Reccomendations for Batman comics?

[flamemasterelan]

Hey all. I'm on vacation with my cousins and their 10-12 year old son, who's a big Batman fanatic. He loves the movies, the games, and his mom's thinking about getting him into the comics, too. So, my question is, which trades should I recommend that she pick up for him to try?

Should I recommend any of the main Batman trades, or should I tell her to stick to the animated spin-off comics?

[OptimaX]

Hey all. I'm on vacation with my cousins and their 10-12 year old son, who's a big Batman fanatic. He loves the movies, the games, and his mom's thinking about getting him into the comics, too. So, my question is, which trades should I recommend that she pick up for him to try?

Should I recommend any of the main Batman trades, or should I tell her to stick to the animated spin-off comics?

I think he should get Batman Year one. If he indeed reades the whole book and loves it, he should sign up to this forum and we'll take it from there.. :D

[nepenthes]

If he's under 12 then without doubt suggest Hush. Has all the villains, splashy art, big action scenes etc. I think alot of what makes Year One and DKR so awesome would easily be lost on a kid. I read both around 13 and thought they were boring.

Under the Red Hood is another good one, also Long Halloween. Skip the animated tie ins.

[OptimaX]

I think alot of what makes Year One and DKR so awesome would easily be lost on a kid.

Well a lot of the comics and novels are like that. Isn't it best to introduce him to how it all really is in comic-land? If he doesn't like it he know straight away, if you give him more 'compatible' work then he might get disappointed with the rest as soon as he is done...

[nepenthes]

I get what you're saying but it's not like Hush is atypical among comics. There's a hundred other like it and there's plenty of time to get into the more mature stuff later, when he'd more likely to appreciate it

[Batman9]

Definitely Hush to start out with and give him a taste of things. Then, try Batman Earth One (>year one IMO). Then Killing Joke. Then Long Halloween, Dark Victory. Try and ease him into things like Dark Knight Returns, so he appreciates the magnitude better.

[flamemasterelan]

Sorry I never responded to this thread. As mentioned above, I was on vacation, and the night I posted this, the hotel's wifi went off.

I recommended The Long Halloween and Dark Victory, though I decided against Year One and The Killing Joke, since he's a bit immature for those books, IMO. If it helps, he's autistic, so he has a tendency to latch onto things and repeat them ad nauseum, and some of the images and lines of those two books wouldn't go over well with his parents.

[MasahikoTahara]

I think he would enjoy Batman: Year One.

[TheDorkKnight]

I think he would enjoy Batman: Year One.

He just said he decided against those books. If I were you, I'd try to get him Hush, and Mad Love. It has that animated series art which is great.

[flamemasterelan]

I think he would enjoy Batman: Year One.

Year One has a few snags here and there that keep me from recommending it. Selina's past as a hooker, for example, or the lawyer's conversation with her client("It's bad enough that you're black, but you better not show up in a pimp suit!"). Plus, it's more Gordon and less Batman than I think he would like.

He just said he decided against those books. If I were you, I'd try to get him Hush, and Mad Love. It has that animated series art which is great.

I'll keep Hush in mind. I haven't read it, personally(kind of fell out of comics around the time it came out, and haven't gotten around to picking up a trade), but I doubt it'll be worse in content than Loeb's other stories.

I take it from the cover/art/writers that Mad Love occurs in the DCAU's continuity, which leads me to another question. How's the quality of the animated tie-ins? I figured those would probably be the safest place to recommend him getting his feet wet, especially since it wouldn't confuse him too much if he could read a story attached to one of the cartoons he was watching(I told him the story of how Bane broke Batman's back in the comics, and he spent the weekend telling his grandmother that she was wrong, because she was talking about the DKR version).

Edit: Oh, looks like I got an answer to the animated tie-ins part already. Forgot I asked that, it's been so long. >_>

[Gabe De Los Muertos]

Hush, Batman and the Monster Men, Batman and the Mad Monk, Heart of Hush, Mad Love, The Man Who Laughs, The Long Halloween, and Dark Victory should be accessible for a kid. Maybe the Killing Joke, but it's kind of dark.

[flamemasterelan]

Hush, Batman and the Monster Men, Batman and the Mad Monk, Heart of Hush, Mad Love, The Man Who Laughs, The Long Halloween, and Dark Victory should be accessible for a kid. Maybe the Killing Joke, but it's kind of dark.

I actually just read The Man Who Laughs tonight, and was thinking about recommending it. His mom might not like the imagery, but oh well.

His mom actually skimmed through The Killing Joke, and was like "Oh, this looks fine for him." My response was "Really? Oh, you already got past the part where Joker shot Barbara Gordon through the spine, stripped her naked and started taking photographs, and now you're on the part where Jim Gordon's been stripped nude and led through the amusement park by two midgets with a leash and collar?"

Her jaw dropped. She was not paying that close of attention, apparently.