WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Nightwing #80 by Tom Taylor, Bruno Redondo, Adriano Lucas & Wes Abbott, on sale now.
The latest issue of Nightwing reveals a rarely seen side to Dick Grayson’s former crime-fighting partner, Batman. With the Bat-Family laughing at Dick over an embarrassing incident from the previous issue, even Batman joins in with an unexpected burn.
During Nightwing #79, as Dick bought pizzas for the homeless of Blüdhaven, one of the local kids stole his wallet. Embarrassing as it for a crime-fighting veteran trained by Batman himself, Dick understandably doesn’t want Barbara Gordon to tell anyone. Unfortunately for Dick, she had already put it in the Bat-Family group chat. Cue countless messages laughing at his despair. Now, however, even Batman’s getting in on the fun.
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Calling in a favor from fellow Robin, Tim Drake, Batman employs the visiting Boy Wonder as the courier of a joking gift. As soon as Nightwing arrives on the rooftop, Tim delivers Batman’s present: a new wallet, complete with chain to guard against theft. Tim even adds to the pain of Batman getting in on the fun by telling Dick that he can now front a soft-metal band from the early 2000s. It is at this point that dick realizes the incident will haunt him until his final days.
This isn’t the first time the Dark Knight has shown a lighter side. JLA #99 by John Byrne, Chris Claremont, Jerry Ordway, David Baron and Tom Orzechowski saw Batman crack a pun after the team defeated the vampire Crucifier. Atom, having smashed a machine that returned the vampire’s heart from a pocket dimension back into his own body, remarks that from what he saw of Crucifier he was the “worst of the worst”. Batman shocks the Justice League by saying that even so, in the end “his heart was in the right place”. Batman smirks as the entire Justice League stands in shock at the fact Batman has a sense of humor.
Of course, the lighter, more humorous side of Batman was exemplified earlier by Adam West’s portrayal of the character. The ’66 Batman often delivered the funniest lines with a straight face, like Batman and Bruce Wayne having a conversation over two different phones. Then there are the various physical gags in the show, for example, Batman always giving his ward Robin smaller versions of his own equipment. Even Robin’s poll in the Batcave was smaller than Batman’s!
This dry wit carried over into the world of videogames with the Arkham series. In Arkham City, Batman is easily able to come up with witty retorts to both Oracle and the endlessly witty Alfred. When Batman saves Catwoman at the start of the game, she mocks his help by saying she thinks she chipped a nail during a fight. When it’s Catwoman’s turn to save the Bat, he doesn’t miss a beat and delivers her own line back to her.
However one of Batman’s best jokes, according to the Joker, came during the game’s poignant end. With the cure for Joker’s illness shattered across the ground, Batman reveals “something funny” to his arch-enemy before he dies. Even after everything Joker had done, Batman still would have saved him and given him the cure. Joker starts laughing and tells Batman that it “actually is pretty funny” and then dies before his eyes.
Batman sharing a laugh with the Joker in Arkham City’s ending can’t be mentioned without talking about the ending of The Killing Joke by Alan Moore, Brian Bolland, John Higgins and Richard Starkings. The hopeless situation that the two find themselves in reminds the Clown Prince of Crime of a joke. After telling it and laughing as always, Batman surprisingly joins in. The laughter suddenly stops and everything is dark in an eerily ambiguous end. Batman may have a funny side, but with The Killing Joke, it’s no laughing matter.
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