This is a review of Tales of the Batman: Steve Englehart. I bought a bunch of Batman graphic novels over the holiday season. I’ve read and liked parts of Mr. Englehart’s West Coast Avengers and Green Lantern runs in the 1980’s, so I took a chance.
Reader, I was not disappointed. Mr. Englehart wrote the Joker Fish storyline, which apparently is famous even though I’ve never heard of it. Before this point, I’d never even heard of Silver St. Cloud. I don’t quite get why this run is so obscure, because Mr. Englehart has a unique take on the character. It might be because his original run on Batman is blink-and-you’ll-miss-it short, running eight issues in the 1970’s – but he makes those issues count. Mr. Englehart introduces a new villain, Dr. Phosphorous, and brings back two older villains (Dr. Hugo Strange and Deadshot) in an interesting way.
He also writes an awesome Joker. The Joker Fish storyline starts with the Clown Prince dumping toxic chemicals into the bay, which produces smiling fish. The Joker decides to cash in by copyrighting his Joker Fish, which means anyone eating a fish sandwich will owe him $$$. He then commences killing any bureaucrat that refuses to grant him the copyright.
And then there’s Silver St. Cloud, the love interest I’d never heard of. That might be because Mr. Englehart goes where few Batman writers have dared. Silver & Bruce start to date, and when it gets serious she figures out his secret identity. She leaves him, for a variety of reasons, and doesn’t return for 30 or so years (real time, not comic time), when the storyline is resolved – sort of.
As I’ve said, portraying Batman as an adult human being with certain, uh, needs, seems to be taboo amongst Batman writers. This is sad, because if you read more than two issues of Batman it becomes obvious that he really needs to get laid. So why doesn’t he? The simple explanation is the one Mr. Englehart went with. Batman declared war on crime as a boy, on a boy’s terms, which leaves no room for love. The simpler explanation, which is the one I go with, is that Batman is mentally ill.
I mean, whatever. Mr. Englehart pulls off the feat of having Batman be in a serious relationship with a woman that feels real, and it is additive rather than reductive to his character. The culmination of their affair occurs when Batman says something stupid, because he has no idea how to talk to women. This makes senses, as anyone who spends their nights dressed up as a bat will almost certainly lack basic social skills. The storyline as written in this volume feels unfinished, and I’m almost afraid to Google Silver St. Cloud’s name, as the easiest solution is to fridge her.
An underrated run that spans over three decades.
Abandoned Places 