Rate the various Recent Batman titles over the years

[frostedone]

Other then the current main titles, Batman and Detective Comics, how did you like the other ones?

Batman Confidential February 2007 - ongoing

Batman and the Outsiders (most recent version) 2007 - ongoing

Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight - 1989 to 2007

Batman: Shadow of the Bat - 1992 - 2000

Batman: Gotham Knights 2000 - 2006

Gotham Central 2002 - 2006

I have never read any Batman titles other then Detective, Batman, Nightwing, Robin, Batgirl, and the DCAU versions. I am curious as to how these other titles are. Also what makes each title different than the other? For example, Gotham Central focuses more on the GCPD right?

[nepenthes]

Gotham Cenral focuses entirely on the GCPD and it's a very cohesive series in that it never had any more than one or two artists or writers, the man artist being Michael Lark and the writers Rucka and Brubaker who are almost like the same guy anyway. Pick up Unresolved Targets or Half-A-Life, it doens't matter that it's mid way through. These are some of the best Batman stories you'll ever read, if you're wondering what to buy next then stop wondering. 4/5.

Legends was what Confidential is supposed to be now; early days stories in self contained arcs by revolving teams of writers & artists. Except it was much better than Confidential, at least in the beginning. Legends gets 3/5 from me, Confidential 2/5. it would've been a pitiful 0/5 if it weren't for the alt Joker origin (I really enjoyed following that story, will buy the softcover when it's out) as well as the one or two decent issues of Catwoman VS Batgirl before that got boring. For Legends try Batman:Gothic or The Collected LoTDK trade featuring classic stories with Poison Ivy and the surprisingly cool Cavalier (art by Tim Sale).

Shadow of the Bat, i have no idea what that was supposed to be. It just seemed to be a random space for stories from Tec and Batman mainline to spill into. The quality was all over the place, really depends on what was going on in the main books that month.

Batman and the Outsiders is just an all-around dud. 0/5.

[Global Honored]

In my BCS rankings
#1 Gotham Central 2002 - 2006
#2 Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight - 1989 to 2007
#3 Batman Confidential February 2007 - ongoing
#4 Batman: Gotham Knights 2000 - 2006
#5 Batman: Shadow of the Bat - 1992 - 2000
#6 Batman and the Outsiders (most recent version) 2007 - ongoing

[Chad]

Legends was what Confidential is supposed to be now; early days stories in self contained arcs by revolving teams of writers & artists. Except it was much better than Confidential, at least in the beginning. Legends gets 3/5 from me, Confidential 2/5. it would've been a pitiful 0/5 if it weren't for the alt Joker origin (I really enjoyed following that story, will buy the softcover when it's out) as well as the one or two decent issues of Catwoman VS Batgirl before that got boring. For Legends try Batman:Gothic or The Collected LoTDK trade featuring classic stories with Poison Ivy and the surprisingly cool Cavalier (art by Tim Sale).

I don't think there's a single weak spot within the first two years or so of LOTDK.

Shaman (1-5); Gothic (6-10); Prey (11-15); Venom (16-20); Faith (21-23); and the first Annual (written by O Neil and drawn by an assortment of artists ranging from Jim Aparo to Keith Giffen) are probably the best the series had to offer.

I really enjoyed Faces (28-30) when it came out, but wasn't as enthusiastic about it when I recently re-read it (I'm probably an exception to the rule here since I'm pretty sure that others would rate it highly).

Blades was great (32-34); as was Masks (39-40) which will read completely differently depending on whether you're reading the individual issues or what was published in tpb - the latter contains an extra final page which changes the outcome of the story completely.

There were a few single issues that I really liked - Family (31); Sanctum (54); Favorite Things (79); Citadel (85); and Stories (94).

After the first 40 issues or so, the series seemed to become "Stories we could tell today except Batman's wearing his old costume". I stopped collecting the title with issue 94, but the stories that kept me with the series up until then were Criminals (69-70); The Sleeping (76-78); and Clay (89-90). I also liked the Englehart/Rogers Siege (132-136); Auteurism (162-163); and Blaze of Glory (197-199).

Shadow of the Bat, i have no idea what that was supposed to be. It just seemed to be a random space for stories from Tec and Batman mainline to spill into. The quality was all over the place, really depends on what was going on in the main books that month.

I agree with this which is strange since I believe almost every issue was written by Alan Grant. I think the title was designed specifically for Grant and Breyfogle. I think Breyfogle wasn't as ecstatic as DC expected him to be when he got his own title - DC thought he'd be happier with this whereas Breyfogle was happy working on the main title. He left early on to do Prime and I don't think the series lived up to its potential after that.

Anyways, the first arc (1-4) is probably the best - Batman in Arkham with The Misfits (7-9) following close behind. The Nobody (13) is fairly highly regarded and I enjoyed Breyfogle's return to the title for the three parter which ran from 65-67. There was also a Zero Hour crossover (31) in which Batman and Robin had to deal with the Golden Age Alfed popping up in the Bat-Cave which was the high point of that crossover.

As for Gotham Knights - I still think Hugo Strange's return in issues 8-11 contains what may be the best Batman story printed this decade. The best thing about this title were the black and white back-ups which have all been collected in their own volumes.

[davepaton]

Gotham Central - absolutely brilliant.
LOTDK - again very good particularly at the start
Batman Confidential - My problem is that I had such high hopes for it and was bitterly disappointed. The Joker origin was enjoyable and the Batgirl/Catwoman story readable but the rest has been pretty tragic.
Batman & the Outsiders - I think its really suffering because it doesn't have any solid direction and just seems like a bit of a waste of time.
Shadow of the Bat - Pretty pointless really
Gotham Knights - best bit about it was the Black & White stuff

Let's not forget ASBAR.... Personally I really enjoy it for what its worth. I find it really enjoyable in Frank Miller's Bat-world but would hate it if it was in continuity.

[carabas]

Batman and the Outsiders (most recent version) 2007 - ongoing
Utter crap. And replaced a much better book.
Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight - 1989 to 2007Started out brilliantly, and veered off into mediocrity when the A-list creative teams ran oout.

Batman: Shadow of the Bat - 1992 - 2000Started out very well, but I think the well ran dry after a few years.

Batman: Gotham Knights 2000 - 2006
When Devin Grayson was on it, it was a very good book, no at all out of place between Rucka's Detective and Brubaker's Batman. Turned to rubbish when they switched writers.
Gotham Central 2002 - 2006Gotham city doesn't get much better than this, with or without Batman actually being in the book.

[frostedone]

So LotDK and Gotham Central are the best ones?

Are there TPBs available for these series? Like the whole series?

[carabas]

The best stories from LotDK are traded, but most of them aren't, among them some true gems.

And Gotham Central is mostly traded, except for some stand-alone issues. But DC is putting them into nice, fairly cheap hardcovers (at least not significantly more expensive than some trades) that collect everything.

[frostedone]

The best stories from LotDK are traded, but most of them aren't, among them some true gems.

And Gotham Central is mostly traded, except for some stand-alone issues. But DC is putting them into nice, fairly cheap hardcovers (at least not significantly more expensive than some trades) that collect everything.

Good to know, thanks.

[Captain Jim]

I believe almost every issue was written by Alan Grant. I think the title was designed specifically for Grant and Breyfogle.

This is correct. Grant and Breyfogle were an extremely popular team on Detective, so the decision was made to give them their own title, with a new #1. As you say, Breyfogle, unfortunately, left soon after the new book began.

Nevertheless, I think this was a very good book for most of its run. Personally, I really enjoyed Grant's writing.

Gotham Central was outstanding, of course, but it wasn't really a Batman book, if that's what you're looking for.

In my mind, LOTDK gets a mixed review, because I experienced it as very inconsistent. Some arcs were wonderful, but others were mediocre at best.

[earl]

I have read most of the first 100 issues of Legends of the Dark Knight and about 20-25 of the rest of the run. I'd say from what I have read, it is pretty consistent. I got most of the run out of .50 cent and dollar boxes. If you look around you can find out good stories in the run and cherry pick through. There is plenty of talented people that did stories in the run.

There are plenty of LOTDK and Shadows of the Bat in their run that are tied into major story lines like No Man's Land, Contagion and Knightfall. So those big crossovers take up a few years of issues.

Alan Grant is a pretty good comic writer and I think he did some good stuff on the Batman books, which continued into Shadow of the Bat. Most of his stories are much more in the street and are about Batman trying to capture the crook, he doesn't play around with the soap opera of Batman's life much. He also was not afraid to create his own characters and not just reuse the same five villains over and over. Outside of Breyfogle and maybe some of Graham Nolan's better stuff (which I think was in Detective), the artwork might not be as hyper-detailed and photo realistic for some modern fans, but many of the stories are pretty good.

I haven't read the good stuff yet in Gotham Knights only the last 25 issues and some of the crossover issues. The last 25 is really, really bad. I think that stuff and the War Games/War Crimes/etc story lines stuff is about the worse Batman stories that I have read getting caught up over the past few years. (I'm probably only got about 5 years of Batman and Detective to read going back to the restart in the 80s and I have read about 1/2 of LOTDK and Shadow of the Bat.)

I got a big chunk of the Gotham Central out of the .50 cent bin, but I am waiting until I find the last half dozen then I will read the whole shebang. I'm sure I will like it as I thought Brubaker and Rucka's Batman/Detective stories were really good, maybe only misfiring a bit on the Murderer/Fugitive stuff.

I bought the first few issues of that Batman and the Outsiders book. It was pretty bad and really Batman wasn't really in the book much. The old Mike Barr and Jim Aparo (and later on Alan Davis) series was way goofy, but a heck of a lot better read. Chuck Dixon has done some good Batman stories, but this stuff didn't really work. They might as well just cancel the book.

I've liked the Batman Confidential book better than most. The Wraith story was pretty good. The Joker story wasn't necessary, but I thought it was OK. The Batgirl and Catwoman story was pretty fun. The Lex Luthor story, which alot of people seemed to loathe, I thought was OK too and had a couple of cool moments like the part with the jet and when Batman fought all the robots. I pretty much read it in a sitting, so maybe people reading it month to month could not get into it at all. Maybe it is the fact that the stuff doesn't fit into the current continuity or it is more like older comics.

Scott McDaniel's artwork on the current Joker story is not as good as some Batman he did, but that may be the inker. I think he might look better with someone that has a looser style (ala say Klaus Janson) than than the inking style being used, which makes his stuff look kind of blocky.