Batman: 80 Greatest Ever Moments
16. "Penny For A Book Of Matches" - DC: The New Frontier
The late, great Darwyn Cooke was incomparably brilliant, and no book exemplifies this more so than DC: The New Frontier.
Marshalling the history of the DC universe within the context of the 'long' 1960s, the Cold War and JFK's eponymous speech, Cooke managed to capture the essence of DC's characters and did it all by having them react to the contemporary politics of sixties-era America. He laid out a genius explanation as to why Batman embarked on a rebrand during the Silver Age, and included this particular exchange between the character and a recently-arrived Martian Manhunter that could potentially rank among the Dark Knight's scariest.
J'onn J'onnz believes his true identity is safe, but Batman crashes his apartment and issues a warning that exemplifies just how ruthless he can be.
"I've been watching you, mister Jones. I know all about you. Except where you come from. My instincts tell me you're to be trusted, but make no mistake-- it took a seventy-thousand dollar sliver of meteor to stop the one in Metropolis. For you, all I need is a penny for a book of matches."
And people say Batman couldn't mingle with the Justice League. Pfft.
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15. “There Were These Two Guys At A Lunatic Asylum” - The Killing Joke
The Killing Joke has fostered a somewhat controversial reputation amongst comics readers, but there's no denying it was a seminal moment in Batman's history. Alan Moore and Brian Bolland's comic dedicated itself to exploring the never-ending duel between the Dark Knight and the Clown Prince of Crime, and the moment it comes to a close in the last few pages is the stuff of legend.
Chasing the Joker through his theme park of horrors, Batman comes face to face with his adversary and the two share a brief moment together. Bruce begs him to stop, but Joker knows that he can't. Instead, he cracks a wry joke about two patients at an asylum, and it manages to get a rare laugh out of Batman.
Depending on your interpretation, either Batman takes him back to the police to start the cycle all over again, or this is the moment where he puts his arch nemesis out of his misery. Whatever the result, the light fades, the laughter stops, and the comic remains one of DC's darkest.
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