Pre-Knightfall through No-Man's Land

[Captain Jim]

I was going to answer by simply saying, "Yes."

But to elaborate a bit. NML is excellent. I also liked Knightfall, Murderer/Fugitive and, to a somewhat lesser degree, War Games. Cataclysm is good, but not as good as the others. It's kind of a lead in to NML, though (but not really eseential).

If you like Catwoman, I'd recommend any/ all of the trades by Brubaker or Pfeifer--preferably in sequence.

[nepenthes]

Originally Posted by YouCouldBeMyTrick

i've been a big fan of batman for a long while and i've read a lot of the more popular batman stories. i was wondering if knightfall, no man's land, and some of the bigger batman story arcs (contagion, cataclysm, legacy, bruce wayne fugitive, war games/crimes) are any good. a lot of people talk about them and a lot of people have read them but are they worth picking up the trades?

i've read all the frank miller batman stuff (including all-star), the jeph loeb stuff (long halloween, dark victory, haunted knight, hush, and catwoman when in rome), paul dini's run on detective (but not some of the in-between issues not written by him), all of the grant morrison run including tie-ins and everything after/battle for the cowl. but now i am looking to find some more stuff to read that will expand on the bat-universe for me.

i also love catwoman.

if you want a small taste of what these crossover events read like, pick up Contagion, it's one single trade and in a way much more compelling than NML or Knightfall imo.

I'd recommend volumes of NML before Knightfall personally, Knightfall is a milestone event as everyone knows but to actually hold it and read it feels kind of cheesy and to me, boring. especially coming off the great books you've already read. even NML I wouldn't rate among my favorite batman trades though so maybe I'm just not into these kind of stories so much. War Crimes is def the worst of the bunch, Fugitive/Murderer not much better.

Another great trade is Batman: Ego by Darwyn Cooke. It features two stories, one being the best Catwoman I've ever read and easily better than the title feature which is a rumination on the nature of Batman VS Wayne and key elements of the mythos. There is also Blind Justice, very much a thematic precurser to Knightfall with some of the most insightul and interesting moments into Bruce Waynes character (as apart from 'Batman') imo

[Sean Whitmore]

Originally Posted by Mat001

Not so much. It was more of a prelude to "Bane Of The Demon".

How so?

It's been a while, but I thought the driving story of VoB II was Bane proving to himself that he's still tough without the use of venom.


SEAN

[YouCouldBeMyTrick]

Originally Posted by Captain Jim

I was going to answer by simply saying, "Yes."

But to elaborate a bit. NML is excellent. I also liked Knightfall, Murderer/Fugitive and, to a somewhat lesser degree, War Games. Cataclysm is good, but not as good as the others. It's kind of a lead in to NML, though (but not really eseential).

If you like Catwoman, I'd recommend any/ all of the trades by Brubaker or Pfeifer--preferably in sequence.

i've read all of catwoman's solo titles (the miniseries and the two running series). spent many years trying to find them all. so i've read all the catwoman issues that crossover into the big batman titles but never really cared to see what happens beyond catwoman's borders until now. thank you for sharing your opinion on the other stories!

Originally Posted by nepenthes

if you want a small taste of what these crossover events read like, pick up Contagion, it's one single trade and in a way much more compelling than NML or Knightfall imo.

I'd recommend volumes of NML before Knightfall personally, Knightfall is a milestone event as everyone knows but to actually hold it and read it feels kind of cheesy and to me, boring. especially coming off the great books you've already read. even NML I wouldn't rate among my favorite batman trades though so maybe I'm just not into these kind of stories so much. War Crimes is def the worst of the bunch, Fugitive/Murderer not much better.

Another great trade is Batman: Ego by Darwyn Cooke. It features two stories, one being the best Catwoman I've ever read and easily better than the title feature which is a rumination on the nature of Batman VS Wayne and key elements of the mythos. There is also Blind Justice, very much a thematic precurser to Knightfall with some of the most insightul and interesting moments into Bruce Waynes character (as apart from 'Batman') imo

i actually, in my quest to get all the catwoman issues, managed to find selina's big score back before it was collected in the ego trade, but it wasn't in the best condition. but i read it and loved it. this ultimately led me to being a big darwyn cooke fan, so when ego was released, i snatched up the hardcover and read it all in one sitting. amazing stories. and i have absolute new frontier, which i love.

the bookstore near my house has the no man's land trades (well, at least the first few) so i may run down there today and pick them up. at the very least i'll read a bit of them before paying for them. thanks!

i am going to see if they have or can order contagion because i think that's one that i was most interested in reading based on the synopsis.

[Mat001]

Originally Posted by Sean Whitmore

How so?

It's been a while, but I thought the driving story of VoB II was Bane proving to himself that he's still tough without the use of venom.


SEAN

I'm using spoiler tags for those who haven't read the stories yet. Just to be on the safe side. The story's driving focus is that spoilers:

Bane comes to understand that he was an innocent person in life. A child who was born in prison and had his innocence stripped from him. This leads to his desire to find out who his father is and why he was punished for his father's crimes.

end of spoilers Proving himself as the best was a part of the story's drive, but only so that he could carry out his other goals.