BatChat With Matt & Will: A Batman Ranking Podcast

It's the week of Christmas, and even the Dark Knight has taken time out to celebrate the holidays. This week, Matt & Will are looking at three Christmas stories in Gotham. Happy holidays to one and all, and we hope your Christmas doesn't involve the Joker. Trust us in this one.

Death Casts the Deciding Vote/The Silent Night of Batman (Batman V.1 # 219)

Favorite Things (Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight # 79)

Slay Ride (Detective Comics V.1 # 826)

Editor Matt's Note: Apologies on my sound this week and the next couple. My mic had switched from headset to laptop without any logical reason, and I didn't pick up on it for a bit, so the next couple episodes I sound a bit echoey. Sorry about that!

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

Sometimes it's hard to judge a story. Sometimes you might need to... flip a coin. Yes, that is a labored wordplay to get to something to tie into this week's subject, Batman's (possibly) second greatest foe, former district attorney Harvey Dent, best known as Two-Face. Fortunately, these stories didn't require any coin tosses for their ranking.

Half an Evil (Batman V.1 # 234)

Faces (Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight # 28-30)

The Long Halloween (Batman: The Long Halloween # 1-13)

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

With DC continuity a mess of Crises, reboots, Rebirths and New 52s, some stories get rewritten and some stories get retold. Batman's first year has been rewritten numerous times. But his first meeting with Dick Grayson, the first Robin? That one gets retold, and each time it's tinkered with just a little. This week, Matt and Will look at three versions of that very first meeting, comparing and contrasting what stays the same, what changes, and what makes them better or worse.

Robin, The Boy Wonder (Detective Comics V.1 # 38)

Batman: Year Three (Batman V.1 #436-439)

Robin: Year One (Robin Annual V.2 #4)

Thanks to Geri Nonnewitz for our podcast logo

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

As Fear State wraps up in the current comics, Matt and Will go back and look at three stories starring the Master of Fear, the Scarecrow. It's an eclectic mix, one quirky, one a bit off the mark, and one with a story that talks about, "an uncontrollable butt frenzy," which would have made the title of this episode but it was deemed a bit too much.

Fear for $ale (Detective Comics V.1 # 571)

Scarecrow (Batman V.1 # 523-524)

Batman/Judge Dredd: Judgment on Gotham

It's Thanksgiving week here in the States, so Matt & Will are dipping back into all ages stories for three Batman books you can talk about around the dinner table with one and all. Hear about the story that would have introduced a major Bat villain to the classic TV series, the cutest Batfamily in comics, and what makes a good comic vs. a good Batman comic.

Batman '66: The Lost Episode

Batman: Li'l Gotham (Batman: Li'l Gotham #1-12)

Batman: Overdrive OGN

Will takes the reins this week, with a little ill advised help from Matt's knowledge of 90s Batman stories. Will picked three stories that he figured would have art he'd love and, well, two out of three ain't bad.

Six Fingers (Legends of the Dark Knight V.1 # 85-88 [Digital])

Chasing Clay (Batman V.1 #550)

Batman: Black and White V.1 # 1-4

This episode: Batman loses!

I know, I know, it's blasphemy. But Batman's not perfect, and sometimes, a story doesn't go his way. This week, we're looking at three very different takes on Batman not coming out ahead at the end (or in one case the beginning) of a story.

Wonder Woman: The Hiketeia

Superheavy (Batman V.2 # 41-50)

Cold Days (Batman V.3 # 51-53)

He's Batman's greatest nemesis. He is as mutable as his foe, appearing sometimes as a whacky criminal clown, sometimes as a terrifying homicidal maniac, and sometimes as an urban terrorist. He is the Joker. And this week, Matt and Will look at three single issue Joker stories in their first villain spotlight episode.

The Joker's Five-Way Revenge (Batman V.1 # 251)

A Clash of Symbols (Detective Comics V.1 # 617)

The Clown at Midnight (Batman V.1 # 663)

It's Halloween week, so it's time to dig into three of Batman's encounters with the supernatural: One great, one good, and one oh so very bad. Try to figure out which before you listen; I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Batman/Dracula: Red Rain

The Secret of the Waiting Graves (Detective Comics V.1 # 395)

Superman and Batman Vs. Vampires and Werewolves (Superman and Batman Vs. Vampires and Werewolves #1-6)

Dan Grote, Matt's co-host on his other show WMQ&A, stops by to talk about four stories (one of these comics is a twofer) of an all-ages Batman teaming up with other heroes.

Batman: The Brave and the Bold # 20

Batman Adventures Annual (V.1) # 2

Batman: Gotham Adventures # 6