Batman: Restless Dreams is a Batman fanfic series by CircusLion3000, aka DrNoPuma. The series is hosted on Archive of Our Own. The series started on March 9, 2024, and is ongoing.
Batman is called to investigate the "Screaming Sleep," a strange phenomenon where people are stuck sleeping, but every hour, they have a screaming fit before chanting the word "Alptraum" and then returning to normal sleep. Batman must find a way to save the victims of the Screaming Sleep from being trapped in the dream world. Things get more complicated when some of Batman's rogues also fall under the Screaming Sleep...
The series is loosely based on Batman: The Animated Series, but the writer still considers the story to be in its own continuity.
For the creator's previous, Denser and Wackier work, see Sognic: Mall-tiverse of Madness.
You can find the series HERE
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This series contains examples of:
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: In Chapter 1, the Joker lists a bunch of crimes that he would have the people of Gotham commit if he could mind-control them. Most of them are violent and despicable, but the last one is illegal parking.The Joker: I'd make them heap tons of praise on me, spray Joker Venom all over the city, push [Batman] into a piranha tank, burn the orphanage, blow up the hospital, overthrow the city government, assault the weak and elderly, and park in all the ‘no parking’ zones! And all while singing some jaunty showtunes!
- Cardboard Prison: Lampshaded. When the Joker reveals that the Mad Hatter escaped Arkham Asylum again, Batman wonders why it's so easy for criminals to escape Arkham.
- Consulting a Convicted Killer: In Chapter 1, after Scarecrow turns out to be a victim of the Screaming Sleep rather than the cause of it, Batman talks to the Joker in his cell. The Joker reveals that he didn't cause the Screaming Sleep either, and he also tips Batman off to the fact that the Mad Hatter escaped the asylum.
- Denser and Wackier: Inverted. Most of the writer's previous fanfics have a very flippant and silly tone, but this series takes itself much more seriously.
- Dream Episode: This time, Batman must enter a dream world and go up against an evil Nightmare Weaver.
- Mythology Gag: The series is inspired by Batman: The Animated Series and contains a few references to it and other Batman works:
- When the Scarecrow is revealed to be under the Screaming Sleep, Batman says "Get this man to the hospital!" a reference to this scene from "The Laughing Fish."
- The Joker makes a few references to his portrayal in The Dark Knight. At one point, he says "Do you wanna know how I got this smile?" a reference to "Do you wanna know how I got these scars?" He also mentions blowing up a hospital, which is something that the Joker did in TDK.
- When the Scarecrow is revealed to be under the Screaming Sleep, Batman says "Get this man to the hospital!" a reference to this scene
- Not Me This Time: Batman assumes that some of his rogues are causing the Screaming Sleep, but his hunches turn out to be wrong:
- The Scarecrow has already fallen victim to the Screaming Sleep.
- The Joker says that if he could control the minds of fifty people, he would have them commit all sorts of violent crimes instead of just making them fall asleep.
- The Mad Hatter seems to be up to something as he flies in a hat-shaped aircraft, but it turns out that he has already fallen victim to the Screaming Sleep too.
