BatChat With Matt & Will: A Batman Ranking Podcast

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)

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

Thanks to Geri Nonnewitz for our podcast logo

Support the show on Patreon at www.patreon.com/batchatwithmattandwill

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

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

Thanks to Geri Nonnewitz for our podcast logo

Support the show on Patreon at www.patreon.com/batchatwithmattandwill

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

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

Thanks to Geri Nonnewitz for our podcast logo

Support the show on Patreon at www.patreon.com/batchatwithmattandwill

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)

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

Thanks to Geri Nonnewitz for our podcast logo

Support the show on Patreon at www.patreon.com/batchatwithmattandwill

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)

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

Thanks to Geri Nonnewitz for our podcast logo

Support the show on Patreon at www.patreon.com/batchatwithmattandwill

Barbara Gordon was introduced to add some flair to the final season of Batman '66, to try to buoy the sagging ratings on the show. And while she didn't save that series, she has become the iconic Batgirl of the comics, a character who has had a long career in various identities. This week, friend of the show and Patreon backer John Wickham returns to talk about three different phases of Barbara's time as Batgirl. We get a retelling of her origin with a modern slant, one of the early stories from her return to the identity in the New 52 and the culmination of the "Batgirl of Burnside" era.

Batgirl: Year One #1-9

Knightfall Rising (Batgirl V.4 # 10-13)

Mindfield (Batgirl V.4 # 47-50)

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

Thanks to Geri Nonnewitz for our podcast logo

Support the show on Patreon at www.patreon.com/batchatwithmattandwill

It's time for our annual tradition here at BatChat, up there with cranberry sauce from a can, stuffing that's a little too dry and avoiding conversations about politics with your red baseball cap wearing relatives: it's all ages Thanksgiving. Three stories of Batman for the whole family come in some very different flavors this year: the next volume of the Webtoons Wayne Family Adventures Strips, a younger readers OGN that retells classic children's stories with a Batman twist and the second volume of the strangest concept we've ever talked about, the manga where Joker raises a de-aged baby Batman. Happy holidays to those who celebrate here in the states, and know we are thankful to all of you who listen.

Wayne Family Adventures V.3 (Wayne Family Adventures # 52-71)

Batman Tales: Once Upon a Crime OGN

One Operation Joker V.2 (One Operation Joker Chapters 8-14)

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

Thanks to Geri Nonnewitz for our podcast logo

Support the show on Patreon at www.patreon.com/batchatwithmattandwill

For a brief, shining moment just before the New 52 rewrote the DC Universe, Batman was everywhere. You might say to me, "Hey, podcast guy, Batman is everywhere now. And he has been since at least 1989, probably since 1966." But I'm talking in universe here. Grant Morrison had created Batman Incorporated, where Batman travelled the world, making an international team of heroes. And while it came back after, the continuity mess of the New 52 definitely interfered. But this week, friend of the show and Patreon Backer Josh Weil is here to talk about that glorious 8 issue and one shot run, along with one of the stories that inspired it, and one that followed up on it.

The Club of Heroes (World's Finest Comics # 89)

Leviathan Strikes (Batman Incorporated V.1 # 1-8, Batman Incorporated: Leviathan Strikes One-Shot)

No More Teachers (Batman Annual 2022, Batman Incorporated V.3 # 1-5)

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

Thanks to Geri Nonnewitz for our podcast logo

Support the show on Patreon at www.patreon.com/batchatwithmattandwill

While in comics circles the most well known alternate future for Batman is The Dark Knight Returns, in the public consciousness, that title has to be held by Batman Beyond. Three seasons of young Terry McGinnis and crotchety old Bruce Wayne in the DCAU, plus appearances on Justice League Unlimited, left a mark for this particular iteration of Batman. This week, with Terry returning to comics in Batman/Static: Beyond, we do our first episode focused on stories featuring Terry McGinnis; two are animated series tie-ins, and one is an arc from the series that followed that continuity in a more traditional DC style.

Commissioner of Fear (Batman Beyond V.2 # 13)

Terry's Mom Dates a Splicer (Batman Beyond V.2 # 24)

10,000 Clowns (Batman Beyond Unlimited # 1-13)

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

Thanks to Geri Nonnewitz for our podcast logo

Support the show on Patreon at www.patreon.com/batchatwithmattandwill

Friend of the show and Patreon backer Matt McThorn is back this week, and he wanted to return to one of is earlier themes, with three more stories featuring Thomas Blake, the Bat rogue known as Catman. We get a 90s story featuring Catman and Ratcatcher from before Catman turned super cool under the pen of Gail Simone. Then we see Blake meet Huntress and try to come off as suave in a Birds of Prey vs. the Secret Six story. And we wrap up with Catman and Bane in Gotham during Battle for the Cowl, trying really hard to honor the memory of Batman. It goes about as well as you'd expect.

The Secret of the Universe (Batman: Shadow of the Bat # 43-44, Catwoman V.2 # 26)

Whitewater (Birds of Prey V.1 # 104-108)

A Debt of Significant Blood (Secret Six V.3 # 9)

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

Thanks to Geri Nonnewitz for our podcast logo

Support the show on Patreon at www.patreon.com/batchatwithmattandwill