Please tell me the BEST Superman & Batman stories...

[SchumacherFan]

Want some of the best stories of Batman & Superman . I want to purchase some graphic novels for the absolute best stories..

 

[The Question]

Like, of them together, or just in general?

 

[SchumacherFan]

In general... The only ones I know are Batman Year One, Long Halloween, and Dark Knight Returns...

I lack a lot of knowledge with Superman...

 

[The Question]

Superman:

Kingdom Come

For All Seasons

Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?

For The Man Who Has Everything

DC Comics Presents: Superman and Swamp Thing

Our Worlds At War

What's So Funny About Truth, Justice, and the American Way?

All Star Superman

The Death of Superman Trilogy

Lex Luthor: Man of Steel

Crisis on Infinite Earths

Red Son

John Byrne's "Generations" trilogy

Superman: Secret Identity

Hitman #34

Batman:

Dark Victory

The Killing Joke

No Man's Land

The Man Who Laughs

The Knightfall Saga

Batman: Venom

Tower of Babel

Arkham Asylum: A serious House on a Serious Earth

Arkham Asylum: Living Hell

Batman and the Monster Men

A Lonely Place for Dying

Batman: Black and White

A Death in the Family

Gotham by Gaslight

Son of the Demon

 

[The Question]

Some of those Superman stories are crossovers with a bunch of other characters, but he plays a central role in them or at least plays one of the more interesting roles so I counted them.

 

[Llama_Shepherd]

For Superman:

All-Star Superman
Superman: Birthright
Superman: Kingdom Come
Action #775 "What's so funny about truth, justice and the American way?"
Superman #247 (iirc) "Must there be a Superman"
Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?
Superman: Red Son
Superman: Death and Return Saga
Superman: For the man who has everything
Superman: For All Seasons

Batman:

Batman & Son
Batman: The Black Glove
Batman: RIP
Batman & Robin: Batman Reborn
Batman & Robin: Batman vs Robin
Batman & Robin: Batman & Robin must die
Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne
Batman: Knightfall Saga
Batman: Under the Hood
Batman: The Man Who Falls
Batman: Hush
Batman: Dark Knight, Dark City

Batman/Superman & JLA:

Superman/Batman: Public Enemies
JLA: Rock of Ages and Final Crisis (Only FC if you get Superman: Beyond and Batman: Last Rites)
JLA: New World Order
JLA: One Million

 

[Kane52630]

Just to add what they've already said^

Batman: Gotham Noir
http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Batman:_Gotham_Noir

Gotham Central
http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Gotham_Central


Bruce Wayne: Murderer? and Bruce Wayne: Fugitive
http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Bruce_Wayne:_Murderer?

 

[WompuM]

Don't buy Our Worlds at War; it's garbage and Kane Question should be embarrassed that he mentioned it.

 

[Cain]

A lot of the great ones were already mentioned but yeah get Exile or Ending Battle instead of Our Worlds At War IMO. Way better post-crisis Superman stories. Same with Panic in the Sky, Time and Time Again and Krisis of the Krimson Kryptonite. Escape from Bizzaro World, Up, Up and Away and Brainiac are all solid.Kryptonite is a great early Superman retelling that is often overlooked.

Adding to those I'd highly recommend Mark Millar's Superman Adventures work which is available in trades. If you don't mind reading older stuff Superman in the 70'sis another good one. The Black Ring is a Lex Luthor story but it's fantastic in every way. If you get Death and Return don't skip World Without Superman as IMO those were the best moments from the whole event.

In the case of Batman his in the 70's collection is also awesome. Batman: Ego, Batman and The Mad Monk and Gothic I would also say are really worth the time. Can't go wrong with Night Cries, The Black Mirror, Blind Justice or the Vampire Elseworlds stories either.

 

[Dangerman]

Superman: Last Son
Superman: Earth One
Superman: For Tomorrow
Superman: Brainiac
Superman: President Luthor (the whole collection including when Lex found out Clark is Superman)
Superman: Up,Up and Away
Superman/Batman: The Search for kryptonite
Superman/Batman: World's Finest
Superman/Batman: Supergirl

 

[hopefuldreamer]

I think it's really worth getting hold of at least one of the Superman chronicles trades.

Those early stories are a great read, and really help you understand the history of the character and how he began.

Other than that, I think everyone has covered the best stories pretty well.

Agree with Cain too, Kryptonite is a great story that never gets mentioned but is easily one of my favourites.

Oh actually I might put in a mention for Camelot Falls, which I enjoyed a lot.

 

[TruerToTheCore]

Some stuff, mostly regular one issue stories:

----
Batman #309, "Have Yourself A Deadly Little Christmas"
Untold Legend of the Batman
Batman #332-335, "The Lazarus Affair"
Batman #347, "The Shadow of the Batman"
Detective Comics #592 - #593, "The Fear"
Night Cries


----
The Miraculous Return of Jonathan Kent
When Lightning Strikes, Thunder Kills
The Girl in Superman's Past!
Must There Be A Superman?
Luthor's Last Stand
Disappearing Act
How to make a marshland monster
The Miracle Man of Easy Company
Plague of the Antibiotic Man
The Super-Sons Saga
Superman vs. The Archer
I Can't Go Home Again
The Challenge of the Terra-Man
Luthor's Last Stand
Make Way for Captain Thunder
The Dying days of Lois and Lana!
Exile

I am actually planning on re-reading and reviewing all Batman stories going on from Batman #217, but I am not really sure if I should include stuff like JL, Brave & The Bold, World's Finest... And I also want to do the same with Superman...

 

[The Question]

I liked Our Worlds At War.

 

[Czar Colossus]

I think Superman/Batman Apocalypse and Absolute Power (the 2nd and 3rd story arcs respectively from that series) were great too. Apocalypse was made into an animated movie and I feel that the other would make a good movie as well.

 

[Kurosawa]

Almost all the best Superman stories are single issues stories from the 60's and 70's and DC has distanced themselves from that Superman since they cannot even approach it's level of success. The character has been basically dead since 1986. Check out All-Star Superman for the closest thing since then to the real thing-but even it's nowhere as good.

Look for anything old written by Elliot Maggin, Jerry Siegel, Cary Bates or Otto Binder and that is the best Superman stuff.

 

[Joker'sHenchman]

Batman #1-7 of the current series by Scott Snyder. Court of Owls. It's seriously been awesome and fresh in a really great way. This is what all of the New 52 should have been. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

 

[Blitzkrieg Bop]

Batman: Black & White

 

[Kane52630]

Batman: Black & White

I loved that book, I need to buy both volumes.

 

[CryoftheBanshee]

I have to say that, even though it's non-canon, Superman: Secret Identity was the most touching and engaging story of Superman I have ever read.