Batman: The Dark Knight #21

Every lunatic in Gotham must harbor a secret desire to feel Batman rupture their spleen.

At times like these, you have to wonder how tempting it must be for Batman to kill The Mad Hatter. I know Batman doesn't kill not because he doesn't want to become like those he's against but because he knows how easy it will be to just keep killing after the first one. I totally get that but on a level that doesn't threaten the lives of anybody around me. I stopped drinking soda about two and a half years ago. I mainly drink water and tea, an occasional coffee drink, and about a bottle of Sake every few months. My business puts me in the vicinity of fountain drinks every night and I often see that Sierra Mist button sitting there wanting to be pressed. It just sounds so carbonated and refreshing and delicious! Hell, I barely even liked Sierra Mist when I did drink soda. But I know if I drink just one, it'll be way too easy to make another excuse later so that I can have another. The seal will be broken; the demons set free. So I continue to avoid soda and Batman continues to avoid killing. I hope Grant Morrison doesn't make him step over his own line to kill Bat-Thing even though that bastard killed Damian.

Although why can't he kill Bat-Thing? It's half whale, right? And Batman isn't Aquaman! Batman eats meat, right? It was that little murdering psychotic Damian that felt animals shouldn't be killed.

Last issue, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum and The Mad Hatter murdered Batman's girlfriend Natalya. This issue, Batman puts them all in the hospital and pisses in their IVs.

I'm not sure I need to read this comic book because I'm pretty sure that's exactly what's going to happen!

See? He's so mad his cape is emoting.

Batman storms Mad Hatter's missile silo and does the Lobster Quadrille all over Tweedle Dee's (or Dum's) bald head. He then follows the White Rabbit through the Hall of Doors where he skips a few chapters and goes straight to The Mad Hatter's Psychedelic Freakout.

Dammit, Batman! I'm sensing a trend here. You need to start wearing a gas mask full time.

Batman's acting careless because his girlfriend was just murdered. But he's also acting careless because what kind of a fair fight would it be if Batman just stealthily invaded Hatter's hideout and knocked him out with one well-placed Batarang?

Once again, Batman begins to hallucinate a time before his parents were murdered and he became the forever sad little boy. The Mad Hatter is simply gleeful that he and The Batman now have a shared experience in the loss of a great love. But since Batman just went through this shit battling The Scarecrow, he's got the experience to shake off the hallucinations and just get straight to the ass-whooping.

Every fucking one of them is a masochist. This could be prevented, you moron! STOP. PISSING. OFF. BATMAN!

The Mad Hatter doesn't fare much better, even though he drank his Spinach Tea.

I think adult teeth grow back in comic books, so I wouldn't be too worried about those front ones, Hatter.

Batman knocks him into The Pool of Tears and is about to leave him to drown when Alfred says the thing I just said Batman doesn't actually believe. He tells him to save The Mad Hatter from drowning or he'll be no different than they are. This causes Batman to stop and rescue The Mad Hatter. So is that it, Batman? You just can't live with the shame of being a psychopath? Because, I think, even if you killed The Mad Hatter, you'd be better than The Mad Hatter. This guy just killed 2% of Gotham's population and your girlfriend! He killed a lot of innocent people. I may be a pacifist that doesn't believe in the death penalty or punching people's jaws off of their face, but I can still agree that there is a world of difference between The Mad Hatter murdering innocents and The Batman murdering a murderer.

Although I know Batman's real reason for not killing. Nobody wants to have to keep making up new villains for him to battle.

The last few pages don't show Batman giving The Mad Hatter mouth to mouth which is a shame. Instead it shows that the Gotham City Police Department are having some serious budget issues since they have to repair the Bat Signal by taping all the shattered glass back together instead of having a new one made. That's pretty fucking sad.

Batman: The Dark Knight #21 Rating: +1 Ranking. I feel like this was a mediocre ending to a strong story. Mostly just people getting punched in the face by Batman. But you know, that's what a Batman title needs every few months! I'm glad that at this point, Batman didn't have to nearly lose before winning. Sure, he was drugged. But it was nice to see him fight through it almost immediately, especially since he'd just gone through the same thing with The Scarecrow. I do always enjoy a super hero book where the super hero just walks in and wins the day without it seeming like an uphill battle.