Best 90's Batman back issues

[frostedone]

What are some of your favorite Batman/Detective/other Batman comics from the 90s?

I am going to my LCS tomorrow and want to pick up some.

Please let me know what villains are in it too, thanks. I am especially interested in Poison Ivy.

Also is the TPB of Tales of the Demon worth picking up? My favorite BTAS episodes are the first 2 with Ra's Al Ghul.

Thanks.

[nepenthes]

Contagion! - A punchy, gripping and self-contained 'bat family' event, better than NML or Knightfall for my money which are both too sprawling and inconsistent in quality. features a fun Ivy appearance illustrated by Kelley Jones.

The Collected LotDK - contains classic Ivy two-parter 'Hothouse' and 'Blades' with Tim Sale, both are two of the best batman stories I know

I haven't read Tales of the Demon, it's pretty old school though and classic O'Neil Adams so should be good if you're after Ra's Al Ghul issues. Son of the Demon is easily the best Ra's trade I've read though.

[dancj]

I couldn't disagree more. Contagion is a really poor story driven by the order in which the characters' various comics came out rather than any needs of the story.

NML and Knightfall are both far superior

I agree about Blades though. Fantastic story!

[OverMaster]

'Going Sane' from LotDK is a must.

The first Batman: Black and White mini came out in the 90s. The stories' quality is uneven, but the best ones of the bunch are modern classics and well worth the TPB on themselves.

Mad Love and the accompanying Batman Adventures stories collected in the Dangerous Dames and Demons TPB and the recent Mad Love hardcover are an obligatory buy as well.

[earl]

Legends of the Dark Knight 42 & 43 is the Hothouse story, if you can't find the trade (as it is long out of print). That is a great two part story featuring Poison Ivy with some really nice P. Craig Russell artwork.

There are actually quite a few good issues of Legends of the Dark Knight. I'd look up Doug Moench and Paul Gulacy's two big Hugo Strange stories called Prey and Terror. I think those are excellent.

Matt Wagner's Batman stories are all really good, he did an arc of LOTDK called Faces and three other really good mini series.

Alan Grant wrote quite a few good issues of Batman in Detective and in Shadow of the Bat, some are better than others. Alan Grant created quite a few new villains and some like Scarface and the Ventriloquist and Mr. Zsasz which caught on.

Ed Brubaker wrote a couple of good arcs in Batman, especially the one with Deadshot, Lou Moxon and an original villain named Zeiss that someone should use again, as he was pretty cool.

Doug Moench and Kelley Jones did some good Batman. There is a good 2 or 3 parter that has Deadman as a guest star that I really liked and one with Two-Face at a circus that is really cool. They also came up with a pretty good tie-in to a big DC mini-series that wasn't a waste with a story about Man-Bat.

If you have read No Man's Land, there is a pretty good 2 part follow up featuring Poison Ivy that is in Detective 751 and 752. Greg Rucka also did a pretty good Ra's Al Ghul story called 'Evolution' that was in Detective 743-750. Take mind that those are not quite 90s issues.

[d newton]

I couldn't disagree more. Contagion is a really poor story driven by the order in which the characters' various comics came out rather than any needs of the story.

NML and Knightfall are both far superior.
Besides Batman getting his back broken, what makes Knightfall superior to Contagion?

[TROUBLEZ]

The Dark Genesis story arc in Detective was also some great Batman. Don't know what #'s but the three issues have Dick Sprang art with an evil, demon Batman on the cover.
What else, what else...

A great Batman Adventures #8.
The entire Kelley Jones and Moench run on Batman...
That's all I got for now.

[nepenthes]

Contagion is a really poor story driven by the order in which the characters' various comics came out

so what? all stories have requirements and conditions imposed on them. in any medium.

i thought it was entertaining

[dancj]

Besides Batman getting his back broken, what makes Knightfall superior to Contagion?

It's much better written.

so what? all stories have requirements and conditions imposed on them. in any medium.

True, but this particular requirement caused this particular story to be disjointed and flow badly. The first half of Knightfall gets around this particular problem partly by being very episodic, and partly by not being spread around as many characters. We don't need to suddenly break away from the main plot to find out Azrael or Catwoman is getting on for 22 pages.

No Man's Land did even better by being made up of smaller arcs, each of which took place within one book with a consistent creative team for each arc.

[frostedone]

Thanks a lot everyone! I have some issues to pick up!

[Batman was taken]

Legends of the Dark Knight 42 & 43 is the Hothouse story, if you can't find the trade (as it is long out of print). That is a great two part story featuring Poison Ivy with some really nice P. Craig Russell artwork.

There are actually quite a few good issues of Legends of the Dark Knight. I'd look up Doug Moench and Paul Gulacy's two big Hugo Strange stories called Prey and Terror. I think those are excellent.

Matt Wagner's Batman stories are all really good, he did an arc of LOTDK called Faces and three other really good mini series.

Alan Grant wrote quite a few good issues of Batman in Detective and in Shadow of the Bat, some are better than others. Alan Grant created quite a few new villains and some like Scarface and the Ventriloquist and Mr. Zsasz which caught on.

Ed Brubaker wrote a couple of good arcs in Batman, especially the one with Deadshot, Lou Moxon and an original villain named Zeiss that someone should use again, as he was pretty cool.

Doug Moench and Kelley Jones did some good Batman. There is a good 2 or 3 parter that has Deadman as a guest star that I really liked and one with Two-Face at a circus that is really cool. They also came up with a pretty good tie-in to a big DC mini-series that wasn't a waste with a story about Man-Bat.

If you have read No Man's Land, there is a pretty good 2 part follow up featuring Poison Ivy that is in Detective 751 and 752. Greg Rucka also did a pretty good Ra's Al Ghul story called 'Evolution' that was in Detective 743-750. Take mind that those are not quite 90s issues.

I agree with you 100%. Out of curiosity, what's the third mini you;re referring to? I assume two of them are Mad Monk and Monster Men, but I'm drawing a blank for a third.

[OverMaster]

I agree with you 100%. Out of curiosity, what's the third mini you;re referring to? I assume two of them are Mad Monk and Monster Men, but I'm drawing a blank for a third.

I think the other one was a Batman/Grendel crossover.

[Batman was taken]

I think the other one was a Batman/Grendel crossover.

Ah, yeah that one was very good to. I didn't know it was a mini though, that threw me:tongue:

[Mat001]

"Tales Of The Demon" is worth reading for the Ra's al Ghul stories. This collection reprints the Ra's stories from the 70's and includes the stories that were adapted into B:TAS.

We don't need to suddenly break away from the main plot to find out Azrael or Catwoman is getting on for 22 pages.

Except their part in "Contagion" related to the main plot. Robin, Catwoman and Azreal attempted to find the survivors from the last known outbreak of the Clench virus, so they could use their blood to create a cure. So, it did have a point.

[earl]

I agree with you 100%. Out of curiosity, what's the third mini you;re referring to? I assume two of them are Mad Monk and Monster Men, but I'm drawing a blank for a third.

Trinity - which of course co-stars Superman and Wonder Woman but the villain is Ra's Al Ghul, so I figure it kind of counts. If you like the other Batman stories by Matt Wagner, I'd think that is one you would want to read.

[earl]

I forgot to even count the two Grendel and Batman stories.

Matt Wagner's done quite a bit of Batman for a guy that has never really done Detective or Batman other than covers. (He should get a shot at being the main Batman writer at some point, if I had a say.)

[pressdarlings]

I forgot to even count the two Grendel and Batman stories.

Matt Wagner's done quite a bit of Batman for a guy that has never really done Detective or Batman other than covers. (He should get a shot at being the main Batman writer at some point, if I had a say.)

I concur. Or at least give the guy more early Bat stories to work with. Mad Monk and Monster Men are two of my favorite Bat tales.

[d newton]

It's much better written.
How can it be better written when 1/2 of the story hasn't been collected yet?

[Batman was taken]

Trinity - which of course co-stars Superman and Wonder Woman but the villain is Ra's Al Ghul, so I figure it kind of counts. If you like the other Batman stories by Matt Wagner, I'd think that is one you would want to read.

I was originally thinking you meant Trinity, but then I thought "nah, that's not a Batman story, it's a Trinity story. Must be something else."

I guess that'll teach me:smile:

Trinity was good, though come to think of it, basically all of Wagner's DC work is great, if not criminally underratted.

[dancj]

Except their part in "Contagion" related to the main plot. Robin, Catwoman and Azreal attempted to find the survivors from the last known outbreak of the Clench virus, so they could use their blood to create a cure. So, it did have a point.
Yeah it did have a point, but it all felt very forced. It also didn't help that the art styles across the book varied so much. Barry Kitson's rendition of Oracle bore no resemblance to anyone else's.
How can it be better written when 1/2 of the story hasn't been collected yet?
The whole of Knightfall has been collected. It's just Knightquest: The Crusade and Kightquest: The Search that haven't been collected.

Anyway, lots of excellent stories haven't been collected yet, so I'm not really sure what you point would have been even if it was true.

[TROUBLEZ]

I always thought Knightfall was forced and disappointing that some new booty was the one to break Batman. Then the magical healing, asking for a replacement in the form of a mentally-screwed assassin.

[d newton]

The whole of Knightfall has been collected. It's just Knightquest: The Crusade and Kightquest: The Search that haven't been collected.
That's what I meant by my 1/2 comment:
Knightfall - 31 issues (2 volumes).
Knightquest - 38 issues.
Knightsend - 17 issues (1 volume).

[dancj]

I still don't see how that reflects on the quality of the writing.

[zyva212]

I am a batman lover, very nice when enjoying reading batman comics or watching batman videos / film. :smile:

[FanboyStranger]

Legends of the Dark Knight 42 & 43 is the Hothouse story, if you can't find the trade (as it is long out of print). That is a great two part story featuring Poison Ivy with some really nice P. Craig Russell artwork.

There are actually quite a few good issues of Legends of the Dark Knight. I'd look up Doug Moench and Paul Gulacy's two big Hugo Strange stories called Prey and Terror. I think those are excellent.

Matt Wagner's Batman stories are all really good, he did an arc of LOTDK called Faces and three other really good mini series.

.

I would add James Robinson and Tim Sale's Blades as another of those essential LotDK stories. It actually used to be available with Hothouse in a single volume, but that's been out of print for awhile. Blades is avavilable, however, in the recent Tales of the Batman: Tim Sale volume, which I think has recently been released in a softcover format.

[nepenthes]

I would add James Robinson and Tim Sale's Blades as another of those essential LotDK stories. It actually used to be available with Hothouse in a single volume, but that's been out of print for awhile. Blades is avavilable, however, in the recent Tales of the Batman: Tim Sale volume, which I think has recently been released in a softcover format.

The Collected lotDK is easily available on ebay for a good price. You hear alot about Venom and Prey but imo this and Gothic are the essential LotDK trades to own

[wutherspoon]

the nineties were a pretty tragic decade for comics. dc really got caught up on "major events" with it's main characters, but a lot of the time, as has been noted above, the writing i weak and there is only a vague sense of continuation between issues, leading to a very inconsistent series of stories. knightfall/quest/end really caught my attention when i was a kid, but looking back on it, i was mostly annoyed with the way the individual issues were handled. the regular titles had probably the worst rotation of writers throughout the entire decade - chick dixon still makes me want to kick puppies through his lameness.

i used to have a complete collection of legends of the the dark knight, before i realised there are only about six or seven stories worth rereading, but shadow of the bat was a really good title, except when it was caught up in the "major" events, about every couple of months.

definitely the long halloween is one of the better nineties stories. oh, and the early detective/batman's with the grant/breyfogle team are smooth.

so there.

[earl]

You can get about every issue of Legends of the Dark Knight for about a $1.50 an issue at 'mycomicshop.com'. I got most of my run out of dollar and .50 cent bins, even the issues with popular artists and writers. It is defintiely a good series to try and pick up as back issues instead of tracking down trades, as some of those out of print trades are put up for sale at crazy amounts of money.

Another good story I didn't mention, Bryan Talbot who is best known for his Luther Arkwright and 2000 AD work did a great two part story in Legends of the Dark Knight #39-40.

[Alexx1]

Besides Batman getting his back broken, what makes Knightfall superior to Contagion?

CATWOMAN! CATWOMAN! CATWOMAN!

[Herr Mike]

The first part of Knightfall was good, but post-breakage it was mostly crap.

Moench/Kelly Jones had a good run on Batman.

The Alan Grant/Breyfogle runs on Detective and Batman are just good comics.

[Chad]

I think the first few years of the decade offered some great Batman stories, but there was a pretty sharp decline after Knightfall. Still, there were quite a few stories that stood out from 1993-99:

Shadow of the Bat 31 - a Zero Hour crossover in which the Golden Age Alfred finds himself transported to our world. Not sure if this is well known, but Grant used the last story in which this Alfred appeared to form the basis of this tale.

Detective 678 - another Zero Hour crossover in which Batman enters a timeline where his eight year old counterpart was the one killed that night in Crime Alley. There's a great scene at the end when Batman realises that this temporal anomoly not only gives him a chance to hunt down Joe Chill, but spend one last night with his parents.

"My parents. Through all of this waking nightmare I've forgotten that in this place they are alive. I can speak to them. I can make them understand. I can lessen their loss. And they can lessen mine.

To hear my father's voice. To feel my mother's embrace. All the years. All the dark and ugly nights. Every dream answered. Vengeance and justice are just words now. They mean nothing tonight.

I'm going home"

Detective 700 part one of Legacy. It was the overabundance of neverending storylines that caused me to drop the Batman titles during Cataclysm, but there's a great scene in this issue that makes Legacy worthwhile. Batman and Robin are trapped in a cistern which is rapidly filling with water. Their plan is to float to the top and escape through the opening at the top of the tank. Unfortunately, there's one catch. There's a stone lid that's plugging their escape. While it can't possibly weigh that much, because they're floating in water, they don't have the footing needed to lift the lid. A classic death trap that Batman's going to need to use his brains to escape from. Listening to the hissing sound of escaping air, Batman realises there is a way out. Since the air is being pushed out of the tank by the rising water, Batman figures that by blocking the spaces in the lid through which the air is leaving, he can build up enough air pressure to pop the lid. He jams his shirt into the cracks and BAM!

Detective 705-707 - another Chuck Dixon entry in which the Riddler kidnaps Cluemaster, straps a bomb to him, and forces Batman to race around Gotham as he commits his crime in another part of the city. He's able to hear everything Batman and Cluemaster discuss due to a listening device intended to ensure that Batman's getting his orders, but Batman comes up with the idea of using a voice modulator to have Robin take his place unbeknownst to Nigma. Unfortunately, the Riddler catches on. Dixon of course, used the plot of the first Dirty Harry movie for this tale, but tosses his own ingenuity into the mix. ie. Batman isn't confident that his plan will work so that even as he assures Cluemaster that he has things figured out, he's instructing Robin to get as far away from Brown as possible if things go wrong.

Shadow of the Bat 13 The Nobody. A homeless man discovers Batman's identity and tells Wayne that he's already revealed it to a Gotham Crime Lord who will be auctioning off that secret later that evening. As lays dying, he asks Wayne a question. "This city's steeped in evil - rotten through and through. It's built on graft, corruption, greed. It'll never change, you must know that. So tell me Batman - why do you do what you do?"

Shadow of the Bat 65-67 - a great Grant/Breyfogle story assembled about four years after they last worked together. Bruce Wayne is framed for child abuse; Jim Gordon arrested for corruption; a newscaster is shot on air seemingly without reason; a warrant issued for Batman's arrest. I love the scene where Batman breaks into the Penguin's Iceberg Lounge to gain information and finds that Cobblepot has tipped the police off to his whereabout as a concerned citizen.

Legends of the Dark Knight 54 Sanctum Batman trails a killer to a graveyard where he falls through the roof of a masoleum. There he encounters the ghost and guilt of the 19th century killer whose home he's invaded and who is draining Batman's life as they speak.

Great combination of Dan Raspler and Mike Mignola.

Legends of the Dark Knight 69-70 Criminals Batman wants to know how criminals who were supposedly executed years ago have been commiting crimes in Gotham. To find out, he has himself planted as an inmate in prison.

Legends of the Dark Knight - 76-78 The Sleeping Both dark and surprisingly witty, Bruce Wayne finds himself hanging by a thread in the limbo realm between life and death. He has to not only free himself from this world, but two others he's encountered. And he doesn't have a lot of time to do it in either.

Batman: Black and White 1-4 - The stories vary in quality, but there's enough there to offer something for everyone.

[DubipR]

Here's what I enjoyed from the 90s when it came to Batman:

No Man's Land
Rucka's run on Detective
BKV's 2 issues of Batman- perhaps the best Matches Malone story ever written
Batman Animated- all of them
LoDK- Blades
the Prodigal storyline
Batman/Grendel
Batman/Tarzan: Claws of the Catwoman
Mad Love
Batman/Dracula- Red Rain
Batman/Houdini: The Devil's Workshop

[Libaax]

Knightfall
No Man's Land
Prodigal
Shaman

Tales of the Demon is real good !

[LEADER DESSLOK]

What? Do you mean Batman was published in the 90s?

That pretty much sums up my opinion of Bats in the 90s. But all is not lost

1. The Doug Moench\Kelly Jones run wasn't bad, but they didn't stay on the book very long and didn't introduce any cool new characters.

2. Spawn\Batman- I can't find this book anywhere. From what I understand, this Todd McFarlane (art)\ Frank Miller (writer) rumble was extremely late and comic book stores ordered one substantial order and left it at that. It sold well but due to its tardiness it didn't make the numbers it should have. Hold onto your copies, guys, unless they reprint it, that book MIGHT actually be worth something after all!

3. BATMAN ADVENTURES: MAD LOVE- Paul Dini (or Bruce Timm) did a comic book adaptation of one of the most popular episodes from BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES. I think this is only a one-shot apart from the comic book. BATMAN ADVS. is actually a good book, too. The "kiddie" comic was better than most of the other Bat books from the decade. Ain't it a shame?

4. KINGDOM COME- This wasn't strictly a "Batman" story but more like a "whatever happened to the Justice League" tale. This is an excellant book. I've read it three times and am looking forward to reading it again, and again, etc.Get the trade paper back or be prepared to pay up the wazoo for the original issues!

[Chad]

2. Spawn\Batman- I can't find this book anywhere. From what I understand, this Todd McFarlane (art)\ Frank Miller (writer) rumble was extremely late and comic book stores ordered one substantial order and left it at that. It sold well but due to its tardiness it didn't make the numbers it should have. Hold onto your copies, guys, unless they reprint it, that book MIGHT actually be worth something after all!

3. BATMAN ADVENTURES: MAD LOVE- Paul Dini (or Bruce Timm) did a comic book adaptation of one of the most popular episodes from BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES. I think this is only a one-shot apart from the comic book. BATMAN ADVS. is actually a good book, too. The "kiddie" comic was better than most of the other Bat books from the decade. Ain't it a shame?

Batman/Spawn has to be one of the worst comic books I've ever read. I think Batman uses the word "twit" and "punk" about 40 times in the whole comic. "Get out of my head you twit" "You punk, let me just catch my breath and I'll show you, you twit". Even by Frank Miller post-Dark Knight Return standards, this was terrible.

Mad Love however, was great. I'm almost certain that it predated the episode of the same name though.

You're right about the quality of this title. While I don't remember the first run too well, I do know that the Batman Adventures series that ran up until a few years ago was the best Batman title being published at the time.

[dancj]

Batman/Spawn has to be one of the worst comic books I've ever read. I think Batman uses the word "twit" and "punk" about 40 times in the whole comic. "Get out of my head you twit" "You punk, let me just catch my breath and I'll show you, you twit". Even by Frank Miller post-Dark Knight Return standards, this was terrible

Spawn/Batman is a lot of fun, but it won't be for the people who hate ASBaRtBW.

Batman/Spawn: War Devil on the other hind is a stinking turd.

[TeamED209]

I really enjoyed contagion although it was a touch disjointed and i also like the follow up legacy (Ra's al ghul)....still haven't managed to read knightfall though..

also some of the detective comics around the late 600's i remember enjoying quite a bit especially the art..

[Augusto]

How can it be better written when 1/2 of the story hasn't been collected yet?

That's what I meant by my 1/2 comment:
Knightfall - 31 issues (2 volumes).
Knightquest - 38 issues.
Knightsend - 17 issues (1 volume).

I still don't see how that reflects on the quality of the writing.

I can't see it either. It's DC Comics fault. There are many great archs and artists runs that hasn't been collected.

and about Tales of the Demon, it's a great book and shows Rhas Al Ghul first appearances, and still is pretty much in continuity.

[Choppa]

'Tec 671-673 had "The Death of Batman". Joker tries to film a movie about Batman's death. At the time JPV was wearing the suit and it was interesting to see his reactino at JPV.

[Pixie_Solanas]

The run that introduces that fat broad Orca.

[DubipR]

The run that introduces that fat broad Orca.

The Larry Hama run? What a gigantic turd that was! Every issue was pretty much having Hama create a Batman suit to fit the story... like he's writing an action figure comic instead of an issue.

Agent, I know your sarcasm well, as I enjoy a lot of your posts, but that's even low..even for you!