Batman, Robin, and Batgirl Stories?

[SKDarkDragon]

Hey all! This is my first thread here on Toonzone forums, and I scoured this forum to make sure this was an appropriate post. ._.; This seemed a little too lengthy to just tack onto the "new to comics" thread, but if it would be more appropriate there, just let me know.

Anyway, I've been a fan of comic book heroes (but not so much the comic book medium itself) for many years now. A few months ago I got into Batman through the original "Batman: Animated Series", and have actually been checking out some of the comics for Batman, which is a first for me. It's been kind of a mixed bag experience so far, but I've found some that I really love. My favorites are the Robin: Year One, Batgirl: Year One, and Nightwing: Year One titles. I really like the more "simple," compact stories with core characters, particularly featuring Batman and Robin/Dick. (And to a lesser extent, Batgirl/Barbara.)

Unfortunately, it seems there aren't a lot of recent stories done with these characters. So my question is, does anyone know of any other good stories featuring these two/three? Or are most stories featuring these characters together from the older ages of the comic series?

I also really like the Nightwing/Dick character, but I didn't care for his own series very much. I like stories where he's assisting other characters, though. (I really liked the TPB "The Wrath.") Are there any other similar stories to this?

Thanks for your help, all! :)

[Shawn Hopkins]

I liked the ones from the 70s Batman Family title where Dick was a grownup hero and Barbara was a Congresswoman and they teamed up. Those were wacky and fun and there was definite chemistry between the two. Unfortunately, I don't know if they've ever been reprinted. Some of them might be in this:

http://www.amazon.com/Showcase-Presents-Batgirl-Vol-1/dp/1401213677

But I don't own it so I'm not sure. There are definitely stories about Barbara the congresswoman in there, though.

Barbara is also in part of John Ostrander's Suicide Squad, where she was introduced as Oracle, and also in Birds of Prey as Oracle. These aren't self-contained stories, though, and Birds of Prey can be a little bit inconsistent in terms of quality.

Nightwing/Dick was never more awesome, to my mind, than when he was part of the New Teen Titans. There's a really great Titans trade, the Judas Contract, that you might try out.

http://www.amazon.com/New-Teen-Titans-Judas-Contract/dp/093028934X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1278436539&sr=1-1

And if you want to find some stories featuring Batman and Robin or all three, you probably do need to go a little older. There are several Greatest Batman Stories collections that might fit the bill.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dus-stripbooks-tree&field-keywords=greatest+batman&x=0&y=0