Batman just met the infinite Batmans of DC movies, TV, and games and bested every multiverse montage

By James On May 8, 2023

When I got to the page of Batman #135, which features Michael Keaton’s Batman from the 1989 movie, I thought to myself, “Ah, they’re doing one of That.” You know, one of those multiverse sizzle reels.

It seems like they’re everywhere in superhero adaptations these days, from the CWs Crisis on Infinite Earths to HBO Max TitansAnd Doctor Strange in the multiverse of madness Unpleasant Spider-Man: No Way Home. Let’s face it: expect at least one in this summer’s multiverse The flash. They may not be literal sizzling rolls, but they have that effect – a representation of an infinite multiverse that’s really just there for the cool factor. Reactions range from “Look at all the actors they rehired!” to “Those guys look like guys I remember, but different! Wow!” We’re not going to spend a real time with these characters, they are here only to pique the nostalgia of an initiated audience. The multiverse as hype.

The first multiverse montages felt new and surprising, but like any trend, it’s kind of degenerated into a branding exercise. But in Chip Zdarsky, Mike Hawthorne, Jorge Jimenez and Mikel Janín’s Batman #135, the world breaker actually tells the story. The multiverse sizzle reel of the book tickles your nostalgia and makes your heart beat faster. Then it also reinforces a battered and crooked Batman in the climax of a storyline and underscores that deep down, every universe’s Batman is here to help.

And then it does something only a comic book montage of Batman movie, video game, and Elseworlds stories can do: explore the reason why so many goddamn Batman adaptations kill the Joker.

What else is happening in the pages of our favorite comics? We’ll tell you. Welcome to Monday Funnies, Polygon’s weekly list of the books our comics editor liked last week. It’s part society pages about superhero lives, part reading advice, part “check out this cool art.” There may be some spoilers. There may not be enough context. But there will be great comics. (And if you missed the latest edition, read this.)

Image: Chip Zdarsky, Mike Hawthorne, Jorge Jimenez, Mikel Janin/DC Comics

When we pick up with Batman #135, Batman whizzes across the multiverse chasing a man named Halliday who discovered that in other timelines he became a fearless, untouchable assassin called the Joker. Of course, he went mad with frustrated ambition, did some Comic Book Science, and now he’s falling through world after world as his presence supercharges that universe’s Joker, or – if the Joker is dead there – brings him back to sinister life.

I won’t spoil all the Batmans that appear in it Batman #135, but suffice it to say it really feels like the creative team is working to take advantage of everything that only works in comics. In comics, you can switch between the visual mediums of art, live action, video game rendering, and animation with a seamlessness unavailable to those other formats. And artists Hawthorne, Jimenez, and Janín are doing just that, with poster-worthy art instantly recognizable as specific video games, TV shows, movies, animated works, and a wealth of great Batman epics from comic book history.

Zdarsky keeps it all under control with his choices on which Batmans to focus on; which Batmans do the most to help Our Batman and most to express the themes of the song. His choices feel aimed precisely at three generations of Batman readers: people of the right age to see a father figure in the Bruce Wayne of Batman overby the dark knight returnsand from Adam West Batman. It is these Batmans who look at Our Batman and immediately help him.

The Old Bruces advise him on how crime on their worlds didn’t end when their Jokers died. And when Batman finally corners Halliday in a fragment of existence created by his obsessed mind (a floating slice of Gotham City slowly being devoured by skyscraper-sized red-lipped sharks), it’s the borrowed utility belt of Adam West from Batman, complete with that hoke old tin can. of shark repellent, that saves the day.

It’s a perfect Batman comic.

The superhero identities of Freddy Freeman and Mary Bromfield float and laugh over the soggy superhero identities of Billy Batson standing on a shore.

Be still my beating heart. Are we finally going to get a real name to call Billy Batson when he’s in his superhero form?

Mother Righteous tells Legion all about how his powers will help her to

X-Men books don’t waste time throwing them out Sins of Sinister right and in the Fall of X event. Maybe I could use a breather. But I will say that I really like Mother Righteous, a mysterious villain only recently revealed to be a clone variant of Mister Sinister, determined to beat him at his own game… but with magic rather than science.

And I’m not mad at all that it took me until now to realize that her name itself is a pun on his.

Peacemaker talks to his probation officer, who looks a lot like Taika Waititi. His parole officer cheerfully hopes that Peacemaker isn't lying about why it was OK that he violated his parole, because

I had a really hard time picking just one joke Peacekeeper is doing his best! #1, because this book gave me a good old laugh at least three times. It’s extremely good, please read it. (Is it just me or is Steve Pugh drawing this parole officer to look just like Taika Waititi?)