Batman: Gargoyle of Gotham is a 2023 Elseworld comic book written and drawn by Rafael Grampa for DC Black Label.
Set in a grim Gotham gripped by a wealth disparity, a young Batman fights crime, bringing to crooks the same violence they bring to the innocent. However, something new, something darker, has emerged. A weeping psychopath donned in black named Crytoon has made his way onto the scene. Meanwhile, a mysterious serial killer is carving a path of murder through the city. Batman must fight this new threat... as well as his inner darkness.
This comic has the following tropes:
- Alternate Universe: Initially another Elseworld story for the DC Black Label, Dark Crisis: Big Bang Issue #1 would name this universe Earth 46.
- Broken Tears:
- One of the most obvious inversions from the Joker that Crytoon possesses is, instead of insane cackling, he's constantly weeping.
- A young Bruce shed these as he beats "Joe Chill" in a flashback in Issue #2, clearly distraught over the death of his parents.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: The killer strikes between the C1 and C2 vertebrae of his victims so they become paralyzed and can't breathe, but are still conscious.
- Disabled in the Adaptation: In this universe, the Waynes' killer is quadriplegic, as a young Bruce viciously beat him.
- Enfante Terrible: In this universe, a young Bruce ran away to brutally beat his father's killer to the point of being a quadriplegic.
- Ephebophile: Or rather, hebephilia. During Batman's narration of how much of a Wretched Hive Gotham is, we see an old, overweight man subscribing to what seems to be a porn website called True Teen Under 15.
- Expy: Gargoyle of Gotham gives us several new takes on different Batman villains.
- Crytoon is a reverse copy of Joker.
- Moth-er is a deadlier version of Killer Moth.
- The Stadtgeist is based on The Court of Owls.
- Eye Scream: Batman incapacitates one of Crytoon's men by poking him in the eye.
- Fiction 500: After Bruce says the cutting-edge Batmobile took up half of his inheritance, to which Alfred says that the Wayne fortune "is incalculable".
- Macabre Moth Motif: Father Strasbourg is in fact Moth-er, another costumed murderer who uses moths as his motif.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: After his parents' death, Bruce somehow tracked "Joe Chill" down and beat him so brutally with Gordon's baton he left the man confined to a wheelchair.
- Not Helping Your Case: While on the way back from visiting the Waynes' killer, Bruce and Alfred pass by Nia's protest against the class divide in Gotham. When Nia asks for his statement, Bruce curtly responds that he's "not going to validate your speech, brat", which Alfred immediately points out does validate Nia's message that the rich are callous.
- Toon Physics: Crytoon is obsessed with the cartoon character of the same name, and he emulates the character's antics. For cartoon characters, what he does is relatively harmless. For real humans, it's fatal.
- Sinister Minister: Father Strasbourg seems like a normal priest at first, but it later turns out he's a costumed criminal under the name Moth-er.
-
Streisand Effect: Referenced by name by Nia when telling her boss how her plea for justice for the poor has taken off despite the original video being taken down. - Wretched Hive: Gotham, as per usual, and the comic's mature rating allows it to go further than most Batman media.
