10 Criminally Overlooked Batman Comics Fans Must Read

Haunting. If one word could be used to describe Archie Goodwin and Scott Hampton's 'Night Cries' it would be haunting.

Straying away from the fantastical, 'Night Cries' focuses on the real world issue of child abuse. While chasing down a culprit after the brutal slaying of a family, Batman and Gordon must confront their own childhood trauma in an attempt to break its hold over them.

That all sounds heavy, which it is, but it's also important. It's easy to deal with serious subject matter in storytelling, what isn't easy is doing so with tact and understanding.

Goodwin and Hampton pull no punches in how they approach abuse and trauma, with panels and plot revelations that will make your stomach churn. However, that's exactly what makes it so effective. When you're dealing with a topic like this, to shy away from the reality of it all would be to undercut the severity of the issue.

This isn't just a story about chasing down and beating up a bad guy. Rather, it's one about a systemic problem almost taboo to talk about and that will perpetuate until understood.

Abuse is a cycle, something that happens because it has happened before. 'Night Cries' puts a huge emphasis on this point in particular, giving even more weight and urgency to an already powerful story.

While not at all for the faint of heart, 'Night Cries' is a truly important work that is still unfortunately relevant twenty-eight years after its release.