Batman: Night Cries

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Batman: ...And I swear that if you harm that woman at all, I'll make you pay! I will break and twist things within you. You can't conceive of the pain I can cause. It's pain that will go on forever. You won't escape it... BECAUSE I WON'T LET YOU DIE.

Batman #23.2 does a good job showing how terrifying Riddler can be. Breaking into Wayne Enterprises, killing anyone who stands in his way, all so he can play a game of solitaire in peace. The story itself was pretty intense. It’s a sensitive issue to see executed in this way. And sure at times it felt kind of preachy, but this topic is a serious one and if it connected to anyone reading it, then I guess, well, it’s justified. At times I felt the dialogue was a bit clunky but it didn’t hinder things all that much.Sure, there's the classic Alex Ross stuff with Marvels and Kingdom Come. No, I was more referring to John Muth, Duncan Fegredo, John Bolton, Charles Vess, Bill Sienkevitch, Kent Williams, Simon Bisley, etc. Mostly 2000ad, Vertigo or art house Marvel projects. The countless expies that Batman (and his allies) had to deal with throughout his years as a vigilante crimefighter is no laughing matter either! They're virtually literal dark mirrors on the Dark Knight himself and what he would have done had he not been so vigilant in his struggles for justice and the sanctity of Gotham City and the Gothamites residing. There are a few that deserve well-given mentions here since in their encounters they become something to dread whenever they show up. The infamous few that are just as much as our beloved Cape Crusader himself: 1. Owlman 2. The Wrath (I & II) 3. Hellhound 4. Catman 5. Killer Moth and finally the best for last. 6. Prometheus. Why him? Because he single-handedly out bested the entire JLA! And of course, to add more to this already hellish mentioning of true evils that mirror the Batman to a T. We have Joker, Two-Face, Riddler, Scarecrow to name the few that mirror him just as well. Albeit, not as close as the aforementioned doppelgangers before them but just as bad. The implication being that something happened to him that was so horrible that he gave himself amnesia to forget and still went insane. Batman and the GCPD investigate a string of gruesome murders occurring across Gotham. The link connecting the victims is soon exposed, revealing the dead were all violent child abusers that had escaped justice for years. Hunting down the murderer, Batman and Gordon struggle with their inability to keep the most vulnerable of society safe while they uncover increasing levels of barbarism perpetrated both by the murderer and their victims. As the treatment of such a weighty topic within a Batman story could be seen as trivialising it, we can be thankful for writer Archie Goodwin’s sensitivity. Batman may be needed for sales purposes, and eventually proves to have a greater function, but the lead character is Police Commissioner James Gordon, then relatively new to the position, and drawn by Hampton with more than a passing resemblance to Goodwin himself. Gordon is the way into the story, discovering the first of several people murdered, and suffering increasing stress, torn between family duty and the responsibility of his position, and balancing both within the political tightrope the job demands. Bruce Wayne is involved via the funding of a refuge for abused children, but when the connection is made between the murders, Batman comes under suspicion for taking his form of vigilante justice too far.

Kevin Smith's The Widening Gyre sees Batman befriend a mysterious new vigilante, Baphomet, while also developing a romantic relationship with an old acquaintance, Silver St. Cloud. The comic focuses particularly on Batman's inability to have a regular life due to his line of job. The writer is Archie Goodwin. Even his name sounds milquetoast. However, he was the editor for some comics like Creepy and the Epic line, where innovation flourished. He's one of the best editors in the industry, but really only know for writing Star War comics.

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The following issues explored Bruce going through the stages of grief, hurting his loved ones as he tries to (at the time) vainly attempt to resurrect Damian. Batman and Nightwing has Bruce gaining some cold closure that, in an ideal world, there could have been a way for Damian to live. Alfred then uses the same computer program to relive the moment that he allowed Damian to leave the Cave to help his father, and prevent it; apologizing in tears to his son for allowing the boy who was basically his grandson go off to die, the book ending with a painful step forward. All of the possible origin stories for the Joker told by the insane patients were a bit unsettling. Desperate to make some money for his family, a man accepts to guide two criminals into the chemical company he works in. When Batman shows up, the man jumps into a pool of chemical waste, terrified of the vigilante. This drives him to madness and bleaches his skin and hair turning him into the Joker. After this, he becomes Batman's archnemesis. Neal Adam's Batman: Odyssey is a strange character study. After almost killing a man, Bruce Wayne reflects on his journey as a vigilante. The comic mixes Batman's thoughts about this experience with several different battles, making it feel like a bizarre fever dream.

Based on Junpei Mizusaki's animated film, Batman Ninja follows Bruce Wayne's adventures after Gorilla Grodd sends him to feudal Japan. Here, he discovers most of his allies have been waiting for him, working together in the Bat Clan. Unfortunately, the Joker, Bane, and Harley Quinn are present in this time period too, so Samurai Batman and the other Gotham Knights must stop them before returning to the present. This is the book to complete my reading challenge of the year. 450 books/graphic novels/comics/manga down! Surprised did this being my first year with my daughter but here we are. Batman is able to bring down even the gods of fiction. He can easily take down mafias and regular crimes on the streets of Gotham. But in Night Cries, Batman painfully recognizes the sad fact that eradicating child abuse, a silent and real villain, is an insurmountable task. It is the monster that even him and Commissioner Gordon cannot escape from. Super stylized and gorgeous art coupled with the upsetting and gruesome topics of child abuse, physical abuse, sexual assault (hinted at), murder, and suicide = Batman: Night Cries. Batman: City of Crime -- by David Lapham, Ramon Bachs, and Nathan Massengill -- sees Batman unveil a conspiracy among the Gotham elites following his research on the disappearance of a girl. This comic pits him against The Body, a group of soil-based beings who have invaded the city.If that isn't enough to lose sleep over, there's also always high wonderful levels of Body Horror involved. Shapeshifting abilities aside for infiltration purposes. He can morph various parts of his body into deadly solid matter or weapons. Even capable of smothering his victims within his very body... shudders* There has been a couple of brutal and gruesome murders all over Gotham, and Jim Gordon is connecting the dots, all leading to a potential involvement from Batman, who’s also on the investigation, after finding out most of the witnesses are children, and worse of all, they all seem to be connected in a twisted “sexual abuse” kind of way, unraveling a certain pattern in the killer’s motives towards the victims. Often times the writers on these works were a little more flamboyant or experimental. Which is why I found this work relatively disappointing. So Batman and James have to team up to hunt down a serial killer. It sounds simple enough and we've seen it a million times in Batman titles. But this serial killer is hunting and murdering people who've touched, hurt, molested children. This makes it question if stopping him worth it based on the disgusting behaviors of the victims of the killer. What I really enjoyed here was getting the mindset of both Bruce and James. Both feel defeated on their pursuit but you only see that when they're alone or in their mind. Outside you would never expect it as they both put on brave faces in their own way. I loved the family dynamic and watching Gordon deal with both his child and his wife was perfect.