Night Cries
Back in part 3 of this reading guide, I mentioned how 1994’s crossover event Zero Hour: Crisis in Time! retroactively altered the DCU’s past and, thus, served to selectively revise (or fix) certain aspects of Batman’s canon. Rather than stick to the official changes, though, I suggest using the fact that we are now dealing with a new timeline to introduce an alternative version of the Dark Knight’s early years, which can be read as a flashback (in theory, these works can be read at any place after Zero Hour, but I recommend reading them after No Man’s Land, so as not to dramatically break the flow of present-day continuity).
And yes, the main point of this exercise is to rescue a bunch of great comics from the 1990s and early 2000s that didn’t quite fit in with the continuity from the first post in this guide!
CAPTAIN GORDON ERA [Many of these comics built on Frank Miller’s and David Mazzucchelli’s ‘Batman: Year One,’ expanding its subplots and further developing the characterization of Captain James Gordon. In other words, the events of that 1986 story-arc remain canon (except for its very last scene, which should be disregarded). Curiously, even though these books were published without a rigid unifying vision for over a decade and done by very different creative teams, not only does their own cross-continuity actually work out fairly well, but so does the general tone, with most tales heavily influenced by film noir and gothic horror.]
Legends of the Dark Knight #89-90: ‘Clay’ (collected in Batman: Monsters) [The revised debut of Clayface (Mathhew Hagen) and Matches Malone. Starts three weeks after Batman’s debut.]
Batman & the Monster Men #1-6 (collected as Batman & the Monster Men) [Matt Wagner reimagines a classic Golden Age yarn and, in the process, provides a new version of Batman’s first encounter with Professor Hugo Strange and of the Batmobile’s debut. (It basically replaces ‘Prey’ (Legends of the Dark Knight #11-15) but, with a bit of goodwill, the two stories can sort of coexist, since this one finishes with Strange adopting the public persona he has at the beginning of ‘Prey.’)]
Batman and the Mad Monk #1-6 (collected as Batman and the Mad Monk) [Wagner’s sequel once again updates a Golden Age classic. It also depicts Batman’s second encounter with Catwoman. The ending leads straight into The Man Who Laughs.]
The Man Who Laughs [This one-shot by Ed Brubaker and Doug Mahnke is a modern retelling of Batman’s first encounter with the Joker (replacing Legends of the Dark Knight #50) that doubles as a new origin for the Bat-Signal (also replacing ‘Prey’).]
Legends of the Dark Knight Halloween Special: Choices (collected in Haunted Knight) [An early confrontation between Batman and the Scarecrow that can serve as a nice introduction to that rogue]
The Long Halloween #1-13 (collected as The Long Halloween) [Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale followed their set of Legends of the Dark Knight Halloween specials with this riveting limited series that takes place over a year and chronicles the debut of Two-Face (replacing Batman Annual #14). Since it features the Scarecrow (among many other rogues), the series also cancels out Batman Annual #19, which placed this villain’s debut after Two-Face’s. Loeb later included a reference to issue #3 in Batman #615 (part of his blockbuster ‘Hush’ story arc).]
Legends of the Dark Knight Halloween Special: Madness (collected in Haunted Knight) [Loeb’s and Sale’s second Halloween special must somehow be set after The Long Halloween (because Batman mentions Two-Face) despite the fact that Jim Gordon’s son is still a baby. To make it even more far-fetched, Gordon has recently adopted a teen Barbara, who is nevertheless absent from the next couple of books (we must assume she went to some kind of boarding school). Still, this is a damn neat comic on its own!]
COMMISSIONER GORDON ERA [A bunch of scattered comics with solid character work that, when read in this order, chronicle an alternate version of the expansion of the Bat Family….]
Night Cries [In this graphic novel (by Archie Goodwin and Scott Hampton), James Gordon recently became Police Commissioner. The ending actually leads quite smoothly into Dark Victory.]
Dark Victory #0-13 (collected as Dark Victory) [This sequel to The Long Halloween features Dick Grayson’s debut as Robin, revising Robin Annual #4. (An early development also seriously contradicts Legends of the Dark Knight Annual #2.)]
Batman/Superman/Wonder Woman: Trinity (collected as Trinity) [Matt Wagner’s mini-series about a team-up between DC’s three main superheroes is set not too long after Robin’s debut and it works as a new introduction to Ra’s al Ghul (whom Batman has already fought in this past).]
Batman: Ego (collected in Ego and Other Tails) [Darwyn Cooke’s masterful one-shot feels like it takes place relatively early in the Dark Knight’s career, when Batman was still a bit unsure about his mission but Robin had already made his debut. One of the flashback panels matches Wagner’s version of Hugo Strange better than the one in ‘Prey’ (although the references to Two-Face are more aligned with the version in Batman: The Animated Series).]
Legends of the DC Universe #6: ‘Fear of God’ [One of a string of neat comics written by Kelley Puckett in the late ‘90s about the early days of Batman’s sidekicks. This one involves a team-up between Robin and Superman.]
Batman: Batgirl [Also by Puckett, this fun 1997 one-shot depicts an early confrontation between Barbara Gordon (who recently became Batgirl) and the Joker.]
Legends of the DC Universe #10-11: ‘Folie a Deux’ [Another kickass yarn by Puckett about the first Batgirl, this one alternating between flashbacks of her origin and a team-up with Commissioner Gordon]
Huntress: Year One #1-6 (collected as Huntress: Year One) [I’m a fan of this 2008 mini-series (by Ivory Madison and Cliff Richards) retconning the Huntress’ origin, set while Barbara Gordon was still Batgirl. Most changes to the 1989 Huntress comic actually align with Greg Rucka’s and Rick Burchett’s Cry for Blood mini.]
Birth of the Demon (collected in Batman: Birth of the Demon) [This beautiful one-shot revealing Ra’s al Ghul’s origin (set after Batman has fought him quite a few times) contains a couple of lines about Talia’s mother that directly contradict Son of the Demon, so I’m placing it in this alternate continuity.]
The Batman Chronicles #5: ‘Oracle: Year One – Born of Hope/Decoys/Of Mice and Men’ [All of these stories are set in the past and, while they don’t necessarily contradict earlier comics, I think they work nicely here, as flashbacks in the style of vignettes. The most recent one concerns Barbara Gordon’s evolution between The Killing Joke and Sword of Azrael (or, better yet, before her debut as Oracle in Suicide Squad #23, which – like this tale – was also written by John Ostrander and Kim Yale).]
The Batman Chronicles #19: ‘Got a Date with an Angel/Rapscallions/The Penny Plunderers’ [Another issue with stories from the past (although the one with the Huntress could also be set in the present)]