scarecrow attack
3. Silver and Batman (as Bruce Wayne) kiss after they, ahem, spend the night together.
4.Silver and her fiance Evan kiss before she tells him she's dumping him for Bruce Wayne.

Cameos, particularly of the gratuitous nature:0

Geographic coordinates given:0

MVP: Joker (doesn't do very well, but you sure as heck can tell how insane he is)

LVP: The clones of Two-Face, who serve almost no purpose other then as deus ex machina plot devices.

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BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE

If you read only one Batman-Joker story in your life, read this one. That is all.

Body Count: 2
1.Joker smilexes a real estate salesman
2.In the flashback, a member of the “Red Hood Gang” is shot dead by security.

Number of Mano-A-Mano Fights: 2
1.Batman/Joker I: tie
2.Batman/Joker II: Batman wins

Number of Kisses:0

Cameos (particularly of the gratuitous variety):0

Geographic Coordinates given:0

MVP: Commissioner Gordon, who proves the Joker's idea that a man becomes a maniac after one bad day wrong

LVP: The dude who sold the amusement park to the Joker. What an idiot. He is looking at the Joker right on.

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Next time, I'll go a bit more varied in my approach, as I look at Astro City: Tarnished Angel, Green Lantern: No Fear and perhaps the most un-batmanlike comic you can find: The Big Bouncy Book of Bart Simpson (you think I'm joking?).