The Bat Man

[toblix]

So I want to read Batman comics, because I've come to realise that there are awesome stories to be told in that universe, and not just fist fights at the docks. But where to begin? I'm assuming that most Batman comics are garbage, and that there are a handful of good ones. Is there a consensus about what the "right ones" to read are? A preferred reading order?

In short, what do have to buy to get all the awesome Batman stuff, without having to read all the crap?

[baconian]

I just got similar cravings for some reason, and I've opted for 'The Killing Joke' and 'Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?', just cause I know I already like the writers.

[DanJW]

Someone is going to mention Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns, so it might as well be me. It's not really part of the main Batman continuity though; it's more like an epilogue to Batman himself. It is totally awesome however.

[Nevsky]

Ooh.

Well the 'accepted good ones' are:

Year One - Frank Miller / David Mazzucchelli

The Dark Knight Returns - Frank Miller

The Killing Joke - Alan Moore / Brian Bolland

I'd definitely recommend Year One and The Killing Joke. The former is a re-written origin story (and is now the 'proper' origin, and the heavily-adapted basis for Batman Begins), with great art. The latter is a short, focused Batman/Joker examination, with particularly awesome art if you get the digitally coloured reprint.

I like the Dark Knight Returns, but I think it is flawed and uneven; Miller's worldview, tone and art are also pretty unsubtle and juvenile. That said, it has one or two brilliant moments of Bat-awesome.

You should start with those, I suppose, and see if you are taken in. I'd also recommend:

Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth - Grant Morrison / Dave McKean (the closest thing to a proper, abrasive, inaccessible 'avant garde' Batman comic)

The Long Halloween / Dark Victory - Jeph Loeb / Tim Sale (two follow ups to Year One, told over two successive years, slowly and artfully introducing Batman villains)

Hush - Jeph Loeb / Jim Lee (a bit more action-heavy and balls-to-the-wall, but still quite engaging and entertaining, with added bulging torsos thanks to Lee)

Batman, more than most other long-running comics characters, has some great stories going for him. Joker being a recent, extreme example. I'll stop now.

[DanJW]

A Batman story I've always wanted to get my hands on is Gotham by Gaslight, a 'what if' tale of a Batman in 1989 1889 vs Jack the Ripper.

Edited September 8, 2009 by DanJW

[brkl]

A time traveling Jack the Ripper?

[OssK]

The Final Crisis series has some quite awesome batmanish action that just makes you discover why Batman is THE man.

[DanJW]

A time traveling Jack the Ripper?

Sorry, fixed.

The Final Crisis series has some quite awesome batmanish action that just makes you discover why Batman is THE man.

As only a casual reader of superhero comics, the Final Crisis (and also the marvel equivalent whatever it was called) seemed like superhero continuity wankery at its height - although I appreciate they were actually trying to fix the continuity wankery at the time.

Also lol at Captain America rebirth vis a vis the same thing with Superman that quite possibly 'killed comics'

[ThunderPeel2001]

Your subject line made me think of this:

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[Moelman]

Nevsky is definitely on the right track. My favorite Batman graphic novel is The Long Halloween, and I also love Year One. I've also read TDK Returns. I guess for your first one, Year One would be a good one to start with.

I wouldn't recommend this for your first Batman comic but the RIP storyline that ran recently was excellent for a future recommendation and for anyone else. I got the whole series as it was still running in comics (Batman, Detective Comics, Nightwing, etc) and now it's available in trade paperback and hard cover (But it's just the main Batman comics, not the others that were part of the storyline as well)

Others I'd like to read are Hush, Killing Joke, and All Star Batman and the Boy Wonder.

[Irishjohn]

I am extremely happy this post exists. I have a similar craving for more Caped Crusader reading material.

[ethanThomas]

I personally rather like Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again, but it's a pretty divisive work so I can't unreservedly recommend it. It might be worth checking out if you want to see the exact point where Frank Miller takes the express train to crazy town.

Batman: Thrillkiller is a pretty good Elseworld ('what if?') that takes place in the sixties.

[Psych]

You should only try The Dark Knight Strikes Again, if you read The Dark Knight Returns and wish it were crazier.

[syntheticgerbil]

I really don't give a fuck about Batman, but I have come across good Batman comics just by following certain creators, a few which have been listed already. Here's some more... Also, all of these are probably extremely non-canon according to some(many).

Batman Secrets by Sam Kieth has a particularly nasty and manipulative Joker framing Batman through the media as well as some weird heartfelt moments between the two spread throughout the story. Sam Kieth has done a few other projects that involve Batman to a varying degree, but they all suck. This one is good, though. It seems like he really thought it through and DC gave him free reign to tell the story how he wanted.

The Doom that Came to Gotham This is a 3 issue mini-series of thicker than usual comics that Mike Mignola wrote (and did the covers for). They are somewhat hard to track down as they have not been collected into a TPB. The inside, as what usually happens, involves an artist mimicking his style. It's a very interesting and creepy alternate universe telling of a 1920s Batman who is sucked into a plot of Cthulu like monsters and cults (as usual with a Mignola story). Batman also has his gun back, which is something he lost pretty early on. If you are curious of how Batman would be if he were some sort of pulp novel horror hero, this is it, although it's not anywhere as creepy as this next one...

Legends of the Dark Knight 54 is an issue from this side series that Mignola wrote and drew before Hellboy. It's most interesting because it involves Batman tracking down a pretty gruesome serial killer. This comic is genuinely frightening as far as sequential art goes (and for Batman especially).

Also Bizarro World and Bizarro Comics are good for some idiotic Batman comics by various "underground comic artists." There's one somewhere in there where Batman gets drunk and jealous of Superman that I particularly remember. Yeah, maybe you should avoid these.

[Action Shakespeare]

All Star Batman and Robin: The Boy Wonder

[JonCole]

There should really be a whole list of these good entry points for a lot of the more traditional comics. I've been wanting to get into X-Men and Green Lantern, but I have no idea where to start.

[miffy495]

Haha. I just picked up the first volume of Showcase: Green Lantern, which is a compilation of stuff from 1959-1962. Awesome stuff. If anyone wants to read some old cheesy superhero comics, the Green Lantern, Flash, and Batman volumes are very recommended by me.

[Psych]

Most of the Green Lantern I have read was in that showcase edition. DC's showcase and Marvel's Essential line are great ways to get into superheroes with stuff from back before everything got stupid and convoluted. The Green Lantern book is an esspecially good deal since it retails for just $10.

[ethanThomas]

Most of the Green Lantern I have read was in that showcase edition. DC's showcase and Marvel's Essential line are great ways to get into superheroes with stuff from back before everything got stupid and convoluted.

Or at least convoluted...

[Moelman]

Yeah, it's hard to just jump into a comic series right now without knowing the backstory first, especially with so many of them going down odd paths (right now Batman is not Bruce Wayne, Spider-Man doesn't remember his marriage with Mary Jane, etc), so I think the trade paperbacks are the way to go at first.

[Ben X]

Yeah, it's hard to just jump into a comic series right now without knowing the backstory first, especially with so many of them going down odd paths.

Evan Dorkin wrote a hilarious one-off poking fun at this, called "World's Funnest", with Batmite and Mr Mxypltzk (or whatevs) bouncing around various earths and universes getting horribly confused. The art is done by a multitude of star artists, such as Frank Miller, Alex Ross etc, taking a page or two at a time.

[syntheticgerbil]

Evan Dorkin wrote a hilarious one-off poking fun at this, called "World's Funnest", with Batmite and Mr Mxypltzk (or whatevs) bouncing around various earths and universes getting horribly confused. The art is done by a multitude of star artists, such as Frank Miller, Alex Ross etc, taking a page or two at a time.

Ah, I have that one too, since I'm an Evan Dorkin fan, but I guess I didn't like it enough to mention it. It's one of my least favorite things by Dorkin besides his writing run on a Mask miniseries.

[Ben X]

Ah, I have that one too, since I'm an Evan Dorkin fan, but I guess I didn't like it enough to mention it. It's one of my least favorite things by Dorkin besides his writing run on a Mask miniseries.

Really? Worse than his Predator run?

Shame, I really liked it. I thought it was a funny concept, very well executed and with an obviously Eltingville-level knowledge of all the continuities.

Batman-wise: I just got a load out of the library. Hush was pretty cool, but the ending was lacklustre. The Man Who Laughs was okay. It's interesting to see the first Tim Burton movie feeding back into the comics. I've got The Long Halloween to re-read, plus Gotham By Gaslight and Black & White 2. I haven't been bowled over as I was with Dark Knight Returns, Year One, Killing Joke, or DK2 yet...

[syntheticgerbil]

Really? Worse than his Predator run?

Shame, I really liked it. I thought it was a funny concept, very well executed and with an obviously Eltingville-level knowledge of all the continuities.

Haha, that's a hard call. I definitely hated The Mask: Hunt for Green October more than the Predator run (Bad Blood, right?), with that awful artwork having a lot to do with it even though it's not his fault, but I guess I'm undecided if I prefer it over World's Funniest. I guess the amount of great artists all combined in one book make it better and I'm partial to Batmite and Mr. Mxypltzk just because they are so ridiculous. I really love the Jim Woodring sequence in there for a couple of pages with his OCD linework.

Actually, I don't know if you've had the displeasure of reading it, but that obscure miniseries Wild Knights that he wrote must be the worst thing he's ever done now that I think of it.

Besides all of this hate, I have many reasons to love Evan Dorkin and am a big fan.

Also I should say he wrote some of the best strips in the Bizarro World/Comics anthologies I mentioned earlier, in order to bring this off topic stuff full circle. For whatever reason DC doesn't like writers drawing their own strips so his artwork is only on other strips done for the anthology that he didn't write.

[Ben X]

Yeah, I didn't really enjoy those Bizarro books (still on-topic because they had Batman in!) at all, even Dorkin's stuff. The only good one I remember is Kyle Baker's "Superman's babysitter" bit - very funny, and (perhaps unknowingly) ripped off by The Incredibles much later.