Sometimes like drops you a bouquet. This happened to me today, when I cracked open Batman: Dark Knight Adventures and Absolute Batman for the first time.

Two classics, two polar extremes of the Caped Crusader.

One is the ultra-gritty tough guy man. The other, a gentler and more nuanced detective story in the tradition of Batman: the Animated Services.

I talk about how one of these classics is ideal for reading with your kids...and how Gotham City Sirens did the perfect story on how the Joker went from funny ha ha to funny lock the doors and hide....and how Harley Quinn kind of fills that lane that funny Joker once operated in...