Sam Keith has a lot of good ideas. He's just ... well, not a very good writer. His dialogue tends toward the clunky, and he needs an editor like nobody's business. (I had more than a few instances of "huh? who?" in these ~120 pages, as characters morphed from Mooley to Dooley, Deborah to ... Dinah, maybe?)

In this particular story, Batman and the Joker reminisce about old times--particularly, about The Killing Joke and Batman's biggest secret, revealed a little at a time throughout the original five issues--passing the time between flashbacks to Joker's parole from prison and his subsequent framing of Batman-as-villain in the court of public opinion. It's an interesting idea, but it doesn't work. Keith's pacing doesn't gel with the Batman universe and he seems to have only a cursory idea of how the characters speak.

While he tries to keep his art style close to the gritty noir Batman requires, there are occasional bursts of Maxx-esque bright, bold colors--yellows, hot pinks, the occasional electric blues. It throws off the visual rhythm of the page, with all the focus going to (say) a blanket, instead of the action happening in the shadows.

Where this book does shine, though, is Keith's depiction of The Joker. While Keith's Batman looks almost cartoony, his Joker rivals Dave McKean's in pure creepiness. Yikes, this is a scary-looking Joker--even when he's just sitting around at home doing nothing. ( )

If Sam Keith is reading this I have the title of your omnibus. Ready? Bad Dreams and Dead Rabbits.
That's right. Another Sam Keith book about bad dreams and dead rabbits. But you know what? Totally works. Again. I don't know what it is but Keith is an extremely successful storyteller with a good grip on mood and atmosphere. His art is incomparible.
Even though he has completely high-jacked Batman here and taken him to Sam Keith's Dead Rabbit Nightmare Emporium it very quickly feels as natural and potent a match as Batman and Grant Morrison has been more recently. Disappointingly short but very good nonetheless. Dark, weird, moody, funny as hell. ( )

Secrets is a pretty cool Batman comic featuring Batman and the Joker. The Joker uses a picture of him and Batman that makes it look like Batman is trying to kill him to try and turn the public against Batman. It's an interesting story about the secrets people keep and what people are willing to believe. ( )

An intelligent and moving Batman story, this one revolving around the power of secrets. Joker is paroled from Arkham with the help of a female assistant D.A. who has fallen for him. Once out, the Joker embarks on a campaign to change the public's perceptions of him and the Batman through the power of the camera, and careful editing. Woven through the storyline is the thread of a past event from Bruce Wayne's life, an accidental shooting he was involved in as a child, shortly after his parents were killed. There are some surprisingly open and vulnerable moments here, for Bruce Wayne, the Batman... and even the Joker. Sam Kieth also did the artwork, a nice rough style that meshes perfectly with the off-kilter reality of the Joker's perceptions. It always impresses me when good writing and artwork is wrapped up in a single package. It doesn't happen often. ( )