Batman: Night Cries is a Terrifying Masterpiece | An Analysis 

Okay so a few people have said that they can hear more of the video coming from the left earphone rather than the right. Or they don't hear any audio coming from the right earphone at all. And to be honest I don't know what could be causing this issue. But when I listen to the video. Both on headphones and on earphones through my laptop and my phone, I hear the audio from both sides perfectly.

I live for Batman stories like these because they highlight something about Batman’s mission that gets glossed over. Batman isn’t seeking to stop all crime. He’s seeking to stop all suffering. Every night he goes out as Batman because he knows someone is suffering without a hand reached out to help them, and a story like this really highlights how much Bruce needs it. Children, alone, suffering and reaching out. Like a boy standing in an alley all alone.

The image of Batman screaming at the fact he can't hear the screams of the children is heart-breaking. Trying, failing, and knowing he won't be able to save everyone is such a defeating image.

Possibly the most underrated Batman so glad to see a proper analysis on it.

This story hits hard I'm a victim of abuse. My father beat me and yelled at me over stupid things. Almost like he was looking for excuses to hurt me My father was a victim as well, and his father may have been as well, I've never met him, for all I know, that's fortunate I remember being a violent child. My behavior was horrible, and I felt so alone for years and years, never being able to seek anyone's help Until Junior year, I had no one to depend on, but I've made friends who helped me get through my father's abuse during that time, and they've helped me become a better person, my mother and her side of the family too, and my grandma on my dad's side I've done well being a better man than my father, but I'm only 18 now. I've made a promise to myself to never abuse substances like my father, and hopefully it stays that way, I won't give in to the cycle of abuse like my father did

There was a similar story like this that came out a few years later, Batman: Ultimate Evil. I haven't read it in years but it was basically about Batman investigating a child trafficking ring run by wealthy powerful people. There was a time when people would be called a crank for talking about things like that. But everything that has been exposed in the last 10 years turns out they were right.

Words can't describe how beautiful and heartbreaking this story is. The artwork, the writing. It's breathtaking. I can't believe I had never heard this comic before but I'm so glad to have found this channel.

Read it for the first time a few months ago, instantly became one of my favourite Batman comics. Scott Hampton’s art is incredible, to bad it hasn’t been reprinted in decades

15:26 “Sadistic” tendencies is more accurate. “Psychotic” refers to the state of being in Psychosis. I’ve been through it and it’s an extremely degrading, confusing, humiliating and terrifying thing to experience. People with Schizophrenia, Schizoaffective Disorder, Bipolar, Parkinson’s, Dementia, Encephalitis, Brain injury and sometimes PTSD can have it as a symptom of their condition. When they experience that, they aren’t sadistically murdering someone and being cognisant of what they’re doing. Most of the time they’re standing on the roof of a building in a rainy November evening, ready to jump off because they can feel the sun, smell the water and see the waterfall. Or they’re slicing their arm open trying to remove the maggots inside them. Or they’re on the floor bawling their eyes out because the people made of coats and gloves won’t stop banging on the door and windows and screaming at them. Aside from that I enjoyed the video. Night Cries is a deeply relatable story and one that deserves to be recognised for how beautiful and haunting and powerful it is.

If often find myself accidentally stealing parts of this book in my own work, it’s a book that has an incredible influence over me. Thank you for this video.

You’d be surprised how often hulk comics talk about child abuse

This is the first ever Batman story that made me cry. The fact this is something acknowledged by one of our most beloved heroes. This truly resonated. After this now i love Batman even more. Just going to leave this here and say thank you for making this video.

There was a video I watched about Night Cries that broke my heart. The narrator of the video was on the verge of tears when talking about the scene of Gordon realizing he did a terrible thing after hitting his son, stopping it, and hugging his son while letting him know that he’s sorry and loves him. The maker of the video said that that’s all he ever wanted his father to do, but he never did. I don’t even cry very often but I have tears in my eyes just remembering the pain in his voice.

With how dark and almost real the more modern Batman adaptations are trying to convey, I wouldn't be surprised if we get a story heavily inspired by Night Cries of this vein. Because it also affects Batman as a character at his core.

I'm a victim of abuse by both parents, then when I was r*ped I just isolated from everyone until I found out I had a daughter from it so I have been raising her and I just try my best I don't hurt her at most I will raise my voice but I feel so terrible just raising my voice at her because I don't want to be my parents and I don't want to my daughter's mother to find me... I'm just scared

Surprisingly the batman in this comic looks a lot like the Robert Pattinson version

I was beaten by my father as a child. I was never beaten badly by him, but never had enough for cps to step in and do something. As a kid, my twin brother and I always promised ourselves that we would break that cycle if we end up being fathers. We were extremely luvky to have an amazing mother, and eventually a great father figure in our stepfather. So when that panel of Gordon grabbing his son crying was shown, I broke down. I've never heard about this comic until today, but I really want to find a physical copy of it now

As a survivor of childhood abuse... this comic handles the subject beautifully.

The art style is so interesting to use for this type of story, and it works beautifully.

The message that proactively deleting people who molest and torture their children is... somehow morally wrong? is sick and twisted, and I tire of seeing it in media. 'Apologist' might be the term. Further, falsely equating violence against the innocent and violence that protects or avenges the innocent is wilfully stupid.

I always thought this Batman was like if Year One and Serious House fused together to make what I felt is one of the most interesting and personally resonant stories to come from the caped crusader. It's perfect because Batman is a child's coping method to his trauma, playing Zorro around the city to never feel the pain again.

I don't agree with you so much on Batman failing to break the cycle. We don't have much context about how his career goes after this comic, but I can see him going on to lighten up a bit. He took on this career to scare criminals, not the innocent.

I've heard of this comic book, but never read it or seen a video on it. The story is heartbreaking but I love to see Batman stories deal with these topics. Childhood trauma is something sadly too many people deal with, even Bruce Wayne himself does. So, it was nice to see this type of comic exist. The subject is dark, but evil in this world exists and this comic showcased this. Batman is a deeply disturbed person, while he does good but he's also very violent. He's not above his trauma, he's still going through it. This was a refreshing video, I've enjoyed all of your comic analysis videos and hope you continue. This was a fantastic video, thank you for posting it and thank you for shedding light on this intriguing but horrifying piece of art.

I really appreciate you sharing the raw and gritty stories that portray the vulnerabilities of characters that are often beyond human. The grimey and muddy pallette paired with such violent and yet compassionate storytelling is something I personally haven't seen a lot of. I think we're all so caught up in the fantastical nature of comic books that we fail to see the human beneath the costume. Sometimes even when the characters aren't human themselves. Your video on The Crow first opened the doorway to this sort of storytelling, and I'm vaguely familiar with Berserk and it's themes of abuse which is why I'm hoping you delve further into the manga for those like myself who find the medium intimidating for beginners. If there are any other comic recommendations somilar to this and it's more grounded portrayal of "heroes" please feel free to share.

Finally home from a long day to watch this. Really appreciate you discussing Night Cries. This is a personal one for me so its great to see a channel with more views spreading the word and to see other fans of this book in the comments. Thank you again!

The background music fits the art so perfectly

Love how Archie called Hampton a painter. That’s exactly what his art reminds me of, paintings rather than comic book art

I really love the idea that this is the thing that motivates Bruce to try to break the cycle.😺

Imagine if The Batman sequel followed a story like this

While i never personally experienced abuse , I do know of someone who is trying to break the cycle of having a toxic family , so the Jim Gordon part hit pretty close to home to me.

Batman comics hit me in such a deep way I cannot describe it. This story made me cry. I cannot relate to the contents of it but i can emphasize with what it centers around. It just goes to show the dedication brought to this story.

This is why i love everything Batman (in comics). They are not afraid to step out of the comfort zone and explore horror themes to it.

I literally found this book two days ago and it absolutely blew my mind. The art work is what originally drew my eye but the story is what hooked me in. Thank you for your video !

RIP Archie Goodwin

It's one of the five best Batman stories ever. Brilliant video.

I never heard of this comic. Thanks for sharing. Your presentation/commentary impresses me.

woah! I've never seen anyone else talk about this comic book before! hella awesome that youre diving into underrated overlooked stuff

I always find myself coming back to this specific video. What a masterpiece of a story and what great presentation on your part

Stories like this can help us see Batman in ourselves. Even *he* can be rendered helpless. Hampton's watercolor realism softens the images *just* enough for the reader to endure the journey. Another great Batman story addressing child abuse is Andrew Vachss' "The Ultimate Evil".

Ive seen you grown as acontent creator and im so glad i stuck around because if i didn't i wouldn't have been able to see this masterpiece

great job on this one man, I think it's possible to break the cycle of abuse and violence when we could admit that we were abused and we need help. Thanks again for this and I can't wait for you to continue with Berserk.

It's important to acknowledge other factors that cause people to commit abuse other than being abused itself. Things like poverty, drug use, and how we view the people that get abused. These things are deepers society wide issues that are much harder to fix than one person's mental health.

There no chance this channel doesn't explode if you keep posting. Excellent stuff. May I suggest "Dark Knight: A True Batman Story"? It's an autobiographical comic about Paul Dini (writer for Batman: The Animated Series) and his relationship with the Batman characters. I went into it knowing nothing about it and it really punched me in the gut the first time I read it. It's not as dark as other Batman stories you've covered, but it's worth a look for sure.

It’s 11 pm here and I was just about to go to sleep when I stumbled on to this video. I have to say, this video was such a gift. I used to write Batman short stories dealing with religious trauma. It’s a subject matter that I haven’t seen explored in depth in the Batman mythos. I wondered what Batman would say about God letting all these crimes happen, how it would be almost impossible for his logical mind to accept the idea of a good Creator existing while analyzing a heinous crime scene. Then I would challenge Batman’s logic - and morality - with a character who is the victim of such a heinous crime who did not lose their faith in God, or in humanity. Batman couldn’t piece it all together, then the victim - who did not see themselves as a victim - would point to the lives of the saints of old who suffered worse fate than she has, and yet triumphed over their adversaries, even conquering death despite being put to death. Batman would dismiss such nonsensical, illogical thinking, but he can’t help but notice how sane the young lady is before him, who goes out of her way to help other survivors from the church bombings, the MO of the main villain. Batman can’t accept the principles behind the woman’s actions, but he respects the woman’s actions, whispering under his breath the words of Jesus: “You will know a tree by its fruit.” The two of them have engaging conversations throughout the story. Batman would visit to clarify some details in the investigation, then they’d end up talking about Christ, what it means to truly die and to truly live, and how Batman doesn’t see any hope for criminals outside of science and medicine. The young lady would suggest there are things - good things - that go beyond science and medicine. She also suggested there were bad things that go beyond the explanations of science and medicine, which Batman agrees to. They have these discussions throughout the story dealing with the existence of God, the nature of good and evil, and the purpose of one’s life. Batman appreciates her sentiment, but he’s distracted by the investigation. Nevertheless, her words and actions echo in the back of his mind. Eventually Batman catches the perpetrator, a man who targets and bombs local faith congregations who also takes advantage of its survivors through his position as a pastor, a true wolf in sheep’s clothing. The bomber is put in prison, and in the rubble of the fallen church building beside the burnt altar Batman sees the remains of a young woman kneeling in prayer. It was his friend. “Where is your God now?” Batman asks in his mind, almost pleading, wishing his friend was saved by her Savior. The story ends with Bruce Wayne anonymously funding the construction of the bombed local congregations. He walks into a Divine Liturgy of an Eastern Orthodox parish one Sunday morning and hears the words of Christ: “Love your enemies. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who persecute you… Love one another as I have loved you.” And he remembered her.

The background music is called plums - poly coffee.

I've always felt comics deserved the same level of analysis and thought that films got on this platform. You have shown me a story I never heard of today but I must now read you give comics the respect and attention they deserve.

Love this channel, keep up the amazing work man

The story has stayed with me since I picked it up upon publication. It hits in very, very personal ways, and I revisit it in my mind often.

Another fantastic covering of a fantastic story. Keep up the great work man!

Please don’t ever do Marvel Zombies. I’m serious it’s not worth it, and it gets dumber. Please. I love you stuff and you’re choosing right stuff. Try department of truth or Something is killing the children. Just please don’t do marvel zombies, I’m really begging you

You’re killing it with these Batman videos bro.

This is one of the best Batman video essays I've ever seen, thank you for sharing this with the world, I didn't even know this book exists, and I've been reading Batman books since 2011,

This channel is fantastic, love your analysis

I have never heard of this story . I thought it was batman noel until I read the title of the video. Looking forward to seeing what else your going to cover.

Funny thing is, they discovered bats crash into each other all the time.

Another fantastic video! I can't believe I have never heard of this book before, so thank you very much for bringing attention to it. Comics have a unique ability to tell stories like this that other mediums don't. I feel that it is important that people know about these stories. Thanks for all your hard work!

Alright so while I was deciding how to say how awesome you are and all your content has been amazing you literally said my name so I felt compelled to do a little more. I feel Siike's addition in my soul. I really appreciate him agreeing to be apart of your video. The way people react to abuse and trauma makes it obvious if they have been abused or witnessed it instead of just reading it or seeing it in a fictional setting. Mr. Goodwin suffered in some way. Trauma follows us, therapy does help our ability to deal with it. I'm in the process of speaking to my new therapist about it, it started today in fact it and it has never gotten easier to dredge up. I hid it from myself for so long or said it wasn't really abuse and made all sorts of excuses for my abuser. Until I brought up to my first therapist and she asked the age difference and the power dynamics it never really clicked for me. If you think you have been abused, I strongly recommend you speak to a professional where they will not judge you and will hopefully be able to give you some advice on the situation. If you want something light hearted about breaking the chain I recommend the pixar short Far from the Tree.

Please please keep doing content this and everything you have done is so good

I’ve never heard of this book until this evening. It’s expensive, but I’m deff gonna buy it one day. Thank you for sharing. Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones. 🎄 🦇

I just wanted to tell you that I love this channel, I love that you take time to analyze things that sticks out and how you explain it in ways that no one else would in RU-vid. If you want, please do Batman: vampire, I would love that if you go over that one, after when you get a break from Berserk of course, thank you.

Thanks for the video! Love the topics that u always bring up on ur videos! A little feedback, i think ur mic is one of those that pick only if u talk straight to it cause for some reason i can hear u more on my left headphone than on the right one! The reason that im telling u this is because i think ur essays are very cool and love to hear everything the best way possible! Appreciate ur work

Love when you dive into Batman comics,this is a special one.Would you cover court of owls,mask or Noel?

Everything about Batman is a gothic story telling!!✨✨✨Good job on the vid!!

Amazing video! Thank you

another banger from Into the Depths, thank you!

Dawg seriously i can't even put into words how much i love your channel. Everytime a video pops up i click immediately!

hell yea an into the depths video

Congrats on hitting 30k subscribers, man.

This is the most perfect art style for Batman ive ever seen, im in love.

My first video viewing your channel and it’s profound. Your flow of telling the story through this video and the music behind added layers to the somber ambience and atmosphere to this gloom melancholy story to where a point put me saddened slumber. I know it sounds odd but listening to this and having my own experience with some abuse adolescence, separation anxiety due to early age divorce it resonated and reflected those experiences in small moments put me ease, not that listening to the horrendous things happening in the book relaxed me quite the opposite and far from it.

When the "Author" looks like "Commissioner Gordon"

I love your videos. I hope you have a very happy new year.

Very well done for another amazing video! If you’re looking for another horror-related comic, I highly recommend reading Sub-Mariner: The Depths.

amazing video as always! keep it up homie

I never cried to a RU-vid video, or a comic book Until this

Not sure if this was intentional but the art has a children's book quallity to it which adds to the themes of corrupted childhood

I absolutely love the art style in this comic, it didn't have to go that hard but it did

You know, I bought this years ago and never got around to reading it (it just sits on my shelf, and its thin enough to not be easily seen). I even got Scott Hampton to sign it for me. Definitely going to read it now. Thanks for posting this!

This book is essentially where Batman learns that violence should not be used as more than a tool, that he should only incapacitate his enemies not punish them when they're already down. Not that he won't sometimes do it but he'll actually hold off on that tendency and try to fight against that urge. 30:24 Wouldn't say this is fair since he is still a vigilante yes, but he'll be making an effort to change his ways, obviously you can't save people without occasionally hurting the victimiser but he'll make an attempt to not hurt them beyond incapacitation.

Genuinely a tough story, felt myself get uncomfortable here and there. The music you choose for this video and the Ruins video honestly fits and helps the atmosphere, what song is it? Anyways amazing video despite the depressing nature.

What song do you use in the background? also Nice vid I might get my local comic book store to see if they can grab this for me

Pausing this half way through because I don't want any spoilers. Definitely getting this graphic novel!

Great video!

Whats up, great video man. Can you tell me the name of the song that plays in the background of your videos?

Amazing video. Speaking of dark stories with moral dilemma’s have you heard of Owlman from Crime Syndicate by Andy Schmidt or Crisis on 2 Earths? Because I think it would be a good summary to do. Especially, when comparing to the more edgier version to show how not to do Owlman.

As someone who has been physically abused this story will resonate with me

I wasn't exactly abused by my parents (I've witnessed my parent's tendencies growing up, but they always immediately apologized afterwards), but I know my parents had abusive tendencies in the past and I have reason to believe they abused two of my older siblings. Both of my parents had abusive fathers and I see the effects. They've mellowed out a lot by the time I was growing up, but even now, whenever I hear that talk about their fathers, I see the effect their abuse had on them. I remember interviewing my mom about her dad years ago and one of the most heartbreaking things she told me is that when she was in the thick of it, she wished someone noticed. She wished CPS came in. This is a topic that I can tangently relate to. I'm not sure if I'll ever get a copy of this graphic novel, but it really sounds like the topic was handled beautifully.

Great video but something you didn't mention that confused me is why the boy is also dead at the first crime scene but id assume it was the father or both parents that killed him

Need more videos like this

Great video as always. What’s the name of the music used at around 1:00 btw?

You should tackle Batman Noel it's not a horror comic but it is a Christmas comic and Christmas is around the corner.

Holy shit I love these vids, keep it up, you have a great voice for this sorta stuff

You had me at Archie Goodwin good sir.

*Writers: don’t know wtf to do with Black Panther..* *Also writers: on their 705th batman comic(all different @ that)*

Woah new favorite Batman villain dropped

i would adore it if matt reeves took inspiration from this comic for the batman 2 like how he took inspiration from batman ego for the first film

The Cult actually gave me nightmares when it came out. Love that series.

I really don’t think you need to relate to know everything about the comic. I myself have never been abused and I never wish to be but understanding and knowing this happens is relatable enough we live in a world where violence is a malevolent presence shadowed upon us everyday know where u are right now happy, and excited seeing this video there is a person being abused somewhere else. The “chain” they talk about in the comic is true but no man can never break the chain of the world only ur own.

YESSIR! I’ve been looking forward to this one. Another underrated Batman comic that not many know is Arkham Asylum Madness. Not going to spoil anything but basically it’s about what goes on in the asylum. How the workers deal with the criminals. How terrifying & brutal joker can be & harsh & dark the reality is working in the asylum.

I’ve always been curious about this book for a while after reading Arkham Asylum and Ego. With its really taboo subject matter and the dream like art, it’s very much something that I’ll get around to checking out. But while I’m at it, I’d suggest Loeb & Sale’s Spider-Man: Blue. It’s a great storyline that really focuses on the Loss of a loved one and is one of the few books that made me emotional.