8. Those Criminals He Set On Fire While He Was Horny
Wacky though Morrison's run was, nothing compares to the full-tilt insanity Frank Miller brings to a Batman comic. His dystopian Dark Knight Returns is one of the most iconic stories in Dark Knight history, as is origin tale Year One; the follow-ups, slightly less so. The law of diminishing returns very much applies to Miller's Batman work, and it hit its nadir with All Star Batman And Robin from a few years ago, in collaboration with star DC artist Jim Lee. Surely these two titans of the industry coming together for a Bat book was reason to pay attention, for a future masterpiece was being made! Kind of, but not as they intended. All Star Batman And Robin is absolutely bonkers, with a sociopathic and incredibly violent Caped Crusader forcibly kidnapping the first Robin and forcing him to eat rats, referring to himself as the "goddamn Batman", punching Alfred, all that good stuff. Oh and there's that point in the seventh issue of the as-yet-unfinished miniseries (it began in 2005) where he sets fire to a bunch of thugs with incendiary bombs and then goes to make out with Black Canary a few feet away as their tortured screams permeate the air. Whatever gets you going...
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
