The revolving doors of any prison or mental health facility in Gotham City are running jokes, and rightly so; they can't keep a D-lister like Ratcatcher locked up, let alone someone like the Joker. But they do keep winding up back in custody, so there has to be story potential there, right? This week's episode looks at three times Joker wound up locked up. A graphic novel from Dixon and Nolan finds Joker on death row, a tale of Joker's first time in custody and there's a mystery of exactly how all of Gotham's rogues wound up in a warehouse together and only Joker is talking.

Apologies for the sound on Matt's end: this and the next couple episodes had smoe issues, but it's definitely listenable, just echoey.

The Joker: Devil's Advocate OGN

Do You Understand These Rights? (Batman Confidential # 22-25)

The Joker Presents: A Puzzlebox # 1-7

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Doug Moench wrote Batman stories for about a decade over the course of his runs on the character. And while his Bat work is probably best associated with his collaboration with Kelley Jones, generally his best known collaborator is penciller Paul Gulacy, with whom he defined Shang-Chi over at Marvel. That isn't to say he didn't work wit Gulacy on Batman though. This week we read three of those team-ups, including two Legends of the Dark Knight arcs defining the post-Crisis Hugo Strange and a Batman/Predator crossover.

Also, this episode is partly brought to you by Matt's local library, which had a copy of that out of print crossover. If you're looking to read comics you can't find elsewhere? Check your local library. They're great resources.

Prey (Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #11-15)

Bloodmatch (Batman Vs. Predator II #1-4)

Terror (Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #137-141)

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The evolution of representation of queer characters in mainstream superhero comics is something that entire books can, and should, be written about. So I'm not going to wax rhapsodic about all the changes here, but it's June and thus Pride Month, and so we're back with queer Bat characters. First we wrap up Greg Rucka's run on Batwoman, next we see the first HarlIvy wedding (in the Injustice Universe of all places) and we read one of the DC Pride anthologies, the one that includes the brilliant story written by the one true voice of Batman, Kevin Conroy.

Cutter (Detective Comics V.1 # 861-863)

Injustice: Year Zero (Injustice: Year Zero Chapters 1-14)

DC Pride 2022

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We're getting near 200 episodes of this show, and many of those episodes have been experiences where we discover fun, fascinating comics. And then there is this week. Patreon backer and friend (?) of the show John Wickham made his pick for his return, and he decided to pick three stories related to the Joker and Joker related characters that could make it to the bottom of the Big Board. He he succeeded. The New 52 Harley, Joker's Daughter and her nonsense underground kingdom and Three Jokers all appear, all are terrible, and one takes it's spot in the opposite of rarified air at the very bottom of the Big Board. Try to guess which one. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Harley Lives! (Detective Comics V.2 #23.2)

Down Under (Catwoman V.4 #22-24 & 26, Batman: The Dark Knight v.2 #23.4)

Batman: The Three Jokers #1-3

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We're back to our three runs we're following in order. In No Man's Land, we meet a new character who will be an important part of the Bat Family moving forward. In the Morrison run, we get some side stories in the run up to The Return of Bruce Wayne. And in Injustice, Renee Montoya hits Superman with the Washington Monument.

Mark of Cain (Batman V.1 #567, Detective Comics V.1 #734)

Time and Batman (Batman V.1 #700-703)

Injustice: Gods Among Us Year Four V.1 (Injustice: Gods Among Us- Year Four #1-7)

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Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight was a title like no other at the time, with its rotating creative teams of big name creators. As the series progressed, some of the creative teams featured less well known creators, but the series always tried to do something different, even if some themes came up over and over. Patreon backer and friend of the show Josh Weil stumbled across a trade featuring three LotDK stories of Batman fighting monsters called, well, Batman: Monsters, and those are the stories we cover this episode.

Werewolf (Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight # 71-73)

Infected (Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight # 83-84)

Clay (Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight # 89-90)

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Y'know, sometimes you get an episode request, and you wind up with stories better than you could have expected. Patreon backer and friend of the show Matt McThorn specifically wanted to talk about the Batman annual with the origin of Clownhunter and art by James Stokoe. So we decided, what better theme than more annuals. And not to spoil too much, but we wound up with not one, but two new stories in the top 100 of the Big Board. And one very weird story quite a bit lower, but that's still a great showing for the night.

There is Hope in Crime Alley (Batman V.3 Annual # 5)

Everyday. (Batman V.3 Annual # 4)

Slade's Demon (Batman V.1 Annual # 12)

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Patreon backer Sam Hopper wanted to give us a nice, fun week, and we appreciate that. He requested three stories that inspired episodes of Batman '66. There are surprisingly few episodes of that show that were adaptations, but definitely enough or an episode. But these are really short stories, so we wanted to add a little something. So on top of ranking the comics on the Big Board, we are talking about the episodes, and adding them to the Little Board. And we made a special public post over on patreon.com/batchatwithmattandwill, so you can check out all the media we have ranked there before we start getting even weirder with what we'll be adding to it this summer.

The Riddler (Detective Comics V.1 # 140)

Joker's Utility Belt (Batman V.1 # 73)

The Mad Hatter of Gotham City (Detective Comics V.1 # 230)

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We're back with two of our favorite ladies this week: Patreon backer (and Will's wife) Abigale Heartbalm and Stephanie Brown. Abigale wanted to read three stories featuring Stephanie, and we wanted to go with something similar as the first time we did a Stephanie episode where we touch on different eras of the character, but we kinda wanted to avoid all those depressing stories where she's Robin. So this time, for her second appearance, it's all second stories: her second appearance, her second arc as Batgirl and the second arc of James Tynion IV's run on Detective Comics.

Clueless (Robin V.2 # 3-5)

Batgirl Rising: Core Requirements (Batgirl V.3 # 4-7)

The Victim Syndicate (Detective Comics V.3 # 943-947)

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People love Batman. People love Apes. So when you combine them, you're bound yo get some fun comics, right? Well, sometimes. Patreon backer Dan Grote asked us to read some Batman and apes stories, and we read a delightful Golden/Silver Age story, a 90s story that had it's fun moments and a story that is proof that the New 52 could suck the joy out of pretty much anything. And we discuss how few Batman/Detective Chimp stories there are, which is a travesty.

The Bat-Ape (Batman V.1 #114)

JLApe (Legends of the DC Universe #19, JLA Annual #3, Batman V.1 Annual #23, Aquaman V.5 Annual #5, Wonder Woman V.2 Annual #8, Flash V.2 Annual #12, Superman V.2 Annual #11, Green Lantern V.3 Annual #8, Martian Manhunter V.2 Annual #2)

Time to Monkey Shine (Batman V.2 #23.1)

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

Thanks to Geri Nonnewitz for our podcast logo

Follow the show on Twitter @BatChatComics and support the show on Patreon at www.patreon.com/batchatwithmattandwill