The Batman comics recommendation thread!

[Cobblepot]

The Batman comics recommendation thread!

Since there currently are a lot of people, getting familiar with the Batman comics. We see a lot of threads popping up, with questions about what books they should purchase.
I think it might be a good idea to make one general thread were the batfans can post there own recommendations of comics, paperbacks, collected edition, hard covers.
So remember this is for comic material only with an exeption on books about Batman ,no merchandise!
Also try and recomend some loose comics for example: Legends of the Dark Knight #50. Or Shadow of The Bat #1, #2, #3.
I'll kick this off in the next post.
And I'll reserve the next two, for a summarize of all the recommendations!

For first timers, here's a short introduction:
Who's who?
The Batman
And
Wikipedia
Here's a list of some Batman series.

If you haven't read anything about Batman get atleast these five books:
1. Batman Year One
2. The Long Halloween
3. Dark Victory
4. The Dark Knight Returns
5. The Killing Joke

Shh's top three:
http://forums.superherohype.com/showthread.php?p=13728271#post13728271



Here you can find a list of the most common Batman Graphic Novels.

Here you can find a lot of info about the various Batman series.

The 25 Greatest Batman Graphic Novels, according to IGN

The Best Batman Books according to Amazon.com

I'd like to recommend this little gem:
JUSTICE LEAGUE: THE NEW FRONTIER SPECIAL

And if you get the chance to buy some Grant & Breyfogle back issues, don't hesitate. You'll love 'em.

 

[Cobblepot]

So far we got these recommendations up!

Batman Year One, hardcover
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman:_Year_One

Batman Year One, paperback
Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli, bring us the ultimate Batman origin!

The Long Halloween
Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale, deliver a great "Gotham Noir" book!

Dark Victory
Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale, continue to marvel the comics industry.

The Killing Joke
Brian Bolland, draws the best Joker, be sure to check this one about Joker's origin.
Check out the new Hardcover edition, please discuss this book here:
http://forums.superherohype.com/showthread.php?t=295172

The Dark Knight Returns hardcover/paperback
Frank Miller's legendary best selling Batman book.



Gotham By Gaslight, the mother of all Elseworlds by Mike Mignola.

BATMAN ILLUSTRATED BY NEAL ADAMS VOL. 1
BATMAN ILLUSTRATED BY NEAL ADAMS VOL. 2
BATMAN ILLUSTRATED BY NEAL ADAMS VOL. 3

These books collect almost every Batman work drawn by Neal Adams!
Klick here to see some of his work!

Sword Of Azrael

The Cult

Batman: Son Of The Demon

Arkham Asylum, hardcover
A serious house on serious earth...

A Death In The Family

A Lonely Place Of Dying

Hush volume one
Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee!

Hush volume two

Tales Of The Demon

Batman : Prodigal

Officer Down

Bruce Wayne Fugitive 1

Bruce Wayne Fugitive 2

Bruce Wayne Fugitive 3

Bruce Wayne Murderer?

Gothic

Venom

Shaman (First 5 issues of LOTDK collected)

No Man's Land 1

No Man's Land 2

No Man's Land 3

No Man's Land 4

No Man's Land 5
During Cataclysm, Gotham was shocked out of it's foundations, can Batman save Gotham in it's Darkest hour?

Batman Black And White 1

Batman Black And White 2
Black and White, short stories by the best in the bussiness.

Batman Last Arkham (1st 5 issues of SOTB art by Norm Breyfogle)

Batman: Ego
A beautiful book, illustrated by Darwyn Cooke (Selina's Big Score, DC The Final Frontier).

Haunted Knight : Reprints Choices, Madness, Ghost Legends specials

Batman Faces, a must have two face story by Matt Wagner.

Batman: Night Cries, uses the comic book medium to shed light on the horrific real world-crime of child abuse.
Fully painted by Scott Hampton!

Batman Broken Citya 144-page hardcover that collects the acclaimed BATMAN #620-625!

Batman/Deathblow: After the fire Lee Berjermo and Brian Azzarello, need I say more?

[FONT=verdana, arial, swiss, monaco][/FONT]


The Best "Animated Style" Stories ever told:

Batman: Mad Love
Batman Ego (Darwyn Cooke)
The Batman Adventures tradepaperbacks.

The Best Joker Stories ever told:
1)The Killing Joke
2)The Man Who Laughs


The Best Batman comicbooks:

SOLO #1
Written by various (Loeb, Cook, Sale)
Art and cover by Tim Sale


SOLO #5
Written by Darwyn Cooke
Art and cover by Cooke


Batman and the Monster Men
Writer: Matt Wagner
Artist: Matt Wagner

Batman And The Mad Monk
Writer and Artist: Matt Wagner

Not in continuity anymore but none the less a great read; The Untold Legend Of The Batman.



And more to come...

 

[Cobblepot]

Batman related recommendations!

I would like to recommend this little gem:

It's great for al the obvious reasons.
1. Darwyn & Loeb
2. Spirit & Batman
3. Lots of badguys!



DC: The New Frontier
is a story of the early Silver Age of DC comics, now available as 2 trade paperbacks: DC:The New Frontier: Volume 1 and DC: The New Frontier: Volume 2. (Also released as a great Absolute edition!)

Batman Ego & Other Tails by Darwyn Cooke

Catwoman: When In Rome (Tie in with The Long Halloween and Dark Victory)

Catwoman: Selina's Big Score (Also collected in Batman Ego & Other Tails)
Kingdom Come

Black Orchid
Robin Year One
Batgirl Year One
Nightwing Year One
Nightwing A Knight In Bludhaven
Nightwing mini by Denny O 'Neil

I recommend reading the cross over judgment on gotham, the translation feels more successfully (imo) than other crossovers such as spiderman, the hulk and even superman, Simon Bisley's art work, makes the dark knight, look, like the dark knight, the chizzled oil rusty look in the art, really works well, when the charecters meet each other it's really cool, Bruce wayne in custom (no mask) launches a a badass punch at judge dread. The villains, Judge Death and Scarecrow also team up, it's also memorable with the simple line of "boo" line of scarecrow, Judge Death bemused at his lack of fear, really enjoyable comic, also very funny humor underlying it, along with great artwork.

 

[Cobblepot]

BATMAN: THE BLACK GLOVE HC
Written by Grant Morrison
Cover by Williams
Art by J.H. Williams III, Tony Daniel & Jonathan Glapion
Writer Grant Morrison (ALL STAR SUPERMAN, FINAL CRISIS) brings Batman and a group of global heroes to a mysterious island to face a killer in this volume collecting BATMAN #667-669 and 672-675. Then, Batman relives a defining adventure in the life of young Bruce Wayne: the hunt for his parents’ killer.
Advance-solicited; on September 3 • 176 pg, FC, $24.99 US


This will be a great tpb, can't wait. The Batmen of all Nations plus the Joe Chill/Third Man/ hallucinations issues leading into RIP. With the Batman & Son Tpb this completes the better part of Morrisons run so far.

Why wait all the way til September though? that's absurd. people will be wanting to pick this up NOW

Great Batman books, a must read for any Batman fan:

Not just a Batman book but one I would like to recommend:
Tim Sale : Black And White

Les Daniels: Batman The Complete History
http://www.dccomics.com/features/bmtch/

Paul Dini / Chip Kidd: Batman Animated

 

[Cobblepot]

My recommendations are:

1. Batman Year One Hardcover (or get the paperback it's the next best thing!)

2. Batman The Long Halloween
3. Arkham Asylum (either original or the Hardcover anniversary edition)

5. The Dark Knight Returns ( A verry gritty book, that put Batman back on the charts in 1988!)
6. Night Cries
7. The Cult
8. Sword Of Azrael (amazing artwork)
9. Dark Victory
10. Catwoman When In Rome.
11. Gotham By Gaslight

12. Shaman
13. Batman Year One Hundred
14. The Man Who Laughs

 

[Bat-Mantis]

To be read in this order...
1) Batman: Year One
2) Batman: The Long Halloween
3) Batman: Dark Victory
4) Robin: Year One
5) Batgirl: Year One
6) Batman: Tales of the Demon
7) Current Nightwing Arc - Nightwing: Year One (6 issues, bi-weekly, first one was out this month, second this week.)
8) The Killing Joke
9) Batman: A Death in the Family
10) Batman: Prodigal
11) Nightwing mini by Denny O'Neil
12) Nightwing: A Knight in Bludhaven
13) Gotham Central: In the Line of Duty

 

[I am Batman]

4) Robin: Year One
5) Batgirl: Year One
6) Batman: Tales of the Demon
7) Current Nightwing Arc - Nightwing: Year One (6 issues, bi-weekly, first one was out this month, second this week.)
10) Batman: Prodigal
11) Nightwing mini by Denny O'Neil
12) Nightwing: A Knight in Bludhaven
13) Gotham Central: In the Line of Duty

Oh yeah, gotta pick these up now.

 

[etrigan69]

Hey Cobbs. Was leaving out "The Killing Joke" an oversight or is there something wrong with you???

 

[Two-Face]

Don't forget, Batman: No Man's Land Vol 1 to 3

great thread Cob

 

[The Dark Guybrush]

I can't afford to buy all of the no man's land TPBs.. they're like 15 or twenty dollars each and there's like, what, four or more of them? i bought the novel by Greg Rucka, it's pretty decent. i'll pick up the actual comic book form sometime soon.

 

[Robin91939]

To be read in this order...
1) Batman: Year One
2) Batman: The Long Halloween
3) Batman: Dark Victory
4) Robin: Year One
5) Batgirl: Year One
6) Batman: Tales of the Demon
7) Current Nightwing Arc - Nightwing: Year One (6 issues, bi-weekly, first one was out this month, second this week.)
8) The Killing Joke
9) Batman: A Death in the Family
10) Batman: Prodigal
11) Nightwing mini by Denny O'Neil
12) Nightwing: A Knight in Bludhaven
13) Gotham Central: In the Line of Duty

A few more to add to this list: (in no order)

Officer Down
Evolution
Knightfall-quest-end
Lonely Place of Dying
Four of a Kind
Hush
Year Three
Contagion
Legacy
Bane of the Demon
As the Crow Flies
Broken City
Bruce Wayne Murderer?
Fugative
Family
NML

-R

 

[BatJeff7786]

Is Year Three in paperback?

 

[Cobblepot]

I don't think Year 3 has been released in paperback, however It was released in one collected comic.
But I'm not sure if this one should go up as a reccomendation, I don't think it was that good.

Gotham Central may not be a "Batman title" but he appears briefly or a decent amount, same with the deadly villains like Mr.Freeze, Penguin and The Joker. However sometimes the regular Gotham characters don't show up at all and the GCPD deals with the problems any normal city deals with. Ihighly recommend the trades for those who missed out on the series.

It has a Year One look to it and the writing and art deserve to be seen by more people.




Greg Rucka and Ed Brubaker alternated on story arcs (day and night shifts), and occasionally co-wrote. Michael Lark provided the art for most of the series. I've only read the first four, very hard to choose a favourite. Perhaps The Joker sniper story (at Christmas).

Gotham Central Vol. 1: In the Line of Duty
Collects the first five issues of the critically acclaimed series! Gotham's Special Crimes Unit is in a race against time to bring in Mister Freeze…without the help of the Dark Knight!


Gotham Central Vol. 2: Half a Life
The Eisner-winning story arc focusing on Renee Montoya presented in GOTHAM CENTRAL #6-10! Plus, stories from BATMAN CHRONICLES #16 and DETECTIVE COMICS #747 providing additional details on Montoya. Two-Face appears in this arc, having fallen in love with Montoya and kidnapped her.
Eisner Award - Best Serialized Story 2004
Harvey Award - Best Single Issue or Story 2004


Gotham Central Vol. 3: Unresolved Targets
An amazing collection featuring the acclaimed GOTHAM CENTRAL #12-15 and #19-22! The Joker terrorizes the city at Christmastime when he begins randomly executing people with a rifle, and no one from the Mayor on down is safe! A second story focuses on an old case and unfinished business for disgraced detective Harvey Bullock.


Gotham Central Vol. 4: The Quick and the Dead
A new collection featuring Gotham Central #23-25 and #28-31! Detective Renee Montoya investigates the disappearance of important evidence amid a gang war and travels to Keystone City in an attempt to unveil the truth about Officer Kelly's strange mutation.


Gotham Central Vol. 5: Dead Robin, on sale June 13, 2007
In this volume collecting Gotham Central #33-40, the dead body of Robin, the Boy Wonder is found on the streets. Now the detectives of Gotham Central must try to solve the mystery of his death while dealing with his former associates, Batman and the Teen Titans!


and one more volume will probably come out to collect the 6 remaining issues that were single issues or short arcs throughout the series.

 

[Cobblepot]

My top three:

3.) Broken City
2.) Hush
1.) The Long Halloween/Dark Victory



Broken City: Is a great, compact, gritty detective tale that really captures Gotham City. It utilizes some great villains that are traditionally underrated (Penguin, Arnold Wesker, Killer Croc) and really does well to get into Batman's head and reveal a great part of his personality and his desire for the end of his crusade. It's really a great, great story.



Hush:Hush is really just the opposite. It is much more "glamorous", in a sense. The art is much cleaner, crisper and more pretty to look at. It utilizes almost all of Batman's most famous rogues but each issue brings something special to the table...even the ones that are more compact in scale, (Batman 614 where Batman brutally beats the Joker in an alley is an example of that). It is a good, solid mystery. It's always good to see Loeb use all the characters. His relationship with Bruce and Selina, Bruce and Tim Drake, Superman, etc are all great. Jim Lee's art is spectacular as always. This was the book that got me back into the Batman books and is awesome to go back and read.



Long Halloween/Dark Victory: I regard this as one story. It is a part one and part two of the freaks' take over of Gotham City. Again, Loeb really knows the Batman character. His take on Harvey Dent and his transformation is amazing, and his character of Gordon and he and Batman's relationship is captured really well here. The two mysteries work excellently in contrast (Gangsters being killed then Cops being killed) throughout. Not only that, but finding out who the killers were and the shock value at the end of each story was excellent. Tim Sale's art is amazing and his take on each of the villains (especially Two-Face) is great. The origin of Robin was done very well as was the relationship with Batman and Catwoman. An A+ story.

-R

Thanks Robin!

 

[Robin91939]

wow Cobb, thats some patience and time there nice work man

-R

 

[The Watchman]

The Last Arkham
Ego

 

[Cobblepot]

Right good books I'll put them up in a while.

 

[Cobblepot]

Should I put these up?

Batman Faces
The Dark Knight Strikes Again!??

And Batman books?
Les Daniels The Complete History
Bob Kane's Batman and Me

 

[Cobblepot]

Updated first threads.

 

[Cobblepot]

Can anyone recommend some older Batbooks??

 

[Bruce_Wayne29]

Aside from the ones already mentioned, I'd like to recommend "Batman: Shaman". It's one of my favourites.

 

[The Batman]

No ones Mentioned Strange Appirations....

 

[Kryptonsucks89]

how about the dectective comics??

 

[Cobblepot]

Aside from the ones already mentioned, I'd like to recommend "Batman: Shaman". It's one of my favourites.

Great firts arc of LOTD I'll put that up!

 

[Cobblepot]

No ones Mentioned Strange Appirations....

Strange Apperations, isn't that the Neal Adams run?