Love is in the air. It's nearly Valentine's Day, and for the past couple of his appearances, Patreon backer and friend of the show Josh Weil has mentioned that he's been considering selecting one of the few truly whimsical and just plane fun stories Tom King has written: "Date Night," where Batman an Catwoman go on a double date with Superman and Lois Lane. And since this week his appearance lined up with Valentine's, we figured it was time to finally add that story to the big board. Also, Bruce and Talia go on an animated series style date in Paris in a story with an inappropriate title and Nightwing and Oracle get married in a crossover that is mostly forgotten but was a breath of fresh air at the time.

Super Friends: Date Night (Batman V.3 #36-37)

Last Tango in Paris (Batman Adventures V.1 #13)

Birds of Rage (Convergence: Nightwing/Oracle #1-2)

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Superheroes were an American invention, at least the modern conception of them. But they have spread across the globe and taken on many forms. We've done an episode about Batman stories across the world before, but this weeks we're focusing specifically on Batman stories from Japan. We're reading the first collection of stories that spun out of the 60s Batman TV craze, a more serious tale of a killer stalking Gotham with connections to Bruce Wayne's study's in Japan and the final volume of the series where Joker raises a de-aged baby Batman.

Batman: The Jiro Kuwata Batmanga Chapters 1-19

Batman: Death Mask # 1-4

One Operation Joker V.3

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This week, BatChat is once more joined by Patreon backer and friend of the show Matt McThorn. This time, Matt wanted to talk about times Batman and his allies and enemies crossed over with properties from Dark Horse Comics. So we have Batman meeting Hellboy (and Starman, but that's less of a jump), The Joker trying on The Mask and the Justice League winding up on the farm that serves as the setting for Black Hammer.

Batman/Hellboy/Starman #1-2

Joker/Mask #1-4

Hammer of Justice (Black Hammer/Justice League #1-4)

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We read three stories an episode. So with that math, episode 222 means we are ranking story 666, which is certainly a portentous number. It's a number that screams horror. And it's not like we haven't covered plenty of Batman horror on this show. But as we get to that number here, we figured there's no better time to get back to it. So this week, we're reading the first appearance of the most horror of the main Batman villains, the Scarecrow, reading a Legends of the Dark Knight one off drawn by Mike Mignola and a maxi-series from horror comic master Steve Niles with art from the definitive Batman horror artist, Kelley Jones.

The Riddle of the Human Scarecrow (World's Finest Comics # 3)

Sanctum (Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight # 54)

Batman: Gotham After Midnight # 1-12

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This week, BatChat is returning to the three runs we've been following in order. Well, sorta. Yes, we're reading the next arc of No Man's Land and the penultimate arc of Grant Morrison's epic run. But Injustice has been showing signs of severely diminishing returns the past few volumes, and we had something else we've been wanting to get to, so we're subbing in Knightquest: The Crusade, the adventures of Azrael as Batman. We'll get back to Injustice once the Morrison run is over, but for this month, AzBats takes on the Trigger Twins (and Robin), Batman and Robin go into Robinson Park in No Man's Land for a conversation with Poison Ivy and the wat between Batman Inc and Leviathan kicks off in earnest

Money Train (Detective Comics V.1 #667-669, Robin V.2 #1-2)

Fruit of the Earth (Batman: Shadow of the Bat #88, Batman V.1 #568, Detective Comics V.1 #735)

Demon Star (Batman Incorporated V.2 #0-6)

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The Creeper is a weird character. He's a guy with yellow skin, a green and black banana hammock, and a red fur boa. That's a heck of a look. He's also a good guy that most think is a bad guy. And sometimes he hangs out in Gotham City. That's a lot on a character who DC has tried to get over no less than four times with their own series that has never taken off. But because he's a sometimes Gotham character, we can cover stories where he interacts with the Bat family (this is entirely an excuse because Matt recently got a comic with Batman and the Creeper and wanted an excuse to read it). We see him and Batman fight a bug-man, team up with Joker and get involved with Batman in a complicated plot involving Ra's al Ghul framing Batman for murder.

And Hellgrammite is his name (The Brave and the Bold V.1 # 80)

The Last Ha-Ha (The Joker V.1 # 3)

Bat-Murderer (Detective Comics V.1 # 444-448)

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It's the start of a new year again, and so, as we do every year, it's time to look at some new visions of Batman in a handful of Elseworlds. We've got a pulpy adventure of Batman and Superman, the Bat-pirate Leatherwing sailing the seven seas and an issue of the Batman Chronicles anthology with a second tale of Leatherwing, a gumshoe Bruce Wayne investigating murders by a cat creature and an intellectual Batman who still has time to punch Nazis.

Elseworld's Finest # 1-2

Leatherwing (Detective Comics V.1 Annual # 7)

Batman Chronicles # 11

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Happy holidays to all! As is our tradition, and as we aren't going to run out any time soon, the week of Christmas we read three stories of the holidays in Gotham. One is a little holiday kinda-noir from Bat legends Denny O'Neil and Frank Miller, one is a perplexing animated series style Brave and the Bold that might explain the intergalactic origins of Santa and the final is a mini-series where Batman teams up with one of the men who trained him: Kris Kringle himself.

Wanted: Santa Claus- Dead or Alive! (DC Special Series #21)

Final Christmas (Batman: The Brave and the Bold V.1 #12)

Batman/Santa Claus: Silent Knight #1-4

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You walk down a set of stairs hidden behind a clock. You enter a large cavern. And there you see all manner of things. A large computer. A car like no other. Cases displaying costumes. And trophies. You have entered the Batcave, and this week we're reading three stories featuring the first appearances of those three most famous Batcave trophies: the robotic T-Rex, the giant Joker playing card and the giant penny.

Here's the link to the article regarding the Joker Card as mentioned in the episode: https://www.cbr.com/batman-giant-joker-playing-card-batcave/

The Isle That Time Forgot (Batman V.1 # 10)

Rackety-Rax Racket (Batman V.1 # 32)

The Penny Plunderers (World's Finest Comics # 30)

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You can start out as a Robin, but eventually you have to grow up, right? Well, maybe not Tim Drake, who's Robin again, but there was a period where he wasn't. And Dick Grayson and Jason Todd have left the Robin identity behind long ago. This week, Sam Hopper joins us again to talk about stories featuring those three former Robins in their later identities. We read the first arcs of Tim's time as Red Robin, Dick's as a super spy and Jason's Red Hood adventures on Webtoon.

The Grail (Red Robin # 1-4)

Agent of Spyral (Grayson # 1-4)

Red Hood: Outlaws V.1 (Red Hood: Outlaws Webtoon Strips # 1-11)

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