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Batman: Dark Victory
Batman: Dark Victory #3
What do you want for Christmas? If you're living in Gotham City you'll only get one choice if the Scarecrow has his way: a nasty little toy called "The Fear Doll." New nightmares are unleashed on Batman as he faces one of his most dangerous foes!
22 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 29, 2014
19 people want to read
About the author
Jeph Loeb
1,589 books1,378 followersJoseph "Jeph" Loeb III is an Emmy and WGA nominated American film and television writer, producer and award-winning comic book writer. Loeb was a Co-Executive Producer on the NBC hit show Heroes, and formerly a producer/writer on the TV series Smallville and Lost.
A four-time Eisner Award winner and five-time Wizard Fan Awards winner (see below), Loeb's comic book career includes work on many major characters, including Spider-Man, Batman, Superman, Hulk, Captain America, Cable, Iron Man, Daredevil, Supergirl, the Avengers, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, much of which he has produced in collaboration with artist Tim Sale, who provides the comic art seen on Heroes.
A four-time Eisner Award winner and five-time Wizard Fan Awards winner (see below), Loeb's comic book career includes work on many major characters, including Spider-Man, Batman, Superman, Hulk, Captain America, Cable, Iron Man, Daredevil, Supergirl, the Avengers, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, much of which he has produced in collaboration with artist Tim Sale, who provides the comic art seen on Heroes.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
March 26, 2025
Loeb and Sale. Lightning in a bottle, man.
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January 29, 2025very curious ! Who could the new calendar killer be ?!
August 21, 2025
This art continues to astound me, especially as this issue brings back the scarecrow and that beautifully decripit design. But now that we know the game is being played by two, there is no use in slowing down. Immediately we jump into this issue as the corrupt former detective Flass is found dead with a noose around his neck, outside the cheetah club where he worked as a bouncer. Clipped on his body was a GCPD report he once wrote with a new game of hangman played out. "Knows if you've been bad or good." With the cops on the scene, they all jump once they realize Batman is standing on the roof above them. Gordon tells them to hold their fire, but is surprised to see that batman isn't sticking around. Once again we see that batman must do this on his own. As it turns out the Cheetah club was run by the Maroni's. So batman paid a visit to Zucco, who helps run it for the Maroni family, at his ACE trucking facility. Zucco immediately goes for the shotgun under his table as batman scares him half to death...only for batman to put the shells on the table...hahahaha! Batman slams his head into the table and immediately questions why he didn't swing by the cheetah tonight like he usually does. Zucco explains that he was supposed to meet a guy around that time for transportation stuff, and by the time he got there the cops were all over. Batman pushes harder on Zucco's head, forcing him to tell him a name. As blood starts to seep out from Zucco's nose he reveals that the guy is another one of those freaks...scarecrow!
Batman was able to track scarecrow down to the Gotham Toy Factory, where he holds fond memories of his mother bringing him there every year to impress upon him how lucky they are to give and receive by collecting toys and donating them. A tradition the Wayne foundation continued for years, until the factory went out of business. "Tonight, Jonathan Crane, psychologist turned psychopath, seeks to pervert that tradition..." by filling a ton of child doll toys with his signature fear gas while reciting creepy words. Very significantly, Crane is wearing a noose of his own tonight. Batman creeps behind him and questions him on Flass...only for Crane to spray a heavy douse of fear gas in batman's direction and run for the hills down the assembly line to get to his ACE shipping truck. Batman is able to follow in suit and jump on to the truck, pulling crane out of the drivers seat by the end of his noose! Crane was ready and quickly cut the line, but did not get out of the van before it went flying off the pier into the water below! Batman stood waiting for nearly an hour and never found Crane. While he probably isn't done, batman finally has a tangible piece of evidence to work with...the noose from around crane's neck.
On Christmas Eve Zucco had to go and pay his apologies to Sofia for daring to work with scarecrow, who lost their truck. In response, Sofia says they have no choice but to torch the cheetah as part of a lesson on going in with these freaks. One of her other men tried to help her see reason, claiming her father did business...only for Sofia to shove a gun in his face for daring to mention her father. He immediately backs off, claiming that it is Christmas and he meant no disrespect. Sofia backs off as well, apologizing in her own way by saying it's hard knowing her poppa isn't resting in his grave. But that's when stupid Pino jumps in and pushes Umberto aside. Immediately when Umberto tried to get him to be quiet, and Pino said "fuhgeddaboudit," I knew we were in for a rough night. He immediately feels this is the appropriate time to bring up a joke about how her brother faked his death, so maybe her father did as well...Sophia immediately shoots him in the arm. I don't blame her in the slightest, and now everything they have been failing to do, like killing Harvey Dent, is back on the table. Find Dent, find Carmine's body, and until then there will be no peace between the Maroni and Falcone families!
Over at Wayne manor Sofia is waiting for Bruce to return, with the company of Alfred she can;t help but ask if she is just wasting her time, who else would dare stand her up on Christmas Eve? But Alfred is always the compassionate man he is, assures her that she is not wasting her time. But unless her name is Alberto she probably won't be seeing Bruce tonight, as the batman sees the signs of holiday killings and has dealt with that before...so who better than to go straight to the source with Scarecrow's noose in hand. Batman immediately starts claiming that Alberto must have found a way to take off his electronic monitor and leave, he scares Alberto out into the cold where he proceeds to drag him by the leg and out past his gate! Batman uses this to test his theory, either the two of them have all night together out in the snow...or just enough time for the cops to arrive. So Alberto...tell the truth, how much time do they have together? As it would happen Gordon and Porter ran into each other while Christmas shopping, Porter verty noticeable trying to buy a man's watch for the "man who has everything." Fairly certain my Mario theory was true, especially with how quickly he was able to get her out of bed and to the Falcone grave site last issue. But this was perfect timing as Gordon also got a call from the station around this time, and the two of them went out to Alberto's together. There they were greeted by Mario, who is quite disturbed by the whole situation and denied them entry to see his brother as he is finally in bed. But Mario does let them know he isn't sure what to believe anymore, he confides in them that Alberto claims he is hearing voices, haunted by their late father. All Mario really knows, is t hat if batman was involved or not, he can't be held responsible for how his sister will react. All the while Alberto sits upstairs sitting in his large empty bed, trying to quiet the voices telling him to continue and take his power back. Oh man I am loving this series!
Batman was able to track scarecrow down to the Gotham Toy Factory, where he holds fond memories of his mother bringing him there every year to impress upon him how lucky they are to give and receive by collecting toys and donating them. A tradition the Wayne foundation continued for years, until the factory went out of business. "Tonight, Jonathan Crane, psychologist turned psychopath, seeks to pervert that tradition..." by filling a ton of child doll toys with his signature fear gas while reciting creepy words. Very significantly, Crane is wearing a noose of his own tonight. Batman creeps behind him and questions him on Flass...only for Crane to spray a heavy douse of fear gas in batman's direction and run for the hills down the assembly line to get to his ACE shipping truck. Batman is able to follow in suit and jump on to the truck, pulling crane out of the drivers seat by the end of his noose! Crane was ready and quickly cut the line, but did not get out of the van before it went flying off the pier into the water below! Batman stood waiting for nearly an hour and never found Crane. While he probably isn't done, batman finally has a tangible piece of evidence to work with...the noose from around crane's neck.
On Christmas Eve Zucco had to go and pay his apologies to Sofia for daring to work with scarecrow, who lost their truck. In response, Sofia says they have no choice but to torch the cheetah as part of a lesson on going in with these freaks. One of her other men tried to help her see reason, claiming her father did business...only for Sofia to shove a gun in his face for daring to mention her father. He immediately backs off, claiming that it is Christmas and he meant no disrespect. Sofia backs off as well, apologizing in her own way by saying it's hard knowing her poppa isn't resting in his grave. But that's when stupid Pino jumps in and pushes Umberto aside. Immediately when Umberto tried to get him to be quiet, and Pino said "fuhgeddaboudit," I knew we were in for a rough night. He immediately feels this is the appropriate time to bring up a joke about how her brother faked his death, so maybe her father did as well...Sophia immediately shoots him in the arm. I don't blame her in the slightest, and now everything they have been failing to do, like killing Harvey Dent, is back on the table. Find Dent, find Carmine's body, and until then there will be no peace between the Maroni and Falcone families!
Over at Wayne manor Sofia is waiting for Bruce to return, with the company of Alfred she can;t help but ask if she is just wasting her time, who else would dare stand her up on Christmas Eve? But Alfred is always the compassionate man he is, assures her that she is not wasting her time. But unless her name is Alberto she probably won't be seeing Bruce tonight, as the batman sees the signs of holiday killings and has dealt with that before...so who better than to go straight to the source with Scarecrow's noose in hand. Batman immediately starts claiming that Alberto must have found a way to take off his electronic monitor and leave, he scares Alberto out into the cold where he proceeds to drag him by the leg and out past his gate! Batman uses this to test his theory, either the two of them have all night together out in the snow...or just enough time for the cops to arrive. So Alberto...tell the truth, how much time do they have together? As it would happen Gordon and Porter ran into each other while Christmas shopping, Porter verty noticeable trying to buy a man's watch for the "man who has everything." Fairly certain my Mario theory was true, especially with how quickly he was able to get her out of bed and to the Falcone grave site last issue. But this was perfect timing as Gordon also got a call from the station around this time, and the two of them went out to Alberto's together. There they were greeted by Mario, who is quite disturbed by the whole situation and denied them entry to see his brother as he is finally in bed. But Mario does let them know he isn't sure what to believe anymore, he confides in them that Alberto claims he is hearing voices, haunted by their late father. All Mario really knows, is t hat if batman was involved or not, he can't be held responsible for how his sister will react. All the while Alberto sits upstairs sitting in his large empty bed, trying to quiet the voices telling him to continue and take his power back. Oh man I am loving this series!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 21, 2021
Former detective Flass, the dirty cop who once caught helped knock Commission Loeb out of office, served as security at the Cheetah Club, a seedy gentleman's club owned by the Falcone family. He was found hanged out back of the club. Pinned to him was a hangman game. Apparently, former Commissioner Loeb had been killed last month as well.
Batman shows up at Zucco's office since he was in charge of the security at the club. He shared that Jonathan Crane, as the Scarecrow, had been out back of the club. Batman seeks out Scarecrow, who escapes in a daring water escape.
Meanwhile, Sofia is concerned. It is Christmas Eve and her goons have not produced a missing Harvey Dent for her to seek retribution for her father's death.
And Selina is seemingly left alone at Wayne Manor looking ready for some action.
Batman shows up to scare Alberto, Holiday, who had committed similar murders attached to holidays in The Long Holiday. Alberto seemed genuinely scared of Batman.
Gordon and Porter are out doing last minute Christmas shopping together when Gordon receives a message that takes the both of them to Alberto's. Mario, the brother, shares that Alberto is feeling a bit off his rocker, but that he is concerned Batman is mixed up in all this.
Batman shows up at Zucco's office since he was in charge of the security at the club. He shared that Jonathan Crane, as the Scarecrow, had been out back of the club. Batman seeks out Scarecrow, who escapes in a daring water escape.
Meanwhile, Sofia is concerned. It is Christmas Eve and her goons have not produced a missing Harvey Dent for her to seek retribution for her father's death.
And Selina is seemingly left alone at Wayne Manor looking ready for some action.
Batman shows up to scare Alberto, Holiday, who had committed similar murders attached to holidays in The Long Holiday. Alberto seemed genuinely scared of Batman.
Gordon and Porter are out doing last minute Christmas shopping together when Gordon receives a message that takes the both of them to Alberto's. Mario, the brother, shares that Alberto is feeling a bit off his rocker, but that he is concerned Batman is mixed up in all this.
November 5, 2018
I love this cover, as well as Scarecrow's design in the story. I really get a kick out of his tendency to speak in nursery rhymes, which I'm sure depends on the writer. I wish there were a bit more of him in this issue, but I guess I'm just a huge Scarecrow fan.
July 28, 2024
2024 - Year of The Bat (366 Days of Batman)
Day 210
Day 210
July 25, 2025
Rating in actuality is very good ★★★½ stars (around a 7.5-7.7/10). Issue felt like a build up for the story, while still possessing good qualities and aspects in it.
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August 31, 2025The thing I love most about this is I have no idea where it's going.
September 2, 2025
4/5
icl...im more interested with the falcone's when sophia is at the helm. HOT TAKE.......
icl...im more interested with the falcone's when sophia is at the helm. HOT TAKE.......
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews