Should Batman have more of a sense of humor?

[The Red Monk]

Now, I'm not asking that Batman should be a happy-go-lucky crime-fighting adventurer with a perpetual smile on his face, or crack jokes every thirty seconds like Spider-Man does, but would it really hurt for the character to make a dry quip or a humorous remark more often, just so he isn't a completely humorless bastard? It's something that kind of annoys me about the modern incarnation of the character, since judging from older versions of Batman in the comics, he wasn't always like this. Also, I'm talking about Batman only; obviously, when Bruce Wayne is out of costume he is a much more sociable guy.

[jump]

Diedrich Bader who does the voice of Bats in Brave & The Bold said something along the lines of whenever Bats does tell a joke it's just for himself and that's on the money for me.

[PyroSikTh]

I wouldn't complain if it wasn't overdone, but his straight-edge over-seriousness it what makes Joker so great as a polar opposite.

[LoneNecromancer]

I'm pretty sure he does make jokes on occasion.

[t hedge coke]

I think Batman should be funny, casually, and Joker shouldn't ever be more funny than he is horrifying. I know that's out of step with a lot of fans, but it's what works for me.

[marshal99]

[John Venus]

"I could use some air support. Since I can't fly. At all. Now would be good."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Unl8l8VdONw

"You overplayed your part, yo."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1btlLGy6qvc

"I don't have time to pursue a relationship. My work is too important to allow any distractions. Diana is a remarkable woman. She's a valued friend. She's....standing right behind me isn't she?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8n-EcphCJA

(walks into Shayera flirting with John)

"Glad I caught you before you did something stupid."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ak533nC6tb8

Circe to Batman: I want something from you that is very precious, something you've worked very hard to conceal. Something when gone, you can never regain. Something, so, shattering..."

Que Batman singing 'Am I Blue?':

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncj-wpBhr5E

[Maxpower00044]

I don't think he should ever be intentionally funny. Can he say something that makes me laugh? Sure, but I don't want him to go out of his way to make me laugh.

And like T Hedge Coke said, I don't think Joker should see be more funny than he is scary. I don't mind when he makes bad jokes, or he's trying to make the reader laugh, but ultimately, I think Joker's jokes should only be funny to him. He sees the humor in the grotesque and violent, and that's how I like it.

[earl]

I'd think having Batman enjoy being Batman and lighten up a bit would be a light change. I think the joke he plays on the world is with how the public perceives Bruce Wayne. It's also a long running gag on how Batman sneaks off on Commissioner Gordon without him notice.

Humor can be done with Batman if done well, he worked pretty well as a character on the old Giffen\DeMatteis\Maguire Justice League. Everything is so super serious and grim, not a lot a room for other types of stories. Considering the nature of Batman, Gotham and the Rogues Gallery, they really shouldn't be afraid to occasionally embrace the absurd.

[Alan2099]

I like Batman to have a bit of dry humor. A few action-hero style one liners every once in a while wouldn't hurt.

And like T Hedge Coke said, I don't think Joker should see be more funny than he is scary. I don't mind when he makes bad jokes, or he's trying to make the reader laugh, but ultimately, I think Joker's jokes should only be funny to him. He sees the humor in the grotesque and violent, and that's how I like it.

Can't say I agree to that. If you really want a wild and unpredictable "chaotic" Joker, he needs to be funny. There should be moments when Batman has just be through the ringer. Joker's plan have left him cut, shot, burnt, and then Joker pulls his coupe de grace... and hits him in the face with a pie. Just a regular pie. Because it's funny.

Or there moments when Joker is just be wacky and zany and making everybody laugh and you start to think that he's not such a bad guy after all... then he runs a henchmen through a meat grinder for confusing Abbot and Costello with Laurel and Hardy... and then tells his other henchmen o kill the guy's family just in case.

[SiegePerilous02]

I like Batman with a sense of humor, mostly reserved for his private moments with Alfred, Dick and his other close allies. When he's on the job, he should be more brooding, letting loose an occasional deadpan remark.

Can't say I agree to that. If you really want a wild and unpredictable "chaotic" Joker, he needs to be funny. There should be moments when Batman has just be through the ringer. Joker's plan have left him cut, shot, burnt, and then Joker pulls his coupe de grace... and hits him in the face with a pie. Just a regular pie. Because it's funny.

Or there moments when Joker is just be wacky and zany and making everybody laugh and you start to think that he's not such a bad guy after all... then he runs a henchmen through a meat grinder for confusing Abbot and Costello with Laurel and Hardy... and then tells his other henchmen o kill the guy's family just in case.

This. Joker works best when he gets you to laugh along with his antics, before it dawns on you just what you're laughing at. He's a walking cartoon, a living parody of all the worst aspects of our society. One of my favorite Joker moments is in the opening pages of the "Going Sane" story, where his natural charm gets a crowd of people to laugh. It makes him more three dimensional, and somehow, even more monstrous than he would be if he was just a scary loony killing people in gory ways. The latter depiction shows up too much these days, and it's one of the main reasons people seem to be getting sick of him in the comics.

[t hedge coke]

There's some wonderful bits in Denny O'Neil's Helltown where Bruce delights in making his public-Bruce persona as absurd as possible, and where private-Bruce tells small jokes, as well, because private-Bruce, unlike Batman or public-Bruce, is a human being.

[Buried Alien]

Bruce used to joke around with Dick regularly right up through the end of the Bronze Age. Bruce even joked around with Jason early on in their partnership. I think it was after Jason's death that Bruce completely lost his sense of humor (his partner had died; nothing was funny to him after that).

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Jay Kay]

I think he should be the perpetual straight-man in terms of humor--he's never wacky or over the top, he's just clever and is a good grounding point for the goofier partners, like the Robins.

[Buried Alien]

Some of the funniest Batman moments involve not what he says or does, but things that happen to/around him. About a decade or so ago, DC did a crossover with the Looney Toons crew. During all this, Batman got mindswapped with Daffy Duck. We didn't get to see the mindswap directly, but it's aftermath was funny. Batman was back in his body and telling Alfred that he was feeling "normal" again, and as Alfred swept up the floor of the Batcave, he remarked about how Bruce spent the previous night bouncing off the walls screaming, "WOO-HOO!"

They didn't need to show it; just suggesting it was hilarious!

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)