Mike Gold

I Batman. I really do. While I was sitting on the couch last night, giggling like a maniac at some of the really bad, 1970s dialogue, Alexander commented "I think you like bad Batman better than good Batman." And y'know, I think he's right. Because Good Batman--Alan Moore! Frank Miller! Even Batman Begins!--is really great, engrossing and dark and gritty and atmospheric, but bad Batman--the camp of the '70s, the overly-specific writing and captioning of the '50s--is just something special. And it pleases me. Because I'm that kind of comics nerd.

That said, The Greatest Joker Stories Ever Told? Wow. Some of these were really good, but mostly they were the early ones. As we approached the '70s and 1980 (the most recent story in the collection; the book was released in '88, probably a month or so before The Killing Joke), it really tanked. Still fun, but without the quality of the earlier stories.… (more)