The DC Book Club Returns! Join the Holiday-Themed December Book Club: Batman Noël!

Can’t wait to participate.

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Love the Christmas theme, can’t wait to read it!:grinning::christmas_tree::santa:

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Oh yes, this is actually a favorite of mine, and one I tend to read every December, so this works out very well. :smiley:

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Batman: Noel is easily my favorite of Lee Bermejo’s works, with or without Azzarello. I recommend it all the time. I love how it recontextualizes Batman as Scrooge, and the way it utilizes the other players in Batman’s life to show him that somewhere along the line, he may have lost his light.

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Bookmarked. Amazing to see the club rise from the ashes, this thread would have been just as inspiring no matter what we were going to read, yaaaaaahoo!

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Welcome back, DCBC! :partying_face: :batparrot: :snowboarder:

I loved Noel in 2011, and am looking forward to a re-read of it, via the High Holy of Book Club Holies that is the DC Book Club.

This just in: Black Adam wanted to welcome back the DCBC:

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Although difficult, I managed to stop at page 27.
Now on to the Q&A part of the club.

  1. What do you think the holiday season feels like in Gotham City? Hopeful? Fearful?
    Well for the first 23 pages it was more depressing than fearful, although you could almost smell the depression and fear of of old Bob. After that it began becoming a bit more cheerful with a glimmer of Hope, though the underlying depression and fear was there as well.
  2. In the opening pages of Batman Noël, the narrator asks the reader to believe in something…how did you take this ask? Was it something you were onboard with, or did you need a little convincing?Just considered it part of the story, I always try and if the tale is engaging immerse myself in my reading, so not sure I believe, yet but am interested in how it plays out.
  3. How do you feel about the character of Bob? Do you think he’s a hardened criminal, or is he just trying to get by in life?I think Bob is someone overwhelmed with life, who tries but can’t finish things and blames the world for his , as to a hardened criminal, so far I don’t get the vibe he is a killer more of an opportunistic criminal who wants to take shortcuts instead of working for it.
  4. Fear is an unusual concept to pair with the holiday season. What role do you think fear plays in this book? Do you enjoy the way Bermejo plays with the theme of fear in a holiday-themed comic book? If so, why? If not, why not?Well, as of now, although set during the holidays, I don’t consider it a Holiday themed comic book after the first 27 pages. As to the fearful mood, well this is Gotham and except for the elite, I would think most folks there go through life afraid and depressed. At this stage, I get a more depressed vibe than fearful.
  5. The correlation between Batman Noël and Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is clear from early on in the book. Did you enjoy the intertwining of these storylines? Too early to tell, though in general, I do enjoy new portrayals of old stories. The references throughout does make the comparison obvious though.
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This is my first time reading Batman: Noel and I thoroughly enjoyed Bermejo’s spin on A Christmas Carol. Batman feels like the perfect character to play the role of scrooge and Gotham is a great backdrop for the story.

I think this really depends on the year and universe. The general vibe I get from the city in Noel is more fearful and desperate than it is hopeful, though there is clearly still hope from the younger population.

I found this ask quite easy, but that may be a personal bias. I think everyone feels like the bad guy at some point in their life, but then has the ability to change and to improve. I don’t think it’s ever fair to deny someone that chance!

He’s definitely just trying to get by in life. I viewed Bob as the epitome of the whole ‘man steals bread to feed his family’ ethical dilemma. He’s definitely not violent, there’s no hint of that within him when confronted by Batman. Most of Gotham’s hardened criminals seem to have no issue pulling a knife or gun out to fight the Bat. Bob is definitely not one of those people.

Fear is almost like a character within itself in Noel. Without fear, there’s no driving force for Bob to be the character that he is and without that, Batman wouldn’t have a reason to improve later on in the comic.

Whilst it’s not something I’d enjoy seeing in every holiday comic from this point onwards, I think it works really well in this particular spin of A Christmas Carol. It feels very appropriate when you view the source material. Scrooge has his own fears of being alone and letting others in, for example.

I love it. The 3rd person narration is really fun, especially as the narrator (and their audience) are both unsure how accurate the tale actually is. It gives me vibes of a father reading ‘The Night Before Christmas’ with their child on their lap and a roaring fire, which is a cozy image and perfect for the holidays!


Just wanted to say a big thank you to @Jitsu for managing to get Batman: Noel added to DC Universe Infinite and for resurrecting the book club. I really appreciate it! :slight_smile:

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Hello @Jitsu,
This was my first time reading the book, it was so well done, I wanted to keep on reading. Love the arts graphic in the story as well.:grinning:
Here’s my answers to your questions…

  1. For a guy like poor Bob, pretty much fearful and Cold. A kid like Tim always hopeful and happy.

  2. I was fine with this question when ask, I believe in Christ who was born on Christmas day to save us. It’s always good to have that hope.:slightly_smiling_face:

  3. I think Batman judge Bob too harshly, how does he know if Bob is a criminal? There must be a reason why he’s following the instruction in the letter. So I like him all ready for now.

  4. Bermejo is definitely a talented writer and artist, this book is making me a fan of his work. I don’t know if I wanted to say this book is full of fear just yet, since I’ve just started to read this.
    For the first 28 pages, yes we see poor Bob in fear. I hope by the end of the book we’ll see him being happy with no fear.

  5. I’m a huge fan of A Christmas Carol, I have 11 different movies on DVD, have a book as well. Again Berrmejo is a genius, putting a classic novel Christmas story into a Batman universe. Can’t wait to read more of it.

And there you have it, looking forward to reading more and answering more questions.:grinning:

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First off i must say The art was great

1: Hmm… well i would say it can be a bit hopeful in Gotham as there are examples in books like B: TAS the adventure continues where the rogues tend to take the holidays off.

2: I can believe something like this can happen…I have had pneumonia so I know what bats would be going through with it.

3: Well it seems like this was inspired by a certain episode of B:TAS so I feel he is a guy down on his luck and taking the job to try to make his kid’s life a bit better.

4: I read the book in its entirety as I have had a copy for a year and this got me to finally read it. I feel this is a darker future of Batman 66 pre-season 3 mixed with Golden Age Batman as there is no Babs in it and no other Robins. I feel the fear in this is Batman’s fear to live and move on after his ward/son Dick was killed. Thus becoming more jaded from that loss. Yet he finds the will to live again as Bruce Wayne and Batman in the end.

5: I found it interesting however it’s been a long time since I saw the adaptation was done by the muppets of a Christmas Carol (I never actually read the story) however it does work very well with Batman.

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PS: The book reminded me of Hinder’s song What Ya Gonna Do.

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I like that you pointed out this difference! Interesting that both have different views, but live together.

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I can definitely relate to this :sweat_smile:

I tend to do this as well–just follow the story and get immersed in the world, as it presents itself.

Nice observation here. What specifically made you view him as someone who wants to take shortcuts? Would love to know more about how you came to this conclusion so far!

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Really like this idea of Batman’s “fear to live and move on”.

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Agreed here. Especially in the early pages, it seems to me that Bob is a scared man pushing himself to do bad things to provide for his family.

I LOVED this too. It makes me feel like I’m just listening to someone next to me tell a wild story. I also really like how it’s not entirely clear which character the narrator is referring to a few times–makes following the story more fun.

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I’ll try to join in!

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Happy DC Anniversary @Jurisdiction! It’s great to have you here on DC Universe Infinite!:partying_face::cake::tada::confetti_ball:

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I can’t tell you how much I loved this twist on A Christmas Carol. Painting Batman as Scrooge was such an unexpected take – to lay adjacent his very black-and-white views on the world to those of someone who actively made peoples’ lives miserable was not anything I’d ever think would be written of B-man. And it was done amazingly!

And the art, I can’t gush enough about that art.

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Incidentally, another DC twist on A Christmas Carol just hit shelves today – Nightwing goes through his own ghosts of Chrismtas Past, Present, and Future, as represented by three Batgirls, in Batman: Urban Legends #10!

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Nice! Thanks for the rec–I’ll have to check this one out!

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