Batman At 80 - Crossovers

Crossovers. The bane* of the comic book collector’s life. In non-cynical terms, it’s a storyline so epic that it needs to be played out across more than one character’s monthly title, giving you more story to sink your teeth into. In cynical terms, it’s an excuse for the comics companies to try and bump up sales on books that don’t sell as well as the main titles (“Oh, you can't just read it in Batman and Detective Comics. You also need to get Robin, Nightwing, Batgirl, Birds Of Prey and Ace The Bat-Hound.**”)

I can't help, though, I always had a soft spot for them. In large part prompted by the fact that, when I started collecting, a major Batman storyline was just kicking off.

Knightfall
What’s Good About This One?
There’s no denying that this storyline had a lasting impact on the world of Batman. It was the storyline that introduced Bane*** into the army of regular villains that keep cropping up over the years; a villain with enough of a presence to be featured in two of the live-action Batman films****. It was also notable for replacing Bruce Wayne as Batman for the best part of a year at around the same time that DC had killed off Superman (spoiler - he got better), generating a fair amount of publicity for both. It has its flaws and the Knightquest/psycho Batman replacement part of the storyline maybe goes on a little too long but it got me into the whole crossover storyline thing. 

No Man’s Land
What’s Good About This One?
This has to be my favourite of the long-form crossover storylines though. An earthquake (hitting a hitherto undiscovered fault line under Gotham) cripples Gotham City, leading to the US government to cut it off from the rest of the country, Gotham being so deprived and crime-ridden that it’s deemed not worth saving. The police, Batman allies, remaining citizens and escaped Batman villains then carve up the city into fiefdoms, battling for control of territory while trying to get the No Man’s Land decree overturned. It’s a great scenario and places the heroes and villains into previously unexplored areas and goes on long enough to make you feel like this could remain the new status quo (it doesn’t, of course - this is comics and everything resets to zero eventually).

If we’re talking my favourite incarnation / portrayal of Batman, though, we have to go back to the screen again...


* If you spotted that slightly foreshadowy pun, well done. You’re my kind of nerd.

** OK, the last one has never had his own monthly title but give it time…

*** “Ah right, that’s what you meant…” - Non-nerdy types

**** Yeah, I know that we said that we wouldn’t mention Batman And Robin but he is in that one many years before The Dark Knight Rises as a sort of weirdly reptilian mute wrestler. Makes about as much sense as anything else in that car crash.