Top 5 Best Batman Stories

[Harding Prime]

I've seen a lot more "worst Batman stories" than "best Batman stories" conversations myself... something about fans I guess.

So why not start up a new one for all the cats that haven't been able to actually say they like something! I'll start...(Mine will probably be a little different then most)

1) Hush - Sorry haters, but this was the most entertaining Batman has been in a long time, and Jeph Loeb & Jim Lee nailed it for me.

2) Long Halloween - Very entertaining Mystery, makes you keep guessing and when you think you have it, you wrong, till you find out you might have been right all along. Not even Batman or the Riddler could truly figure it out.

3) Face the Face - A great re-creation of a great Batman Villian, Two-Face, for a new breed of readers.

4) Knightfall/KnightsEnd - It took about two years to finish, but it was a good story with Batman actually losing and having to start over with the man that he is and is suppose to be and re-claim the mantle.

5) "Batman" by Tim Burton - This is the movie that got me into reading comics in the first place.

[shaxper]

I could have sworn we did a thread like this a long while back, but I'm having trouble locating it with the search engine.

Anyway, here are a few of my favorites:

1. The Many Deaths of Batman p.1 (Batman #433, May 1989)
A very moving story about the death of Batman (even though it wasn't real). John Byrne expresses all of Gotham's grief by portraying everyone in the issue as overcome by silence. Two words are spoken in the entire issue. The rest of the story arc (in Batman #434 and #435) are decent, but they don't begin to match the power of this one. It reads better as a stand-alone.

2. A Death in the Family (Batman #426-429, December 1988 thru Janyary 1989)
In addition to being a groundbreaking moment in comic book history and a major turning point for the Dark Knight, this storyline, in which the second Robin is eventually killed, presents a fantastic relationship of power struggles between Batman and Robin. Robin is presented as good-natured, but ultimately stubborn and arrogant. While the first and third Robin usually performed as perfect little lapdogs to their master, Jason truly pushed Bruce to the limit, forcing him to question his motives in choosing a young partner, as well as his ideals and limitations in donning the cowl each night. This storyline packed into two issues (Batman #426 and 427) a turbulant and revealing relationship that I would have loved to have seen occur between Bruce and Jason over the course of many years. Of course, the last two issues (Batman #428 and #429) stand out on their own, packed with tragic emotion, Batman pushed to the brink of insanity, and unforgettable appearances by both Superman and the Joker.

3. The Paul Dini run (Detective Comics #821-?, September 2006 to current)
I know it seems easy to choose a current writer for a list like this one, but I truly believe that Dini will always be one of my absolute favorite Batman authors. He has a way of humanizing tired old Batman villains and making them new again (particularly Ivy and the Riddler). He's also brought the Detective back to Detective Comics, giving Batman FUN mysteries to solve in the span of a single satisfying issue. While Dini's ability to compact entire storylines into a single issue often feels a little rushed, the stories are still very exciting. He's brought the fun of classic stand-alone storytelling into a modern age with modern art and exciting modern characterization and writing. I know this list isn't about selecting runs, but I can't choose a specific Dini story. It's more his method of storytelling that I want to recognize on this list.


4. The Dark Knight Returns (1986)
It's always been hard for me to put a finger on what I love about this story. Maybe it's the simple feel-good of watching our favorite hero return from the ashes one final time, or maybe it's the fact that his return is complicated, and brings unexpected change with it. Whatever the reason, this is a powerful portrait of Batman that I enjoy reading over and over again.

5. The Killing Joke (1988)
For what it's worth, I DO feel that this storyline is tremendously overrated. It has it's problems. However, I think Moore captures the co-dependent relationship between Batman and Joker best here. For the first time, it's painfully clear just how much they need each other, as well as how much they need to destroy each other. The begining always strikes me as being the most powerful and, of course, the Joker is in rare form in this issue, finally pushing the limits of his insantiy here; showing us just how evil he can truly choose to be. It's a pretty convincing origin for the J-man as well.

There's so much more that needs to be on this list, of course. Most obvious to me are the Neal Adams issues and the early 1980s issues of Batman when the teenage Robin turned up from time to time. Those stories had the ability to be so dark and suspenseful in the best noire traditions, but other than the Vampire storyline from Batman #349-350 (an arbitrary memory, really), no specific stories come to mind. Of course, there was also "To Kill a Legend" in Detective Comics #500, where Batman has the ability to go back and prevent Thomas and Martha Wayne from being murdered, and who could forget Miller's Batman: Year One?

As for other media (you mentioned the 1989 Batman film), how about Batman: Mask of the Phantasm? It's a fantastic embodiment of Bruce Wayne's struggle to honor his parents' memory and avenge their deaths while trying to move on with his life at the same time. This Bruce Wayne is the most human, convincing, and understandable of all the depictions seen in film and TV to date, as far as I'm concerned. He wears his cowl as a pennance for surviving when his parents didn't. I'd also mention an episode from Batman: The Animated Series season 3 (can't remember the episode title), where Batman slowly discovers he's actually a robotic duplicate of the real Batman and must be destroyed for the good of Gotham. Incredibly powerful episode.

So many great Batman stories to choose from...

[Kara Zor El]

The Dark Knight Returns. It's dated now but at the time it was blow you away material. Jam packed with Bat mythos and originality. Was very deep and also very funny.

The Killing Joke. Amazing little story with beautiful art and film story telling. I can still vividly remember looking at the panel, where Bruce looks at the Bat Family picture on, with Bat-Mite and Bat Woman on etc and getting a little tear in my eye.

The Cult. First time I saw Batman with such long ears. Great gory art, Hallucinating Batman who is mentally broken by his new foe. Gotham is taken over and Bruce has to load up with tranque firing machine guns and a giant armored Batmobile.

Mask. Legends of the Dark knight story. I just love this one. Mad doctor abducts Bruce and convinces him that he is a drunken homeless guy who thinks he's Batman. The bit where Bruce gets into his costume and jumps out of the window, and then we see that the costume is made out of bin bags and he's just falling was genius.

Year One. Just perfect telling of Batman's first year. It can never be bettered. The bit where he is trapped in the building and the SCU come in is just priceless. Come on Frank, pour some of that genius into ASB will ya?

[brundlefly]

Tough call. I might come back and edit this if I think on it longer and change my mind...

Batman: Year One
The Dark Knight Returns
The Killing Joke
The Long Halloween/Dark Victory
Son/Bride/Birth/Tales of the Demon

Knightfall/Knightsend *

Heh, I know I'm cheating with some of these, lumping TLH and DV into one entity as well as the Ra's stories. So I'll go with Long Halloween and Birth of the Demon if I have to 'drop some weight' from those entries.

* Knightfall/Knightsend, as a fall from grace & rebirth arc, is a great story. But it comes in as a close runner-up to the others since I thought the middle part, 'Knightquest,' I think, was pretty weak and erratic.

[Harding Prime]

* Knightfall/Knightsend, as a fall from grace & rebirth arc, is a great story. But it comes in as a close runner-up to the others since I thought the middle part, 'Knightquest,' I think, was pretty weak and erratic.

Totally agree on KnightQuest blowing balls. I totally am talking about the Bruce Wayne aspect of Knightfall/Knights End, it showed a man torn apart, beating himself down ever since the death of Jason Todd, and paying the physical repercutions of mental problems, then having his entire rogue gallery let loose on him all at once by a mysterious new competitor. Becoming broken physically to finally match his mental state, taking months of physical and mental recuperation and becoming the man he needed to be (like after IC) and showing that he has made mistakes, like Azreal and dealing with death, and showing that Gotham is his, not Azreal's nor Bane's, and becoming once again the true Batman.

Then turning it around and giving it to Dick was a nice touch. I liked Prodigal to go along with Knightsaga as part of my favorites. Showing how it has become Robin whom has been the biggest thorn in his side over the years, actually being Dick that made him worse, and having him take on two Robin's under the masks, and having Tim become his new reason for suffering, well played.

[carabas]

In no particular order...

-The Dark night Returns
-Blades (LotDK #32-35, James Robinson/Tim Sale)
-Bruce Wayne: Murderer/Fugitive (actualy, the entire rucka/Brubaker run, since it all builds up to it, and the pay-off isn't actually part of M/F, and IIRC not in the TPB) Actually, no wonder a lot of people hate this one if they've only read the trades.
-Year One
-The Long Halloween.

[Keehar]

1. The Long Halloween
2. The Killing joke
3. A Death in the family
4. Year One
5. Hush

[TheTen-EyedMan]

5. Batman 300
4. Batman #600
3. The Long Halloween
2. Batman 372/Detective 539 - What Price The Prize/Boxing
1. Batman 400 - Resurrection Night

[powerforward]

one more story i would add is "the player on the other side" great art- great story- just a one shot but featured in the batman in the 80's colection.

[TheTen-EyedMan]

one more story i would add is "the player on the other side" great art- great story- just a one shot but featured in the batman in the 80's colection.

Good story...sort of the forerunner to the aborted mess that is Prometheus.

[jaguarshark]

There's no way I'm going to include everything that I mean to on this list, but the first five that spring to mind are:

1. Batman: Year One
2. The Dark Knight Returns
3. The Killing Joke
4. Dark Knight, Dark City
5. The Joker's Favor (Batman: TAS)

[Kristofer]

I'd also mention an episode from Batman: The Animated Series season 3 (can't remember the episode title), where Batman slowly discovers he's actually a robotic duplicate of the real Batman and must be destroyed for the good of Gotham. Incredibly powerful episode.

The episode was entitled "His Silicon Soul"
The Robot destroys itself because, due to being made EXACTLY like Batman, it was not able to kill Batman.

[Predator117]

1. The Long Halloween
2. Dark Victory
3. Year One
4. No Mans Land
5. Dark Knight Returns

[shaxper]

The episode was entitled "His Silicon Soul"
The Robot destroys itself because, due to being made EXACTLY like Batman, it was not able to kill Batman.

Thanks!

If I remember correctly, wasn't he carrying the remains of HARDAC within him?

[TheLazy]

1) Batman: Year One.
It's not even a contest to me. This is the best batman has ever been, stripped down to the basics, a man, a mask, and a city full of evil. Frank Miller could write a story where Robin and Bats get it on, and I'd still think of him as a od for crafting this. The only shame is that he didnt stay on the title longer and right a richer history for the character (in cannon), al la Daredevil.
2) DKR
Not really a one two punch, as much as a kick in the ribs after he's already KO'd you. Miller at his prime.
3) Batman: The Long Halloween
Whilst Hush went south during the second half, this story soars. The beauty of this story is that the answer is almost obvious, but never considered. To be honest I'd taken the liberty of forgetting this was set in Batman's first years and was genuinly shocked by the ending. Dark Victory was good, but it didnt touch this masterpeice in terms of pacing and suspense. The detective element was made more prominet with dark, noirish art by Sale, who I admit, I had a resistance to at first, but that quickly diminished
4) Anything by Matt Wagner
Really, I just cant choose. DC need to give this guy the main monthly
5) Hush...
...The first half. It was perfect for people getting into batman or rediscovering him (like me). It was suspenseful, even if it did bend the character a bit. But then Loeb had to undo it all with the second half, and the terrible terrible last two issues. Even I could of thought of 4-5 better minor characters to turn into a villian, and the way which it climaxed was straight out of a bad bond film. I was enjoying the prospect of it al be Ras Al Ghul for like 6 pages, shame it wasnt.