BatChat With Matt & Will: A Batman Ranking Podcast

By Matt Lazorwitz

What's BatChat With Matt & Will: A Batman Ranking Podcast about?

Each week, hosts Matt Lazorwitz and Will Nevin look at three Batman stories, discuss them and put them on a list that will encompass all Batman stories. Some are great, some are not, but we hope you enjoy them all!

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BatChat With Matt & Will: A Batman Ranking Podcast episodes:

06.13.2024
Episode 139: Pride in the Name of Gotham (w/ The Gotham Outsiders)
We’re in the heart of June, which is Pride Month, so BatChat is joined by the hosts of the Gotham Outsiders podcast to talk about three stories featuring the queer residents of Gotham. Kate Kane’s origin is revealed, Tim Drake...
06.06.2024
Episode 138: Black Label Batman (w/ Matt McThorn)
We're joined this week by our newest Dick Grayson tier backer, Matt McThorn, who wanted to talk about series released under DC's mature readers (mostly) super-hero imprint, Black Label. We have the infamous debit book of the line, where Batman...
05.30.2024
Episode 137: The Venom Episode
I was going to try to come up with something funny and misleading to make it seem like we were talking about the Marvel character Venom for this intro, but my brain isn't coming up with anything. This week's episode...
05.23.2024
Episode 136: The Cop and the Clown
The Joker has wreaked unspeakable trauma on Batman over the years of their rivalry. But there is one man who he has possibly hurt as much, if not more: Jim Gordon. The Joker and Gordon's relationship goes back as far...
05.16.2024
Episode 135: BatChat: The Movie
For those of you out there who back the BatChat Patreon, you have heard Matt & will talk about all manner of Batman media: movies, episodes of animated series and live action TV, narrative podcasts. And this week, we're taking...
05.09.2024
Episode 134: 400 Stories Young
Matt here, and I am going to be writing in the first person for this one. When I started this podcast, I don't know what I was expecting. Will and I had been writing the BatChat column for a while....
05.02.2024
Episode 133: Who Spoils the Spoiler?
Having multiple heroic identities is not something unique in the Bat family. Pretty much everyone has had more than one except for, well, Bruce Wayne. But Stephanie Brown has had three very distinct identities that all very much signify different...
04.25.2024
Episode 132: Batman is the Kwizatz Haderach (w/ Dan Grote)
It's time to celebrate! Matt's other show, The ComicsXF Interview Podcast, reached episode 300 this week. And so for that celebration, that show's co-host, the first ever BatChat guest, Matt's best friend of over 30 years, ComicsXF editor-in-chief Dan Grote...
04.18.2024
Episode 131: Happy Birthday, John Ostrander
This week, one of the defining writers of DC Comics in the 80s and early 90s will turn 75 years old. John Ostrander has a storied career over more than 40 years. He created an indy hit with his creator...
04.11.2024
Episode 130: Jason Todd- Red Headed Stranger
It's been a while, but we're back reading the three series/runs that we have been following (mostly) in order. In No Man's Land, both Batman and Jim Gordon make some choices that definitely won't come back to bite them on...
04.04.2024
Episode 129: Batman Meets Superman for the First Time! Again. (w/ John Wickham)
The law of diminishing returns is often true. It's like that movie with Michael Keaton, Multiplicity (see, already brought it around to Batman!), the more times you tell a story, the more diluted or off it becomes. We have seen...
03.28.2024
Episode 128: Matt Will Finally Know Peace (w/Josh Weil)
Josh Weil is back, and he's bringing his favorite character with him. It's time for Batman to team up again with Ollie Queen, Green Arrow. We're reading the classic Haney/Adams story where Ollie grows his signature facial hair, a team...
03.21.2024
Episode 127: Classic Covers- Perfect for an Audio Medium
Comic books are, by their very nature, a blended medium. They are a synthesis of words and pictures, and the best ones exist in a space where the two are speaking the same language. Podcasting is an aural medium, told...
03.14.2024
Episode 126: Better With Nihilists
We've read a lot of great comics for this podcast. Tonight? We are not doing that. Tonight we are reading three stories that were on the document of possible episode topics marked as "Three Stories that Matt Remembers Hating." And...
03.07.2024
Episode 125: Inside Under the Red Hood
"Jason Todd was dead. There is no doubt whatever about that." Sorry, now that I have used that expensive English degree to paraphrase Dickens, we can get on with this intro. This week, we're returning to stories featuring Jason...
02.29.2024
Episode 124: Ice Fetishization
It's winter here in the US, and it is cold (well, it should be anyway. Damn climate change). And who is colder than Victor Fries, the villain known as Dr. Freeze. Wait, it's Mr. Freeze? Isn't he at least a...
02.22.2024
Episode 123: Weaponized Memories
Of all of Jack Kirby's creations at DC, the Fourth World is probably the most well known, the most expansive, and the most ill used by other creators over the years. Some really get the wild cosmic and Shakespearean vibe...
02.15.2024
Episode 122: Grayson & Friends (w/ Tony Thornley)
It's Valentine's Day week, and I may or may not have forgotten about that when I was scheduling episodes this year. Fortunately, ComicsXF writer and friend of the show Tony Thornley picked some stories that work pretty well for Valentine's...
02.08.2024
Episode 121: On the Trail of Darwyn Cooke
There are those creators you just come back to, whose work never ceases to amaze. Darwyn Cooke is one of those creators. Passing on too young, Cooke still left an impressive body of work, a lot of which was Batman...
02.01.2024
Episode 120: The Wedding That Didn't Happen (w/ Abigale Heartbalm)
At 120 episodes, we've covered a lot of Batman comics. A lot. But I think few have been more contentious, both in the fandom and on this podcast, as the ones this week. Because this week we're talking about the...
01.25.2024
Episode 119: Rowing the Amazon in a Cadillac
Ah, my sweet summer children, let me tell you of a time called the early 90s. It was a time of hope. It was a time of questionable fashion. And it was a time when there were only three monthly...
01.18.2024
Episode 118: SuperBat Rises (w/ Josh Weil)
Will is so very tried. Three weeks in a row of big superhero stories. Not a single mobster or Year One era, bare bones Batman story to be found. Because this week, Dick Grayson tier Patreon backer Josh Weil is...
01.11.2024
Episode 117: Batman the Jobber (w/ John Wickham)
Last week, we talked about the Justice League International. This week, Dick Grayson Tier Patreon backer John Wickham joins us to talk about the other late 80s DC team that spun out of the Legends event, the Suicide Squad. And...
01.04.2024
Episode 116: JLI- Bwah-Ha-Huh?
The Justice League International era of the mid-to-late 80s was a sea change for the Justice League franchise. While there were still superheroics, the book became grounded in character based humor; the series was basically a workplace sitcom. And early...
12.28.2023
Episode 115: New Year, New Batman Golden Age Edition
It's the New Year, and so here at BatChat we like to look at different versions of Batman at this time, so we're going back into Elseworlds territory. But this year, it's a very specific type of Elseworld: the historical...
12.21.2023
Episode 114: It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Batman
Merry Bats-Mas to one and all! We're getting near Christmas, and so it's time to go back to the holiday stories in Gotham well (and if you think we might run out any time soon, have no fears, we've got...
12.14.2023
Episode 113: Overstuffed Owls
I was going to start this with the Court of Owls nursery rhyme, but I believe I did that when we actually covered the original Snyder Court of Owls story, so instead you're just going to get my usual ramble....
12.07.2023
Episode 112: Batwoman Begins
Originally introduced in the 1950s, Batwoman has gone from a forgotten character to one who is a queer icon and headlined her own TV series. Kate and Kathy Kane are very distinct characters, and this week, we'll be reading stories...
11.30.2023
Episode 111: Spud's All, Folks!
The beauty of a Patreon request is you never know what you're going to get. And bless Dan Grote, co-host of WMQ&A and BatChat's first patron and guest, for coming at us with a request nobody expected. This week, we're...
11.22.2023
Episode 110: A Wayne Family Thanksgiving
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! As is our custom here at BatChat (and this is the third time we've done it, so that qualifies as a custom now), the Thanksgiving episode features three all ages Batman stories, and as I have pointed...
11.16.2023
Episode 109: X Marks the Bat (w/ Adam Reck)
We're comics fans, so we all love a crossover, right? So why shouldn't that expand to our podcasts? It's ComicsXF podcast crossover week, so Matt is joined by Battle of the Atom host Adam Reck to talk about three Batman...
11.09.2023
Episode 108: Gatman Vs. Scarface, Ya Gums!
While a lot of Batman's best known rogues date back to his earliest days, the 80s spawned a handful of memorable nemeses, and none moreso than Scarface, the evil dummy, and his henchman, the Ventriloquist. This week, we're reading three...
11.02.2023
Episode 107: Kevin Smith's On His Best Behavior
Spooky season is over, and so now it's time for some wholesome fun! We covered three of the six mini-series where Batman '66 teams up with other properties a ways back, and now we're returning to cover the other three....
10.25.2023
Episode 106: All Rhyming! (Not Really)
It's spooky time, and so this week we're covering three stories where Batman teams up with his most diabolical frenemy, the Demon Etrigan. There's lots of rhyming, most of it not very good. Be grateful I didn't try to do...
10.19.2023
Episode 105: Stop Trying to Make Geo-Force Happen (w/ Austin Gorton)
Over his 85+ years, Batman has been a member of lots of different teams. This week, fellow ComicsXF writer Austin Gorton stops by to talk about three different teams Batman has been a member of. We fill in another gap...
10.12.2023
Episode 104: His Father's Mustache
Everyone knows that Batman is also billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne. But what most people outside of Batman comics fans don't know is that Batman has another alter ego: two-bit mobster Matches Malone, an identity Batman uses to infiltrate the mob....
10.05.2023
Episode 103: Conceived Behind a Dumpster
Big Two superhero comics are an iterative process. What was conceived in the 1930s and 40s has evolved and changed over the intervening three quarters of a century. Usually? That's for the better. Characters get deeper and develop more of...
09.28.2023
Episode 102: Is Penguin a Good Trump Analogue? (w/ John Wickham)
Batman is a creature of shadow who usually eschews the light. But even the Dark Knight can be touched by that darkest of human endeavors that lives in the brightest of spotlights: politics. Dick Grayson Tier Patreon backer John Wickham...
09.21.2023
Episode 101: The Two Faces of James Robinson (w/ Josh Weil)
James Robinson might be best known for writing the 90s classic, Starman, but he's written a bunch of Batman too. And this week, Josh Weil stops by to talk about three of Robinson's stories. We have a Pulp Heroes annual,...
09.14.2023
Episode 100: BatChat R.I.P.
I kind of can't believe we made it this far, but here it is: episode 100! And for that, we're hitting one of the last legendary Batman stories we haven't touched, and one we've slowly been building towards for...
09.07.2023
Episode 99: The Melty Eye
We've done episodes before that look at three versions of one story. But of there's one story that has seemingly been retold more than any other, it's the first Batman story, "The Case of the Chemical Syndicate." This week, we're...
08.24.2023
Episode 98: Batman With a Gun?
Joker is Batman's most dedicated foe. Ra's al Ghul is the deadliest. The Penny Plunderer is the most ridiculous (that's up for debate, but he's my pick). But no criminal is more integral to the Batman mythos than Joe Chill,...
08.17.2023
Episode 97: A Biblically Accurate Angel (w/ Robert Secundus)
BatChat religion correspondent Robert "Bobby TwoBucks" Secundus is back this week, and he's brining with him Jean-Paul Valley, the vigilante and sometimes fanatic known as Azrael. We chart the journey of Azrael from the beginning of his ongoing to his...
08.10.2023
Episode 96: Batman Across the Globe
While Gotham City is an integral part of the Batman mythos, Batman is an international hero, and there are plenty of stories that take Batman out of the grim confines of his home city and out into a wider world....
08.03.2023
Episode 95: Gordon's Mirror
Commissioner James Gordon has existed literally as long as Batman has, having appeared in Detective Comics #27, the first appearance of Batman. Over the years, he has changed and evolved as many comic characters have. Originally mostly a deskbound...
07.27.2023
Episode 94: Trinity
Welcome to the first episode of our new Oppenheimer podcast. This first episode investigates how director Christopher Nolan's film deals with the Trinity Nuclear Test. What? It's still a Batman podcast? It's about Batman meeting Superman and Wonder Woman, the other members of...
07.20.2023
Episode 93: The Darkest Episode of '66 Ever
It's taken three episodes, but we've finally covered every story in the original Batman # 1. That means this week, we're covering the first appearance of Catwoman, and so we're also covering a couple other Catwoman stories, one a story...
07.13.2023
Episode 92: The Law of Contrivance
There are plenty of superheroes you could talk about where the issues of copaganda in 2023 don't come up. I'm sure there are. But Batman isn't one of them. We've had episodes talking about Jim Gordon and the main detectives...
07.06.2023
Episode 91: Batman (Comics) Goes to the Movies
I was going to do some parody of that God awful Nicole Kidman commercial that airs in front of every movie at AMC Theatres (why are you advertising the movie chain to people already in their seats?!?!?!?), but you're listening...
06.29.2023
Episode 90: Devil Batman Went Down to Gotham
We're back to the three series we've been covering arc by arc. This time, Will actually likes a Grant Morrison story in his run on Batman! The Penguin has a rough day in No Man's Land! And a reasonable number...

What's BatChat With Matt & Will: A Batman Ranking Podcast about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

BatChat With Matt & Will: A Batman Ranking Podcast episodes:

Episode 139: Pride in the Name of Gotham (w/ The Gotham Outsiders)

Episode 138: Black Label Batman (w/ Matt McThorn)

Episode 137: The Venom Episode

Episode 136: The Cop and the Clown

Episode 135: BatChat: The Movie

Episode 134: 400 Stories Young

Episode 133: Who Spoils the Spoiler?

Episode 132: Batman is the Kwizatz Haderach (w/ Dan Grote)

Episode 131: Happy Birthday, John Ostrander

Episode 130: Jason Todd- Red Headed Stranger

Episode 129: Batman Meets Superman for the First Time! Again. (w/ John Wickham)

Episode 128: Matt Will Finally Know Peace (w/Josh Weil)

Episode 127: Classic Covers- Perfect for an Audio Medium

Episode 126: Better With Nihilists

Episode 125: Inside Under the Red Hood

Episode 124: Ice Fetishization

Episode 123: Weaponized Memories

Episode 122: Grayson & Friends (w/ Tony Thornley)

Episode 121: On the Trail of Darwyn Cooke

Episode 120: The Wedding That Didn't Happen (w/ Abigale Heartbalm)

Episode 119: Rowing the Amazon in a Cadillac

Episode 118: SuperBat Rises (w/ Josh Weil)

Episode 117: Batman the Jobber (w/ John Wickham)

Episode 116: JLI- Bwah-Ha-Huh?

Episode 115: New Year, New Batman Golden Age Edition

Episode 114: It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Batman

Episode 113: Overstuffed Owls

Episode 112: Batwoman Begins

Episode 111: Spud's All, Folks!

Episode 110: A Wayne Family Thanksgiving

Episode 109: X Marks the Bat (w/ Adam Reck)

Episode 108: Gatman Vs. Scarface, Ya Gums!

Episode 107: Kevin Smith's On His Best Behavior

Episode 106: All Rhyming! (Not Really)

Episode 105: Stop Trying to Make Geo-Force Happen (w/ Austin Gorton)

Episode 104: His Father's Mustache

Episode 103: Conceived Behind a Dumpster

Episode 102: Is Penguin a Good Trump Analogue? (w/ John Wickham)

Episode 101: The Two Faces of James Robinson (w/ Josh Weil)

Episode 100: BatChat R.I.P.

Episode 99: The Melty Eye

Episode 98: Batman With a Gun?

Episode 97: A Biblically Accurate Angel (w/ Robert Secundus)

Episode 96: Batman Across the Globe

Episode 95: Gordon's Mirror

Episode 94: Trinity

Episode 93: The Darkest Episode of '66 Ever

Episode 92: The Law of Contrivance

Episode 91: Batman (Comics) Goes to the Movies

Episode 90: Devil Batman Went Down to Gotham

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