3) Dark Night: A True Batman Story
I cannot commend Paul Dini enough for what he did with this book. This is not a traditional Batman story in the way we’re used to seeing one, but at the same time, it almost is. As biographical as this graphic novel is, all of the major themes of Batman are there, even if most of them are contorted and often inverted. The classic villains make appearances and remain true to themselves, but they’re being used in a very different way here. These are representations of Dini’s psyche as he attempts to recover from an incredibly traumatic experience.
It’s a dark book, as the title suggests, but it’s also a hopeful one. That’s evidenced enough by the fact that Dini got through this dark time and managed to rediscover his creative strength and passion. While it’s not a situation we’ve all been in, there’s something in the raw honesty of it that I think any artist can relate to.