Comicon Advent Calendar 2024 Day 9: Dreaming Of A Joker Christmas With ‘Detective Comics’ #826
by Scott Redmond
As the Comicon Advent Calendar enters its ninth day, the holiday season really feels like it’s in full magical swing. What will we unlock today?
We all know the holidays can be hectic. Lots of hustle and bustle, surrounded by lots of people of all ages and types. Sometimes it’s just nice to have a simple intimately terrifying chaotic night with your worst enemy.
Ah yes, nothing says Christmas like the Joker (hmmm). That’s right, today’s pull is 2007’s Detective Comics #826 from legendary Batman: The Animated Series writer Paul Dini, artist Don Kramer, inker Wayne Faucher, colorist John Kalisz, and letterer Jared K. Fletcher.
As noted above, the story follows Tim Drake Robin after he is kidnapped by Joker who takes him on a hellish car ride through Gotham City. Appropriately the story is titled “Slayride“ and the body count befits this gruesome title and premise. There isn’t anything traditionally Christmas-y about this story, and it certainly doesn’t have a happy ending.
What it does have though is showing the tenacity, smarts, and power that is Tim Drake who is hands down the best Robin (go ahead, fight me!). Able to keep his cool in the face of pure evil, and using his knowledge and his foe’s ego against him in the end to ‘win’ the day.
Dini is a master of these characters, shown both from his TAS days but also this era where he was writing some fantastic stories in Detective Comics. Naturally, with those TAS roots, there is a lot of Mark Hamill, but even more unhinged, in Dini’s Joker. Artistically it’s very rough, colorful, and wide befitting this very tightly confined, dark, yet holiday attired, grim story.
Not exactly a curl up around the tree and enjoy type of book, but well worth the read for any Tim Drake or Bat-family fans.
