Book #160: Batman by Craig Shaw Gardner

 Batman (1989)

Craig Shaw Gardner

 Released: January 1st, 1989

My 26th book for 2026 was Craig Shaw Gardner’s Batman (1989).  

This book may be #160, but it is truly #0.  I read this book in December 2021/January 2022.  Right before my breakup with my ex-fiancée.  I didn't start writing about my books until I moved on with my life later on.  

As much as I lament that era of my life, I acknowledge that I got through it, and it sparked an even deeper relationship with reading.  That is where I started collecting my books, and read some of them.  This is what will always pop into my mind when I think about this book.

The book follows a lot of the film straight on.  Jack Napier is a Gotham City killer working for Crime Lord Boss Carl Grissom.  After a staged set-up at Axis Chemicals, Jack is thrown into a vat of chemicals and becomes known as "The Joker".  He sets about terrorizing Gotham City by mixing up chemicals in common household cosmetics and body sprays.  A new vigilante named Batman is out on his trail, making a name for himself on the streets, while his daytime persona, Bruce Wayne is being pursued by Vicki Vale.  The battle culminates in the Gotham 200th Anniversary celebration where Batman and The Joker battle to the finish on top of the Gotham Cathedral Tower.

Pretty good book.  The story was always strong to start, so I knew this was going to be a good read.  There are some subtle changes, such as Batman stating "I am the Batman" instead of the more popular "I'm Batman" from the film.

I always remember as a kid watching the VHS tape thinking there was a Looney Tunes cartoon built into the movie.  Turns out it was just ads for Warner Bros. products, and a Diet Coke commercial starring Michael Gough as Alfred.

Also, as usual with novelizations, there is more dialogue, and inner monologue thought processes for the heroes and villains.  At 221 pages, it's a quick read, and it gets the job done.

I remember hunting this one down back in the day.  I was super excited to read it, and imagined being a teenager or young adult in 1989 (as opposed to a newborn) to read it in it's time.  I'm still hunting down the other books, but may have to go to a digital format like I did with the Friday the 13th series.

Here is what I learned:

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• This one’s for THE MILLION YEAR PICNIC and all who toil and buy therein.

• Gotham City is out of control.

• Hookers, pushers, hustlers, and addicts are all on a first name basis.

• Harold is gunned down in front of little Jimmy.

• His wife is mugged.

• Nick and Eddie are the two thief’s at the start of the story.

• Johnny Gribs got ripped and walked off a roof.

• Eddie pisses himself.

• Batman says “I am the Batman” instead of his iconic “I’m Batman.”

• Harvey Dent is a Democrat.

• They celebrate his victory for District Attorney at the Gotham City Democrats Club.

• Mayor Borg is the mayor of Gotham.

• Gotham City is nationally known for crime.

• Boss Carl Grissom is a mob boss.

• Rubbery roast beef gives Commissioner Gordon gas.

• Jack Napier is Boss Grissom’s right hand man.

• He is having an affair with his girlfriend Alicia Hunt.

• Alexander Knox is a reporter for the Gotham Globe.

• Lieutenant Eckhardt is a shady cop with ties to Jack Napier.

• “I say you’re full of shit, Knox.  And you can quote me on that!”

• Knox wants to know if Batman is on the Gotham City Police payroll, and what he makes after taxes.

• Gotham is celebrating the 200th anniversary of the Gotham City Festival.

• Gotham’s tax base is crumbling.

• The Festival is $350,000 in the red.

• Vicki Vale is a freelance photographer.

• She has appeared in Vogue and Cosmo.

• She has been to Corto Maltese.

• Corto Maltese is a war zone.

• Vicki disliked snorers.

• Knox snores.

• Grissom has a penthouse office.

• The mob has a connection to Axis Chemicals.

• Napier had a lucky deck of playing cards.

• Grissom rats out Jack to Eckhardt.

• Bruce Wayne is a philanthropic, millionaire playboy.

• The main bathroom at Wayne Manor is twice the size of Knox’s apartment.

• Bruce has been to Japan.

• Alfredo is the butler of Wayne Manor.

• Bruce gives Knox a grant.

• “You ever danced with the devil by the pale moonlight?”

• Gotham’s East River has been polluted by Axis Chemicals.

• Napier kills Eckhardt.

• Batman drops Jack into a vat of toxic chemicals.

• Wayne Manor has horses.

• Bruce Wayne just turned 35.

• Dr. Davis runs an underground practice where he fixes Jack into the Joker.

• Jack has been shot before.

• Jacks nerves are completely severed.

• “I’ve been dead once already.  It’s very liberating.  You have to think of it as therapy.”

• Jack’s skin has been bleached white and his hair turned to bright green.

• The Joker takes over the mob family as acting president.

• Luce is a mob accountant.

• Vinnie Ricorso and Carmine Rotelli are ganglords.

• Joker electrocutes Rotelli with 40,000 volts.

• Bob is the Joker’s right hand man.

• “If” is misspelled “of” on Page 86.

• Bruce’s parents were gunned down on 7th Avenue near the town center.

• The Joker sets up headquarters in the bowels of Axis Chemicals.

• The Joker poisons products with DDID Nerve Gas.

• The chemical was discontinued in 1977.

• News Reporter Becky becomes a Joker victim.

• The Joker hacks into the news broadcast signal.

• Candy and Amanda are two Joker supermodel victims he uses as spokespeople.

• The Joker sets up a date between Bruce and Vicki at the Fleugelheim Museum.

• Steve-Arino carries a ghetto-blaster book box stereo, common in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s.

• The Joker is jealous of Batman’s gadgets.

• Batman asks women how much they weigh.

• Vicki states she weighs 108 lbs.

• Batman commands the Batmobile by voice.

• Bats are great survivors.

• The Joker has poisoned cosmetic and grooming products at the source, but they must mix with another product to become lethal.

• The Joker enjoys violent deaths.

• “Discoverd” is misspelled on Page 156.

• John T. Gotham was the father of the city.

• The Joker takes the mayor hostage.

• Bruce Wayne was orphaned by Jack Napier.

• The Joker announces Carl Grissom is dead.

• He also plans to drop $20 million cash on the people at the Gotham Festival.

• Bruce has a flashback to his parent’s murders.

• Alfred lets Vicki into the Batcave revealing Batman’s true identity.

• The Joker plans to kill the citizens of Gotham with his poisonous Smylex gas.

• Knox is shot by Joker’s men.

• The Joker’s money has his face instead of George Washington.

• Bob is killed by the Joker.

• Someone poisoned the Police Force’s coffee.

• Batman and the Joker have their climatic duel in the Gotham Cathedral Tower.

• There are 571 steps to the top of the tower.

• The ending duel doesn’t involve Vicki.  Joker tackles Batman off the roof.  Batman saves himself but the Joker falls to his death.

• Batman screams in triumph.

• “Gotham City’s earned a rest from crime.  But if the forces of evil should rise again to cast a shadow on the heart of the city, call me.”

•  Batman give Gotham City a BatSignal.

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Overall, excellent novelization.  It's a solid action superhero novel guaranteed to entertain.  If you love Batman (as you should), then it will delight to no end.

Recommended.

On to Book #161: Batman Returns by Craig Shaw Gardner.

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Need to catch up?  See previous blog post: Rose Madder by Stephen King.