A Batman ranking podcast, hosted by Matt Lazorwitz and Will Nevin.
Welcome to the first episode of our new Oppenheimer podcast. This first episode investigates how director Christopher Nolan’s film deals with the Trinity Nuclear Test. What? It’s still a Batman podcast? It’s about Batman meeting Superman and Wonder Woman, the other members of DC’s trinity? OK, I guess that’s cool too. Be sure to check…
It’s taken three episodes, but we’ve finally covered every story in the original Batman #1. That means this week, we’re covering the first appearance of Catwoman, and so we’re also covering a couple other Catwoman stories, one a story that’s place in continuity is weird even by DC Comics standards, and one that started off…
There are plenty of superheroes you could talk about where the issues of copaganda in 2023 don’t come up. I’m sure there are. But Batman isn’t one of them. We’ve had episodes talking about Jim Gordon and the main detectives of the GCPD before and had to look at those questions, and this week, we’re…
I was going to do some parody of that God awful Nicole Kidman commercial that airs in front of every movie at AMC Theatres (why are you advertising the movie chain to people already in their seats?!?!?!?), but you’re listening to this episode, so I love you and wouldn’t subject you to that. This week,…
We’re back to the three series we’ve been covering arc by arc. This time, Will actually likes a Grant Morrison story in his run on Batman! The Penguin has a rough day in No Man’s Land! And a reasonable number of artists draw an arc of Injustice! It’s a miracle all around! Well, except for…
The Mad Hatter is one of Batman’s oddest major foes. While all of the rogues who have existed since the Golden Age have gone through various permutations, few are as wildly different. Sometimes he is obsessed with hats. Sometimes he is a mind control scientist. Sometimes he is obsessed with Alice In Wonderland and has…
He has been many things to Batman over their time together. Butler. Healer. Confessor. But above all else? Father. Alfred Pennyworth has been a part of the Batman legend since the 1940s, but with the advent of Crisis on Infinite Earths, and the change making Alfred a part of Bruce’s life from his earliest memory,…
They stalk the night. When they have your name, you are as good as dead, so pray that you never draw their attention. They are the League of Assassins. Whether they serve Ra’s al Ghul, his daughter Talia, the Sensei or any other master, the League has been a thorn in the side of Batman…
The beauty of DC’s Elseworlds concept, rather than a more traditional What If? or imaginary story, is the variety it opened up. This wasn’t a simple small recasting of one event, butterfly effect style, but creators imaginations could go wild and choose different times, places, and even twist the most basic concepts of the character…
Of all superheroes, Batman seems to have spawned more characters that are dark reflections of him than any other. Sure, Superman has Bizarro, and Spider-Man has Venom, but Batman has a legion of the them: Killer Moth, Bane, Hush, Owlman (the Lincoln March one), Wrath, Prometheus. There are enough to fill multiple episodes, so we…
While there are plenty of stories with Bruce Wayne in them, how many are really about Bruce Wayne? Not Batman, the Dark Knight, but captain of industry, philanthropist and playboy Bruce Wayne? At least three, as this week we look at the story of Bruce’s problematic return to health after Knightfall, a 150 year old…
Batman’s allies are known for many things. Their brains. Their fighting skills. Their dedication. And while Dr. Leslie Thompkins, the woman who comforted Bruce Wayne the night his parents were killed is lacking in the second of those three attributes, she more than makes up for it in the first and third. Leslie is a…
Wouldn’t it be great to go to school in Gotham City? Well, it probably wouldn’t be scarier than anywhere else. This week, Mrs. Abigale Heartbalm, Esq. stops by, and we talk Gotham Academy and two other school centric Batman related stories. We talk about how Gotham Academy successfully brings manga tropes to Gotham, question how…
Every time Will has complained about how much he hates Hush, Matt or someone else said, “Well, read ‘Heart of Hush.’ That might change how you feel.” And this week he did. And, well, it was the best story of the week, and the best story centered around Hush as the primary antagonist (since the…
From her first appearance, Barbara Gordon was a dynamic and exciting addition to the Batman family. Brilliant, tough and strong willed, Barbara has faced more adversity than most superheroes, dealing with trauma and coming out stronger for it. This episode, we read three stories that trace her evolution from the dominoed dare doll, Batgirl, to…