Batman: Li’l Gotham: Halloween and Thanksgiving
Rain Hall-Brown
In this book, Batman and Robin celebrate Halloween and Thanksgiving. It’s all new to Robin who was raised by the League of Assassins and doesn’t know anything about the holidays. I liked that Robin thinks everyone dressed up as a bad guy really is a bad guy. It’s funny when he attacks the dressed up kids and Batman has to stop him. He teaches Robin what Halloween is and about the holiday, including that kids dress up to ask for candy. Robin gets into Trick or treating but Batman won’t let him eat any candy until he’s had a real dinner even. They go to get food but the restaurant is filled with bad guys, real bad guys, not just people dressed up. Batman sees that they are just enjoying Halloween too since it’s the one day of the year some of them can go out without causing a scene. It’s nice how Batman pays for their meals as he and Robin leave. It shows that even Batman can be nice sometimes. Robin is upset that Batman is just letting them go until it’s revealed that he has already called Commissioner Gordon and the Gotham Police are waiting outside to arrest them after their dinner is over.
The Thanksgiving story in the book is just as funny. The Penguin and his birds have decided to lead a revolution to free all of Gotham’s turkeys and they attack during the Thanksgiving Day parade. Penguin is a weird character because he thinks of himself as a bird though he’s really human. Batman and Robin stop the Penguin, trapping him under the Batman balloon, and send him to jail. The entire Batman family gathers for the holiday and Robin gets to have his first Thanksgiving. It’s a really good scene with all the Bat-people together from them fighting over who sits where to Robin wondering why cranberries have to come in sauce form.
I really enjoyed this book and have read it several times. It’s funny and fun.
