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honestly i can only say i havent read a batman comic in my whole life, and i want to, well except for the ones i got in the Batman Begins deluxe edition dvd, and they were really good actually....i thought i really wasnt going to like it, cuz ive tried reading other comics like the X-Men, and they just sucked i thought, cuz there really wasnt any substance or suspense in it....just, theyre all fighting and saying sarcastic remarks to eachother n you dunno y....but the batman ones were actually real good and got me into the stories...especailly the last one...so ne1..? can ne1 give me some suggestionss??

For me at the moment the best Batman comic I have read is Hush Volume Two and Batman Year One.

It's an elseworld but it is sooooooo good: The Dark Knight Returns.

Dark Victory and Death in the Family are two of my favorites.

You ought to read, in order, Batman Year One, The Long Halloween (which will blow you away), and then Dark Victory. A dose of The Dark Knight Returns helps too, though it is a stand-alone story.
I'm not too crazy about Death in the Family: it's a decent read, but the most important reason for reading it is that it's such an essential occurance in Batman's history. The Killing Joke is likewise, although I think it much better written (It's by Alan Moore, after all).
Hush is a good read as well: read it after Death in the Family (and Volumes 5 of No Man's Land, I suppose) for maximum effect. Jim Lee's art cannot be faulted and the story is rather enjoyable.

dude, i just got done reading The Long Halloween and it was pretty good...i really liked it...pretty crazy ending too....but 1 think about it tho, there was no justice!...i just bought The Dark Knight Returns too...ill read it later

Hush and the whole war games series was cool...

No man's land series got me into batman, I bought the trades and I'd say book #5 is the best, definatly some cool stuff that goes on in there.

Also I found the Knightfall triology to be awesome, I can't really pick a favourite between 1 and 3 but you'lll probably enjoy them..

I finished reading Death in the family, and I am smack in the middle of Knightfall.

Thats good. What a story.

In Batman Legends at the moment they are reprinting Batman: A death in the family. I am awaiting part three any time soon in the next issue. Truly so far I think this is one of the best Batman stories ever that I have read after Batman Year One and Hush Volume Two.

Here we go:

Dark Knight Returns
Hush Vol I
Hush Vol II
Year One
Knightfall (all parts)
The Long Halloween
Death In The Family
No Man's Land (all volumes)
The Killing Joke
Dark Victory

They are all my favourites, from best to last.

For me is Hush...

Batman and Catwoman get it on! Yeah!

I had a couple minor issues with No Man's Land and Death in the Family. Quibbles, really. They show Batman make rather minor, yet glaring, misstatements of fact. They seem horribly wrong for a character ostensibly so well educated as Batman. In No Man's Land Volume 3, Batman uses a Trojan Horse-style ruse to get into Mr. Freeze's lair. As he jumps out he says "I take it you never read the Iliad"... apparently the writer had never read the Iliad either. That story ends with Hektor's funeral, long before the horse was used to conquer the city, so Batman's comment was moronic. In Death in the Family, Batman calls an Iranian "the Arab"... now, for a layman that's an understandable mistake, but for Batman, alleged supergenius, it doesn't fly. Iranians are not Arabs.

True point.

I know I put it on my list, but I didn't like Death In The Family either. I only reccommended it for the massive big shocker that everyone knows about anyway. Apart from that shocker, the story isn't much. I mean, come on. The Joker becoming the Ambassador of Iran? So that Batman can't touch him because he has diplomatic immunity? That was just stupid. Absolutely stupid.

No Man's Land was still a good read though.

Yeah, it's a must for a complete collection because it's important to Batman's development as a character, but there's very little to the story itself. It's enough to simply know that Jason Todd dies and Batman's very upset about it. Death in the Family does pose some interesting questions though, outside of the blatant anti-Iranian propoganda (why do they appoint The Joker as ambassador? Apparently they're just evil).
The big question: what the hell kind of women was Jason Todd's dad sleeping with? His little black book under "S" consists of an Israeli secret agent, freaking LADY SHIVA, and Joker's pal the crime doctor. I mean... damn.

I thought The Cult was good.. the ending was sort of weak, feeling more like Rambo than Batman, but everything up to the storming of Gotham was very good.

Oh yeah... hehe. I thought the Lady Shiva thing was funny.

The fight between Batman and Shiva was poor.

Been reading Batman for almost 20 years.

1. The Dark Night Returns
2. Year One
3. Hush
4. Long Halloween

Funny how the top two are Frank Miller.
He really is an awesome writer.

Dark Knight Returns

Try Astonishing X-Men. It will change your mind.

Hush is a really good story, I really dont like A Death In The Family, it just seems way too convenient the way Jason, Bruce and Joker, all end up in the same part of the same country by sheer coincidence.....I havent gotten the last installment yet, but so far I dont like it.

Most definitely get Astonishing X-men!! There's some stuff you should know beforehand about a couple of people who've died, if you dont normally follow the Xmen stories.....but you should definitely read Astonishing.

I am now half way through The Dark Knight Returns so at the moment for me this is the best Batman Comic fully beating the likes of Batman Year One, Hush and Batman: A death in the family.
Which I have read by the way.

Ok, I'm not saying go buy all these instantly but this lot are good ad major, plus they'll keep you reading for ages:

1. Batman: Year One (psychological and gritty)
2. Batman: Year Two. (the coolest bad guy EVER)
3. Batman Chronicles: The Gauntlet (Robin becomes robin...)
4. Ten Nights of the Beast (Jason Todd is Robin now. Cool bad guy!)
5. The Killing Joke (Batgirl gets crippled. Dark and major!)
6. a Death in the Family (it isn't brill but I enjoyed it. PS. Of course Willis Todd knew some shady guys, he worked for 2 Face after all, though the Shiva thing is ridiculous!)
7. A Lonely Place of Dying (the third Robin)
8. Sword of Azrael. (introduces such a cool anti- hero)
9. Knightfall pt 1: broken Bat (the title says it all!)
10. Knighfall pt2: Who Rules the Knight? (wow. Awesome Azbat!)
11. Knightsend (Bruce vs Azrael in the best climax ever!)
12. Prodigal (Nightwing stands in as Bruce goes away. 10/10!)
13. Contagion. (a virus ruins Gotham)
14. Legacy (the virus is advanced by Ra's al Ghul)!
15. Cataclysm (a quake rocks Gotham!)
16. No Mans Land. (theres 5 different volumes. Post quake. BRILL)
17. Evolution. (Gotham rebuilt)
18. Officer Down. (Gordon shot!)
19. War Drums. (prelude to Games)
20. War Games. (3 acts in series. A massive gang war!)
CURRENTLY UNFOLDING...
The "Infinite Crisis" saga as the DCU is entirely affected!
And I hope you don't want more!!! LOL
I recommend reading some Green Lantern... Emerald Dawn, New Dawn, Baptism of Fire, power of Ion and maybe Traitor, they're cool... oh, and Zero Hour, (that's like a thing where the DCU gets scrubbed clean!) is dawn cool...

I cant decide which one to get now, & ive read half of The Dark Knight Returns...im thinking either Batman: Year One or Hush...what yall think?

Arkham Asylum
The Killing Joke
The Dark Knight Returns
The Long Halloween
Dark Victory
Year One
Hush

vampire The batman comics i most like are the-
1 the Knightfall series
2 the no mans land series
3 batman year 2 fear the reaper
4 batman prodigal

Batman Year One is fantastic, but I think nothing beats Long halloween, at least, not for solo batman stories

Yeah, the Long Halloween was unbelievable!

^yyea it was i loved it...i just HAD to read it twice right after i finished it

vampire I casn't remember reading that I'll have to check but i think i have, i might give bloodstorm a read because it looks good is it that good.

Don't read bloodtorm, the trilogy starts Red rain then Bloodstorm then Crimson Mist!

vampire Thanks knightfall93 for stopping from reading them in the wrong order and i now know which ones to look out for.

As the French would say it... "mon pleasuure, mon copain!"

vampire Another good one is dark victory where it tells the proper story about dick grayson joining bats, and the spin off catwoman comics like dark side of the street, selina's big score and can some please confirm for me that slam bradley is in those comics or am i just wrong.

Long halloween isnt the official batman origin, annual 14 is... so IDK if there is a official one for Robin!

It's a Batman Comic called "It's Joker Time", and the reason I list it is because it actually goes into the Joker's childhood, and his broken relationship with his mother. Apparently she chose a boyfriend over him, a boyfriend that would slap the Joker around and mistreat him. When the Joker accidentally killed her boyfriend with a fatal hand-buzzer as a joke, his mother turned on the Joker and actually tried to shoot him a shotgun. The comic leaves the impression though that it might be another warped perception that somehow is a reality in the joker's mind.

You do know there's no official joker origin, there's several possibles...

Originally posted by Knightfall93
You do know there's no official joker origin, there's several possibles...

I agree sevral possibles.

They may all be wrong, that's why I love him!

There was this one Batman comic, I can't remember which one, but it's where the Scarecrow turns on the Joker, sprays him with his fear gas, and finds that the Joker is so insane he doesn't fear anything, so the fear gas has no effect on him at all. Neat little trivia about the Joker.

It's in Knightfall

vampire I've just finished reading the knightfall comics which brother Lshadowz had bought in middlesborough and they were brilliant, I've got a question at the end of knightfall - knightsend did nightwing change his costume from stupid yellow rimmed one.

Punisher/Batman : Deadly Knight was a really good read too. One of the best crossovers ever. Incredible artwork by John Romita Jr too. If you haven't seen his take on Batman and the Joker, they are great. The highlight of the story was actually seeing Batman save Joker from the Punisher. And the little computer geek war between Robin and Micro was cool too.

My favorite one was Superman/Batman Public Enemy #1. Batman was BEASTLY in that comic.

\That Bats/ punisher one sounds good but it's v. limited availability!

vampire I forgot about that one, the public enemy no1 comic it was cool seeing bats and supes together against all the other suoerheroes.

ooh, sounds great...

Originally posted by kanis
vampire I forgot about that one, the public enemy no1 comic it was cool seeing bats and supes together against all the other suoerheroes.

Hmm... is it worth buying or shall I check if my libray has it first?

Originally posted by Knightfall93
Hmm... is it worth buying or shall I check if my libray has it first?

It's definitely worth buying.

Thanks, Amazon here I come!

^

has anybody read Batman vs Daredevil: King of New York or know if its any good??

They're my 2 fave comic heroes so it HAS to be good! Anyone else read Daredevil: Yellow? It's very very good and by the greatest team ever... Loeb and Sale! But the best DD comic Ive read so far is Born Again, all about how Kingpin ruined DD's life...

oh yea, and the sequels to The Long Halloween, Dark Victory and Haunted Knight, are they ne good?

I recently have read Batman: Under the hood, it is very good. It takes place some time after the events of Hush. It is worth checking out. And the ending so leaves you guessing about Red Hood and what part he will play in Batman future.

Haunted Knight is not a long Halloween sequel, it's 3 unrealted Halloween specials written by Loeb and Sale. I heard DV is OK but too repetitive of the superior LH, and it also costs and arm, a leg and some less public parts from Amazon...

Yo Knightfall, have you read Superman/Batman Public Enemies #1 yet?

^ i wanna get that, because u always keep talking about it, I CANT TAKE IT!!!!

^ I KNOW!!!!!!!!! WHOO!!!!!! IT'S TIGHT!!!!!!!!!!

I havent got round to cheking it on the library website yet... I'll check now

vampire You should definately read public enemies and also dark victory.

Library has DV but not spare...

If you like the Detective side of Batman check out Gotham by Gaslight. A very odd but interesting take on Batman in the times of Sherlock Holmes. Find it and read it.

I know... I really wannt to get that!

vampire The gotham central comic is good, showing that they can arrest the supervillians without the bat.

It looks good... i fancy buying the 3 Gotham central TPBs... In The Line Of duty and the other 2... forget their names... but I relly want ITLOD, the one abiout Montoya and when they dsiciver (shock, horror!) that she's a lesbian!

DETECTIVE COMICS 27

Eh? That's the FIRST Batman comic... I bet that n00b never read it!

The Killing Joke was my fave, very dark.

Originally posted by Blair Wind
Hush and the whole war games series was cool... I totally agree.

War games were really good? ive actually thought about buying those, but no1s really mentioned them until now. but yes, i really agree on HUSH, those were good, and i have those.

War Games was great... though half of the prelude, war drums, sucked after a great start. I hear War Crimes really wraps it up...

the BEST:

Dark Knight Returns.

Originally posted by Bardock42
It's an elseworld but it is sooooooo good: The Dark Knight Returns.

1. Dark Knight Returns (With Watchmen, maybe the best ever).

2. The Long Halloween.

3. Batman: Year One.

I agree Dr Zaius that DKR is number one. It alone has provided infulance for my Batman fan scripts.

Oh yeah. Almost forgot.

Grant Morrison's work with Klaus Jansen on the five story arc called "Gothic" in the discontinued Tales of the Dark Knight was supurb!

Also, from that same discontinued series, "Venom", chronicling Batman's struggle with substance addicition. Fantastic!

Arkham Asylum is also good, I have not read the Long Halloween yet.

Originally posted by Scarecrow756
Arkham Asylum is also good, I have not read the Long Halloween yet.

Arkham was very good. As was, Killing Joke.

But holy crap, dude. Check out Long Halloween! Story and art are fantastic!

The Long Halloween is so hard to find in the UK as is the Killing Joke. Have you read V for Vendetta, Dr Zaius?

Originally posted by Scarecrow756
The Long Halloween is so hard to find in the UK as is the Killing Joke. Have you read V for Vendetta, Dr Zaius?

Yes. It's not Allan Moore's best work, but it's very, very good. Like reading DKR, it made me walk around in a daze for a couple of hours after I finished it.

The movie was a disappointment to me.

Forgot the name of it there was en Elseworlds graphic novel almost 10 years ago where Kal-El landed on the Wayne estate instead of on the Kent's farm. Best damn single comic I've ever read.

Hush

Originally posted by Crease
Forgot the name of it there was en Elseworlds graphic novel almost 10 years ago where Kal-El landed on the Wayne estate instead of on the Kent's farm. Best damn single comic I've ever read. Speeding Bullets. Immense;y hard to get ahold of...

I like a lot of the little crap too.

I thought the "Penguin Affair" was decent.

And everything between Tim's intro to when he becomes Robin was all interesting.

Case in point: during the ''Penquin affair'' Tim (year or so pre-robin) is doing ride-alongs with bats in the batmobile, and Batman has get out of the car to fend off all of these birds that are under Pengy's control.

Tim's like "Let me know if you need any help!"

and there is this funny picture of him crossing his fingers.



Oh I love it all. Greatest comic ever!

Originally posted by Etrigan
Here we go:

Dark Knight Returns
Hush Vol I
Hush Vol II
Year One
Knightfall (all parts)
The Long Halloween
Death In The Family
No Man's Land (all volumes)
The Killing Joke
Dark Victory

They are all my favourites, from best to last.

hit them all

Originally posted by Doc Potato
Speeding Bullets. Immense;y hard to get ahold of...

I remember that one. Loved it. That was definitely THE best Batman/Superman story I've ever read.

the best batman comic isn't even a Batman comic. it's the Tower of Babel storyline in the JLA comic.

I got Batman Blind Justice from Canada, its not bad.

I see alot of good reading in here but what are the issue numbers like for each comic? broken bat is 497 etc...

Originally posted by complexbrother
the best batman comic isn't even a Batman comic. it's the Tower of Babel storyline in the JLA comic. It was OK... one of the better JLA comics...

And we arent discussing individual issues, these are grahic novels!!!!

Arkham Asylum
The Long Halloween
Dark Victory
The Killing Joke
The Dark Knight Returns

is the 'Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told' ne good, or does ne1 know?

n btw, im surprised WAR DRUMS/GAMES hasnt been mentioned, i liked those