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. The Riddler. Yeah, go on, laugh. A nerdy guy who can't even throw a punch, right? Just leaves stupid clues and makes it easy for Batman to catch him, right? Go read "Dark Knight, Dark City" ( Batman #452-#454), which has, among other things, Riddler forcing Batman into slitting a baby's throat note to perform a tracheotomy. The comic brings up the possibility that the Joker is an Eldritch Abomination terrorizing Gotham for centuries.

Something that sets Croc apart from a lot of Batman's other villains is the fact he wasn't exposed to toxins, caught in a freak lab accident, given special drugs, nor did he perform experiments on himself. He was born like this.

Fridge Horror sets in when you realize that somewhere, buried deep within layers upon layers of insanity and psychological damage, lies a conscience, a small, sane, unchanging fragment of Joker's personality that not only realizes what he's done/doing, but so desperately wants Batman to stop him. The Dollotrons themselves are deeply disturbing, being regular people who have unwillingly undergone a process of creation that is not entirely revealed but is implied to involve brain surgery, genital mutilation, and mind-altering drugs. They are also given a fleshy doll-like mask that is permanently attached to the victim's face. I don’t really want to spoil anything else, as this a story that you will just have to read for yourself to decide whether or not it works for you. I personally think it does a great job highlighting real-world issues, but that will be a mileage-will-vary kind of thing. The ending is a hell of gut-punch though, and I thought the Gordon subplot was unbelievably effective storytelling. The painted art by Scott Hampton is unreal as well, looking even better in this magazine sized hardcover. It adds a grimey layer to the story, and elevates the script beyond what it would have been if it had just been pencilled normally.

Damian's death and the resulting fallout in the Bat-Family. Batman & Robin in particular has an arc with Bruce going through the five stages of grief, where he further alienates and hurts his allies, still bearing wounds from Death of the Family.Often times the writers on these works were a little more flamboyant or experimental. Which is why I found this work relatively disappointing. What's worse is the realization that, because the Joker constantly reinvents his personality as a symptom of his madness, events similar to "Going Sane" may have played out several times over the course of the Joker's career. The ending result felt a little predictable but the emotion ran high whenever Batman or James had to talk to the victims of the sexual abuse. Seeing some still confused of why their parent was killed while others couldn't even talk anymore.

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. Bruce discovering that Kathy Kane was killed by a brainwashed Bronze Tiger during the "War of the Assassins" storyline. She died in 1979 and was the first member of the Batfamily to die. Goodwin makes this a fairly personal story for Jim Gordon, getting inside Gordon's brain with a condescending voice of narration that I'm led to believe is his interpretation of his father. That added element of Gordon dealing with the cycle of domestic abuse, and the ramifications on his marriage and young James Jr., really get to the heart of the damage that child abuse can cause and continue to cause without dealing with the root issues.

Clayface. Formerly a prestigious actor acclaimed for a certain role, now he is just a sadistic, psychopathic killer. Sure, a humongous, hulking mud body may not be that scary to some (though it depends on the source material), but think about this: he can physically turn into anybody. From your best buddy to your loving partner, even to your mom or dad. And you may not even realize it until he decides to turn you into a pasty red smear. Peter Tomasi's run on Batman had the writer humanize Damian in ways that even Grant Morrison's more subtle characterization wasn't able to do alone. So, after Damian's death in Batman Inc., Tomasi dedicated a completely silent issue to the character in Batman and Robin #18. From Alfred's weeping at the Wayne Family portrait, with Damian's figure still unfinished, to Bruce's near inability to keep functioning, the issue reaches a climax when Batman finds a letter Damian wrote to his father explaining why he needed to help his father and how much he loves him. Bruce finally breaks and nearly destroys a whole room, collapsing onto his knees and holding Damian's costume in his hands. In the night, he listens. ‘Two million cases. Two thousand deaths. Too many cries. Someone else has to hear them.’ In the night, he listens. And only the sound of his own voice comes to him, screaming in frustration. The cry of a lone bat. Unable to find its way.”

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. What is Batman: Night Cries about? As Batman and Commissioner James Gordon investigate cases regarding drug pushers, gathered clues lead them to establish a common denominator that revolves around a series of murders implicating instances of child abuse with the death of the children’s parents. When they both set their minds to unraveling this mystery, Batman finds himself accused of being the disturbed and unhinged vigilante behind these murders with only a little girl out there to clear his name, while Commissioner Gordon relives his own troubled past as he desperately tries to come to terms with his own abuse as a child. Despite everything, it is up to these two to elucidate this mystery and break a vicious cycle of unforgivable crimes. 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.

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.