BatChat With Matt & Will: A Batman Ranking Podcast

Batman is a multimedia empire. We talk about comics on the (main) show, but outside comics there's TV, movies, toys and video games. So many video games. And many of them aren't great. What ones are great? The Arkham series. Patreon backer Sam Hopper returns this week, and we're reading three books that tie into those games, including a full-in choose your own adventure style book, so you know we're going to see some ridiculous Batman deaths!

Batman: Arkham Origins TPB

Batman: Arkham Knight- Batgirl/Harley Quinn #1

Batman: Arkham City #1-5

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Thanks to Geri Nonnewitz for our podcast logo

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It's Halloween week, so it's time for our traditional spooky episode! And what Batman occasional ally is spookier than Deadman? The ghost of acrobat Boston Brand, Deadman is a smart mouthed spectre who starts out searching for his own killer, then becomes the ghost that helps spirits make their way to their just reward. This week's stories include Bob Haney's story where Batman and Deadman meet for the first time, a Doug Moench/Kelley Jones story with Inca Mummy Madness and James Robinson writes a story with painted art that has Batman and Deadman fighting the devil's Deadman.

The Track of the Hook (Brave and the Bold V.1 # 79)

The Deadman Connection (Batman V.1 # 530-532)

Batman/Deadman: Death & Glory OGN

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Thanks to Geri Nonnewitz for our podcast logo

Support the show on Patreon at www.patreon.com/batchatwithmattandwill

There are a lot of Clayfaces. And this week, a hodgepodge of different versions of them, from animation and comics, are starring in a major motion picture. So of course, as a Batman podcast, we're doing an episode that focuses on Clayface. This is specifically three origins of Clayface. The first is the origin of the original. The second is the origin of, well, the second. And the third is a modern origin that takes some aspects of the comics and Batman: The Animated Series and makes something new from it.

The Murders of Clay-Face (Detective Comics V.1 #40)

The Challenge of Clay-Face (Detective Comics V.1 #298)

Clay (Detective Comics V.3 Annual #1)

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Thanks to Geri Nonnewitz for our podcast logo

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Matt & Will approach comics in very different ways. Matt, who has been reading comics regularly since he was 9, loves comics of all varieties, sometimes the weirder the better. Will has more than once proclaimed that he could go on forever with just Year One era, street level Batman comics with no superpowers. Well, Patreon backer John Wickham took up that challenge with three stories that feature the heroes of the DC Universe losing their powers. Two are crossover events, and one is a strangely Christian Elseworlds.

JLA: Act of God # 1-3

Genesis (Genesis # 1-4, Batman V.1 # 547)

Absolute Power (Absolute Power # 1-4, Absolute Power: Ground Zero, Absolute Power FCBD Special)

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Thanks to Geri Nonnewitz for our podcast logo

Support the show on Patreon at www.patreon.com/batchatwithmattandwill

We've covered a lot of Elseworlds stories. Those are stories set on a different universe and featuring a different universe's version of Batman. But there are times when the Batman of the main DC Universe, whether that's Earth-0 or Prime Earth or New Earth or whatever you want to call it, travels to some of these other worlds. Patreon backer Matt McThorn is joining us for three of those stories. One is Grant Morrison's first attempt to bring a version of the Multiverse back when DC was dead set against it. The second is a weird sort of utopian Gotham. And finally, during the DC K.O. event, Batman pops through various realities where he has to fight his Robins.

JLA: Earth 2 OGN

Gothtopia (Detective Comics V.2 # 27-29)

DC KO: Knightfight # 1-4

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Thanks to Geri Nonnewitz for our podcast logo

Support the show on Patreon at www.patreon.com/batchatwithmattandwill

He's a figure of vengeance. He wears a long cloak. He strikes fear into the hearts of criminals. He's... The Spectre. God's wrath made manifest, The Spectre is the angel of vengeance bonded to the ghost of a dead New York cop, Jim Corrigan. Unsurprisingly, a spirit of vengeance is a character who has teamed up with Batman on more than one occasion. First, we get some of that joyous Bob Haney madness, followed up by Doug Moench and Kelly Jones and finally we go into the New 52 and we see Corrigan as a member of the GCPD's answer to the X-Files.

In the Grasp of Shahn-Zi (The Brave and the Bold V.1 # 75)

Spirit of Vengeance (Batman V.2 # 540-541)

We Do Not Sleep (Gotham By Midnight # 1-5)

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Thanks to Geri Nonnewitz for our podcast logo

Support the show on Patreon at www.patreon.com/batchatwithmattandwill

Aside from Batman himself, and maybe Dick Grayson, no other character from the world of Gotham has appeared more than the Joker. And in his 85 plus years, he has had some weird adventures. And some that are so damn weird that they wind up in their own episode here. The most normal is the one where Joker inherits a bunch of money and retires from crime for, like, five minutes. From there, the Joker makes a deal with the devil who looks like a 70s Elton John. And then it's a series of back-ups that are so bonkers that they made Fox News.

Joker's Millions (Detective Comics V.1 # 180)

99 and 99/100ths Percent Dead (The Joker V.1 # 10)

The Joker Vs. Fox News (The Joker: The Man Who Stopped Who Stopped Laughing # 1-10 Back-Ups)

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Thanks to Geri Nonnewitz for our podcast logo

Support the show on Patreon at www.patreon.com/batchatwithmattandwill

Hey, sometimes you go with an easy one. Coming up with episode themes isn't an easy thing, so these episodes where we continue on in runs we've been reading in order allow me to turn off my brain for a week. We're back in Batman Confidential, with three more shorts set in No Man's Land, AzBats has a Christmas season throwdown with a... chilling foe and Catwoman breaks into, out of, and (almost) back into No Man's Land.

Batman Chronicles # 17

Cold Cases (Detective Comics V.1 # 670)

Ms. Direction (Catwoman V.2 # 72-74)

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Thanks to Geri Nonnewitz for our podcast logo

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Gotham City is in New Jersey, so most of the stories that we cover take place in Matt's beloved home state. Not many stories take place in Will's home state of Alabama. As a matter of fact, we could really only find one. So we're doing that story, as well as two stories from creators who are native to Alabama. This is not at all because Will really wanted to cover Batman: Off-World from Alabama native son, Jason Aaron. Not at all. Aside from that story, we're also reading a story where Batman and Robin chase Joker across the USA and the mini-series that led up to Grant Morrison's run on JLA from another Alabama native, Mark Waid.

The Cross-Country Crimes (Batman V.1 # 8)

Justice League: A Midsummer's Nightmare # 1-3

Batman: Off-World # 1-6

Check out our current ranking list at www.comicsxf.com/batchat-rankings/

Thanks to Geri Nonnewitz for our podcast logo

Support the show on Patreon at www.patreon.com/batchatwithmattandwill

Friend of the show and fellow ComicsXF staffer Tony Thornley is back to talk about one of his favorite types of comic: the intercompany crossover. We read the Marvel half of the recent return to co-publication with Batman and Deadpool, the completely non-sensical most recent Batman/Spawn crossover and the second Batman/TMNT mini-series.

The Dead of Knight (Marvel/DC: Deadpool/Batman # 1)

Batman/Spawn # 1

A Knight in New York (Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II # 1-6)

Check out our current ranking list at www.comicsxf.com/batchat-rankings/

Thanks to Geri Nonnewitz for our podcast logo

Support the show on Patreon at www.patreon.com/batchatwithmattandwill