Batman: Noël

Batman: Noël is an original graphic novel written and illustrated by Lee Bermejo, who previously did the artwork for Joker. It is based on Charles Dickens' classic novel A Christmas Carol and features characters from both Dickens and the Batman mythos. Like Joker, the story is narrated by one of the Clown Prince's henchmen.

Plot
During winter in Gotham City, a man named Bob, who works as a delivery man for the Joker, finds a package full of money in a trash can, but almost immediately, Batman (referred to as Scrooge by the narrator), attacks him and demands to know where the Joker is. When Bob tells him that he doesn't know, Batman lets him go, but secretly attaches a tracer on Bob as the man runs home to his son, Tim.

Back at the Batcave, Bruce watches Bob and his son, informing Alfred that he intends for the father to be arrested so his son had no chance to follow in his footsteps. During this, Bruce constantly coughs, implying that he is catching a cold. Alfred then reminds Bruce that a similar plan led to Jason Todd to be endangered and killed. Afterwards, Bruce sees a vision of Jason (taking the role of Jacob Marley), which disturbs him throughout the rest of the night.

Batman responds to the Bat-Signal, where Commissioner Gordon tells Batman that Catwoman has tipped the GCPD that she has information about the Joker, but demands that she only talks to Batman. Confronting Catwoman, Batman discovers that she was lying and only called him so she could "play with him", under nostalgia of their adventures together. After some provoking, Batman chases Catwoman before falling onto some garbage cans.

Afterwards, Batman is confronted by Superman, who after doing a quick x-ray on Batman, discovers he is coming down with pneumonia, though Batman shrugs it off. Superman then takes Batman to watch Bob and Tim. Then later, to watch Commissioner Gordon talking with an officer.

Superman then leaves after dropping Batman off at the Batmobile, which explodes upon activation and knocks Batman out. The Joker then comes and drags the stunned caped crusader to a graveyard where he buries him alive. While buried, Batman suffers a vision where Gotham is plunged into chaos in his absence, and civilians kill the criminals in vengeance, following Batman's ruthless behavior after Jason Todd's death. Realizing what he has become, Batman digs out of his grave and saves Bob and Tim from the Joker.

Bob manages to grab the Joker's gun and holds the latter at gunpoint, but Batman convinces him to show his son the man he truly is; not a criminal. Bob lowers the gun and Joker is arrested. Learning a new lesson in life, Bruce gives Bob benefits, like a raise and an actual Christmas tree. The narrator is revealed to be Bob himself, relating the tale to Tim and asking him what he thought the moral of the story was.

Reception
Rob Patey of Ain't It Cool News called Batman: Noël "an instant classic," complimenting Bermejo's "kinetic artwork" and his ability to keep the story grounded while deftly transcending reality. Shawn Morrissey of Outer Realm Comics was less impressed saying that it "is a good read, but it's all thanks to the source material" and that the overly realistic art ruins the comic book fantasy.