Written and illustrated by various. Detective Comics #439 features "Night of the Stalker", a story that will feel familiar to new readers because of the character groundwork it laid. Batman witnesses a couple murdered in front of their young child, triggering flashbacks to his own childhood trauma and the murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne. If there's one element of the Batman mythos that's been rehashed too many times, it's the fateful murder of Bruce's parents. But "Night of the Stalker" manages to incorporate this event into the story without breaking the overall plot arc. We get a flashback, sure - but we see the effects in the Batman of today, when he returns from a successful night of crime-fighting, removes his cowl and, standing alone in a tower of Wayne Manor, weeps uncontrollably. That ending is one of the most powerfully-written endings to any Bat-book I've read.
44. The Last Arkham (1992)
Written by Alan Grant, illustrated by Norm Breyfogle. The Last Arkham was the debut story arc of the short-lived Shadow of the Bat series, and it ended up being one of the only worthwhile non-crossover arcs in the entire run. Batman is willingly imprisoned in Arkham Asylum in order to uncover the perpetrator of a string of vicious serial killings. The self-mutilating Victor Zsasz makes his explosive debut in this story, but the warden of the asylum, Jeremiah Arkham, finally gets fleshed out as a character too. The mystery doesnt take a whole lot of effort to expose, but there are some great scenes throughout The Last Arkham most notably, perhaps, when Jeremiah Arkham locks Batman in a room with his entire rogues gallery.
43. The Laughing Fish (1978)
Written by Steve Englehart, illustrated by Marshall Rogers. A classic, humorous Joker tale that was faithfully adapted for an episode of Batman: The Animated Series, "The Laughing Fish" features the most absurd scheme the Clown Prince of Crime ever hatched. When boatloads of smiling fish appear in the Gotham River and, in turn, in all the media in the city, the Joker attempts to copyright the fish in order to collect all of the media royalties. When he's informed that, unfortunately, fish are a natural resource and cannot be copyrighted, he throws a fit and just decides a good ol' killing spree will have to do. Provided your stance on animal rights isn't too stringent, you'll get a kick out of "The Laughing Fish".
42. Dark Knight, Dark City (1990)
Written by Peter Milligan, illustrated by Kieron Dwyer. It would later be used by Grant Morrison as inspiration for part of his strange and epic Batman run, but when it came out "Dark Knight, Dark City" made few waves. Nonetheless, even without knowledge of Morrison's run, the Milligan/Dwyer arc remind one of the more unique Batman stories out there. Interspersed with journal accounts from an ancient order (basically Ye Olde Gothame Occultists), Batman plays a game of cat-and-mouse with a decidedly more ruthless Riddler than past incarnations displayed. Naturally, these two arcs come to intersect in the present, and Batman is left facing an age-old evil. Parts of this story are really ridiculous, but the way today's evil in Gotham City is given root in a past century is fascinating.
41. Absolution (2003)
Written by J.M. DeMatteis, illustrated by Brian Ashmore. A globe-trotting, decade-spanning story by J.M. DeMatteis sees Batman hunting a bomber of a Wayne Enterprises building and finding, after a ten-year pursuit, that the perpetrator may not be what he expected. Admittedly, the plot is thin and the action is sparse if youre looking for ass-kicking, window-smashing Batman, look elsewhere. But if you desire a more philosophical take on the very existence of the Batman, Absolution may just click for you. The artwork by Brian Ashmore is fresh and provoking, too, and works well with the more heavy-handed elements of DeMatteiss writing.
