The Batman comics recommendation thread!

[Cobblepot]

That's the beauty of it, he isn't wearing a blue cape & cowl. At the time Black was coloured as black with blue.

 

[Spidey-Bat]

• Batman: Year One
  Althought it has very little Batman, it's worth getting just for it's significance.
• Batman: The Man Who Laughs
  REALLY good follow-up to Year One. Great story with Joker's first appearence. Good luck finding it though.
• Batman: The Long Halloween
  Great story with Two-Face's origin.
• Batman: Dark Victory
  Other than the pointless use of Robin, it's quite good as a sequel to TLH.
• Batman: Haunted Knight
  The third in the unofficial Loeb/Sale Trilogy. It has no place in continuity really but has some great stories that develop Batman.
• Robin: Year One
  I REALLY dislike Robin but this wasn't bad. It was rather slow and the stories incoherent with each other (not a big problem). The artwork is mediocre. Two-Face is an ultimate badass in this.
• Batman: Strange Apparitions
  It's a pretty interesting arc with Hugo Strange. I didn't read the last 2 stories because they were with Clayface III, I may get back to them eventually. This arc also has the Laughing Fish story which is really good (the BTAS episode adapted this VERY well).
• Batman: Tales of the Demon
  Great stories about Ra's al Ghul. Some are a little lesser than others but overall pretty good.
• Batman: The Killing Joke
  Not the greatest story, but worth getting.
• Batman: A Death in the Family
  Although rather bizarre and stupid at times, It's worth getting just to see Robin dead (Too bad that didn't last).
• No Man's Land (Volumes 1-5)
  I finished this in about 5 days, I got that hooked. The beginning is kind of slow because Batman doesn't show up, once he does and he starts doing his thing, the story picks up the pace. The story has it's slow points, especially towards the end. Once Joker appears it moves along. I reccomend getting it, it's a good story even with it's slow points, but still worth it. The price might be a turn-off though.
• Superman / Batman: Public Enemies
  I have to say, this is one of my new favorites. Really well written with good juxtaposistion of their origins in the beginning and their internal thoughs during the story. It felt like an old JL hour episode. Some really good fights and Luthor is done really well as a threatening villain. Definately pick it up.
• Batman: Broken City
  Nice mystery story.
• Batman: Under the Hood
  I call this the Reverse HUSH. Bad Idea done REALLY well (Hush was a good idea done piss-poor). It also has one of the best twists ever. Unfortunately I knew about it before hand so I was spoiled.
• The Dark Knight Returns
  Frank Miller's best Batman work. You'll either love it or hate it.
• Arkham Asylum
  The story has 2 plots, one where Batman agrees to go in Arkham for a few hours and the other is the history of Amadeus Arkham founding the Asylum which is quite gruesome. Very cool read.
• Batman Begins TPB
  It has the TPB of the movie as well as 3 other stories. 1 is The Man Who Falls, one of O'Neils pieces that fills in some gaps during Bruce's training. The other 2 are ok.

Left to Read

• JLA: Tower of Babel

 

[Cobblepot]

I haven't read Batman: Under the Hood, which comics does it collect?

If you're a Red Hood fan, and anxiuously awaiting what's going to happen to Jason.
I recommend picking up Batman Annual #25

 

[Spidey-Bat]

I haven't read Batman: Under the Hood, which comics does it collect?

Spoiler

If you're a Red Hood fan, and anxiuously awaiting what's going to happen to Jason.

I recommend picking up Batman Annual #25

I think it's Batman 635-638

BTW, might want to put a spoiler tag on that last part as I did.

 

[MaskedManJRK]

Here's one:

BATMAN: Night Cries

There's a killer in Gotham City that's taking out parents the same why that they abused their children, and one of the children has pegged Batman as the killer! Now, Batman and the newly appointed Commishioner Gordon have to figure out who the killer is.

I find that it's damn near the perfect Batman story. It's dark, disturbing, and very tragic.

Also, it gives Gordon a new spin on his personality, one that makes him more human then when Miller wrote YO.

And the last page...woah. Sums up the pain, insanity, and hopelessness of Batman right there.

Pick it up. Right now. ...I know where you live.

 

[nite-owl]

Here's one:

BATMAN: Night Cries

There's a killer in Gotham City that's taking out parents the same why that they abused their children, and one of the children has pegged Batman as the killer! Now, Batman and the newly appointed Commishioner Gordon have to figure out who the killer is.

I find that it's damn near the perfect Batman story. It's dark, disturbing, and very tragic.

Also, it gives Gordon a new spin on his personality, one that makes him more human then when Miller wrote YO.

And the last page...woah. Sums up the pain, insanity, and hopelessness of Batman right there.

Pick it up. Right now. ...I know where you live.

I was going to recommend this but since you beat me to it, I'll recommend Batman/Deathblow After the fire awsome book by Azzarello.

 

[Cobblepot]

Thanks guys, I updated the thread!

 

[theMan-Bat]

If you got some money to spend, pick up these!
BATMAN ILLUSTRATED BY NEAL ADAMS VOL. 2
BATMAN ILLUSTRATED BY NEAL ADAMS VOL. 3

These books will reprint almoste every Batman comic drawn by Neal Adams!
Klick here to see some of his work!

Not almost, EVERY Batman comic and cover drawn by Neal Adams!
I highly recommend BATMAN ILLUSTRATED BY NEAL ADAMS VOL. 2 (1970-1971)
and BATMAN ILLUSTRATED BY NEAL ADAMS VOL. 3 (1972-1976)
I dont recommend VOL. ONE because the 1968-1969 stories and the Batman in that first volume are goofy and Adam West-ish. VOL. 2 has Denny O'Neil's dark gothic tales starting with "Secret Of The Waiting Graves" returning the serious creature of the night Batman that Bob Kane and Bill Finger created. The stories are FAR superior to anything in the Bat-titles today. "A Vow From The Grave" is the story Denny O'Neil feels is his best. Neal has even touched up and re-inked some of the art that was rushed to met deadlines originally. Also the color is updated. The updated dark and moody coloring intensifies the noirish gothic atmosphere of the moody ghost stories like the "House That Haunted Batman" and the horror influenced Man-Bat trilogy, etc.

The extra-sized VOL. 3 has Denny O'Neil's "Joker's Five-Way Revenge" returning the mad killer Joker that Kane and Finger created him to be. Two great never before reprinted stories done for Power Records in the 1970's, one with the killer clown the Joker and one with Man-Bat and She-Bat, and an awesome classic Batman sketchbook section of Neal's art.

Also highly recommended:

Batman In The 70's is recommended for "No Hope In Crime Alley".
I dont recommend the "greatest batman stories ever told" book or the "greatest joker stories ever told" because they are NOT really the greatest at all! They are really just a "history of batman comics: the good the bad and the ugly". This is a much better collection of stories:

 

[theMan-Bat]

And:

 

[theMan-Bat]

And:

Dark Detective collection soft cover. On sale April 12th.

 

[theMan-Bat]

I also recommend this book (not a comic):

 

[Spidey-Bat]

No Man's Land 1-5
I finished this in about 5 days. The beginning is kind of slow because Batman doesn't show up, once he does and he starts doing his thing, the story picks up the pace. The story has it's slow points and towards the end, it's rather slow until Joker appears. I reccomend getting it, it's a good story even with it's slow points, but definately worth it.

 

[Cobblepot]

Bump

 

[Spidey-Bat]

Superman/Batman: Public Enemies
I have to say, this is one of my new favorites. I really enjoyed Batman and Superman's origins juxtaposed. Their internal thoughts are also done very well. The story itself moved pretty well. It felt like an old JL hour episode. Some really good fights and Luthor is done really well as a threatening villain. Definately pick it up.

 

[DCW]

• Batman: The Man Who Laughs
  REALLY good follow-up to Year One. Great story with Joker's first appearence. Good luck finding it though.

Yeah, where can I find this graphic novel? I'm realling interested in it but I can't find it anywhere.

Edit: Nevermind, I found one.

 

[Cobblepot]

Bumpity bump.

 

[Bullseye]

Batman: The Man Who Laughs shouldn't be impossible to find. By checking various retail comic site and shops I am sure it is out there. I found mine at a later date and I was suprised to find it.

 

[theMan-Bat]

I also recommend the Vampire Trilogy:

 

[nite-owl]

Are the batman/judge dredd crossover worth getting?

 

[theMan-Bat]

Are the batman/judge dredd crossover worth getting?

Oh yeah. This one painted by Simon Bisley is worth getting. It's awesome. Judge Death, a ghost (like Deadman) that kills you just by touching you, teams up with the Scarecrow in Gotham City. Batman accidentally activates the dimension-jump device that allowed Judge Death to reach Gotham and Batman finds himself in Mega-City One with the Mean Machine where Batman is arrested by Judge Dredd as a suspect for carrying offensive weapons! And that's just the beginning.

 

[nite-owl]

Sounds cool I might pick it up.

 

[Bullseye]

I would only read that crossover depending on the writer.

 

[Cobblepot]

It's a decent read, Bisleys art is amazing as always.

 

[Bullseye]

Really.

I see Wagner's name so I might be interested in reading it.

 

[nite-owl]

I am only picking it up because I want to get into Alan Grants batman.