Put on your capes and cowls, everybody! There’s pine needles on the living room floor, snow on the ground, and a scent of cinnamon in the air. Your dogs and cats are tearing apart wrapping paper, your family’s in town and you can’t stop drinking sparkling cider for some reason. That could only mean one thing, folks, it’s the nondescript religious holiday season! And that means that it’s time to go into credit card debt so that you can show those closest to you that you care, you know? And to make it a little bit easier on you guys, we here at Geeks of Doom have been shoveling our driveways so that we can deliver to you this, The Holiday Geek Gift Guide – Batman Edition! The best bat-gifts possible for the geeks on you gift-giving list!

As you can see, I’ve changed up the intro a smidge, and that’s simply because today we celebrate the holiday in the best way possible, with The Batman. Yes, The Batman. And while it may not make much sense to you that we’re doing this, you fail to realize that Batman makes everything better. In fact, the presence of Batman-centric holiday gift guide on this site makes not only this site better, but also it makes the world better. And isn’t that truly what the holidays are about? Making things better or something like that? Sure, why not! Anyway, it’s been a pretty big year for The Dark Knight, and that will certainly be evidenced by the majority of this list. We’ll also be making it a little easier on you by narrowing this list down by separate topics such as comics (and comic-inspired items), statues, Batman: Year One, and Arkham City. Sure there will be some overlap, but that’s all right because we’re talking about Batman! So let’s start of with the merriest of merries, comic books!

Fans who’ve been following Grant Morrison‘s Batman work have been waiting with baited breath ever since DC Comics announced their September relaunch. Would Grant Morrison have to wrap up his story before he was ready? Would DC Comics perform the dastardly deed of destroying the international work of The Dark Knight detective? Fear not, Batfans.

On Monday, DC Comics announced on their official website that Morrison’s Batman, Incorporated will start anew in early 2012 with a brand new number one issue. Joined by artist Chris Burnham, Morrison will be bringing the final 12 parts of the Leviathan storyline, which will conclude Morrison’s 6-year Batman epic.

The Amory Wars
In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3 #9 (of 12)
Created by Claudio Sanchez
Written by Claudio Sanchez and Peter David
Art by Aaron Kuder
Colors by Zac Atkinson
Letters by Johnny Lowe
Cover by Chris Burnham
Evil Ink Comics/Boom! Studios
Price: $3.99
Release Date: March 30, 2011

The Amory Wars – In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3 starts to move into its last leg and you can tell. Claudio Sanchez and Peter David turn up the excitement in this issue, while beginning to wrap up the 12-issue miniseries in the best way possible.

The issue starts as all others have with the narration by main protagonist Claudio Kilgannon explaining the events of the book to Apollo, the dog of former girlfriend Newo Ikkin. But in this issue, you can tell there is something different. Something has changed within our hero. And that something is Claudio finally realizing and confronting his fear, and his necessary acceptance of his growth into the protector against the ultimate villain, The Supreme Tri-Mage Wilhelm Ryan. While the turning point for action was a couple of issues ago, issue #9 is the turning point for the characters.

The Amory Wars: In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3
Creator: Claudio Sanchez
Writers: Claudio Sanchez & Peter David
Artist: Chris Burnham
Boom! Studios
Release date: May 26, 2010

You had me from “Hello Apollo, where should I begin.”

Pardon me while I fanboy…

First, I’d like to state that I am, indeed, a huge fan of Coheed and Cambria, and their album In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3 (henceforth to be referred to as IKSSE:3), so it’s pretty much a given that I will love this comic book if it stays anywhere near what the album did for me.

Coheed and Cambria, the band, has a series of five albums, each telling an integral part to an overall science fiction story about the destruction of these characters’ universe (The Keywork) and the rise of its rightful hero, Claudio Kilgannon. All of this is done through the glory of prog rock. There have been previous interpretations of Coheed’s work including a novel adaptation of the first chapter, Year of the Black Rainbow, and an original graphic novel based on Chapter IV: Good Apollo, I’m Burning Star: IV, which is now considered out of continuity. But IKSSE:3 picks up from the latest comic interpretation of Chapter II: The Second Stage Turbine Blade. I’ve keep up with pretty much all of this, so I was definitely excited for the release of this story.