The Black Casebook

IF IT BLEEDS, WE CAN KILL IT. For our special Halloween episode, we're taking a look at Dave Gibbons' and Andy and Adam Kubert's Batman vs. Predator in all its '90s glory, a book that--against all odds--turned out to be one of the best Batman comics of the decade. 

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 Cormi.

This week, we're going back to the future, as the Dark Knight wages a crusade against a fascist police state in Paul Pope's Batman: Year 100. Released in 2006, Year 100 is a window into the anxieties of the Bush years, as well as a thrilling starting point for exploring urban legends, folk heroes, and cyberpunk as methods for resisting authoritarianism. Oh, and I work some Shakespeare in there, too.

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 music: a combination of "Buzzy Cyberpunk Pads" by madamdata and "Cyberpunk Bass" by Wax_vibe.

Well, they can't all be winners. This time, we're covering White Knight, Sean Gordon Murphy's revisionist take on Batman and the structural nature of crime in Gotham City. In the process of carving this turkey, we explore the place of "realism" in superhero comics, along with the Freudian and Gothic trends that have been a part of Batman's story from the very beginning.

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 music: "Alone on the Tundra" by szegvari.

The Black Casebook returns! This week, we're covering a modern classic: The Court of Owls, the debut story of Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo's legendary run on Batman. This casefile has everything: cosmic horror, Satanic churches, bat psychology, Arthur Schopenhauer, and more, all to parse out what the Court of Owls metaphor really means.

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 music: "Lost in the Dream" by SoundFlakes.

Way back in March, I sat down with Nat Yonce of Collective Action Comics to discuss the politics of Batman, both in specific incarnations like Year One and the Dark Knight trilogy and as an American cultural symbol. Does Batman always have to be fascist? The answer may surprise you. 

It was a hoot and a half, and I hope you enjoy this Twilight Zone-style peek at a parallel universe where The Black Casebook isn't scripted within an inch of its life.

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

Meanwhile, 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.

I'll see y'all in a few weeks to chat about our old friends in the Court of Owls.

The Batman goes global this week as we explore the Orientalist framework supporting Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams’ classic, if problematic, Saga of Ra’s al Ghul. Underneath Adams’ genre-defining artwork and O’Neil’s boy’s-adventure storytelling is a West vs. East dichotomy older than the Demon's Head himself.

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.

Just a little old-fashioned speculatin' on where Matt Reeves and co. could go with their Batman sequel, now that it's been officially announced. Will the Court of Owls be unveiled as the power behind the throne in Gotham City? Have the scars left by Chris O'Donnell healed enough to bring Robin into this universe? Let's find out.

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.

Time to give Matt Reeves his flowers. This week, we're diving into the characters, themes, and cinematic style of The Batman (2022), which might be the Caped Crusader's finest live-action outing. 

ALSO: You can listen to my interview with Collective Action Comics about the politics of Batman by joining the CAC Discord server here.

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.

Hey, you gotta start somewhere. One of the most controversial and challenging stories in the Dark Knight's canon, Arkham Asylum is also one of the most important. Batman's all-time bad trip is a different kind of Year One, a skeleton key of ideas that can unlock new meanings in every other Batman story.

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.