Any good "Batman" books?

[Vin]

Hey guys!

I've never read any comic books before, so I'm just a big fan of "Batman" from what I've seen in the movies and on television. So, while I was thinking about what I might like for Christmas, I thought it might be interesting to get some "Batman" books, or I guess they're called graphic novels, I'm not sure. Being that I know nothing about what's good and what's not, do you guys know what are some good "Batman," "Superman" books, etc that I can find online?

Thanks! :)

[The Guard]

These will give you a look into the comics world. Best advice I have is to pick up a few different monthly titles as well as a couple Trade Paperbacks.

Batman: Year One

Batman: Knightfall (novel by Denny O'Neill)

Batman: No Man's Land (novel by Greg Rucka)

and ask questions. The comics Batman is far more indepth and has 60 years of history to learn. Lol. It's fun. Actually I'm telling the complete history of Batman to someone else. If you like...I can email it to you as well...

[Joker Jr]

Hey, can you e-mail me it as well. I'd love to know the history of Batman in the comics.
:D

[ZorBrak]

I suggest buying a history of batman book to start out they are really fun to read, and then you should buy some volume compilations of the comics if you want to start reading those, they are fairly easy to find just check Barnes and Noble's Sci Fi section they should have some of the compiled comic volumes in there (if you can find it I suggest to get some NML and my personal fav Batman Vs. Predator)

[Calhoun07]

You must get Killing Joke, the definitive Joker story, at least IMO.

[Vin]

Thanks guys! I really appreciate the help. I've read more about Batman, Superman, etc. online. Very interesting stuff. I'll look into all of the books.

Thanks again! :)

[optimal321]

Well, i don't read the comics much either, but two that stick out in my mind are Year One and The Dark Knight Returns.

[James Harvey]

Batman Adventures: Mad Love

Batman: Arkham Asylum

Robin: Flying Solo

Also very good tales!

[DerekPowers]

The Dark Knight Returns, and as luck would have it the sequal starts next wed. So get your butt to your local comic store.

Batman: Year One

The Long Halloween

Dark Victory

Knightfall

I'd suggest No Man's Land, but its several graphic novels, so get it only if santie has big bucks to spend on you this x-mas.

Superman for all Seasons

as for the monthly titles, here's my suggestion on bat books....Batman and Detective are the two i get, i think they are the best ones and Batman definately has the best artwork out of the four batman titles. if your really interested you should start reading them. seriously, its pretty easy to jump right into a comic even if your not fully aware of the entire continuity and stuff. as you read youll learn about the history and youll think of questions to ask and find out about previous stories you want to read which you can get. its easy and fun. i stoped reading comics for a long time and just last spring really got back into it, and it was like i never stopped. no biggie, and if you can spare the cash, trust me, its worth it to get your monthly fix, and if you can spare even more cash, you can get your weekly fix!!

[Karkull]

I'll take a different route: don't worry too much about the monthly titles, go straight for the better written (personal opinion, of course) one-shots, graphic novels, and prestige format books:

Batman: The Killing Joke

Alan Moore gives us a revised retelling of the Joker's origin, plus ends Barbara Gordon's carreer as Batgirl.

Batman: Haunted Knight

Collects the original three Batman Halloween stories by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale. They're all equally good, plus they were the forerunners for...

Batman: The Long Halloween

Great murder mystery by Jeph Loeb & Tim Sale, plus you get to see the changing of the guard from mob rule in Gotham to costumed criminals. There's also a sequel of sorts called Dark Victory, but, sadly, I haven't read it all yet--I'm waiting for the hardcover version to be released in December.

Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth

What do you get when writer Grant Morrison (JLA, the New X-Men) and painter Dave McKean (all those Sandman covers) put together a Batman book? A wonderfully disturbing book with a Vertigo edge. Batman must discover both the truth about Amadeus Arkham, the founder of Arkham Asylum, and stop many of his worst adversaries from breaking out. This was probably the second most disturbing Joker story ever written (after The Killing Joke), which has him wearing high heels and, in one scene, grabbing Batman's ass!

In fact, check out the tradepaperbacks of Grant Morrison's JLA run. They all have great Batman stories. Speaking of which...

JLA: Tower of Babel

Written by Mark Waid directly after Morrison's run. Batman must track down R'as Al Ghul after he steals his parents bodies but, while he's distracted, R'as uses Batman's own "just in case" protocols to attack the JLA. The results aren't pretty.

Batman: Birth of a Demon

The origin of R'as Al Ghul, plus a to-the-death fight between Bats and R'as. This should have been an animated movie.

Batman: Mad Love

The origin of Harley Quinn, uncut by WB censors.

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns

And it's followup, due out in December.

Kingdom Come

Generally considered to be a Superman story, it also offers a great take on Batman. Watch as he matches wits with both Superman and Lex Luthor.

Batman: War of Crime

Written by Paul Dini and painted by Alex Ross. What's not to love?

[Silver_Angel]

I like the elseworld stories a lot. If you do decide to get the Kingdom Come GN, than I suggest tracking down the subsequent comics that followed it. They shared the banner of The Kingdom.

ALso, my personal Elseworlds are:

-Thrillkiller

-The Last Angel (which is really hard to find)

and
-the Batman/Dracula books.

[James Harvey]

Just a small note. The hardcover edition of Batman: Dark Victory was released in October. It's alsready on shelves! I would actually buy it, but it's $50 Canadian!

[Vin]

Originally posted by Karkull
I'll take a different route: don't worry too much about the monthly titles, go straight for the better written (personal opinion, of course) one-shots, graphic novels, and prestige format books:

Batman: The Killing Joke

Alan Moore gives us a revised retelling of the Joker's origin, plus ends Barbara Gordon's carreer as Batgirl.

Batman: Haunted Knight

Collects the original three Batman Halloween stories by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale. They're all equally good, plus they were the forerunners for...

Batman: The Long Halloween

Great murder mystery by Jeph Loeb & Tim Sale, plus you get to see the changing of the guard from mob rule in Gotham to costumed criminals. There's also a sequel of sorts called Dark Victory, but, sadly, I haven't read it all yet--I'm waiting for the hardcover version to be released in December.

Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth

What do you get when writer Grant Morrison (JLA, the New X-Men) and painter Dave McKean (all those Sandman covers) put together a Batman book? A wonderfully disturbing book with a Vertigo edge. Batman must discover both the truth about Amadeus Arkham, the founder of Arkham Asylum, and stop many of his worst adversaries from breaking out. This was probably the second most disturbing Joker story ever written (after The Killing Joke), which has him wearing high heels and, in one scene, grabbing Batman's ass!

In fact, check out the tradepaperbacks of Grant Morrison's JLA run. They all have great Batman stories. Speaking of which...

JLA: Tower of Babel

Written by Mark Waid directly after Morrison's run. Batman must track down R'as Al Ghul after he steals his parents bodies but, while he's distracted, R'as uses Batman's own "just in case" protocols to attack the JLA. The results aren't pretty.

Batman: Birth of a Demon

The origin of R'as Al Ghul, plus a to-the-death fight between Bats and R'as. This should have been an animated movie.

Batman: Mad Love

The origin of Harley Quinn, uncut by WB censors.

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns

And it's followup, due out in December.

Kingdom Come

Generally considered to be a Superman story, it also offers a great take on Batman. Watch as he matches wits with both Superman and Lex Luthor.

Batman: War of Crime

Written by Paul Dini and painted by Alex Ross. What's not to love?

Thanks alot guys. Would anyone mind sending me a list of all the comic terminology, i.e., canon, elseworlds, graphic novels, etc. Thanks!

[James Harvey]

I know some, so here goes:

Elseworlds - Refers to DC stories, using DC characters, that do not tak eplace in continuity. This means that there can be stories of Batman as a pirate (and there has been) and that would be considered Elseworlds.

Graphic Novels - They are essentially really thick comic stories. They average from 48 pages to around 240 or so. The Killing Joker is an example of a graphic novel.

Trade paperback - It just collects various issues of a comic into on bound comic. An example of this would be Batman: Dark Victory. There can be softcovers or hardcovers.

As for canon, I'm just as lost as you, bro...

[Clayface]

Canon just means its part of the accepted continuity. Elseworlds would not be "canon" because by definition, they aren't part of the main continuity.

[Karkull]

Originally posted by Dick Grayson
Just a small note. The hardcover edition of Batman: Dark Victory was released in October. It's alsready on shelves! I would actually buy it, but it's $50 Canadian!

It's out now? Oh s***!

[Green Lantern]

The Long Halloween is probably the greatest Batman story ever told. It feels a lot like one of the mob episodes from Batman: The Animated series

[Naraht]

I need to get my hands on "Killing Joke"

I've read No Mans Land...(I was toe cheep to buy it, nice thing that B&N lets ya read in the store =]) It was very shway!

I own both NML & Knightfall TPBs. Both are excelent books, and I recomend them..it's not kiddie stuph.

[electricsheep]

Originally posted by Green Lantern
The Long Halloween is probably the greatest Batman story ever told. It feels a lot like one of the mob episodes from Batman: The Animated series

absolutely, it was one of my favorites...

the Knightfall collected editions are really good too, there's three I believe...

[Good Ol' Batmanuel!]

I've read the novels of "Knightfall" and "No Man's Land." Both are great. As for books based on the animated series, "Mad Love" and "Batman Adventures: The Lost Years" are outstanding!

P.S. Not a Batman book, but if you like books based on comic series, the Incredible Hulk book "What Savage Beast" by Peter David is excellent! You don't even have to know much about the Hulk to like it.

[Karkull]

Originally posted by I Hate Batmanuel!
P.S. Not a Batman book, but if you like books based on comic series, the Incredible Hulk book "What Savage Beast" by Peter David is excellent! You don't even have to know much about the Hulk to like it.

That book was awesome--probably the best novel based on comic book material that I've ever read!