Enough of Grim & Gritty Batman

It's all Alan Moore and Frank Miller's fault. Ever since they wrote their Joker tales - The Killing Joke and Dark Knight Returns - The "grim and gritty" Batman was born and the Joker has taken on a life of his own.

The character took center stage in Tim Burton's 1989 Batman movie, representing - in my mind - the pinnacle of Jokermania. While Jack Nicholson did a serviceable job in the role, I don't think he captured the essence of the Moore/Miller version of the character.

And this is not to say that these two gentlemen were the first to write the Joker as a homicidal madman. Bob Kane started that, and the trend was carried down the line.

Frank Robbins was instrumental in jump starting the serious tone Batman would take on in the late 60s. Most people will say it was Denny O'Neil that did this, but it really was both of them. Robbins wrote just as many memorable and classic Batman stories as O'Neil did. Both worked with Neal Adams and both are writers whose work any and all Batman fans should seek out.

So - back to grim and gritty.

The latest entrant in this contest is The Joker by Brian Azzarello and Lee Bermejo. I've read some of Azzarello's work and I liked Bermejo's art in the hardly-ever-mentioned-but-highly-entertaining Superman/Gen 13 crossover book. Another title I recommend.

I read the Azzarello/Bermejo work and got exactly what I expected. A competent story and very good art. Unfortunately, like so many Joker tales before this, I didn't get anything new.

Joker's insane. Got it. He's been released from Arkham. Released. Ooookay....got it. He hooks up with some low level crook who becomes his right hand man. Then with Killer Croc.

Okay, fine. Not my cup of tea, but...fine. Then there's the whole Harvey Dent/Two Face thing and the Joker's interactions with the Penguin. Throw in an obligatory Riddler appearance and viola! - instant Batman rogues gallery. No Catwoman, though. Surprising.

It ends on a bridge with the crook getting himself killed and uttering something pithy along the lines of "there's no cure for the Joker. Only Batman." So Batman's just as crazy as the Joker, but he keeps the murder impulse in check. This is pretty much all I've managed to gather from this tome and all the other Joker tales that preceeded it.

Please - Batman writers. Please. Stop the grim and gritty. I'd like to see more Batman tales like the ones that Robbins and O'Neil wrote. Like the ones that Doug Moench wrote in the early-to-mid 80s and again in the early-to-mid 90s. Even in recent years, Judd Winick, Ed Brubaker, Greg Rucka and Grant Morrison have given me some of my most enjoyable Batman moments. I'd like more.

I don't want to read any more Joker tales. No more grim and gritty Batman tales.

And not to pick on Azzarello and The Joker (this should be more directed at the editor), but why did the Joker refer to the Penguin as Abner? More than once. Unless I am mistaken, he's always been Oswald Cobblepot.

Maybe Oswald wasn't grim and gritty enough.