Top 40 Batman Trades poll - One Year Later

[Equinox]

I guess this is as good a reason as any to stop creeping...

1. Batman: Year One
2. The Dark Knight Returns
3. The Long Halloween
4. Dark Victory
5. Batman: The Cult
6. Batman: Black and White vol1
7. The Killing Joke
8. Hush
9. Haunted Knight
10. Year 100
11. Red Rain
12. Murderer Fugitive crossover
13. Child of Dreams
14. Fortunate Son
15. NML
16. Batman/Grendel
17. Battle for the Cowl
18. Faces
19. Joker
20. A Lonely Place of Dying

[V0nnegut]

1. The Long Halloween
2. Year One
3. Gotham Central book 1 (the hardcover collecting issues 1-10)
4. Broken City
5. The Dark Knight Returns
6. Hush
7. Dark Victory
8. Joker
9. No Man's Land
10. Morrison's run, starting with Batman and Son
11. Year 100
12. Gothic
13. The Killing Joke
14. Arkham Asylum
15. The Black Mirror
16. Robin: Year One
17. Batwoman: Elegy
18. Whatever Happened To The Caped Crusader?
19. The Man Who Laughs
20. The Bat and The Beast

[cpattersoniv]

1. Batman Year One
2. The Long Halloween
3. The Killing Joke
4. Batman Arkham Asylum (20th Anniversary Edition)
5. Batman: A Death in the Family
6. Batman RIP
7. Hush
8. Nightwing: A Night in Bludhaven
9. Robin 00: A Hero Reborn
10. No Mans Land
11. Dark Knight Returns
12. Tales of the Batman: Tim Sale
13. Illustrated by Neal Adams (Group vote for all 3)
14. Gotham by Gaslight
15. Catwoman When In Rome
16. Catwoman Dark End of the Street
17. Batwoman: Elegy
18. Batman Reborn (Grant Morrison Batman & Robin run)
19. Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader
20. Trinity.

Honorable mention/replacement in case I did one wrong.

21. Joker

Wow that was tougher than I thought. There's so much I could've added.

[CocktailXYZ]

Here's Mine.

01 Birth of the Demon
02 No Man's Land
03 Knightfall
04 Strange Apparitions
05 Tales of the Demon
06 Batwoman: Elegy
07 Prey
08 Batman and the Mad Monk
09 Batman Reborn
10 Going Sane
11 Trinity
12 Dark Knight, Dark City
13 Batgirl: Year One
14 The Joker: Devil's Advocate
15 The Killing Joke
16 The Man Who Laughs
17 Penguin Triumphant
18 The Long Halloween
19 Year One
20 Robin: Year One

Ranking may be a little fudged, but it should be somewhat correct.

Edit: Forgot that they collected Dark Knight, Dark City and added it.

[Patroklos]

1. The Long Halloween
2. The Killing Joke
3. Arkham Asylum Anniversary Edition
4. Heart of Hush
5. Year One

6. Broken City
7. Joker
8. Detective (Paul Dini Detective run)
9. Arkham Asylum: Living Hell
10. The Man Who Laughs

11. Gorham Central: Jokers And Madmen
12. Mad Love (Mad Love and Other Stories)
13. Private Casebook (Paul Dini Detective run)
14. Batman: Mr. Freeze
15. The Black Mirror

16. Shaman
17. Hush
18. Death And The City (Paul Dini Detective run)
19. Gotham By Gaslight
20. King Tut’s Tomb


This was MUCH harder that I thought, especially after top 10. I actually had a hard time filling the list completely with things i genuinely like on all levels, maybe I'm just not a trade-person?

[Captain Rabbit]

1. Batman: The Long Halloween
2. Batman: Bruce Wayne: Murderer/Fugitive
3. Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
4. Batman: The Killing Joke
5. Batman: Year One

6. Batman: Heart of Hush
7. Batman: Hush
8. Batman: The Man Who Laughs
9. Batman and the Mad Monk
10. Batman/Two Face: Crime and Punishment

11. Batman and the Monster Men
12. Batman: Under The Hood
13. Batman: Bruce Wayne: The Road Home
14. Tales of Batman: Gene Colan
15. Batman: Night Cries

16. Gotham City Sirens: Union
17. Batman: Noel
18. Batman: War Crimes
19. Batman: The Dark Knight: Golden Dawn
20. Batman: Odyssey Vol. 1

[Lorendiac]

I decided to go ahead and dust off my ballot from the last time we did this. I can't think of any new Batman TPBs I've read within the last year (not that I've read many) which deserve to nudge one of my old "Top 20" off the list.

01. The Dark Knight Returns
02. Year One
03. A Lonely Place of Dying
04. Detective No. 27
05. Venom
06. The Killing Joke
07. Prey
08. Mad Love and Other Stories
09. Batman/Tarzan: Claws of the Catwoman
10. GBSET1989 -- i.e., two volumes of collections of unconnected stories.
11. Gail Simone BoP run (includes 7 TPBs)
12. The Chuck Dixon Robin run (at least 5 TPBs, according to your list)
13. The Long Halloween
14. The Kelly Puckett Batgirl run (includes 4 TPBs)
15. The Andersen Gabrych Batgirl run (includes 2 TPBs)
16. Superman/Batman: Generations. (I refer to the TPB collecting the original 4-part Elseworlds miniseries. However, I believe the second 4-part miniseries "Generations II" was also collected in TPB, so you may feel obligated to include that as part of a "group" vote. To the best of my knowledge, John Byrne's third "Generations" miniseries -- 12 issues -- was never collected in TPB, and when I finally read the entire thing I could see why nobody at DC had ever thought it was worth the bother of doing that!)
17. Blind Justice.
18. Gotham Adventures
19. Gotham by Gaslight
20. Knightfall Crossover (3 TPBs. In this case, unlike some of the other "groups" which you designated and I voted for, I only wanted to vote for one volume -- "Knightsend" -- while ignoring the other two, but your rules insist on counting this as a vote for all three volumes as a package deal.)

P.S. Just a sad comment: Some of my favorite Batman storytelling is stuff from the late 70s and 80s that has never been collected in TPB format. Which is a pity, since I like that material better than several of the things that did make it onto my ballot!

[byron lomax]

1. Year One
2. Dark Knight, Dark City
3. Collected Legends (Blades)
4. DKR
5. Half a Life (Gotham Central)
6. Blind Justice
7. The Cult
8. Batwoman - Elegy
9. Ego
10. Batman feat. Two-Face and the Riddler (Eye of the Beholder)
11. Prey
12. Going Sane
13. Gothic
14. Strange Apparitions
15. Batman and Robin (Morrison)
16. The Long Halloween
17. Faces
18. Robin - A Hero Reborn
19. The Killing Joke
20. Death and the City (Dini)

[Clayton]

A new Catwoman Vol.1 trade is offered that collects Selina's Big Score, the backup tale in the 'Tec issues by Bru and Cooke, and #1-9 of Bru's run. Can this be an option to vote for?

[Vil_Dee]

Those 6 years may have been really hard for you,Hush,Fugitive,War Games,Under the Red Hood.I'm guessing you disliked all of them?

I didn't dislike them; I hated them with the burning passion of a thousand blue suns. It was like I went to sleep after NML and had a six year long nightmare I couldn't wake up from. It was like I died and got a six year sentence in purgatory. It was like I was beaten to death with a crowbar, blown up, buried for six years and then suddenly clawed my way out of the grave and got thrown into a lazarus pit. It was like. . .well you get the picture.

[nepenthes]

Thanks for the submissions every one. Looking forward to counting these up (well not really the counting part, but the result )

A new Catwoman Vol.1 trade is offered that collects Selina's Big Score, the backup tale in the 'Tec issues by Bru and Cooke, and #1-9 of Bru's run. Can this be an option to vote for?

I don't see any reason why not - though please try lead with a part of the trade that you like most. For instance Selinas Big Score (Catwoman vol.1), or Anodyne (Catwoman vol.1). This means that even if Cat vol.1 doesnt make the list (if no one else votes for it) your vote will still go towards that story within another collection or Group (Ego & Other Tails, or the Brubaker run). I realise this may seem confusing but its just a way to make every vote count to the fullest

[darkseidpwns]

I didn't dislike them; I hated them with the burning passion of a thousand blue suns. It was like I went to sleep after NML and had a six year long nightmare I couldn't wake up from. It was like I died and got a six year sentence in purgatory. It was like I was beaten to death with a crowbar, blown up, buried for six years and then suddenly clawed my way out of the grave and got thrown into a lazarus pit. It was like. . .well you get the picture.

LOL,pats shoulder.I liked Fugitive,UDTRH and Hush were decent as popcorn flicks.War games though that was TURRIBLE.

[Shadaloo]

1. Year One
2. The Killing Joke
3. Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?
4. The Dark Knight Returns
5. No Man's Land
6. Venom
7. Batman & Son/Black Glove/R.I.P
8. The Long Halloween
9. Knightfall (Vol.1 only )
10. Batman Reborn/Batman Vs. Robin/Batman & Robin Must Die!
11. Death In the Family
12. Gotham Central
13. Under The Red Hood
14. Detective (Dini)
15. The Man Who Laughs
16. Heart of Hush
17. Hush
18. A Lonely Place of Dying
19. Dark Victory
20. Strange Apparitions

If I could, I'd nudge Superman: Emperor Joker up onto this list. I love that story.

I also really wish more stuff from the seventies and eighties was collected. I know there's some great stuff out there I've never read. Glad that Birth of the Demon's coming back into print in a few months; I've never had the pleasure.

[Clayton]

1. Batman: Year One
2. Gotham Central (Jokers and Madmen v.2 in particular)
3. The Dark Knight Returns
4. Batman & Robin by Morrison (Batman Must Die! v.3 in particular)
5. Batwoman: Elegy

6. Batman: Year 100
7. Batman: The Black Glove (the initial Morrison run right up to and including Time and the Batman)
8. The Long Halloween
9. Detective (the Dini run - very high quality, consistent right through until Streets of Gotham begins)
10. The Killing Joke

11. Batman: Black & White Vol.1 (All of them really.)
12. Batman and the Monster Men (Dark Moon Rising series - its one run by Wagner really. There are plotlines that link both - the Madison family)
13. Batman: Evolution (the Rucka run post-NML. We really need all of it collected someday)
14. Batman: The Black Mirror
15. Batman Inc. Vol.1

16. Arkham Asylum: A Serious House... - Anniversary Ed.
17. Batgirl: Year One
18. Batman: Snow
19. Batman: Broken City
20. Catwoman: Selina's Big Score (Catwoman: Vol.1 -2012 release)

[The Titanic]

1. Dark Knight Returns
2. Long Halloween
3. Dark Victory
4. The Cult
5. & Son/ Black Glove/ RIP
6. Year One
7. Year 100
8. Killing Joke
9. Hush
10. Knightfall saga
11. Morrison's Batman & Robin
12. Batwoman Elegy
13. Robin: Year One
14. Arkham Asylum
15. Heart of Hush
16. Strange Apparitions
17. Under the Red Hood
18. Vol. 1
19. Death in the Family
20. Man Who Laughs