Batman: Hush (A good jumping on point?)

[Lord Altruist]

All things considered, would you guys say that Batman: Hush would be the best place to start to get into "modern" Batman comics?

[Alerex]

Yes and No, only since War Games came after it. I would not know about Batman after War Games, it lost me there. A better place to get with "Modern" Batman would be No Mans Land or before that Knightfall. I have a few Batman after War Games and they are ok.

Dislamer: I am a Nightwing and Batgirl kinda guy. I only got Batman as a secondary title, I felt I should get the main guy, Bruce the main Bat, to get more out of the ones I really enjoyed.

[The Shadow]

Define "modern" because there's plenty of better stuff from the mid-80's to now.

I would start with the One Year Later stuff myself

[Captain Jim]

If by "modern" you mean what's being published right now, you could start with the OYL issues.

[The Xenos]

Yup. Just jump into the Dini Detective or Morrison Batman books.

Avoid Hush. It leaves you with questions that are never well solved. I think it was a terrible story despite the nice art.

As for Batman's history, yeah, start out with Year One and Long Halloween.

[Harding Prime]

I would say a good starting of point after the first Crisis would be the Knightfall saga, then No Man's Land, then Hush, then the Red Hood, then OYL. See if you can sprinkle Identity Crisis, OMAC, and Infinite Crisis in there too.

[Scrubz]

Batman Hush was the series that pulled me away from seven years of reading manga exclusively. Definately read Year One, Dark Knight Returns, and Long Halloween/Dark Victory. Broken City immediatley followed Hush, good noir story akin to Year One. Winick's Batman stories As the Crow Flies and Under the Hood 1&2 are fun but lack any "detective" style depth. Face the Face is a good OYL later introduction and Morrison's current issues are great except Andy Kubert is upsurdly slow in the art depart. Only six issues in a year! Do not pick of the horrid Grotesk storyline.

[Harding Prime]

Batman Hush was the series that pulled me away from seven years of reading manga exclusively. Definately read Year One, Dark Knight Returns, and Long Halloween/Dark Victory. Broken City immediatley followed Hush, good noir story akin to Year One. Winick's Batman stories As the Crow Flies and Under the Hood 1&2 are fun but lack any "detective" style depth. Face the Face is a good OYL later introduction and Morrison's current issues are great except Andy Kubert is upsurdly slow in the art depart. Only six issues in a year! Do not pick of the horrid Grotesk storyline.

I would agree to Year One, Long Halloween and Dark Victory before Knightfall.

[ZacharyLovesYou]

Though I enjoyed Hush a lot, I'd say start reading Detective Comics right about when Dini came on board. Batman has been too hit-or-miss with me lately, and Detective has been consistantly good.

[Brack360]

Hush is a good jumping-on point in that you can read it without knowing much, if anything, about Batman continuity, but I did not think it was that great of a story aside from Lee’s artwork. I would recommend Year One, The Long Halloween, and Dark Victory (in that order) to a new Batman reader. Those stories take place in the early years of Batman’s career and establish key events.

If you are just looking for a jumping-on point so you can start picking up the current issues, Face the Face (the One Year Later arc) and Batman: Detective (the beginning of current writer Paul Dini’s run) are good choices.

[Lord Altruist]

Thanks all. I guess I should have been more clear. By "modern" I meant the last few years of so. I'm 29, and I have in my TPB Batman collection: Strange Apparitions, Dark Night Returns, Lonely Place of Dying and Death in the Family, and Year One.

I had no idea that Paul Dini of Batman:TAS was writing Detective now. That's fabulous news. Huge fan of that series. Long Halloween and Hush might be my net TPB buys.