The birth of Batman's GOD! | Batman: Dark Knight, Dark City

[@comicpop]

Buy Batman: Dark Night, Dark City! amzn.to/3Q80wel

[@Just_Some_Guy_with_a_Mustache]

Poor Barbatos. He knocked on someone’s door for Trick-or-Treating and then had to wait two hundred years before someone opened it.

[@thespacecowboyexe]

😂😂😂

[@cam4748]

*During the world ending events of Dark Knights Metal* Batman: Okay Flash, no time to explain, I need you to go back in time and kill Thomas Jefferson

[@nic4458]

Ben as Peter BEN Parker is beyond peak. I love it!!

[@TheGreatDevlin]

32:20 I'll never forget my first "I'm afraid to turn the page" moment in comics. This was my first "I'm afraid to listen" moment in 8+ years of Comicpop lol.

[@christopherosborne3480]

Momma Tiffany reading a story to three boys as they excitedly understand and play with the story is top tier Halloween.

[@Grievousish]

I for one would certainly vote for President Loki-Tiff. A spooky book for every household!

[@jimothie64]

Agreed!

[@Just_Some_Guy_with_a_Mustache]

“Don’t blame me. I voted for Lokiffany.”

[@JohnClark-tt2bl]

It needs a big oversized political button. Right now it's kinda like..... business manager Loki.

[@architeuthis3476]

I would definitely vote for Tiffany over any of the idiots currently running for POTUS ...its not even a competition

[@nickyt.2157]

I don’t think I’ve ever heard that expression from Sal before, “Let’s get all up in this thing like a hand puppet.”

[@dedbatt8869]

I love when it’s all four of you on the couch. You all bring something so different to the show that the standard format almost feels wrong like something’s missing.

[@whenallelsfails21]

They just need a larger couch

[@mizore7054]

I totally get what Sal saying about not doing Namor but it would of got me to click it, like, unpopular character and a run I’ve never heard of. What a treat.

[@WhatIsItAboutThem]

I vote for the Namor book too! Bring us the Namor Cut of this episode lol

[@Ashguy733]

As a hardcore Namor fan id love if they did, but I get why they don't.

[@theawkwordcomicthereviewer4684]

What's sal's issue with namor?

[@IsaacSperrow]

@@theawkwordcomicthereviewer4684 Namor is not popular. Bad for the algorithm.

[@theawkwordcomicthereviewer4684]

@@IsaacSperrow ah thanks for the info

[@Depthcharge2030]

After this story, I totally get why Batman would go full Arkham Video Game on Riddler during their future encounters. The baby stuff is diabolical

[@spheremode3271]

Barbatos is so weird. From what I got out of everything, he was originally supposed to be a demon who represents the city in this book. Then, in the Morrison run, it is the Hyper-Adapter, a creature sicked onto Batman by Darkseid as he was traveling through time, and it was supposed to fuse with Batman to destroy all of creation. It's originally a giant squid, but then it turns into a bat creature after fusing with Batman at the end of time. Then, Snyder makes it so that he's the dragon created by the World Forger who eats dark universes, but he goes rogue and becomes a dark Bat-God. I'm so confused.

[@calvinjluther]

It was supposed to be a bat-themed bar at the corner of Oscar and Seventh, or Barbatos for short, but some memos got lost and now here we are.

[@harlemdeni]

Bro I WANT to be confused like you are here (which is NOT AT ALL) about EVERYTHING in life. 😂 Tell me - confusingly, mind you - what's the point of life, man? I would really love to know 😊

[@spheremode3271]

@@harlemdeni What? I am confused though. What tf is Barbatos? Is he a demon< is he the city, is he a giant octopus? WTF is he? I still don't get it. That was the point of the comment: these stories contradict each other, which gets me confused. I really do not see how that's that hard to understand. The point of life is to eat as many pizza rolls as possible and die without procreating.

[@daelen.cclark]

Sometimes comics can’t leave well enough alone.

[@calvinjluther]

@@daelen.cclark On a long enough timeline, everything is ruined.

[@thread6971]

At 15:20 that look Tiffany gave Ben gives the impression she heard a VERY different word lmao

[@johnnylyrabk1260]

I heard a very different word had 2 replay it 3 times

[@andrewpragasam]

So glad you covered this story. Nobody ever talks about it but it's one of the best Batman stories of all time. It was also one of the first Batman stories I ever read. Watching this (excellent as always) Comic Pop video brought memories flooding back of staying up last midnight, reading these comics by flashback and being creeped out in the most delightful way.

[@batfreeze56]

This is my absolute favorite Batman story! The ending, where Bruce decides that it doesn't matter why he is the way he is, all that matters is who he is, was especially poignant. Thank you for covering it in such a big bad way!

[@spheremode3271]

It's a really good one. I read it yesterday for the first time after they uploaded this, and I wanna read it again. I feel like there are a lot of interesting themes in there that I still quite haven't figured out but would love to. I think Jefferson being there was no coincidence, for example. There are a lot of American flags and other such things that suggest political themes IMO. Also, I love tarot symbolism and the Hanged Man is seen in the book.

[@jabezcreed]

41:23 "I'm gonna run over Batman like a baby in the road." Gotta love you guys!

[@comicsmisexplained]

I’m pretending that Ethan is dressed as James from Twin Peaks. “Ethan has always been cool.”

[@architeuthis3476]

No, because Ethan is awesome and James... ...well, he should have left the show for good when he went to California

[@joshuanelson6795]

Prior to this comic's publication, The Riddler had been largely written off as a joke, but this story showed just how threatening the character can truly be.

[@halfmettlealchemist8076]

In retrospect, the use of Riddler in this storyline feels like it was a huge inspiration for his portrayal in The Batman 2022

[@joshuanelson6795]

@@halfmettlealchemist8076 This and Earth One appear to be that film's largest inspirations.

[@lonely-soul-f2v]

Not to mention, Batman: Zero Year.

[@loganthomas2421]

The costumes never cease to impress me. Great episode

[@tom3151]

I love that the GCPD can't afford to rent the whole building so they share it with a restaurant

[@gamingidiots7495]

I LOVE YOUR COSTUMES EVERY YEAR THEY GET BETTER AND BETTER.

[@flywheelshyster]

Happy Halloween!

[@comicpop]

Thank you as always, Flywheel!

[@chrisdaily2077]

Could you imagine a comic where Dr. Hurt returns wanting to use Riddler as a vessel for Barbatos and Riddler being absolutely confused over the existence of Barbatos?

[@murilosousa206]

Seeing barbatos in Detective comics right now and this story it's really perfect timing. I hope one day u guys bring Batman Night cries for back issues

[@fragile4408]

What a surprisingly fun Batman story. I really enjoy Bruce's character in this story, a very anxious and overwhelmed hero after Death in the family and killing joke.

[@WhoaBusterBrown]

I found all 3 floppies at my local shop, and damn was it just as intense as this episode portrays it. Thanks for being such a pleasant resource and entertainment

[@catlawyerwilldefendfortrea6038]

GREAT BACK ISSUE! Everyone's costume is on point. Thank you Loki, God of stories, for introducing me to this story. I love this version of Barbatos

[@comicpop]

Thanks CL!

[@jjh01harmon38]

Tiffany looking mighty dapper.

[@orngcreator6115]

Tiffany is genuinely great at hosting these episodes! I always look forward to hearing a new spooky book from her. Just as much as I look forward to her GM’ing a future episode of Harbor Patrol!

[@ScronnyJohnny31]

Well done folks, great to see the four of you on the couch. Made me a fan of this book!

[@daelen.cclark]

And people were angry when the Riddler turned out to be the puppet master of Hush… not sure why with this context, honestly. If he puts his mind to something, he can pull it off.

[@rayvenkman2087]

With Hush, it felt like a swerve more than a surprise reveal and people wouldn’t be as mad if they had included hints early that Hush isn’t the man in charge. You make a mystery, it has to make sense after the reveal. Plus Hush was treated as the Bane of the 2000’s which made the reveal pretty underwhelming. It has the same energy as Vince McMahon being revealed as the Higher Power. “It’s me Batman. It’s me all along!”

[@freack3333]

Cool story. This is way better than what they did in Dark Nights Metal just turning Barbatos into something that can be punched. The scenes with the babies where Batman thinks he ran over it, and the Ping-Pong ball one I felt.

[@The_Phantasm]

Yeah, the animated series really helped redefine Riddler's personality. It's really a shame that Riddler didn't get many appearances in the show because despite that, it had one of the best interpretations of the character. However the best depiction of The Riddler outside the comics in my opinion the one from the Batman Arkham games. Wally Wingert who voiced the character in all 4 games always delivered such an incredible performance that always managed to perfectly capture Riddler's obsessive personality, massive ego and superiority complex and gets a significant amount of screen time. It's honestly his voice I hear in my head when I read comics with Riddler.

[@pay7232]

Your comment made me chuckle because in an interviews BTAS creators said they wanted to scream at fans when they said they wanted more Riddler. They are flattered over our love for those episodes, but they have all said Riddler was a nightmare to write for. You have to write a genius character.

[@The_Phantasm]

@@pay7232 I am very well aware, in fact I think Bruce Timm at some point mentioned that he wasn't a fan of Riddler, which is why I'm so glad there is so much content of Wally Wingert as Riddler. And also, with the exception of the episode Riddler's Reform in BTAS, I don't think the other episodes with him are that great honestly.

[@pay7232]

@@The_Phantasm all the episodes I remember he appears with other villains. My favorite character as a kid was always Scarecrow but whenever he appears in the comics he is lame or is taken out in a single punch.

[@The_Phantasm]

@@pay7232 The only episodes in the DCAU that Riddler appeared with other villains is "Trial" in BTAS where he was just a cameo and didn't have lines, in the TNBA episodes "Over the Edge" and "Judgement Day" where he was again just a cameo and another cameo in Superman the Animated Series in the episode "Knight Time".

[@architeuthis3476]

_If Yor So Smart Why Aren't Yoo Rich_ is one of the best episodes of the series!

[@ThePandaSupreme]

This story didn’t get away from itself with the demon stuff which I like… it felt grounded enough still and had actually a good riddled story even though he was just a pawn lol 😂

[@rayvenkman2087]

A pawn but one that was just as dangerous and it helps the more violent actions he’s not known for are the demon’s doing. He gets to save face either way and get some cred out of it.

[@nikcantsnipe]

Unrelated, I like everyone's costume. Especially Tiffany and Sal's costumes. How did you even get the entire Ghostbusters fit? Great book though. Good to the Jizzler, I mean the Riddler be taken seriously.

[@raistlinmajere5550]

I love the Tiffany has to wrangle 3 monkeys episodes she did such a great job too

[@louurich9087]

There is actually evidence that Gotham is here in Michigan. The Golden Age Green Lantern, Alan Scott, was fro Gotham and owned a radio station whose call sign was WXYZ. That was a real radio...and currently channel 7 on TV ...call sign here for ABC. It is also the radio station that created both the Lone Ranger and Green Hornet. I don't know why they were not the statues people wanted instead of Robocop, but whatever.

[@shawnhoelscher1440]

DC already made it known that Gotham is in New Jersey

[@louurich9087]

@@shawnhoelscher1440 So? They have also Said Gotham City exists in Gotham State at one point. Superman originally operated out of Cleveland...literally Cleveland eventually modeling Metropolis on said city.. Then they made Metropolis basically New York, and placed it in that general area. Then they said Delaware. Currently in the comics they are tying its history to the Old West, literally the complete other side of the country. In Star Man, Opal City was shown to have an Old West History, but they claim it is Baltimore. They have said Central City is in both Ohio and Kansas. They said Detroit... an actual city... was on Lake Michigan, the complete otehr side of the state. They have no constancy, and change things whenever they see fit. However, they used an actual call sign for a real radio station, which makes it tied to a real place, whether they intended to or not,

[@shawnhoelscher1440]

@@louurich9087 The word you're looking for is consistency and yeah DC actually does. Idk if you read elseworld books, Black Label books or anything else outside of DC main continuity (the Gotham state was in Chris Nolans Batman trilogy, which was hardly the real DC Universe) the DC encyclopedia and their websites place Gotham in New Jersey. I know you nerds have a hard time letting go of your precious fan theories. But it's in New Jersey and nobody cares about your "head canon"

[@leoncommander]

Jim stumbling into batman after coming up short in the cemetary is a hilarious thought 😂

[@spoogtastic]

Tiffany doing her best to reign in sal lol great episode.

[@ShudderingSeagull]

I'm so happy yall are covering this!

[@PhoenixEnforcer101]

I'd watch snack issues shorts. I tried the dark chocolate milky way because of how highly Sal talked about it. Was not disappointed

[@natasalways]

i think this makes multiple times that i’ve heard Sal mispronounce the word ‘Visage’ in such a way 43:13 😂 i like the grandiosity in his pronunciation

[@jakejupiter5905]

its my favourite youtube crew. Tiffany, Sal, Ben and Hot Ethan. Good for you buddy, rocking that look!

[@nickrottkamp4933]

I’m not huge on most Batman stories due to over saturation but this sounds awesome. This will definitely be an episode I rewatch and issue I look out for when hunting through long boxes. Thanks guys!!!

[@casaopcional3081]

That President Loki costume is amazing.

[@TheRealZubes]

Thank you!

[@MareoYapp]

Favorite moments 2:10 4:40 11:11 12:30 15:30 17:10 20:40 22:10 24:30 27:10 29:10 37:15 38:00

[@wilbertrobinson205]

Just like every city has an Elm street. Every state has a Gotham City

[@daelen.cclark]

Prince George is Canada’s Gotham.

[@porassrivastava8242]

I loved the decision to let the footage keep rolling at the end.

[@Ashguy733]

I want a Namor back issues and also Snack Issues lol.

[@Lemon_Chicken_Yo]

BATMAN HAS A SISTER!

[@PHEONIX_720]

wow two Tiff hosting episodes back to back. Love it

[@fatenabu1]

Man I miss that blue and grey suit. One of the reason I love the newest World's Finest, it taking place when Bruce had that suit. Love that suit.

[@ProfessorKB]

I love when Tiff does supernatural episodes. Always a good time

[@kevinfarrell6540]

The codeword thing is something that is from the writer being British. During the Troubles terrorists groups would give code-words to the authorities to let them know a bomb threat was really from them.

[@thepokekid01]

These costumes are so good!!

[@leomoreno7369]

This would've make a killer side mission in the Arkham Series.

[@architeuthis3476]

Oooooo, yeah it would!

[@darthjoe91]

My head is already racing with this one, maybe the graveyard Gordon shows up in is the the same graveyard, but Riddler realized that if Jim showed up early then he made the riddles too easy, that leads to him using riddles based on literature. Next, maybe the girl was a lost realative of the Waynes and represents that even though he was too late to save her, he can still bring closure and it starts the healing process for Bruce after what happened with Jason and Barbara. Or i might just be reading too much into it

[@Logan7281X]

The 'question mark jacket' reminds me of the Matthew Lesko infomercial I saw one night.

[@jimkass7641]

Yes, im so happy you finally did this story

[@cjhall4406]

A Loki ,Spider man, Ghostbuster and a Maverick . Let's Go 🤘🤓🤘

[@camerondodge2070]

Love this book, and love this episode. There was an issue of The Batman Strikes (the tie-in for the 2004 Batman cartoon) that also featured the Riddler and demons, so the association did continue, just not in the main books. Great issue by the way, there was a lot of Hellraiser influence, an appearance by Etrigan, cool stuff.

[@Omar-wq9dz]

Yes, all 4 of you are together on the couch

[@aegis9109]

Definitely didn’t click this episode thinking that a Riddler story would lead to an origins of Barbatos. Yet another back issues episodes that I’ll be coming back to watch again.

[@user-id6po7lw2o]

Man, these Halloween episodes never disappoint. Great choice!

[@AugustNerdinIron]

I'd kill for an episode on Sub-Mariner The Depths

[@GillySqueeze]

The whole crew is here for this one

[@Alistair3900]

Love this book, super happy to see it on the channel. Also, if anyone's interested in more Kieron Dwyer, his work in the middle of Mark Gruenwald's Captain America run is great.

[@shoddrivers2205]

Snack Issues would unironicaly be so cool!

[@SalvatoreSmithCalcio]

The clarification around 15:19 lul 😂

[@holbachmusic]

Great episode. Loved the story.

[@chrisdaily2077]

It's a shame the Riddler is so overlooked in terms of good stories. While not the best Riddler story I do enjoy the puzzles and his costume is peak Riddler.

[@georgeb.aidoojr.1518]

They revolved a movie around him

[@architeuthis3476]

@@georgeb.aidoojr.1518 Two movies! (Three if the 66 movie counts) Unfortunately, neither of them were very good

[@georgeb.aidoojr.1518]

@@architeuthis3476 you don’t think the Batman 2022 was good?

[@architeuthis3476]

@@georgeb.aidoojr.1518 No, not at all. I will admit that its better than the Ben Affleck Batman, but that's an incredibly low bar. If it had been an hour shorter (and there's enough nothing in the movie that an hour could have been chopped off and it wouldn't have affected the characters or story at all) then I'd say that would upgrade it from boring to tolerable.

[@danielgerena1263]

This is my favorite Batman story.

[@calvinjluther]

Gotham is where the goat is.

[@pay7232]

I read this because of my love for Morrison’s Batman run.

[@WhatIsItAboutThem]

New favorite Batman story. I never thought I'd entertain Barbatos but this is fantastic. I'm not sure DKM does it justice.

[@pay7232]

Nope, DKM is the classic example Of a writer trying to do Morrison and falling very short. I feel it is writing suicide to try to take a Morrison idea and run with it. Only Morrison can do Morrison.

[@infernaldisdain8051]

@@pay7232I think other writers can do Morrison, but it takes a lot. Not even Morrison can always Morrison it correctly.

[@pay7232]

@@infernaldisdain8051 just out of curiosity, because I am not saying your wrong but can you name a writer who took a Morrison concept ran with it and got a touchdown? I thought about your reply while I was working. I can say Gerard Way on Doom Patrol and Lemire on Animal man. Snyder on Metal and Zdarsky with Zur En Arrh both fall very flat for me. Failsafe was cool but continuing the zur en Arrh thing had me quickly hop back off main Batman again. Curious what your opinion is🤘

[@Hulkzilla0]

Everyone looks so cool in their costumes!

[@taylorscrews2284]

I like these deep dives into the background of the books.

[@vidalruiziii1245]

Sal says " thats awesome i like that because ive heard it later on and i like it being here first" when tiff mentioned the nuclear family like that riddler drops.... Ive been searching to find what sal is referring to since i heard him say it. I dont know why that is eating away at me so badly ....help.....lol

[@KindlyCryptid]

FULL 👏COUCH 👏 FULL 👏 COUCH👏

[@datboimemed]

The Arkham series particularly Arkham cities design is hands down my favorite riddler in anything ever

[@JohnClark-tt2bl]

Hmm, a Ghostbuster who is also a ghost himself, not sure how i feel about that.....seems like a conflict of interest.

[@eqs1782]

One of the first Batman stories I read so I'm glad to see it reviewed on comicpop

[@codystork3008]

That code word bit has some potential. It would be great for a parody show. Or imagine a story where a low level hood wants to aspire to having a offical Gotham police code word. You could use it to critique Gordon 1st it was the bat signal then the code words , then he put on a mech suit etc etc.

[@TevyaSmolka]

This was tons of fun also great Halloween episode of back issues with batman.

[@SubwoofBarks]

Finally a great story featuring Batman's greatest villain.

[@rayvenkman2087]

As great as running over a baby on the road... Wait a minute...

[@DrWalterlicious]

No mention of shade the changing man makes me sad. Such a good book

[@taylorsachs5779]

Was looking forward to this new video!

[@rayfarr2115]

AAAAGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!! Oh wait it's just ComicPop. LOVE YOU GUYS AND HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

[@Thistlespawn]

What a fun story! I didn't expect it to be, tbh, but now I'll probably look for it. The comic gives some food for thought without being pretentious or aggressively meta (unlike *some other* Batman stories we know about, lol). The riddles are kinda meh, but when Riddler explained his whole plan, I was still surprised and entertained, so I guess it compensates for the mediocre riddles. Thanks for picking this story for the halloween episode, guys.

[@eqs1782]

I always liked the idea that Gotham was in Jersey

[@MWhaleK]

A lovely Lady Loki!

[@dvepps6780]

I love Milligan.

[@architeuthis3476]

For real! _Bad Company_ is one of the best things to come out of 2000 AD!

[@pbjoey703]

I forgot today was Wednesday and was so happy to see this upload. 😁

[@Sicod79]

My favorite Batman vs supernatural bit is when he jump scares a werewolf on the moon. (JLA book)

[@jacksonecklund630]

Love it when the 4 of are on the couch always a good time

[@cookie1157]

As a guy with a Riddler tattoo, he is one of my favourite characters in fiction period. This story is one of my favourite Riddler stories personally and was probably one of the big inspirations for the Arkham games Riddler.

[@danieldesario6120]

DAMN Tiff looking hot and mischievous

[@TheRealZubes]

😊

[@danieldesario6120]

@@TheRealZubes oh my god you actually responded that’s so cool

[@fjardim14]

This was the very first Batman comic I ever bought, and I love it to bits.

[@davidesterley3163]

I have seen at least one or two issues from this story in back issue bins, now I will be inspired to find all three. On another note, love the costumes!

[@Emporerofkortoph]

I wish snyder had never touched this story