BatChat With Matt & Will: A Batman Ranking Podcast

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 reading three stories featuring Joe Potato, a Gotham PI who we read one story with a while back, and now we're covering all three of his other appearances. We have a story that does a Reefer Madness but with Ecstasy, Anarky makes Will really mad and a Pulp Heroes annual that totally gets the assignment. All of these served up hard boiled, even though mashed would have been more appropriate.

Ecstasy (Detective Comics V.1 # 594)

Anarky: Prophet of Doom (Batman: Shadow of the Bat # 40-41)

I Was the Love Slave of a Plant Based Killer (Batman: Shadow of the Bat Annual # 5)

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

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 out in the past, for a character who is so often associated with grim stories, there are a lot of all ages Batman stories. This year, we're digging into the first volume of Webtoons Wayne Family Adventures, reading an all ages comic Matt hadn't read before featuring Bat-Mite and a Brave and the Bold tie-in that may not have aged as well as one would hope. We here at BatChat are thankful for all of you, and we hope you're having a great holiday.

Wayne Family Adventures V.1 (Wayne Family Adventures # 1-25)

Imp-Possible (DC Super-Friends # 11)

President Batman (Batman: The Brave and the Bold V.1 # 3)

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

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 stories from creators whose work are favorites on BotA. John Francis Moore moves out of 2099 to Gotham in the 90s, Chris Bachalo draws a atman story released the same month as the first issue of Generation X and we read the first issue of Larry Hama's short and much maligned run on Batman. It's a fun time, and Will may or may not pop by for ranking.

Also, I am sorry to say that Matt's audio on the Adam sections came through the wrong mic, so it's a little rough. Not impossible, just rough. I send my regrets to your ears.

Hothouse (Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight # 42-43)

Terminus (Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight # 64)

O'er the Land of the Free (Batman V.1 # 575)

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

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 stories featuring Scarface, including his first appearance, his origin and the first appearance of his second handler, Sugar.

Fever (Detective Comics V.1 # 583-584)

The Secret Origin of Scarface (Showcase '94 # 8-9)

Double Talk (Detective Comics V.1 # 827)

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

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. We have Kevin Smith writing about the team-up of Batman and the Green Hornet is possibly the most all agers thing he has ever written, references done right and art not so much when Batman meets the Avengers (no, not those ones) and the Dynamic Duo and Batgirl heading to Riverdale!

Batman '66 Meets the Green Hornet # 1-6

Batman '66 Meets Steed and Mrs. Peel # 1-6

Archie Meets Batman '66 # 1-6

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

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 it for this introduction. These three stories include some charming Bob Haney nonsense, Joker deciding that sorcery and alchemy are the best hobbies and Etrigan in the world of tomorrow!

Hour of the Serpent (The Brave and the Bold V.1 # 137)

Major Arcana (Batman V.1 # 544-546)

And Flights of Demons Sing Thee to They Rest (Batman Beyond V.2 # 14)

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

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 in Will's knowledge of the roots of the Morrison run, Snapper Carr is kind of the worst and once again Mike W. Barr shows his version of Batman has a bit more of a flexible version of The One Rule.

The Batmen of All Nations (Detective Comics V.1 #215)

Snapper Carr- The Super Traitor! (Justice League of America V.1 #77)

Enter: The Outsiders! (Batman and the Outsiders V.1 #1-2)

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

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. This week, we're reading three stories where Batman uses the Matches identity: an arc that brings a character in from the Animated Series universe to the main DC Comics canon, a three issue story where one of comics' most celebrated modern writers takes on Batman, and a story set in the animated series universe that leaves a dangling plot thread we wish had been picked up.

Lock-Up (Detective Comics V.1 # 697-699)

Close Before Striking (Batman V.1 # 588-590)

Playing With Matches (Batman Adventures V.2 # 5-8)

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

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 an internal life. Plots become more mature. Art becomes more realistic, or more stylized.

And then there are the origins of the three Robins during DC's New 52. Dick Grayson becomes part Tim Drake, Jason Todd becomes a mess, and Tim Drake becomes an ungrateful ass. It was not a good time, and Matt and Will find a way to at least have a good time talking about them.

Perpetual Motion (Nightwing V.3 # 0)

Everyone Has to Start Somewhere (Red Hood and the Outlaws V.1 # 0)

Red Robin (Teen Titans V.4 # 0)

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

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 joins us to talk about a very of its moment story of Catwoman getting involved with Gotham's mayoral race, Bruce Wayne going to Washington to try to stop the No Man's Land (tl;dr: he fails) and a race for mayor in the animated series universe

Catwoman Election Night Special # 1

Mr. Wayne Goes to Washington (Batman V.1 # 560-562)

Mayor Mayhem (Batman: The Adventures Continue Season 2 # 5-7)

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