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Your favourite Batman comics.

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The Killing Joke, Endgame, and The Dark Knight Returns comes to mind. If we include Batman stories in general, I'd also include The Return of the Joker, although should be obvious just looking at my avatar.
 
I only read the really popular ones and a few of the TAS stories, I guess The Killing Joke was my Favorite, a nice little divulge into a nature vs. nurture argument (BTW did they ever do an official cover to the Joker song in that one?).

I also liked Gaiman's little mythology mix, but I didn't feel I have the knowledge to appreciate it properly; speaking of the cape crusader, I also remember a cool short story in that one (forgot the writer or title),
about a 5-9 guy wanting to evaluate is moral character by killing Batman.
 
Ego by Darwyn Cooke, probably the best story about why Batman doesn't kill.
Gotham by Gaslight by Brian Augustyn and art by (Hellboy) Mike Mignola
Long Halloween by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale. Story falls apart about two issues in but it is so pretty
Same with Dark Victory again by Loeb and Sale
Big fan of Morrison's run, from Batman right up until Batman Incorporated. Entire run is gold.
Batman and Grendel by Matt Wagner, absolutely gorgeous art. Just beautiful.

I quite like Bruce Wayne Murderer and Bruce Wayne Fugitive as well even though they do not make a goddamn lick of sense.

False Faces is also a nice read.
 
Snyder and Capullo's run on Batman is undoubtedly my favorite run of all-time, and Death of the Family is my favorite Joker story.

Other favorites include Long Halloween, Dark Victory, Killing Joke, Court of Owls, Hush, Death in the Family. The first volume of Knightfall is classic stuff too.

I also find the elseworlds stories to be dumb fun, namely Gotham by Gaslight and The Doom That Came To Gotham.

Tomasi/Gleason's Batman and Robin is great stuff too, glad to see it getting some love here. I feel like Snyder's stellar run has overshadowed this one a bit but it's truly great.
 
Since you've mentioned reading parts of Morrison's Batman run, I think you should read the entire thing from start to finish. It's one massive arc that spans years and is up there as my favorite take on Batman. And you need to make sure you read things like Final Crisis along the way (because fucking DARKSEID).

After that, go check out Peter Tomasi and Patrick Gleason's run on Batman and Robin (New52). It's a continuation of Morrison's Batman story that focuses on Bruce and Damian's relationship and is fucking stellar. It takes a few issues to find its footing, but once it does, it all snowballs into the most emotionally impactful Bats story I've read.

batman_robin_issue_0_07.jpg
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I know it's really cliche to say The Dark Knight Returns, but it's 100% TDKR. One of the best superhero books of all time.
 
Filthy Slug said:
Since you've mentioned reading parts of Morrison's Batman run, I think you should read the entire thing from start to finish. It's one massive arc that spans years and is up there as my favorite take on Batman. And you need to make sure you read things like Final Crisis along the way (because fucking DARKSEID).

After that, go check out Peter Tomasi and Patrick Gleason's run on Batman and Robin (New52). It's a continuation of Morrison's Batman story that focuses on Bruce and Damian's relationship and is fucking stellar. It takes a few issues to find its footing, but once it does, it all snowballs into the most emotionally impactful Bats story I've read.
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I've tried reading Final Crisis. Couldn't continue, sadly. Not sure why even. I love Morrison and his work, but Final Crisis just....I don't know.
 
No Man's Land
Gotham Central (Not really focused on Batman but still.)

Most of my other favorites focus on the kids so probably not what you're looking for.
 
read all of Morrison's Batman run a while back, not a huge fan of his but it was fun

about to read N52 Batman & Robin - i never read Morrison's B&R run but is it necessary to read before N52? i'd rather just dive into N52 tbh
 
All of Alan Grant and Norm Breyfogle's stuff.

Detective Comics #583-594, 601-621, 627, Batman #455-466, 470-476, Shadow of the Bat #1-5.
 
My favorite all time single story issue of Batman is Batman #430. It's the issue that happens right after the A Death in the Family story arc ends and Batman is on his own again with Jason Todd's death on his mind. The villain in the story? A man who had been fired from his job so he climbed a rooftop with a rifle and started shooting people. No mention of any super villains anywhere.

It's Batman at his most vulnerable, full of self doubt, anger, guilt. So evident that even Gordon questions if he can get the job done and in the end, Batman fails. He failed. First time I ever saw Batman lose years before Knightfall. I read it as a kid and from that day forward Batman has been my absolute favorite superhero.
 
geomon said:
My favorite all time single story issue of Batman is Batman #430. It's the issue that happens right after the A Death in the Family story arc ends and Batman is on his own again with Jason Todd's death on his mind. The villain in the story? A man who had been fired from his job so he climbed a rooftop with a rifle and started shooting people. No mention of any super villains anywhere.

It's Batman at his most vulnerable, full of self doubt, anger, guilt. So evident that even Gordon questions if he can get the job done and in the end, Batman fails. He failed. First time I ever saw Batman lose years before Knightfall. I read it as a kid and from that day forward Batman has been my absolute favorite superhero.
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This is neat, thanks for posting it. :)

I have a hard time thinking of Batman in single issues since I pretty much binge read most of my Batman stuff in trades or back issues, but I'm always looking for those stand out issues that don't take place during the popular story lines.
 
My favorites are:

Batman Year One
The Long Halloween
The Dark Knight Returns
Batman: Nine Lives
Batman Year 100

Those are pretty much tops for me.
 
Oh, my favorite Batman story is Hush. It's an anniversary comic and a cool detective story all in one. My favorite part of the book is when Batman is breaking down all the Robins and what makes/made them each unique.
Sir_Crocodile said:
RIP as in RIP being used well. He was used great in JLA, then poorly in various batverse related stuff, poorly in Cry for Justice (which was garbage-tier overall anyway), and poorly in midnighter.
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I don't think he was used poorly in Midnighter at all. The problem is that Midnighter is so damn OP, but otherwise I thought Prometheus was perfect. He effectively broke Midnighter, it's just that they didn't do the greatest job with their fight. If I recall, he's still alive, so he has potential to come back and hit even harder. Honestly, using Prometheus as evil Midnighter works for me.

Corpsepyre said:
Gotta ask. Has there been an R-rated Batman with explicit violence, swearing and sex?
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Pick pretty much any of the Miller Batman runs. The Dark Knight Returns, The Dark Knight Strikes Again, Batman: Year One, and All-Star Batman and Robin. I assume The Dark Knight III: Master Race will also fall into that, though admittedly I haven't touched it.
 
Ooh good thread. I've read a lot of these but always keen to hear recommendations too.

The Dark Knight Returns was my favourite by far.

I'm about a third of the way through Grant Morrisons run but I'm not completely sold on it yet.
 
I purchased and read The Black Mirror based on recommendations from this thread, and as someone who read Batman religiously from the mid 80's to late 90's, I must say...

Ehhhhhhhhh.

There's a kernel of a well-worn story there, but the dialogue is pretty terrible. This was also my first exposure to Dick Grayson as Batman. After hearing so many positive things about Dick in the Batsuit, I was interested to see how he played the role, but in The Black Mirror, Dick Grayson Bats is just terribly, terribly bland. And kinda' dumb. I appreciate not having the Batman who is always smarter than everyone else, who is always one step ahead. But to go from that to the doofus who just knocks on the front door to the enemy lair and seems to wear a bell on him so everyone knows he's coming?

Also...
the subcutaneous tracer that activates just minutes before Barbara bleeds out
is some contrived, deus ex machina bullshit. And in a story filled with unoriginal ideas, to simply drop the most interesting of those unoriginal ideas,
Dick being Batman while continuing to wrestle with the hallucinogenic effects of the gas
, was a total whiff-and-a-miss.

I sure as hell won't be trying any more recommendations with Snyder as writer, but I did like Jock's art. I remember Morrison writing some good Batman stuff back in the day. I'll give some recommendations of his work a shot next.
 
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