A Month of... There Is No Hope in Crime Alley, Night 1: I still see it all in my head in burning red

Beginning our usual annual countdown (can ya believe this is the fifth year? I had to start an excel spreadsheet to keep track of what panels I've used already!) to June 26, the anniversary of the death of Batman's parents, gunned down by Joe Chill (or, if it's an Elseworlds, by Vampire Joe Chill, Batmite, or Richie Rich) in Crime Alley, where there's no Starbucks, no Chipotle, and definitely no hope.

Join me this month, all month, to re-experience the event that made a boy into a man...a Batman! (Caution: persons of a nervous disposition or who are frightened by the sight of pearls falling to the ground may wish to avert their eyes.)


Panel from Batman #619 (November 2003), script by Jeph Loeb, pencils by Jim Lee, inks by Scott Williams, colors by Alex Sinclair, letters by Richard Starkings