"The Greatest Batman Stories" revisited

[shaxper]

This year is the 20th anniversary of the publication of "The Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told" and its companion anthology, "The Greatest Joker Stories Ever Told." If DC were to republish these volumes with new material accounting for the twenty years that have passed since the original publications, what stories would would you want them to add? Let's say you can add roughly 100 pages of story to each volume (approximately the length of 5 stand alone stories). What would you pick?


Without having considered the question too thoroughly before posting, I think my answers would be:

Greatest Batman Stories

1. "The Many Deaths of Batman p.1" (Batman #433). Sure, it's a little weird that this is only part one to a 3 part story, but this John Byrne story has always impressed the heck out of me. Batman is presumably found dead, and we simply watch the silent reactions of all of Gotham. Two words are spoken in the entire issue. Powerful depiction of exactly what Batman means to Gotham. It would have been a great stand-alone if it weren't for the discovery of a second Batman body at the story's close.

2. All-Star Batman & Robin The Boy Wonder #5. The Goddamn Batman at his craziest. A perfect snapshot of Miller's Batman in all his mania.

3. "After the Resurrection" (Detective Comics #840). Batman's thoroughly logical yet enjoyably sadistic solution to the Ras Al Ghul problem.

4 & 5. "Joe Chill in Hell" / "Batman Dies at Dawn" (Batman #673-674). Though I'm not a fan of most of what Grant Morrison has done with Batman, this two parter was a fantastic mind-bender as well as an excellent homage to some memorable Golden Age Batman stories -- a great measuring stick for how Batman has changed but remained connected to his roots over the years.


Greatest Joker Stories

1 & 2. "A Death in the Family" p.3 and p.4 (Batman #428-429) -- The Joker's greatest victory over Batman in almost seventy years of continuity. Additionally, his comically absurd yet disturbing appearance at the end of #428 and his final stubborn laugh in #429 are both priceless moments.

3. "The Killing Joke" -- The Joker at his darkest, as well as his best origin story to date.

4. "Knightfall" p. 9 (Batman #496) -- After far too many tired nights fighting escaped Arkham convicts, Batman gets sprayed with a dose of laughing gas and completely loses it while wailing on the Joker. It's just an incredibly powerful moment, watching Batman at his most vulnerable, weakest moment, pulling strength and adrenaline from pure desperation even while fighting his own mind. The Joker has little to do with why I love this issue, but (in accordance with the editorial policy governing the original two volumes), if it contains the Joker, it belongs in this volume.

5. "Slayride" (Detective Comics #826) -- Joker takes Robin for a ride around town while reciting Marx Brothers gags. This may be the best Joker story ever written.

[MWGallaher]

BATMAN #483: "Crash and Burn" by Moench and Aparo, a great done-in-one crime noir tale unencumbered by continuity concerns
BATMAN ANNUAL #14, with Helfer and Sprouse doing the origin of Two-Face. The twist ending is perfect, and agonizing.
BATMAN GOTHAM ADVENTURES #6, Templeton and Burchett doing a Deadman teamup with the "animated" Batman.

[Chad]

1. Detective Comics 633

Peter Milligan's story makes Grant Morrison's work seem patronizingly predictable. Bruce Wayne wakes up to find himself floating in Gotham Harbour with no recollection of the past three days. He returns to Wayne Manor to discover the absence of the Bat-Cave and an Alfred and Tim who have no recollection of him ever having been Batman. What's going on is this is and isn't Bruce Wayne. An enemy of Batman has entered Wayne's mind to discover whether or not he's Batman. In so doing, he has become Batman. Because he is being forced to share his mind with his enemy, Batman manages to block all knowledge of his dual identity from himself only to find that he can't keep it up for long. His mind begins to break down and it now becomes a battle of wills to see whether he snaps or his foe.

2. Gotham Knights 59

Batman has stopped Mr Freeze's lastest spree but Freeze has trapped them both. As they wait for rescue or death, Freeze analyzes his enemy and tells him that he knows all about him. Batman systematically takes his argument apart piece by piece as he reveals that he isn't the troubled, brooding avenger he is frequently mistaken for.

3. Anything by Alan Grant and Norm Breyfogle.

4. Batman Gotham Knights 13 - Black and White back up by Harlan Ellison.

Grant Morrison once said that Superman's relaxed pose on the cover of All Star Superman 1 was based on how he perceives Superman. Superman, he reasoned, would never have to look anything other than relaxed. He'd never need to flex his muscles; never have to puff out his chest; never need to scowl simply because as the most powerfull being in the galaxy he could afford to be relaxed at all times. Ellison writes Batman along similar lines as he presents him as so brillant a crime fighter and detective that he doesn't need to rely on intimidation, threats, or superstition to have an edge. He makes small talk with Gordon as federal agents request his help; he displays a sense of humour throughout the story; and uses the simplest and yet most effective method to gain information from a criminal - not allowed to lay a finger a counterfeiter when he interogates him, he simply enters his cell, doesn't say a word, and stares at him until he breaks.

5. Batman: Holy Terror

Probably the best Elseworlds out there and yet another classic written by Alan Brennert. Amazing artwork by Norm Breyfogle as well.

[shaxper]

Great stuff. I need to read that Peter Milligan story!

[B. Kuwanger]

That was a very strong issue. I loved the Milligan run, and if I had to put together a Batman compilation I would definitely put in 629 and 633 first.

[phantom1592]

Greatest Batman Stories

1. "The Many Deaths of Batman p.1" (Batman #433). Sure, it's a little weird that this is only part one to a 3 part story, but this John Byrne story has always impressed the heck out of me. Batman is presumably found dead, and we simply watch the silent reactions of all of Gotham. Two words are spoken in the entire issue. Powerful depiction of exactly what Batman means to Gotham. It would have been a great stand-alone if it weren't for the discovery of a second Batman body at the story's close.

2. All-Star Batman & Robin The Boy Wonder #5. The Goddamn Batman at his craziest. A perfect snapshot of Miller's Batman in all his mania.

3. "After the Resurrection" (Detective Comics #840). Batman's thoroughly logical yet enjoyably sadistic solution to the Ras Al Ghul problem.

4 & 5. "Joe Chill in Hell" / "Batman Dies at Dawn" (Batman #673-674). Though I'm not a fan of most of what Grant Morrison has done with Batman, this two parter was a fantastic mind-bender as well as an excellent homage to some memorable Golden Age Batman stories -- a great measuring stick for how Batman has changed but remained connected to his roots over the years.


Greatest Joker Stories

1 & 2. "A Death in the Family" p.3 and p.4 (Batman #428-429) -- The Joker's greatest victory over Batman in almost seventy years of continuity. Additionally, his comically absurd yet disturbing appearance at the end of #428 and his final stubborn laugh in #429 are both priceless moments.

3. "The Killing Joke" -- The Joker at his darkest, as well as his best origin story to date.

4. "Knightfall" p. 9 (Batman #496) -- After far too many tired nights fighting escaped Arkham convicts, Batman gets sprayed with a dose of laughing gas and completely loses it while wailing on the Joker. It's just an incredibly powerful moment, watching Batman at his most vulnerable, weakest moment, pulling strength and adrenaline from pure desperation even while fighting his own mind. The Joker has little to do with why I love this issue, but (in accordance with the editorial policy governing the original two volumes), if it contains the Joker, it belongs in this volume.

5. "Slayride" (Detective Comics #826) -- Joker takes Robin for a ride around town while reciting Marx Brothers gags. This may be the best Joker story ever written.

I think this is why none of these should be added. Look at all the XXX pt 1 or part 3 or pt 9. That is no way to enjoy a story. "The greatest batman stories ever told" should be completely TOLD! Nothing I hate worse than getting an old trade paperback and finding a 20 year old cliffhanger that I'll never be able to track down.

I think a lot of modern comic writing is its own worst enemy. It excells at in depth character development, but truly great stories are spread out over months (if not years) of books, and they do NOT work as single issues.

I really noticed when I got that little collection in the deluxe batman Begins dvd. They had like three stories in there, one of which was one of the issues in Long Halloween. Pointless. A great story, but that one sliver wasn't worth the space.

All that said and done, One of my favorites was the very beginning of Dark Knight returns. I can't remember if stretches over to the second issue or not, but the very first one was really cool where he's ordinary bruce and decides to go back to work. I hated the last two issues but I loved the beginning, and it could kind of stand alone.

[Scarlet Pimpernel]

1. Detective Comics 633

Peter Milligan's story makes Grant Morrison's work seem patronizingly predictable. Bruce Wayne wakes up to find himself floating in Gotham Harbour with no recollection of the past three days. He returns to Wayne Manor to discover the absence of the Bat-Cave and an Alfred and Tim who have no recollection of him ever having been Batman. What's going on is this is and isn't Bruce Wayne. An enemy of Batman has entered Wayne's mind to discover whether or not he's Batman. In so doing, he has become Batman. Because he is being forced to share his mind with his enemy, Batman manages to block all knowledge of his dual identity from himself only to find that he can't keep it up for long. His mind begins to break down and it now becomes a battle of wills to see whether he snaps or his foe.

.

I vaguely recall a similiar 2-issue arc from Legends of the Dark Knight, in which Batman wakes up in a mental hospital in bed in front of a psychiatrist telling him that his parents' murder left him dillisuioned into thinking he is Batman. I remember Catwoman being involved as well.

Anyone recall this?

[Chad]

I vaguely recall a similiar 2-issue arc from Legends of the Dark Knight, in which Batman wakes up in a mental hospital in bed in front of a psychiatrist telling him that his parents' murder left him dillisuioned into thinking he is Batman. I remember Catwoman being involved as well.

Anyone recall this?

Oh yeah - 'Masks' from Legends of the Dark Knight 39-40. Great story though I've heard that the tpb includes an extra page at the end which reveals that Bruce Wayne really is just a crazy guy in a hospital who only thinks he's Batman.

Catwoman's role is limited however to only being part of the hallucination - as a sort of 'clue' that suggests that he shouldn't give up on himself just yet.

That issue of Detective by the way, might also remind you of the 'Perchance to Dream' Mad Hatter episode of the Animated series since it was based on Milligan's story

[earl]

The older compilations are mostly based on single issue stories, which are pretty much gone now (current run of Detective notwithstanding). It is more about big story arcs or mini-series for the last twenty years.

Matt Wagner's two mini series-
Batman and the Monster Men
Batman and the Mad Monk

The couple of Grendel and Batman stories are also pretty good and maybe about the best of that kind of storyline.

Batman Year 100 - I think this might be the best 'Elseworld' kind of Batman story other than the first Dark Knight series. Gotham by Gaslight and the first Vampire story 'Red Rain' are both also pretty good and quite unique.

I also liked the first John Byrne Superman/Batman Generations and Mike Barr's "In Darkest Knight" Elseworld stories, but they probably would not be reprinted in a greatest Batman stories book.

Loeb and Sale's The Long Halloween and Dark Victory have been really popular, but I think the best single story they did was the Halloween story with the Scarecrow.

Masks is a really good story, there was quite a few in the Legends of the Dark Knight series.

Doug Moench & Paul Gulacy's Prey and it's sequel Terror -- I think both of these stories were excellent. There must be something about doing a first appearance of Hugo Strange story that makes it work, as adding in the Englehart /Rogers stories with the Matt Wagner mini-series above there have been three really good ones.

The last issue of Legends of the Dark Knight was a pretty good one-shot Deadshot story with some pretty sharp artwork.

The Snow storyline based around Mr. Freeze was good with some excellent artwork.

On the regular Bat books, it gets really hard to separate the Wheat from the chaff, as some of these huge story lines had parts that were interesting, but other parts that were not so hot. Knightfall and its follow ups ran for a couple of years, which nearly hooked up with Contagion and then No Man's Land. Heck that it is about half the 90s right there.

I really liked Ed Brubaker's storyline with Zeiss, Lou Moxon and Deadshot. I think it was the best in his run, but most of his stories were pretty good.

I also really liked Greg Rucka's "Evolution" storyline with Ra's Al Ghul. I thought the two tone artwork was really sharp and worked well with the story.

Doug Moench also did a cool "Master of Kung Fu" style Batman annual with some great J.H. Williams artwork. I've got a feeling that one will eventually get reprinted somewhere, as it is a pretty good story with some killer artwork.

"The Gauntlet" is a pretty good one shot dealing with Robin's trial of passage by Batman. Robin: Year One and part of Nightwing: Year One, which are both good reads kind of reference this story. Robin: Year One is a good read that tells the origin from his point of view, which is unique.

I also liked the two issue mini-series called "Tenses". It is a bit different look at Bruce Wayne's relationship to Gotham, as the writer kind of plays him as being more cutthroat business man (which I think works) and his hard nose business mind leads to some unexpected consequences.

Another mini-series I like is Jamie Delano and John Bolton's Man-Bat story. It is really dark and has an odd edge.

[Captain Jim]

The older compilations are mostly based on single issue stories, which are pretty much gone now (current run of Detective notwithstanding). It is more about big story arcs or mini-series for the last twenty years.


My thought exactly. Which is why, though this thread may be fun, a comparable compilation of recent stories is not very practical.

[earl]

A couple of Batman compilations I would do...

I'd compile in one trade paperback all of Mike Barr and Alan Davis' issues of Detective including Year Two, which was finished by Todd McFarlene. It is all a good read, just the right size for a trade paperback and would make a nice companion to what Englehart and Rogers did.


What I think DC should do is do some of the big black and white style Showcase books compiling key background stories (some edited down) with maybe some articles on how it all fits together as the Batman mythos. They could even use some older golden age stories where the basics of the story still fits current 'continuity' or how the stories changed over the years. The idea being that it gives you a basic background on the main characters and origins, but also can give a little perspective on how the stories maybe fit into the time they were being published. I think if well compiled, it could be something that someone who has read bunches of Batman comics might enjoy but also be something great to someone just getting caught up on the character.

[PLEDGE]

uuum i just picked this up yesterday and it did include slayride among other newer stories like the one from hush. was this thread made before it was re-released, cos some of the stories yall wanted are actually in there?