New DC Halloween Special Offers Chilling Explanation For Batman's Unending War On Crime

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The following article contains spoilers for DC's Zatannic Panic! #1.

DC Comics just released its latest holiday special to celebrate the spooky season called DC's Zatannic Panic.

As Halloween draws near, now is the perfect time to catch up on or discover some scary stories, and, as devoted comic book lovers should know, there is plenty of great horror to be found in the graphic medium. DC's Zatannic Panic! is a collection of terrifying tales featuring many of the publisher's most iconic characters, including Batman, in one story that proves to be surprisingly thought-provoking.

From writer Roberto Becchioni and artists Gigi Cavenago, Ouroboros: A Palindromic Batman Story borrows its title from the word describing the ancient image of a serpent eating its own tail, which symbolizes the cyclical nature of time. In a mere 10 pages and very little dialogue, the story explains how this concept relates to the Dark Knight in a deeply haunting manner that may change fans' perception of the character forever, easily making it one of the best DC horror comics in recent memory.

The story begins with the sight of Batman declaring to himself that he is "not a prisoner of any cycle," before cutting to the Batcave, where he discusses with Alfred Pennyworth a cult that worshiped the Ouroboros serpent and became "trapped in an endless cycle of violence" with an ancient order of knights opposed to their sacrificial customs. Bruce Wayne's servant then points out the irony that the imagery of the knight resembles him in his cape and cowl before showing a scene of Batman preventing a deadly ritual and concluding with him repeating the words that introduced the story.

Becchioni and Cavenago's simple but ominous segment appears to reveal a strange truth, or at least a bizarre interpretation, of Bruce Wayne's reputation as a hero whose deed is never done. While Batman is considered to be comic books' best vigilante by many, others have criticized the character for bringing the burden of crimefighting onto himself, out of some demented means of vengeful wish fulfillment stemming from the trauma he suffered witnessing his parents' murder. However, this tale depicts him as the victim of a curse, leaving him destined to repeat his crusade against evil over and over again with no end in sight.

Ouroboros is actually not the first story to acknowledge the seemingly cyclical nature of Batman's life and bidding. Neil Gaiman's two-part 2009 story, "Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?," depicts the death and rebirth of Bruce Wayne as a cleverly meta means of explaining how the Dark Knight has seemingly managed to live such a long life with so many various interpretations of his heroic exploits.

DC's Zatannic Panic Is Mostly Just Spooky Good Fun

Much like Batman himself, the haunting tale of Ouroboros: A Palindromic Batman Story is an outlier in DC's Zatannic Panic!, which is made up primarily of pretty silly stories, but in a way that is fun and perfect for enjoyment around Halloween. The title is inspired by the powerful sorcerer Zatanna Zatara, who opens the anthology with a story that sees a magic trick go haywire.

There is also a fun reunion between Swamp Thing and occult detective John Constantine teaming up against a werewolf, and one tale that puts Plastic Man in a body horror movie that will surely teach trick-or-treaters to check their candy this year. This silliest story, however, is the concluding segment, which features the hilariously meta Ambush Bug jumping into the previous stories, believing that he has been tasked to save the DC Multiverse.

DC's Zatannic Panic! #1 is now available in stores and on digital platforms.