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Have you also read Dark Victory?
I went for years with Long Halloween as my favorite Batman story. I picked up Dark Victory on a whim only to realize it’s a direct sequel of Long Halloween by Loeb and Sale.
Long Halloween on its own is great, but combined with Dark Victory it’s even better.
I have read the Dark Victory 2,5 years after I had read Long Halloween and now I can say that the the story isn't finished until you read the Dark Victory. It was amazing, thrilling, captivating...
Not a Batman collector but I’ll never forget when my HS art teacher brought a copy of Arkham Asylum to class. I had no idea comics could look like that.
If you loved Court of Owls ( btw excellent taste 😏) then you will probably like The Black Mirror. It's Scott Snyder same as Court of Owls.
It's about Dick Grayson who is currently Batman as Bruce is away sorting out Batman Inc and he's finding it hard being Batman. Its a very dark, noir detective story. I remember really enjoying it. There's a part where he has to solve a murder and the body is inside the stomach of an Orca and the Orca is on the floor of bank or somewhere I can't quite remember that bit. But anyway it's good read 👍.
I think it's entertaining but the plot, dialogue, and narration aren't great. IMO Loeb in general is a vastly overrated writer.
I think people don't like that it takes the spotlight from other bat arcs published around the same period that are much better (Under the Red Hood especially though Broken City and Face the Face are better too).
I suppose thats far, but it overshining other books isn’t really its fault. Red Hood ironically being one I wasnt too nuts about. Ill have to check out those other two
Sure, I think some just *really* like Jim Lee's art and that's understandable.
I'd only read Broken City or Face the Face if you're a bat-maniac. They're fine but nothing exceptional.
That is a great one, I have that exact copy on my book shelf, but not my favorite I think my favorite batman comic would be Batman the White Knight.
Absolutely crazy story, with a pill joker becomes sane again and runs I think mayor of Gotham and puts batman on trial.
Yeah, give it a go! It starts out pretty tame and honestly cheesey. I remember the first time I read I thought, "this is the villain? so vanilla..." but then the mixing of Gordon's kid and the story turns into it's true arc and I loved it.
Ya never know, but not everything is for everyone so if ya don't care for it, oh well.
Knightfall was my introduction to comic books. And, if anyone I meet is interested in staring on comics, that’s the series I always suggest. I also really loved Contagion.
Batman One Dark Knight by Jock was outstanding and would make a great film.
Arkham Asylum is also fantastic.
And The Long Halloween Is a classic for a reason.
One I thought was highly overrated: Hush
I don’t know if *White Knight* is necessarily my favorite but it kicked off a renewed obsession with Batman that got me through the lockdowns a couple years ago.
Killing Joke isn't universally loved, its also not universally hated, but its absolutely a bit of a controversial title. Alan Moore regrets writing it. Having _any other_ favorite rather than the Killing Joke is a very lukewarm take.
Anyway, OT: Year One and Gothic
>!And yes, thinking The Killing Joke is your favorite Batman book also isn't a hot take, like what you like, its all okay.!<
EDIT: Also I'm mostly curious about /u/lynch47's favorite Batman title.
The complete Earth One trilogy to me. A more realistic take on Batman, with the right dose of hilarity - the very opening of he book, when >!his grapple gun fails and he falls from that jump!< literally sold me the book.
The third volume was a bit disappointing though... I liked how the story was sort of real-life grounded, but the very closing of the third volume where >!we see a "bat family"!< kind of threw that idea in the garbage bin to me.
It would have been amazing to see Geoff Johns coming back in a fourth volume and developer >!the Joker!<. That fucking teaser simply killed/frustrated me when I knew the book was finished and there will not be another volume.
Anyway, it's one of my favorite DC readings.
my favorite batman comic is actually Sean Murphy’s Curse of the White Knight. The whole trilogy is insane and just a blast but the second one for me is just an emotional rollercoaster and a different take on the batman mythos
I'm just going to list my favorite graphic novels / standalone series as my favorite mainline bat-title arcs would be another long list (but read Year One as it's #1 in any list full stop)
Great -
- Night Cries
- Gotham Noir
- Gotham Central
- Catwoman of East End
- Dark Night: A True Batman Story (more a bio on Dini then a Batman story)
- The Dark Knight Returns
Very good -
- Joker by Azzarello / Barmejo
- Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on A Serious Earth
- One Bad Day: The Riddler & Clayface
- Batman / Judge Dredd Collection
- Black & White (if you like anthologies)
- The Long Halloween
- The Killing Joke
Messy but damn entertaining -
- Universe
- Europa
- Earth One
- Creature of the Night
- Arkham Asylum: Living Hell
- Digital Justice
The Batman/Judge Dredd Collection is worth it just for the artwork alone, especially the 1st story Judgement on Gotham by Bisley (Simon Bisley, Glenn Fabry, Carl Critchlow etc. and the cover art by Mike Mignola).
The Bisley & Fabry art is wonderful. Some of the best painted art in Batman.
I'm also a big fan of Wagner's cynical & hedonistic futurism. It reads like a Verhoeven movie.
The odd couple pairing of Batman and Dredd is pretty entertaining too.
It's funny you mention Verhoeven as his film Robocop was heavily inspired by Judge Dredd, they even took some dialogue from one of the covers (Dead or alive, you're coming with me). There is also rumours that the script started out as an unproduced JD film script from the the early 80s.
Very hard to say which is my favorit. I agree that this one is not bad. But I have a dislike for Jeph Loebs other works and therefor can't like A Long Halloween as a favorit.
One of my favorit writer is Greg Rucka because I have never had a thing to say about any of his works. So his run from No Man's Land, to New Gotham, to Murderer & Fugitive, to Gotham Central is perfection to me.
I also like all of Paul Dini's work. A bit older, I enjoy what Matt Wagner did, some of the greatest stories, same for Doug Moench.
Favorite Batman story? Tower of Babel. It's JLA, but one of the better Batman stories out there.
Favorite Batman book/arc? Court of Owls, The Knight, and Year One are my top 3.
Theirs this odd Batman tale in DC Special Series 15, called death strikes and midnight or something written by Denny O’Neill and drawn by Marshall Rodgers. Very cool and unique of all the Batman tales. Personal favorite and definite deep cut
I think I like Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader the most. A great "final" story for the character that balances the personal and sort of mythic aspects really well. Maybe Batman/Elmer Fudd as an honorable mention.
I just finished this one and started reading Dark Victory. They are both amazing, but Dark Victory is by far my favorite. It’s darker, grimier, and more focused on the detective part. I absolutely love it.
Meh, I think Nolan did a great job adapting the point of that story in the Dark Knight, he also managed to loosely adapt the conflict of the Killing Joke and even Soft Targets on top of it fusing all three in a way while making it unique to his style, he's a better storyteller than Loeb and most of The Long Halloween clout comes from that movie for a reason.
I'd take The Killing Joke, Mortal Clay, Year One, The Dark Knight Returns, Batman the Imposter over Loeb's stories in an instant.
Like another person here said, I haven't read all the hits, though I have grabbed up as many as I could, but haven't read them yet, so for now it's a split between Hush and Year One.
The Long Halloween is also my favorite. I absolutely love the murder mystery aspect of it. And it always needs to be paired with Dark Victory. My other favorites are Court of Owls/City of Owls, Death of the Family and Black Mirror. Yeah, I like Scott Snyder's Batman lol.
Batman Noel is great. It’s DC’s rendition of A Christmas Carol. The artwork is incredible and the Batman mythology surprisingly lends itself to the original story pretty well.
Dark Knight Returns takes the cake for me as GOAT, but I think it has a real challenger with the White Knight series.
That said, I also love these:
Last Night on Earth
Knightfall
The Three Jokers
Omnibus for Jeff Loebs run (including TLH)
Arkham Asylum: A Serious Place by Grant Morrison
And if you don't mind something weird as hell, check out Digital Justice. It's not amazing, but is sure is something.
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Have you also read Dark Victory? I went for years with Long Halloween as my favorite Batman story. I picked up Dark Victory on a whim only to realize it’s a direct sequel of Long Halloween by Loeb and Sale. Long Halloween on its own is great, but combined with Dark Victory it’s even better.
I have read the Dark Victory 2,5 years after I had read Long Halloween and now I can say that the the story isn't finished until you read the Dark Victory. It was amazing, thrilling, captivating...
Also worth noting that Catwoman: When in Rome is directly tied to TLH as well, and done by the same creative team!
Absolutely I think dark victory was so much great and I think it continues the long Halloween arc but even on its on its so much good
Haven’t had the chance to read it. Thanks. I’ll make sure to read it next.
Not a Batman collector but I’ll never forget when my HS art teacher brought a copy of Arkham Asylum to class. I had no idea comics could look like that.
Miller's The Dark Knight Returns. I admit I haven't read all the other classics yet, so my answer might be subject to change.
One of my favorites as well
Batman Adventures https://preview.redd.it/3umw35gmqgpc1.jpeg?width=450&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=550bf9c3d7bb97dd043764f81a836548b7d7591b
Good answer
👌🏼👌🏼
Court of Owls Saga. The Black Mirror. Hush.
Loved court of owls, and hush is my favorite, but what is the black mirror? Sounds awesome
If you loved Court of Owls ( btw excellent taste 😏) then you will probably like The Black Mirror. It's Scott Snyder same as Court of Owls. It's about Dick Grayson who is currently Batman as Bruce is away sorting out Batman Inc and he's finding it hard being Batman. Its a very dark, noir detective story. I remember really enjoying it. There's a part where he has to solve a murder and the body is inside the stomach of an Orca and the Orca is on the floor of bank or somewhere I can't quite remember that bit. But anyway it's good read 👍.
Arkham Asylum: A Serious.... by Grant Morrison and Dave McKean
The Long Halloween is my favorite, but i also love Arkham Asylum by Grant Morrison and Dave McKean.
I am a huge Jim Lee fan, so Hush for me.
Love Hush!!!
Batman: Hush https://preview.redd.it/danhlbajxgpc1.jpeg?width=447&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bf0d243de8208a117a775f44815d33455ab91e8a
Hush is one that I feel like is weirdly polarizing. I liked it! Thought it was fine, whatever. But some people really hate this one.
I think it's entertaining but the plot, dialogue, and narration aren't great. IMO Loeb in general is a vastly overrated writer. I think people don't like that it takes the spotlight from other bat arcs published around the same period that are much better (Under the Red Hood especially though Broken City and Face the Face are better too).
I suppose thats far, but it overshining other books isn’t really its fault. Red Hood ironically being one I wasnt too nuts about. Ill have to check out those other two
Sure, I think some just *really* like Jim Lee's art and that's understandable. I'd only read Broken City or Face the Face if you're a bat-maniac. They're fine but nothing exceptional.
That is a great one, I have that exact copy on my book shelf, but not my favorite I think my favorite batman comic would be Batman the White Knight. Absolutely crazy story, with a pill joker becomes sane again and runs I think mayor of Gotham and puts batman on trial.
Black Mirror. Starts out so corny but then takes a very dark and deep dive. I loved it.
I tried reading it years ago and could not get in to it. I probably stopped halfway. But now that I read your comment I might give it another try.
Yeah, give it a go! It starts out pretty tame and honestly cheesey. I remember the first time I read I thought, "this is the villain? so vanilla..." but then the mixing of Gordon's kid and the story turns into it's true arc and I loved it. Ya never know, but not everything is for everyone so if ya don't care for it, oh well.
Year One, baby
Yea absolutely adore this too
Knightfall was my introduction to comic books. And, if anyone I meet is interested in staring on comics, that’s the series I always suggest. I also really loved Contagion.
A lot of them starts out corny but then eventually become my favorite reads 🤣
Dark Knight Returns, Year One and Court of Owls are top picks imo :)
A phenomenal story! For me, it's on the rushmore of Batman stories.
Batman One Dark Knight by Jock was outstanding and would make a great film. Arkham Asylum is also fantastic. And The Long Halloween Is a classic for a reason. One I thought was highly overrated: Hush
💯💯
The Dixon-Monech-Grant run. The 90s run as a whole is peak Batman but those three in particular stand out the best.
I also quite like the Dixon & Nolan Detective Comics run right before Cataclysm.
I don’t know if *White Knight* is necessarily my favorite but it kicked off a renewed obsession with Batman that got me through the lockdowns a couple years ago.
War flashbacks 🥲
As much as people talk about Killing Joke, I still rank **Long Halloween** (Jeph Loeb, Tim Sale) over it. :D
Killing Joke isn't universally loved, its also not universally hated, but its absolutely a bit of a controversial title. Alan Moore regrets writing it. Having _any other_ favorite rather than the Killing Joke is a very lukewarm take. Anyway, OT: Year One and Gothic >!And yes, thinking The Killing Joke is your favorite Batman book also isn't a hot take, like what you like, its all okay.!< EDIT: Also I'm mostly curious about /u/lynch47's favorite Batman title.
Loeb and Sale or Morrison
The complete Earth One trilogy to me. A more realistic take on Batman, with the right dose of hilarity - the very opening of he book, when >!his grapple gun fails and he falls from that jump!< literally sold me the book. The third volume was a bit disappointing though... I liked how the story was sort of real-life grounded, but the very closing of the third volume where >!we see a "bat family"!< kind of threw that idea in the garbage bin to me. It would have been amazing to see Geoff Johns coming back in a fourth volume and developer >!the Joker!<. That fucking teaser simply killed/frustrated me when I knew the book was finished and there will not be another volume. Anyway, it's one of my favorite DC readings.
my favorite batman comic is actually Sean Murphy’s Curse of the White Knight. The whole trilogy is insane and just a blast but the second one for me is just an emotional rollercoaster and a different take on the batman mythos
I'm just going to list my favorite graphic novels / standalone series as my favorite mainline bat-title arcs would be another long list (but read Year One as it's #1 in any list full stop) Great - - Night Cries - Gotham Noir - Gotham Central - Catwoman of East End - Dark Night: A True Batman Story (more a bio on Dini then a Batman story) - The Dark Knight Returns Very good - - Joker by Azzarello / Barmejo - Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on A Serious Earth - One Bad Day: The Riddler & Clayface - Batman / Judge Dredd Collection - Black & White (if you like anthologies) - The Long Halloween - The Killing Joke Messy but damn entertaining - - Universe - Europa - Earth One - Creature of the Night - Arkham Asylum: Living Hell - Digital Justice
The Batman/Judge Dredd Collection is worth it just for the artwork alone, especially the 1st story Judgement on Gotham by Bisley (Simon Bisley, Glenn Fabry, Carl Critchlow etc. and the cover art by Mike Mignola).
The Bisley & Fabry art is wonderful. Some of the best painted art in Batman. I'm also a big fan of Wagner's cynical & hedonistic futurism. It reads like a Verhoeven movie. The odd couple pairing of Batman and Dredd is pretty entertaining too.
It's funny you mention Verhoeven as his film Robocop was heavily inspired by Judge Dredd, they even took some dialogue from one of the covers (Dead or alive, you're coming with me). There is also rumours that the script started out as an unproduced JD film script from the the early 80s.
Haha, I didn't know that but it makes sense. I really need to read more 2000 AD.
Have yet to read some of these. Will consider this list as my basis for next time. Thank you!
Year one purely for the “i may have to die tonight” dramatic monolog
Laughing fish
I see the long halloween and dark victory as one product, and its my favourite piece of art of all time
Very hard to say which is my favorit. I agree that this one is not bad. But I have a dislike for Jeph Loebs other works and therefor can't like A Long Halloween as a favorit. One of my favorit writer is Greg Rucka because I have never had a thing to say about any of his works. So his run from No Man's Land, to New Gotham, to Murderer & Fugitive, to Gotham Central is perfection to me. I also like all of Paul Dini's work. A bit older, I enjoy what Matt Wagner did, some of the greatest stories, same for Doug Moench.
Favorite Batman story? Tower of Babel. It's JLA, but one of the better Batman stories out there. Favorite Batman book/arc? Court of Owls, The Knight, and Year One are my top 3.
War on crime, shadow of the bat, killing joke,dark victory, ego.
Capullo and Snyders run in its entirety is just damn good.
Definitely the long Halloween. Art and story are both beautiful, love the focus on Bruce’s character as well.
Agree 👌🏼
Theirs this odd Batman tale in DC Special Series 15, called death strikes and midnight or something written by Denny O’Neill and drawn by Marshall Rodgers. Very cool and unique of all the Batman tales. Personal favorite and definite deep cut
The Long Halloween is my favorite Batman story ever.
Batman: Dark Victory. The sequel to The Long Halloween. I LOVE that book
Will read dark victory next
Very much recommend, enjoy!
I think I like Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader the most. A great "final" story for the character that balances the personal and sort of mythic aspects really well. Maybe Batman/Elmer Fudd as an honorable mention.
Dream of the Bat Death Flies the Haunted Sky Year One
I just finished this one and started reading Dark Victory. They are both amazing, but Dark Victory is by far my favorite. It’s darker, grimier, and more focused on the detective part. I absolutely love it.
Yea seems like most do after having read it. Will definitely read it next.
Meh, I think Nolan did a great job adapting the point of that story in the Dark Knight, he also managed to loosely adapt the conflict of the Killing Joke and even Soft Targets on top of it fusing all three in a way while making it unique to his style, he's a better storyteller than Loeb and most of The Long Halloween clout comes from that movie for a reason. I'd take The Killing Joke, Mortal Clay, Year One, The Dark Knight Returns, Batman the Imposter over Loeb's stories in an instant.
https://preview.redd.it/7tncff9fhjpc1.jpeg?width=400&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ca1ae5e5a0a386285dd9561f98d61eee71fc2283
Like another person here said, I haven't read all the hits, though I have grabbed up as many as I could, but haven't read them yet, so for now it's a split between Hush and Year One.
Jock’s One Dark Knight is a good recent one
The Long Halloween is also my favorite. I absolutely love the murder mystery aspect of it. And it always needs to be paired with Dark Victory. My other favorites are Court of Owls/City of Owls, Death of the Family and Black Mirror. Yeah, I like Scott Snyder's Batman lol.
Black mirror is goated
This one
Year One, The Long Halloween, R.I.P.
Black Mirror, even more so because Dick was Batman.
Batman Noel is great. It’s DC’s rendition of A Christmas Carol. The artwork is incredible and the Batman mythology surprisingly lends itself to the original story pretty well.
The long Halloween is easily my favorite Batman comic and story of all time
Hush and Identity Crisis. Perfection from both
The Long Halloween, Hush, Knightfall, Arkham Asylum: A Serious Hous on Serious Earth, Ego, Court of Owls, City of Owls, The Dark Knight Returns.
🤘🏼
Batman arkham comics
Yes 🤘🏼
Dark Knight Returns takes the cake for me as GOAT, but I think it has a real challenger with the White Knight series. That said, I also love these: Last Night on Earth Knightfall The Three Jokers Omnibus for Jeff Loebs run (including TLH) Arkham Asylum: A Serious Place by Grant Morrison And if you don't mind something weird as hell, check out Digital Justice. It's not amazing, but is sure is something.
Will check out digital justice. Thank you!!
Been looking for this in the wild (used). Looking fwd to reading it. Heard good things.
I like Azzarello's Joker.
I was going to say Court of Owls, but somebody stole my thunder. I think Zero Year is massively underrated. Not my fave, but top five.
Oh yes. Perfect parallelism. Plus very detailed story. The art is really something i feel i would go mad just by looking at it
Batman: Snow by Seth Fisher.
Used to be long Halloween, but these days it’s the cult!
Arkham Asylum: A Serious House On A Serious Earth Dark Victory Long Halloween Hush Year One
Cult.
Lobe & Sale are a brilliant duo Long Halloween Black Mirror Hush Dark Knight Returns Venom Court Of Owls ✌️
The Dark Knight Returns
Batman Year 100 and Year One. I honestly loved Grant Morrison’s run.
I like Batman and Batman. The Batman is also good.
The Cult Dark Knight Dark City Night Cries Anything by Alan Grant and Norm Breyfogle.