Some advice on Batman Please

[Zero X]

o.k well basically Im a big Batman fan even tho i've never really bought alot of his books, actually i only have one which i only recentlly bought: Batman R.I.P the deluxe edition but im familier with batman meaning ive watched the movies and the shows but not alot of the comics and Batman R.I.P really confused me.

ive read some Justice League stories and i really like how they portray batman in the sense that he has no powers is only human but he can go toe to toe with the likes of superman and all those big strong opponents


so basically what im asking is can any1 recemmend me some good books, perferably hardcover and in continuity with each other like say vol 1 starts- ends and vol 2 picks right off after vol 1 ended. I've read some other batman books but non seemed to continue, they just seemed like stand alone stories like oneshots or something.

also can u post if the book has the cool pages like they are shiny and smooth becouse alot of the DC books i have read contain pages like from harry potter pages like they are not smooth but hard. All the marvel books i have read have this kind of paper used for them and i dont like reading ones that dont use this paper tho i will but i just like how the colors pop out more with this type then the one DC uses.

[JohnShil]

The book you bough, RIP, is essentially Volume Three in a series by Grant Morrison. Batman: Batman and Son and Batman: The Black Glove are Volumes One and Two, respectively. They could help you make sense of the story.

Unfortunately, not too many Batman series are collected in a volume-oriented way. Most are single, one or two volume stories.

There's Paul Dini's run on DETECTIVE COMICS, spanning (Detective, Death and the City, Private Casebook and Heart of Hush.) Batman: Hush is generally favored. As for the JLA, there's Grant Morrison's run on JLA (recently being repackaged in nice hardcovers.) There's always ARKHAM ASYLUM, THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS, YEAR ONE and THE LONG HALLOWEEN (followed by DARK VICTORY,) also.

[Zero X]

no wonder it didnt really make sense.... but how would i even know its volume three? nowhere in the front,back, or side do i see anywhere mention a vol. 3 on it so its really confusing and it doesnt even say what issues it contains unlike the Marvel stuff im used to reading.


so suppos i was new to Batman, which stories would u recommend in order so that i dont trip myself and read some spoilers of stories to come and please put them in order and put if they are out in hardcover.

also another question, i read marvel mostlly and really want to get into DC and to my knowledge after a storie is done on this comics that cost 3.95( i think they are call tradepaper back?) after its done like a while later within the month they release a hardcover version of it, is this how its done in DC too?

[Karl O'Neill]

Read Batman and son first, then the black glove, then RIP.

If you want to read other batman stuff that is in order there are plenty of stories out there like no man's land, knightfall and war games/drums/crimes.

[Glen_Dower]

Have we forgotten the seminal Batman: Year One??

Also, I really dug the Legends Of The Dark Knight books-- they take place in varying times during Batman's career, usually referencing something in the past that made him prepared for something happening in the present.

I suggest going to Borders or Barnes and Nobles, and just start reading-- if you get sucked in, buy it. Batbooks are rarely awful (save for Kevin Smith's Cacophony), but some are more action, others are more detective/intrigue.

I tend to like the books where he's up against Ras Al Ghul.

~p

[Global Honored]

Tremendous stories and essential Batman mythos
Batman Year One
Batman The Long Halloween
Batman Dark Victory if you wish
Batman The Dark Knight Returns
You may want to try HUSH too as it is a more current Batman storyline and has pretty pictures.

[T Hedge Coke]

I think the best stuff is going to be standalone stories or standalone arcs by the same creative teams.

I can recommend Strange Apparitions by Steve Englehart, Marshall Rogers and Walt Simonson, which had a pretty healthy influence on Morrison's run, and then of course, Morrison had previously tackled the Batman in a big way with Gothic and Arkham Asylum: a Serious House on Serious Earth. Those are all very good.

Jamie Delano and John Bolton did a nice story wherein Batman is kind of an ass, called Batman/Manbat.

There's a collection of Dennis O'Neil stories concerning R'as al Ghul, called Tales of the Demon, which, again, isn't really going to followed up in a next volume but reads serially and is quite fun.


And lots of Bat-action in Morrion's JLA trades, as well.

There are a few volumes full of excellent stories called The Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told (and one The Greatest Joker Stories Ever Told) that are worth plunking down cash for.

I would also support most of what people have mentioned in this thread, already, although in the last list, I would swap out [b]Hush with Miller's Dark Knight Strikes Again.

[nepenthes]

easy

Batman Year One
Dark Knight Returns
Batman & Son
The Black Glove
Long Halloween
Hush

in that order

[T Hedge Coke]

easy

Batman Year One
Dark Knight Returns
Batman & Son
The Black Glove
Long Halloween
Hush

in that order

There's no way that order can be considered a "continuity" of any kind. Well, not realistically. Those are neither chronologically sound in terms of the stories, nor in terms of publication date.

[Blue Blazes]

There's no way that order can be considered a "continuity" of any kind. Well, not realistically. Those are neither chronologically sound in terms of the stories, nor in terms of publication date.

i think it should rearrange to:

Batman Year One
Long Halloween (supposed to take place around year 1)
Dark Knight Returns (this can probably be read any where in here)
Hush
Batman & Son
The Black Glove
RIP

[kyle82]

what i like about batman is that the cartoon is shown at a night setting. it makes me feel cool about this. does anyone feel the same as i do? :smile:

[Infernorhythm]

Ignore Year One and Dark Knight Returns. Okay, I know, that's spitting in the face of their reputation, but if you want Batman, avoid Miller's uber-paranoid militaristic Bat-Marv. Pick up:

-The Long Halloween
-Face the Face
-Strange Apparitions
-Any collections of the Dennis O'Neil/Neal Adams run. Definitive.
-The original Joker story in Batman #1. I think it's in The Greatest Batman Stories. It's a classic, disturbing story with a Joker who never acts like a clown and actually poses a threat to Batman without getting beat up every two seconds.

[jgiannantoni05]

Read Batman's early career (these are in order and in continuity with each other):

Batman Year One
Batman and the Monster Men
Batman and the Mad Monk
Batman The Man Who Laughs (first encounter with Joker)
Batman Four of a Kind
The Long Halloween
Dark Victory
Robin Year One
________
HALFBAKED (http://half-baked.com)

[nepenthes]

ignore DKR for Face the Face. riiiight :rolleyes:

There's no way that order can be considered a "continuity" of any kind. Well, not realistically. Those are neither chronologically sound in terms of the stories, nor in terms of publication date.

so what? the guys only ever read one Book, RIP. These are the bed rock batman beginner stories. They're very accesible and lead to a good early understanding. I know he's asked for continuity but imo he doesn't really know what he's asking for or whats best at this stage. What would you rather recommend him No Mans Land 1-5, or Fugitive 1-3? or stories a noob wouldn't really appreciate at this stage. respectfully, I don't think so.

edit:
Year One is followed Long Halloween
Long Halloween is followed by Dark Victory

Hush is followed by Under the Hood
Under the Hood is followed by Batman & Son
Batman & Son is followed by Black Glove followd by RIP followed by Batman & Robin in the monthlies. yay

and yes I know this not a strict publishing or canon continuity, but *thematically* the ties are very strong. you can pretty much move seamlessly from one arc to the next and follow an overall thread. strict continuity is a waste of time.

[Samanthab]

hahaha welcome to the batman fanatics club mate!

[T Hedge Coke]

so what?

"[S]o basically what im asking is can any1 recemmend me some good books, perferably hardcover and in continuity with each other like say vol 1 starts- ends and vol 2 picks right off after vol 1 ended. I've read some other batman books but non seemed to continue, they just seemed like stand alone stories like oneshots or something." ~ from the original post.

However, between OP and "So what?" I think my feeling that continuity shouldn't be a concern here is actually strengthened. The best Bat-stories stand on their own, beginning, middle, and never the end.

[Zero X]

TY everybody for your advice and il be sure to be looking up some of these books. thank you all.

[Warpsters]

If RIP was the first Batman I ever read I would have stopped reading Batman.

[Dunc]

The 90s bat books have a pretty good continuity-

Knightfall Parts 1 & 2
Knightsend
Contagion
Cataclysm
No Man's Land Books 1 to 5

This was my first run of Batman as a teenager and I thoroughly enjoyed it. They should mostly be available and pretty cheap as they're not that popular but are very entertaining. Contagion in particular is vastly under-rated.