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Post by Batdan on Nov 30, 2004 0:34:32 GMT -5
I need some help, LoGothamites.
After a long layoff, I've gotten interested in comics again. (I won't bore you with the whys). Bottom line is this: I retain a strong identification with the character and have a deep knowledge of his history. I'm indoctrinating my son through The Batman and related comics and toys and I still have my own collection, which covers some 30-40 years.
But I've missed much of the last 10-12 years (I stopped before Knightfall) and I know a lot of high quality stuff is out there. I'm not looking for a long list, but what are the consensus favorites for, say, two or three modern TPB collections that are worth getting?
I've seen a lot mentioned on various threads but I'm trying to whittle it down.
Thanks for your input.
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Post by HUSH on Nov 30, 2004 0:43:46 GMT -5
1. Knightfall 2. No Man's Land 3. Hush Those are all important stories, as well as influential points that changed things in some way, and I consider them the big three of the past 10 years or so.  |
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Post by re on Nov 30, 2004 1:03:51 GMT -5
I would also add Batman: Year One, Batman: The Long Halloween, and Batman: Dark Victory ( Read in that order). The Long Halloween and Dark Victory are direct sequeals to eachother, and Jeph Loeb picks up in The Long Halloween where Frank Miller ended Year One. I hope this helps. |
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Post by Roback on Nov 30, 2004 6:57:26 GMT -5
I would definitely pick up Robin Year One, Batgirl Year One, Batman Year one and Two along with the No Mans Land TPB. I also enjoyed" A Lonely Place of Dying " and while your at it the Birds of Prey TPB's tie in to alot of this very nicely.
Nightwing too.
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Post by reideen1313 on Nov 30, 2004 10:55:00 GMT -5
Since you're looking for a short list, I would say the ones Hush mentioned,
1. Knightfall
2. No Man's Land
3. Hush
would be at the top of the list. As far as the others, if you're on a limited budget (I know I was after my layoff - still am actually) I'd recommend going to Barnes and Noble or a local Borders bookstore, pulling up a TPB and sitting down with it for a while. The others are good stories, but really don't change the character that much IMO.
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Post by Batlaw on Nov 30, 2004 12:28:54 GMT -5
HHmmm.. Cataclism, Officer down, contagion?
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Post by Batdan on Nov 30, 2004 22:33:12 GMT -5
This helps a lot. Sound like the consensus is something like this:
Knightfall
Long Halloween
Dark Victory
No Man's Land
Hush
Any particular order? Chronologically?
To give you some idea of when I stopped reading, I read every Batman and Detective from 1964 through about 1992 or thereabouts (plus many earlier issues, Band B, Outsiders, JLA, WF, annuals, etc.). At that point I stopped, pretty much because of burnout and I was tired of chasing a thousand crossovers a month.
I dipped back in a couple years ago for DK2 (which I hated) and read Kingdom Come on a couple of friends' recommendation.
For me, my all time favorites are DK Returns, Batman: Year One and the Englehart-Rogers arc that was collected in Batman: Strange Apparitions.
How do these compare?
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Post by HUSH on Nov 30, 2004 22:51:07 GMT -5
As for chronological order, Long Halloween comes after Year One, and Dark Victory is the sequel to Long Halloween. In the modern story, meaning not Year One era, Knightfall was written 4 or five years before No Man's Land, so they're somewhat far apart, but Knightfall came first. Hush is a little while after No Man's Land. Hope that makes sense. As for how they compare, I personally think that The Dark Knight Returns is the best Batman story of all time, but Hush is my favorite non-elseworlds story. |
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Post by Batdan on Dec 1, 2004 1:35:20 GMT -5
As for chronological order, Long Halloween comes after Year One, and Dark Victory is the sequel to Long Halloween. In the modern story, meaning not Year One era, Knightfall was written 4 or five years before No Man's Land, so they're somewhat far apart, but Knightfall came first. Hush is a little while after No Man's Land. Hope that makes sense. As for how they compare, I personally think that The Dark Knight Returns is the best Batman story of all time, but Hush is my favorite non-elseworlds story. Makes perfect sense, actually. This is a great roadmap. I'm not really interested in getting into the monthly habit again but I would like to read some high quality TPB collections or graphic novels. I'm with you on the Dark Knight Returns. It transcends Batman -- and the medium, in fact. It's an extraordinary work. I still reread it from time to time. |
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