Awesome / Batman: Black and White

• The ending of "Funny Money" by Harlan Ellison: A money forger, certain that he'll get off scot-free since his money is a perfect copy and there's no evidence against him, is asked by Batman to take a look through the microscope at his dollars. At which point he notices that the plates have been tampered with to insert a cheering Batman into every dollar.
  YOU*ARE*SO*BUSTED*
• "The Bat No More...?" by Alan Grant: A bum wanders into a bar and asks for a beer in exchange for a story. A few goons act interested. He tells them how he saw Batman being poisoned by Scarecrow during a rare book heist, and how the Bat became terrified of anything related to bats: his cowl became a monstrous parasite, the Batmobile became a monster, and so on. The bum gets his beer and is led to Scarecrow to tell the rest of the story, and he tells how Batman managed to amble to a payphone and call a limo to pick him up. At this point, Scarecrow, wholly engrossed, demands to know more... and the bum sprays him with something from his cane. Scarecrow collapses in his chair as he sees his beloved books are steadily becoming more malevolent and monstrous. The disguised Batman comments he bribed Poison Ivy to develop a second fear toxin, and proposes a trade — antidote for antidote. Scarecrow, realizing his toxin's so good, not even Batman can fend it off, resists... and the story ends with a nervous Scarecrow and Batman, with the most evil grin ever, waiting to see who breaks down first.
• "Bent Twigs" by Bill Sienkiewicz: Batman is playing family counselor (so to speak) to a young boy and his mentally abusive father. After the father repeatedly attempts to defend himself and put the blame on his son, Batman snaps and gives him a savage "The Reason You Suck" Speech, all the while making it seem like he's going to drop him off the roof any minute and give him a Karmic Death (earlier, the father killed his son's pet cat in the same way)...and then doubles the previous awesome by saying that he COULD drop the guy, but he doesn't want things to get out of hand. Just goes to show why Batman is so feared.
• In "Fat City," Gotham's citizens become victims of a liquified grease monster that kills people by sucking all of the fat from their bodies. Batman gets the idea to ask Chloe Willow, "Gotham's fattest woman," to serve as bait for a trap for the creature. She readily agrees—already awesome—and then the monster attacks without warning. Without missing a beat, Chloe grabs the phosphorus bomb that Batman planned on using to destroy the beast and tells him that she's dying of a heart condition—so she's going "to take this fat freak with me!" by performing a Heroic Sacrifice. Batman salutes Chloe and calls her a "brave woman," and in the end, her efforts are successful in defeating the monster.
• In "Role Models," a child kidnapper named Playground abducts preteen girls. One of the victims frees herself and finds only Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn nearby. Upon hearing what Playground did, the women are thoroughly disgusted—so when Playground shows up, they proceed to absolutely kick his ass. The guy is left in a broken heap before Batman even shows up. In a smaller moment, Ivy gets to give Batman a brief "The Reason You Suck" Speech when she calls him out for not doing his job!
• In Tea-Minus Party, the Penguin hijacks the Mad Hatter's technology and sets him up to kidnap the Mayor's son, so he can collect the ransom money and leave Hatter for Batman as the fall guy. The plan goes flawlessly, the kid is rescued, and Hatter and his gang go down... and then Batman takes a sniff... and smiles. Just as soon as Penguin arrives home and brews himself a cup of tea, Batman emerges from the shadows to chide him... he really shouldn't have lit up his signature seaweed cigarettes (which were, indeed shown during the kidnapping) in Hatter's hideout.

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