20 of the weirdest Batman stories ever

14. Batman’s beautiful singing voice stops crime

Batman #219 holds the rare distinction of being one of the dullest Batman stories to ever get published. That’s a real shame, given that Batman has a real playground in the confines of Gotham City, not to mention a wide array of fantastic villains to punch with onomatopoeic fervor.
Guess they can’t all be winners, though. “The Silent Night of the Batman” at least has some weird character notes and plot points that are worth pointing out, however. Like how Batman really, really loves Christmas.

It’s true. Remember earlier, when Batman battled with a phantom bear, an animate tree and an at least kind of racist kung-fu stereotype to save Gotham’s tree lighting ceremony? That’s only the tip of the iceberg. Even movie Batman has a lot to do with the holiday, as in Tim Burton’s perpetually snowy Batman films.

We won’t get any angry holiday bears in this tale, however. Instead, this 1969 story features Batman singing carols with the police. One officer even comments on how Bats should add his “deep vocal chords” to the officers’ choir.

Bats obliges. His vocal chords are apparently so well tuned that the people of Gotham simply cannot commit crimes. Criminals everywhere see what think is the figure of the Batman and back away from their misdeeds. One despondent woman, about to jump off a bridge, sees a vision of the bat symbol in the water and thinks better of her plan. At the end of it all, it appears that Batman himself has been hallucinating the whole thing, thanks to some good old Christmas spirit.