For over 80 years, the Dark Knight has been a grim and vigilant protector of the streets of Gotham. With so much drama and emotion going on, he can't be blamed for wanting to take a break. Luckily, with such a long history, the Caped Crusader has plenty of stories that tickle the readers' funny bones, even if it's not always intentional.
From so-bad-it's-good to so-bad-it's-just-plain-bad, Batman has quite a history of making fans giggle, despite his ever stoic and serious demeanor. So much so, even the Joker hasn't been able to inspire as many laughs with his gags.
10 Literally Any Silver Age Comic Is Hilarious
If a reader is looking for a humorous Batman comic, there are dozens of issues from the 1950s to 1960s that fill that niche. From a Batman dressed as a zebra (who's also magnetic for some reason) to a Batman who's de-aged into a baby, there are metric tons of off-the-wall clickbaity covers to pick out and enjoy. Anyone interested in comics knows this. So, to deal with the elephant in the room, all the Silver Age comics deserve their own spot.
9 Judgment On Gotham Has Plenty Of Gags
The Batman/Judge Dredd crossover sounds off the wall and comes out of left field. However, upon reading it, the genius of pitting these two characters against each other is clear. Simon Bisley, Alan Grant, and John Wagner present a fantastic yet dark buddy cop with Dredd and the Caped Crusader.
Dredd eventually (and begrudgingly) agrees to cooperate with Bruce Wayne who – for the first time in his life – feels like the laid-back one. It's a fantastic and entertaining story with wonderful art that acts as a perfect introduction to Dredd and his world, even if a reader isn't familiar with the British comic's legend.
8 Neal Adams' Odyssey Is A Wacky Ride
Neal Adams cannot be lauded enough for his legendary work in the comics industry. However, Batman: Odyssey is some of the wackiest and craziest comics to ever be put in print. In a so-bad-it's-good fashion, Adams leaps from striking and hilarious image to the next with little narrative thread to connect them. Batman with guns, Batman fighting dinosaurs, Batman screaming bloody murder so hard that it looks as though his face may leap off the page and bite the reader. The best part is, it doesn't come close to the wackiest of Batman antics. However, Adams' art adds just enough realism and dimension to make it feel infinitely disturbing and dynamic.
7 Justice League International Is BwaHaHa
The JLI run by Keith Griffen, J.M. DeMatteis, and Kevin Maguire's true-to-life art makes for one of the all-time best Justice League eras of the last 50 years. Lovingly referred to as the "BwaHaHa" era of the team, Batman plays it straight against a cabal of superheroes who constantly get into scrapes with each other (almost as much as they do with supervillains). Classic moments like the Guy Gardner one punch, Martian Manhunter's cookie addiction, and the ever immature antics of Booster Gold and Ted Kord as the Blue Beetle make this a challenge for Batman like none other. Acting like a single father having to take care of his children, Batman is at his wit's end with the ever-hilarious team.
6 The Dark Knight Strikes Again Gets Wild
There had to be at least one Frank Miller book on this list, and while his work on Batman has as many lows as highs, this is one of only two of his books listed here (out of respect for his legacy and work in bettering the medium).
Operating as a direct sequel to his seminal work, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns with feature colorist Lynn Varley. The book takes on all the grit and depth of the first story and goes absolutely buck wild. For example, Superman and Wonder Woman have intimate relations so powerful it causes natural disasters across the globe. In short, this book has literal Earthshaking revelations.
5 The Widening Gyre Makes Batman Pee Himself
Kevin Smith wrote a story with art by Walt Flanagan where Poison Ivy is a stoner who tries to give Batman a contact high. Batman is also retconned to have urinated on himself in, arguably, one of the most iconic moments of Batman: Year One. Smith is by no means a bad comic writer, having done a fantastic job on the Green Arrow series, which established Oliver Queen after he spent a few years in the grave. However, instead of continuing that trend, Smith seems to write something akin to Clerks, but with Gothamites instead of New Jerseyans.
4 Versus Spawn Makes A Great Drinking Game
The last Frank Miller story to make this list is Batman/Spawn. It has classic art by Todd McFarlane, who's at the top of his game, and is paired with writing from Miller that sounds more deranged than coherent.
It's said that one of the deadliest drinking games is based on counting how many times Batman calls Spawn a punk in this story. Both characters come across as more incompetent than some of the lunatics they punch during their night jobs.
3 Fortunate Son Reads Like A PTA Rant
Gerard Jones and Gene Ha present a tale of the ghost of "Not-Elvis," which takes a young man on a cross-country adventure that forces Batman to contend with his worst enemy. It's not guns, crimes, or a lack of proper mental health infrastructure that ends up being Batman's true enemy, but punk music. In fact, if not for punk music, Batman might never have become the hero we know today. Sadly, the story comes across like a rant at a PTA council meeting. It goes out of its way to flaunt its care for impressionable young minds, which, unfortunately, the writer never seemed to care for to begin with.
2 All-Star Batman & Robin... The Boy Wonder
There was no way the infamous and infinitely quotable All-Star Batman & Robin, The Boy Wonder wouldn't make its way onto this list. The magnum opus of Frank Miller and Jim Lee who, to his credit, never does a bad job and kills it here as well, created one of the oldest comic book internet memes.
Batman is in full lunatic mode, donning a bat suit as he kidnaps children, seemingly murders cops, and acts like a ten-year-old in an adult's body. All-Star Batman & Robin, The Boy Wonder may not have reached the heights its creators wanted, but it won't ever be forgotten.
1 Joker's *Ahem* Boners Didn't Age Well
Batman #66 and its less-than-future-proofed grammar remains the all-time most infamously funny Batman comic ever released. Readers might assume it's a simple one-panel goof considering the entire plot revolves around the Joker going on a boner spree all over town. Batman is ultimately overwhelmed by the Joker's massive boners, which take him everything he has to cover them up.
Bill Finger, Bob Kane, and Lew Sayre Schwartz are known for numerous storylines, but surely anywhere their achievements are mentioned, their boners are too.
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