Na-na-na-na-na-na-na!!: Batman Books

Disclaimer: "There is no me without you," sings Claudio Sanchez as Joker and that's how I feel about the Bat-verse, too. I'm really there for the Batman/Joker relationship.

I rarely feel the urge to write about a book immediately after finishing the final page, but, strange to say, reading this book felt like coming home. Since I left graduate school behind, I've had few occasions to wade into  differance and heteroglossia, few pages that made my eyes cross as I contemplated Bakhtin, Foucault, Derrida, and company and, if asked, I probably would have said I didn't miss them. But there was something refreshing about crossing minds with another English major and something wonderful about being able to follow things that once would have made me weep in frustration (true story: I used to read Judith Butler out loud to my cat just to keep from losing my place, she confused me so badly. Razzle did not appreciate these sessions). Brooker investigates the proliferation of the Bat-brand, the carnivelesque nature of Gothan, the duality of Batman and Joker, and how selectively choosing pieces of the Batman myth actually narrows and cheapens the character. Some of the material is repetitive (hazard of academic writing, maybe?) but the insights are convincing and he packs a lot into a short work. I do wish he would put out an expanded edition that looks into Gotham the television series and Death of a Family, since these are both part of 21st century Batman. Until then, I suppose I'll have to turn to his longer work: Batman Unmasked.

The cover of The Last Crusade should tell you exactly why it called to me. I'm something of a Joker junkie. I blame this on Mark Hamill (Joker's voice in Batman: the animated series) and Claudio Sanchez, singer/composer of "Deranged," which I am listening to as I write; both of them drew me back to the one character in superhero comics that could hold my interest (he's a villain, so not sure what that says about me...) and since they did, I've been an avid reader of Joker stories like The Killing Joke, Death of the Family, and even Batman Europa which is full of delightfully slashy fan-service!

Despite Joker's presence in this one, I can't quite make up my mind where I stand on it. Some reviewers call it the first worthwhile continuation of the Dark Knight series. Others call it mundane. I'm somewhere in the middle. Batman did feel believable and human, as did his relationship with Jason... but something was missing. The story needed to be longer, perhaps, or maybe they should tack it in with A Death in the Family which is precedes.

I may appreciate this one less because I don't have a rich comic book history that was revitalized by this work. There are certainly things I like about it: Bruce's humanity, Gordon's narration, placing Batman squarely in history with human problems, Joker's "Darling," a girl Robin, resurrection... but the story is too final for someone like me who needs her heroes to be forever - and her villains, too!