In the past, I have expressed my passion for covers that feature the Joker at his most creepy and surreal, as well as covers with some kind of visual twist involving their logo. But just in case you think I’m hard to please, or that there is anything remotely refined about my tastes, let’s get this straight: I am also a huge sucker for covers where it looks like Batman is about to get shot!
Just in covers alone, more guns have been pointed at the Dark Knight than at the average character in a Johnnie To thriller. Yet it’s a formula that keeps on giving. There is something about the simple immediacy of danger brought on by a pointed gun which generates dynamism and urgency, with Batman for once seeming helpless and vulnerable…
On the other hand, the fact that Batman has to face a loaded gun can sometimes serve to reinstate his action hero credentials, with the Caped Crusader coming across as more badass than ever:
The same is true of covers where Batman is not just threatened, but actually getting shot at. While some give out a sense a desperation…
…many just highlight how much of an unstoppable crime-fighting machine the Dark Knight can be, relentlessly going up against a violent sea of bullets in the name of justice like a Bizarro version of Tony Montana:
Which is not to say that, every once in a while, things don’t get delightfully goofy:
Fighting Kite-Man with the help of a bat-shaped paraglider? Rolling on jet-skates towards an armed alien? Struggling with demon possession in front of the Flash? Magically flying around on another planet? An ad for the Viking Prince? Things cannot get much sillier than this!