Top 40 Batman Trades poll - Year Three UPDATED

[nepenthes]

80 Favourite Batman trades - RESULTS

A huge thank you to everyone who helped out! Out of three voting rounds in 2010, 2011 and 2013 I've counted up 98 submissions. Collectively we voted for 178 different stories or collections - and though some of you have shocking taste (the guy who voted for Hush Returns ) overall I think the final result is a pretty decent run down of the best-of Batman comics.

Below are the Top 80, with a score for total Points first and unique Votes second. If you would like to see the spreadsheet then shoot me a PM (or please advise a good way to host and link on the board)

Here we go,


1. Year One 1300/78 ta dadada dadaaaa!
2. The Dark Knight Returns 1139/72
3. The Killing Joke 938/65
4. Grant Morrison BATMAN run 886/59 (The Black Glove: Deluxe Edition continues in R.I.P, Time and the Batman, Return of Bruce Wayne)
5. The Long Halloween 877/64
6. Grant Morrison BATMAN & ROBIN run 607/47 (Batman Reborn continues in Batman VS Robin, Batman Must Die)
7. Hush 531/51
8. Arkham Asylum: A Serious House 452/44
9. GOTHAM CENTRAL 445/34 (Book.1 In the Line of Duty continues in Book.2: Jokers & Madmen, Book.3: On the Freak Beat, Book.4: Corrigan)
10. Dark Victory 428/38

11. The Black Mirror 385/36
12. KNIGHTFALL 351/35 (Vol.1: Knightfall continues in Vol.2: KnightQuest, Vol.3: KnightsEnd)
13. Year 100 342/31
14. NO MANS LAND 340/30 (Vol.1 continues in Vol.2, Vol.3, Vol.4, Vol.5)
15. Grant Morrison's BATMAN INCORPORATED run 339/26 (Incorporated Vol.1 continues in New52 Vol.1 The Demon Star, New52 Vol.2)
16. JH Williams BATWOMAN run 329/31 (Elegy continues in New52 Vol.1:Hydrology, New52 Vol.2:To Drown the World, New52 Vol.3:Worlds Finest)
17. Mad Love & Other Stories 273/29 (also collecting Dangerous Dames and Demons)
18. The Cult 257/23
19. All Star Batman & Robin the Boy Wonder 250/27
20. The Dark Knight Strikes Again 233/19

21. Ego & Other Tails 225/25 (also collecting Selina's Big Score)
22. Joker 221/20
23. Prey 220/25 (also collecting Terror)
24. Strange Apparitions 219/22
25. Gotham by Gaslight 218/28
26. The Man Who Laughs 217/23
27. Heart of Hush 208/20 (Paul Dini's HUSH SAGA continues in Hush Money, House of Hush)
28. Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? 207/28
29. Gothic 203/26
30. BATMAN: BLACK & WHITE 202/19 (continues in Vol.2, Vol.3)

[nepenthes]

31. Birth of the Demon 196/16 (also collecting Son of the Demon, Bride of the Demon)
32. Robin: Year One 161/22 (new edition Batgirl/Robin: Year One due JUNE 2013)
33. Paul Dini DETECTIVE run 147/ 18 (continues in Death in the City, Private Casebook)
34. Venom 146/14
35. Under the Red Hood 143/18
36. The Court of Owls 141/14 (continued in City of Owls)
37. DC Comics Presents: Dark Knight, Dark City 137/12
38. Tales of the Demon 135/14
39. Blind Justice 134/12
40. The Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told, 1989 Edition 123/9

41. A Lonely Place of Dying 121/15
42. Batman Noir: Eduardo Risso 120/12 (collects Broken City, Knight of Vengeance and other stories)
43. Batgirl: Year One 111/17 (new edition Batgirl/Robin: Year One due JUNE 2013)
44. A Death in the Family 98/18
45. Going Sane 97/10
46. Batman & The Monster Men 95/10
47. BATMAN: CHRONICLES 92/9 (continued in Volumes 2-11)
48. JLA: Tower of Babel 87/10
49. Joker: Devils Advocate 77/9
50. Chuck Dixons ROBIN run 76/13 (continued in Flying Solo)

51. Death of the Family 70/6
52. ILLUSTRATED BY NEAL ADAMS 70/6 (includes Vol.2, Vol.3)
53. The Last Arkham 69/10
54. Ed Brubaker CATWOMAN run 60/9
55. Batman & Robin New 52 Vol.1: Born To Kill 59/5
56. Collected Legends of the Dark Knight 59/5
57. Planetary/Batman: Night On Earth 58/6
60. Batman Vs Predator 57/7
58. Brian Q Miller BATGIRL run 57/7
59. BATMAN ADVENTURES 57/5 (continues in Vol.2, Gotham Adventures)

[nepenthes]

61. Chuck Dixon NIGHTWING run 57/9
62. Gates of Gotham 52/5
63. Legends of the Dark Knight: Alan Davis (also collecting Batman:Year Two) 50/6
65. Penguin Pride & Prejudice 50/6
64. The Greatest Joker Stories Ever Told 50/5
66. Faces 44/11
67. Vampire Trilogy 47/9
68. Christopher Yost RED ROBIN run 36/8 (continues in Vol.2 The Grail)
69. Nine Lives 46/6

70. Death and the Maidens 39/6
71. Four of a Kind 38/6
72. MURDERER/FUGITIVE 47/5 (Murderer continues in Fugitive vol.1, Fugitive Vol.2)
73. The Untold Legend of the Batman 47/5
74. BATMAN/JUDGE DREDD COLLECTION 46/5
75. King Tuts Tomb 45/5
76. Thrillkiller 42/5
77. Batman & the Mad Monk 40/5
78. Kelley Pucket BATGIRL run 30/5
79. Catwoman: When in Rome 30/5
80. Haunted Knight 30/5









And here's a side-by-side of the results over the three rounds, the third being 2013 - interesting to see the movement of certain books






Thanks again to those who contributed - and I hope this is helpful or at least interesting to everyone else :)

[Lightning Strike]

Great job nepenthes on putting this list together with the photos. Personally, I would put "Hush" and "Batgirl Year One" higher, but that's just me

[BatfanReborn]

Hey! I voted Hush Returns! Lieberman's run on Gotham Knights is cool. Bring back Prometheus!

[YMCMB]

List looks good to me, thanks for putting this together nepenthes!

[jgiannantoni05]

Good results as usual. Reflecting a fan base on here that has read a lot and has some discriminating taste. Always stories that one disagrees with, but that's to be perfectly expected.

[Mr. Mastermind]

Damn, these thread always make me seem like a Batnoob.

For those of you interested I making a Superman version of this thread here.

[shadowmon]

great list.

[Nlindsay]

It's an honour to contribute (in my own small way) to a list that I've scrutinized and taken a lot of direction from in the past few years. Props to nepenthes for all the tricky work involved in compiling the data and preparing it for sharing.

Take it from me, this list is a beacon that will bring others to this forum and it is has great value to the curious and interested who want informed direction in their Bat-readings. Bravo.

[batman23]

Thank you nepenthes for putting this together. A good variety and definitely reminds me I still have some more Batman to read. It's cool seeing the difference in the voting over the years; also that Year One & the Dark Knight Returns are the top 2 favorites still.