The Black Casebook

A birthday miracle? To celebrate my encroaching obsolescence, here's a fun chat I had with Nat from Collective Action Comics about Joss Whedon's The Avengers (as well as The Age of Ultron, unfortunately) and Mark Millar's The Ultimates. Despite their superficial differences, these Gen X texts all offer unique insights into the respective pathologies of the Bush and Obama eras.

Collective Action Comics will make its triumphant return soon to discuss The Death of Superman, and can be found at all these places: https://linktr.ee/CollectiveActionComics

Meanwhile: We have a Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠!

You can find The Black Casebook on Twitter ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@blackcasebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, on Bluesky ⁠⁠⁠@blackcasebook⁠⁠⁠, and Instagram ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@blackcasebookpod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and you can write in to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to share any Bat-thoughts you have.

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Theme by Black Plastique⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

A Christmas miracle. To close out 2023, we’re taking the

We have a Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠!

You can find The Black Casebook on Twitter ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@blackcasebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, on Bluesky ⁠⁠@blackcasebook⁠⁠, and Instagram ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@blackcasebookpod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and you can write in to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to share any Bat-thoughts you have.

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Theme by Black Plastique⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Intro music: "Greensleeves" by klankbeeld, via freesound.org.

From the twisted mind of Casebook Walt! We're looking back to the early '90s and the heyday of American crime with a deep dive into "The Last Arkham," the terrific arc that introduced scarified serial killer Victor Szasz alongside a new version of Arkham Asylum. In the process, writer Alan Grant raises questions about the nature of power and madness that strike at the heart of what the Dark Knight, and his dark city, represent.

⁠⁠We have a Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠!

You can find The Black Casebook on Twitter ⁠⁠⁠⁠@blackcasebook⁠⁠⁠⁠, on Bluesky ⁠@blackcasebook⁠, and Instagram ⁠⁠⁠⁠@blackcasebookpod⁠⁠⁠⁠, and you can write in to ⁠⁠⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠⁠⁠ to share any Bat-thoughts you have.

⁠⁠⁠⁠Theme by Black Plastique⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Let's raise the stakes. This month, we're investigating Grant Morrison's brilliant, challenging Batman run through two lesser-known stories: "The Three Ghosts of Batman" and "The Club of Heroes." Besides being incredibly entertaining, these arcs can help unlock the deeper meanings that make the Morrison run such a classic.

⁠We have a Patreon⁠⁠⁠!

You can find The Black Casebook on Twitter ⁠⁠⁠@blackcasebook⁠⁠⁠, on Bluesky @blackcasebook, and Instagram ⁠⁠⁠@blackcasebookpod⁠⁠⁠, and you can write in to ⁠⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠⁠ to share any Bat-thoughts you have.

⁠⁠⁠Theme by Black Plastique⁠⁠⁠. Synopsis ambient noise by Osiruswaltz.

Hoo-ray for Hollywood. We're turning our gaze to the stars this month for One Bad Day: Clayface, which might be the best Batman comic in a decade. Essentially a super-sized Batman: The Animated Series episode, the story follows the artist formerly known as Basil Karlo as he tries to carve out a new life for himself in Tinseltown. As Clayface looks to the future, we dig into his past, excavating his character history to understand why his bid for a second act was doomed from the start.

We have a Patreon⁠⁠!

You can find The Black Casebook on Twitter ⁠⁠@blackcasebook⁠⁠ and Instagram ⁠⁠@blackcasebookpod⁠⁠, and you can write in to ⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠ to share any Bat-thoughts you have.

⁠⁠Theme by Black Plastique⁠⁠. Synopsis music by ⁠Setuniman.⁠

I have to become...more.

Year One of The Black Casebook is a wrap! Let's celebrate a year of hard work, announce some plans for Year Two, and answer a slew of questions from Listeners Like You.

We have a Patreon⁠⁠!

You can find The Black Casebook on Twitter ⁠⁠@blackcasebook⁠⁠ and Instagram ⁠⁠@blackcasebookpod⁠⁠, and you can write in to ⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠ to share any Bat-thoughts you have.

⁠⁠Music by Black Plastique⁠⁠. Here's the Batman playlist I mentioned during the Q&A.

I'm not mad, just disappointed. This month's casefile digs into one of the most notorious Batman stories out there: "A Death in the Family," which for more than 15 years marked the last appearance of the maligned second Robin, Jason Todd, courtesy of fan bloodlust. We follow the winding path of Jason's character history and Jim Starlin's Batman run to figure out whether this could have been avoided, touching on the history of human sacrifice, Arthurian myth, and Sylvester Stallone's 1986 masterpiece Cobra along the way.

You can find The Black Casebook on Twitter ⁠@blackcasebook⁠ and Instagram ⁠@blackcasebookpod⁠, and you can write in to ⁠[email protected]⁠ to share any Bat-thoughts you have.

⁠Music by Black Plastique⁠. Intro ambient sound by Audio_Dread.

This is a big one, folks. What better way to kick off 2023 than with a deep dive into The Dark Knight? Christopher Nolan's take on The Empire Strikes Back captured the accelerating pace and constant anxiety of the War on Terror, all while gesturing toward--for better and for worse--the Obama era to come. There's also a really badass truck flip. 

We have a Patreon!

You can find The Black Casebook on Twitter @blackcasebook and Instagram @blackcasebookpod, and you can write in to [email protected] to share any Bat-thoughts you have.

Music by Black Plastique. Intro ambient sound by e0fd96.

You can find Spencer Ackerman's outstanding history Reign of Terror, which was an essential resource for this episode, here. I highly recommend it, as well as Spencer's appearances on the CEREBRO podcast.

It is happening again. For our last casefile of 2022, we turn to what might be, pound for pound, the two best Batman stories ever written: 1974's "Night of the Stalker," by Steve Englehart, Sal and Vin Amendola, and Dick Giordano, and its 2005 remake "Deja Vu" by the late, great Darwyn Cooke. Despite being less than 30 pages combined, these two stories contain the very essence of the Dark Knight, and exploring them takes us to some new and exciting places.

We have a Patreon!

You can find The Black Casebook on Twitter @blackcasebook and Instagram @blackcasebookpod, and you can write in to [email protected] to share any Bat-thoughts you have.

Music by Black Plastique. Intro ambient music by InspectorJ.

A few words on the late, great Kevin Conroy, the voice of Batman and a hero in his own right.

You can find The Black Casebook on Twitter @blackcasebook and Instagram @blackcasebookpod, and you can write in to [email protected] to share any Bat-thoughts you have. We also have a Patreon.

Music by Black Plastique.