Went TPB scouting today. Any advice?

[Sgt. Fuzzy]

Advice ASAP would be appreciated, actually.

Today I scouted out my semi-local comics store (it's an hour's bus ride away) for some TPBs to get; I made the mistake of getting The Magdalena: Blood Divine and Gen13: Best of a Bad Lot today. I didn't like either of them, and hopefully I'll try and see what to get from word of mouth tomorrow.

I'm more of a Batfamily person, so what caught my eye were these:

- Batman: Dark Victory, $29. Read this and thought it was fantastic, though I'm trying to give things I haven't read before a chance.
- Batgirl: Year One, $29. Another great read.
- Batgirl: Kicking Assassins, $27. I've never seen Ale Garza's work before, but it's got Pop Mhan in it, and he did a fantastic job on...
- Batgirl: Destruction's Daughter, $27. Pop Mhan, two words. Also, I loved Cass' characterisation in this one.
- Birds of Prey: Blood and Circuits, $29. Not so hot on this because of the departure of Black Canary.
- Birds of Prey: Dead of Winter, $27. Same as above, but I've heard nothing but positive reviews of this.

I'm trying to stick to one trade, so any advice? Thanks in advance.

[metalhead_dave743]

Get "Detective" and "Death in the City" by Paul Dini(and friends). Both of those are pretty good reads even though they are both collections of one shots. But there are multiple arcs in both Trades. Definitely get the Knightfall trades but that goes without saying.

[Sgt. Fuzzy]

I'll see whether I can find those, but I'm looking for something I can pick up and read without needing to follow the series. Is Kicking Assassins any good? That's the one I'm really looking forward to getting.

[metalhead_dave743]

I'll see whether I can find those, but I'm looking for something I can pick up and read without needing to follow the series. Is Kicking Assassins any good? That's the one I'm really looking forward to getting.

Detective and Death are right up your alley then. The three Knightfall trades pretty much sum up that entire story so you won't really need to read MUCH backstory(though you'll probably have some questions about some things that were left out.)

[Brack360]

Is Kicking Assassins any good? That's the one I'm really looking forward to getting.

Kicking Assassins was good. It did a great job of setting up Batgirl with her own supporting cast and rogues gallery in Bludhaven, though the status quo wouldn't last long. I thought Andersen Gabrych was the best writer of the Batgirl series and one of the few writers to actually "get" the character of Cassandra Cain.

[Sgt. Fuzzy]

Ah, excellent. I'll look out for these. Which was better, then, Kicking Assassins or Destruction's Daughter? Both were by Gabrych, IIRC, though I'm more keen on getting the former because I've already read Destruction's Daughter.

[Billage]

Dark Victory and Year One!

[Sgt. Fuzzy]

Dark Victory and Year One!

Yeah, I'll agree with the sentiment that Dark Victory was amazing. I'm looking for The Long Halloween, but it seems to be mysteriously AWOL.

I wasn't a fan of Year One, admittedly. I'm not sure why so many people are such big fans of it. To me, nothing stood out at all.

Didn't have the time to go out today and look. I'll have to wait till next weekend before I'll be free again. Shucks, I was really looking forward to some new reading material.

What I've read so far, anyway, from what I can remember, is:

Batman:
Haunted Knight
Arkham Asylum
Night Cries
Absolution
Dark Victory
No Man's Land, Vol 1
War Games, Act One
Death and the Maidens
Hush
Hush Returns
Year One
As The Crow Flies
Bruce Wayne: Fugitive, Vol 1
Bruce Wayne: Fugitive, Vol 2
The Dark Knight Returns
The Dark Knight Strikes Back

Nightwing:
Love and Bullets
The Hunt for Oracle
Renegade

Robin:
Days of Fire and Madness
Year One
Fresh Blood

Batgirl:
Year One
A Knight Alone
Death Wish
Destruction's Daughter
Fresh Blood

Birds of Prey:
Of Like Minds
Sensei and Student
Between Dark and Dawn
The Battle Within
Perfect Pitch (Simone's run FTW)

EDIT: Whatever I liked is bolded, so... yeah, appreciate the help in trying to find books of the same ilk.