What does Christmas mean to you? The holiday holds different significance for everyone, and the Dark Knight is no exception. For many people, Christmas is about family and recalling positive childhood memories, but both of those are sore subjects for Batman. The holiday season is a time of bright lights, festive music and feelings of joy, which stand in stark contrast to Batman’s dark nature. Plus, I can’t imagine Bruce is too thrilled about the whole “Jingle Bells, Batman Smells,” thing.
Despite this, Batman and Christmas go hand in hand, which got me thinking…why do Batman Christmas stories feel right? What has the Dark Knight’s relationship with the holiday been, and how has it evolved? To find the answer, I dove into the back issues of Batman’s Christmas past.
I started reading this forum post, and my first thought was, “This is a @JoshuaLapinBertone article, isn’t it?” And when I clicked the link, I wasn’t disappointed.
I definitely agree, Batman just feels right around Christmas and this year is no different. For me though I’m not someone who particularly gets on the Christmas spirit hype (even teetering to dislike) and so some of my favorite Christmas stories tend to be those about characters who are adverse to Christmas but end up finding their own meaning of the holiday spirit. I.e. The Christmas Carol, The Grinch. And I think Bruce is a great character to explore Christmas with too, to really get to the things beneath the cowl that make him tick. The family, devotion to his city and desire to make the world a better safer place. Christmas is a time to really focus on those aspects of ourselves and Batman is a pretty gruff and grim character on the outside, but on the inside he’s secretly all sweet and soft and christmas~y!
I hadn’t really made that connection, but that is a very good way of putting it. Batman doesn’t strike me immediately as the most “Christmassy” character, but a lot of the best Christmas stories have a figure like him, who is often cynical and dark, realizing there are good things in the world.
