Robert Pattinson sure looked great in that Batsuit, but did you know you can read new Batman stories every month at your local comic shop? It’s true! Chances are your town has a local storefront devoted to selling Batman, Spider-Gwen, table-top games, and maybe even some Scott Pilgrim graphic novels, too. 

I grew up reading those books, so it was extremely rad to see a panel floating around on social media alluding to Batman himself having his own Letterboxd account. Turns out, it is a page from DC Pride 2023, a 104-page anthology that’s the third in a now-annual series from the comics giant focusing on the private lives of superheroes, from Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy to Circuit Breaker and the Flash (of Earth-11). 

Is this the first-ever mention of Letterboxd in comic book form? (Don’t quote me on that, the investigation is still ongoing.) Is this the first-ever mention in a comic of Andrew Haigh’s 2011 romance, Weekend, which has an average rating of 3.9 out of five stars, and about which Letterboxd members write gushers like “this is the most real cinematic version of guys falling in love in recent history,” (Anto) and “I’m never gonna be the same again,” (Hoshifart)? (Again, don’t quote me, etc.)

Personally, I need to see what the heck Bruce Wayne would be logging on a weekly basis. Do you think he loves The Before… Trilogy?? I reached out to one of the anthology’s authors, Nadia Shammas, who wrote the DC Pride 2023 scene in question, in which Tim Drake/Robin tells Connor Hawke that Batman watched Weekend and “gave it five stars on Letterboxd”. She tells me how it came together, her favorite movies, and some of her recommendations to close out Pride month.

What are four movies you’d recommend for Pride Month?
Water Lilies, written and directed by Céline Sciamma, was a film I found online in the late 2000s, and I watched it alone in my room on my laptop over and over again. As a young person who was closeted at the time and had attended an all-girls Catholic high school, I was deeply moved by the ways in which girlhood friendships were explored in the film. I love it, and I’d recommend it to anyone who loves slow films about longing, desire and cruelty. 

For some really fantastic feel-good films, I’d recommend both The Birdcage and Pride. Pride is a film I found scrolling through the Cineplex app and watched with my partner, and found myself incredibly moved by the star-studded cast and positive representation of the labor movement. The Birdcage, equally star-studded, is Nathan Lane and Robin Williams at the top of their game. The chemistry between them is real, and honestly, their kid doesn’t deserve them. 

My fourth and final recommendation would have to be a recent discovery, Shinjuku Boys, which I watched just this month on the Criterion Channel. It’s just an hour long, and explores the lives of three hosts who work at a club specifically for transmasc and non-binary AFAB individuals in ’90s Japan. Each subject is so raw, open, and honest. I really loved it. 

In addition to the DC Pride 2023 anthology, what are some comics you’d recommend for Pride Month?
There is an overflowing abundance of excellent queer comics out there. In the YA graphic novel space, my top recommendations are The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nyugen and Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me by Mariko Tamaki and Rosemary Valero-O’Connell. Both feature out of this world art with deeply layered, emotional storytelling. 

I also have to shout out Silver Sprocket, which is not a comic but is actually an indie comics publisher and store out in San Francisco. Silver Sprocket has been putting out excellent queer comics for years from a range of creators (Caroline Cash is, in my opinion, one of the best cartoonists working today!) They recently put out Prokaryote Season by Leo Fox and Lsbn by Emma Jayne, both absolutely worth picking up.

What comics would you recommend members check if they also loved The Green Knight?
In complete honesty, and even though I wrote it years before The Green Knight ever came out, I’d have to recommend my own graphic novel, Squire (illustrated by Sara Alfageeh.) Squire is set in a medieval fantasy Middle East, very inspired by the Ottoman Empire. The story follows Aiza, a young girl from a recently conquered group of people, who joins the military’s squire training program in hopes of gaining citizenship and a better life for herself. She soon has to confront the discrepancy in the stories she was told growing up, and whether the “greater good” the empire promises really exists. 

What do you think Batman’s four favorites would be on Letterboxd?
The fun thing about Batman is that despite the character being about 100 years old, he’s perpetually in his twenties/thirties/forties, depending on what iteration the creative team is going for. Therefore, my Batman is in his mid-to-late ’30s, and as a result, I like to think the movie he was seeing with his parents was actually The Crow. 

I also like to imagine my Bruce Wayne has an appreciation for classic cinema. (Alfred would have insisted on it if anything, wouldn’t he?) Rear Window would definitely be on his list. Similarly, I feel that he would be obsessed with the film Memories of Murder. Beyond the mystery at the heart of the story, it is a beautifully shot film with a final shot that stays with you long after it ends. Bruce, a man on an eternal quest, whose mission never ceases, would find more comfort in a story with that kind of ending more than anything. 

His last favorite would be In the Mood for Love. Despite everything, to believe in capital J “justice,” you have to be a bit of a hopeless romantic, don’t you. As a HUGE Talia al Ghul and Batman fan, especially as a couple, I’m really drawn to his idea of love as tragedy, as a thing he can’t let into his life but desperately wants. This man ONLY dates his villains… he puts himself in bad situations on purpose. He loves to pine!

Neon Genesis Evangelion is also among your favorites. How formative was that series?
Oh boy, what DON’T I have to say about EVA? It has everything I love and want to explore as a creator: body horror, a corporate infrastructure that can’t be escaped, impeccable worldbuilding, mechs, I could go on! But the thing I find the most inspiring and compelling about the show is how creative the animation became as the show began to run out of budget, and how absolutely beyond ambitious it was when it decided to go all out on animation.

While it’s a controversial opinion, I think the show actually got better when they had to make do with less, when they had to get very creative about the way they present information. I think about that all the time: how to use the limitations of a medium to my advantage, how to bend the form to imply the existence of so much more, and most of all, how to put emotional interiority above all else. 

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, also, has its legendary reputation for a reason. One of my greatest strokes of luck was the time I actually got to buy the Origin Story AJ1s on the SNKRS app! Friends say it’s the born-and-raised-in-Brooklyn bias working in my favor. I say it’s fate.

As for my favorite Batman film, it’s nearly even between The Batman and Batman Returns. Paul Dano, you are my Riddler forever though. 

Your graphic novel Where Black Stars Rise is an eldritch horror that explores mental illness and diaspora, set in modern-day Brooklyn. What are some of your favorite or most rewatchable horror movies?
I’m a big horror fan, and Where Black Stars Rise is so special to me as my first big swing into trying on Arab eldritch horror for size after being inspired by the likes of Cassandra Khaw and Victor LaValle. A film I actually feel has a very kindred spirit in a strange way is Skinamarink. Not so much for the subject matter, but very much in the sense that the film felt very similar to the night-terror/sleepwalking nightmares that plagued me as a child and young adult. I dedicated Where Black Stars Rise to the figure at the foot of my bed, one that hasn’t haunted me in many years, but one that definitely takes shape in the horror I write today.

I love anything moody, atmospheric, possession-based, and I especially love folk horror. The Witch is up there for me for that reason. Suspiria (both the original and the remake for their own separate reasons) is on the list for me as well. When I’m looking for a really good-time horror movie, I throw on Jennifer’s Body, which I could watch a hundred times and never get sick of. House, or Hausu, is a great horror movie if you’re not sitting for plot and you’re just looking for incredible vibes and visuals. Finally, for fans of the visceral, Green Room is an intense, gory thrill-ride that will have your heart racing, and if you haven’t seen The Thing, I would recommend you rectify that because it is some of the most incredible prosthetic work you’ll see in your entire life.