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Batman - Santa Claus: Silent Knight (2023) #2
SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN! The ancient and wild Krampus is loose on Earth and releasing monsters to destroy Christmas! Santa Claus, with the help of the Justice League, is all that stands in the way of this impending darkness. The team’s first challenge? A plague of vampires attacking Blüdhaven!
28 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 12, 2023
9 people are currently reading
11 people want to read
About the author
Jeff Parker
1,175 books128 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
December 22, 2023
Um, how is this series FUCKING AWESOME??
December 14, 2023
An interesting continuation of the story. Took a second to catch up and work out what was going on again but I liked the progression here - there was actually a surprising amount of character depth. Just another reason I gravitate towards DC over Marvel.
It's a good bit of fun for the Christmas season so I'm following along for the ride.
It's a good bit of fun for the Christmas season so I'm following along for the ride.
January 2, 2024
2024 - Year of The Bat (366 Days of Batman)
Day 2: Favourite line - “You never told me you knew Santa!”
Day 2: Favourite line - “You never told me you knew Santa!”
December 26, 2023
Oh wow. This actually mentions Knight Terrors.
December 19, 2024
A part of the DC Official Discord Book Club I answered these questions:
1. The holiday season is often associated with themes of forgiveness and redemption. In what ways do Batman and Santa embody these themes in their respective roles? Do they offer hope for the future of Gotham, or are they simply trying to salvage what remains of it?
I believe that Batman embodies the themes of forgiveness and redemption through his everyday actions as a crime fighter, nothing in this series in particular has stood out to me as Batman acting on these themes, but what we know about Batman as a whole is that he is constantly striving and giving chances to everyone to redeem themselves. Through redemption comes forgiveness. I recently rewatched an episode of the new Batman Adventures where Batman tried everything he could to protect Arnold Wesker (the ventriloquist) after he successfully went through therapy, only for outside forces to bully him into becoming the ventriloquist again. A lot of his adventures on the surface may seem to be punch first, heal later, but he does genuinely try and get people the help they need.
In a completely different note, Santa represents these values through his entire history; this specific issue takes us through the past as we see where Santa came from and his initial start, where he would work with Krampus to scare and then forgive the naughty children so that they would grow up with a sense of justice and a lesson that will one day bring order everywhere. Now this does eventually backfire as time carries on and people grow used to Krampus and his antics, and their tricky method to bring these values no longer has the same effect, and through this Santa does lose a part of his forgiveness with how quick he is to turn on Krampus when he believes Krampus did wrong, but the core values are still there as he is seeking redemption himself.
I do believe that both Batman and Satan provide a symbol of hope for the future of the world. This is especially shown in this issue with how resilient and open the pair are. Neither is backing down from this threat, and both of them are fully open and transparent with everyone about the situation. Santa is fully willing to become an open book about his past and his mistakes so that the heroes know what they are dealing with, and Batman is fully willing to pull in as much help as he needs rather than let this situation get out of control. It's quite admirable to see everyone working so openly... well, other than letting Superman know about Santa, lol. That definitely must sting; I can see it in Clark's eyes.
2. Batman operates in a morally gray area, often struggling with the idea of whether his actions are justified. How does the presence of Santa Claus challenge Batman’s moral framework? Does Santa represent a higher form of justice, one that contrasts with Batman’s more pragmatic and often harsh methods?
In an odd way, dealing with this situation and with Santa's presence, Batman's moral framework feels completely justified. Looking at Batman's actions throughout this issue and how he interacts with Santa, it does not feel like there is any moment where Batman questions what he is doing or how he is proceeding. Getting everyone together to kill demons because Santa says so... no problem at all. In a way it challenges Batman's morality by throwing it away, as it feels like he is not held back by it at all.
Through that idea, Santa does seem to represent a higher form of justice, as this issue shows he was there through the beginning of civilizations to take a much more passive role in spreading justice and peace. Instead of Batman's direct and sometimes harsh methods of dealing out justice, Santa was there to teach a lesson and sow the seeds of order from the start.
3. Do you think the holiday setting serves as a critique of the city itself? For example, does the Christmas season highlight how Gotham’s problems persist despite moments of festive joy or hope?
I do not think this holiday setting, and context within this series, serves as a critique of the city itself, as Gotham has a long history of tragedy and villainy striking at any moment. This is not the first holiday setting during the winter that has had a crisis occur, and it won't be the last. In the same way that other holiday seasons have had villains strike when the poker is hot. Gotham even has a calendar-based villain that operates on specific holidays. In a sense, this holiday season does not critique the city, as it cannot; the city is in a constant critique of itself. But what I do find interesting while thinking about this question is that during this series, the entire time while the Bat Family has been tied up with dealing with these demons, no other threat has hit the city. All the normal rogues have stayed quiet up till this point, and this situation is anything but normal.
P.S. I want to update one of my answers from the first week/issue, as there have been some new cameos that surprised and excited me. When Miss Martain showed up, that was so awesome; I did not expect to see her at all. And to have her swoop in disguised as the vampiric demons, that was so cool!! And to have Green Arrow and Black Canary on the backup to finish things off, that was perfect!!
1. The holiday season is often associated with themes of forgiveness and redemption. In what ways do Batman and Santa embody these themes in their respective roles? Do they offer hope for the future of Gotham, or are they simply trying to salvage what remains of it?
I believe that Batman embodies the themes of forgiveness and redemption through his everyday actions as a crime fighter, nothing in this series in particular has stood out to me as Batman acting on these themes, but what we know about Batman as a whole is that he is constantly striving and giving chances to everyone to redeem themselves. Through redemption comes forgiveness. I recently rewatched an episode of the new Batman Adventures where Batman tried everything he could to protect Arnold Wesker (the ventriloquist) after he successfully went through therapy, only for outside forces to bully him into becoming the ventriloquist again. A lot of his adventures on the surface may seem to be punch first, heal later, but he does genuinely try and get people the help they need.
In a completely different note, Santa represents these values through his entire history; this specific issue takes us through the past as we see where Santa came from and his initial start, where he would work with Krampus to scare and then forgive the naughty children so that they would grow up with a sense of justice and a lesson that will one day bring order everywhere. Now this does eventually backfire as time carries on and people grow used to Krampus and his antics, and their tricky method to bring these values no longer has the same effect, and through this Santa does lose a part of his forgiveness with how quick he is to turn on Krampus when he believes Krampus did wrong, but the core values are still there as he is seeking redemption himself.
I do believe that both Batman and Satan provide a symbol of hope for the future of the world. This is especially shown in this issue with how resilient and open the pair are. Neither is backing down from this threat, and both of them are fully open and transparent with everyone about the situation. Santa is fully willing to become an open book about his past and his mistakes so that the heroes know what they are dealing with, and Batman is fully willing to pull in as much help as he needs rather than let this situation get out of control. It's quite admirable to see everyone working so openly... well, other than letting Superman know about Santa, lol. That definitely must sting; I can see it in Clark's eyes.
2. Batman operates in a morally gray area, often struggling with the idea of whether his actions are justified. How does the presence of Santa Claus challenge Batman’s moral framework? Does Santa represent a higher form of justice, one that contrasts with Batman’s more pragmatic and often harsh methods?
In an odd way, dealing with this situation and with Santa's presence, Batman's moral framework feels completely justified. Looking at Batman's actions throughout this issue and how he interacts with Santa, it does not feel like there is any moment where Batman questions what he is doing or how he is proceeding. Getting everyone together to kill demons because Santa says so... no problem at all. In a way it challenges Batman's morality by throwing it away, as it feels like he is not held back by it at all.
Through that idea, Santa does seem to represent a higher form of justice, as this issue shows he was there through the beginning of civilizations to take a much more passive role in spreading justice and peace. Instead of Batman's direct and sometimes harsh methods of dealing out justice, Santa was there to teach a lesson and sow the seeds of order from the start.
3. Do you think the holiday setting serves as a critique of the city itself? For example, does the Christmas season highlight how Gotham’s problems persist despite moments of festive joy or hope?
I do not think this holiday setting, and context within this series, serves as a critique of the city itself, as Gotham has a long history of tragedy and villainy striking at any moment. This is not the first holiday setting during the winter that has had a crisis occur, and it won't be the last. In the same way that other holiday seasons have had villains strike when the poker is hot. Gotham even has a calendar-based villain that operates on specific holidays. In a sense, this holiday season does not critique the city, as it cannot; the city is in a constant critique of itself. But what I do find interesting while thinking about this question is that during this series, the entire time while the Bat Family has been tied up with dealing with these demons, no other threat has hit the city. All the normal rogues have stayed quiet up till this point, and this situation is anything but normal.
P.S. I want to update one of my answers from the first week/issue, as there have been some new cameos that surprised and excited me. When Miss Martain showed up, that was so awesome; I did not expect to see her at all. And to have her swoop in disguised as the vampiric demons, that was so cool!! And to have Green Arrow and Black Canary on the backup to finish things off, that was perfect!!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 13, 2023
This is just fun. I'm not even a Christmas person.
I probably shouldn't be enjoying it as much as I am. But it's a nice little romp with a compact story so it feels like it's moving, and like there was thought and care put into the worldbuilding.
I probably shouldn't be enjoying it as much as I am. But it's a nice little romp with a compact story so it feels like it's moving, and like there was thought and care put into the worldbuilding.
December 31, 2023
This was a stronger issue, though it's still pretty whacky. I enjoyed the art in the train station scene that's a semi- Batcave, and enjoyed the history lesson, as strange as it is. There's also plenty of action and intrigue throughout the story.
December 25, 2025
fav nightwing quotes from this:
“it could be a bomb!”
“i know you never had holidays or anything fun really…but santa leaves *toys*.”
“you know, a christmas tree down here would really freshen up the sewage smell—“
“it could be a bomb!”
“i know you never had holidays or anything fun really…but santa leaves *toys*.”
“you know, a christmas tree down here would really freshen up the sewage smell—“
December 16, 2023
This was also super cute!!
December 27, 2023
That was fun!
December 27, 2023
Another awesome issue. Loving this.
March 7, 2024
The issue that I had, had different cover art. It was not the one shown here. It had Harley Quinn on Santa’s lap. After reading the story however I was slightly disappointed with the bait and switch of the cover artwork as Harley was never even HINTED at being in the story. There were enough other characters or even female characters that could’ve been used that are in the story that would’ve been just as good imo. The story is good and I’m enjoying the heck out of it (which is why I’m taking so long to read these) I’m savoring and rereading several times before marking as complete and read.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews