I once had a book of Batman short stories and there was an excellent story about Batman having to infiltrate the stand up comedy scene. It was some weird Joker plot to kill comics and Batman had go uncover as a comic. Of course Bruce hires the best writers to create the perfect stand up routine but he just keeps dieing out there. After a heart to heart with another comic he comes to the awakening that real comedy comes from a real place inside the comedian and he tells this joke:
When I was kid I lost my parents. It was heartbreaking but then something happened even worse happened I was in first grade. My new teacher was having us do presentations on our parents jobs and she asked me what my parents do for a living. I started to sniffle and my eyes got wet, and I choked out “my parents are dead”. Shocked and afraid, she didn’t know what to do but in a stunned quiet voice, not knowing what else to say she whispered “What did they do before they died?”
And so I yelled “Please! Don’t shoot them!” and clutched my chest failing to the ground.
I’m ruining the joke because I can’t remember it exactly but there’s just something about Bruce turning his pain in to comedy that just got me right in the heart.
There are so many fantastic moments from the comics over the years. With that said, I think my favorite Batman moments have been the endings of each Nolan Batman movie. It’s a testament to the power of cinema for sure, but for as much as I have enjoyed reading Batman comics, those three moments hit such incredible highs for me personally.
Just about all of them personally, but I’m quite partial to when he was told he was about to die, and he’s all, “I hear that every night, and yet, I’m still here.” I’m paraphrasing of course, but that moment is the shit.