Plot
Nine Lives differs from the normal Batman canon because it is set in the 1940s at a time when Gotham City is rife with organized crime. Rather than being a superhero story, it more closely resembles a detective comic book from the same era, before the idea of superheroes had been introduced. Though Batman still exists, members of his rogues gallery appear as normal criminals rather than mutated, disfigured or technologically enhanced characters, a similar approach to that of Christopher Nolan's Batman film series. Part of the story's appeal is its clever use of creating more human identities for supervillains such as Joker, Penguin, and Two-Face.