2000s: RIP or Best Batman Story Poll

"the horrible things that happen when Batman wears flannel" dammit

Lots of good stuff here, so I won't make a decision straight away. I'd still love to read "City of Crime", Dark Moon Rising and Brubaker's "Dead Reckoning" (not included here), which will be harder to track down.

I would have included Rucka's "Half a Life" Gotham Central story as well; it could very well be the highlight of that series.

How well do you think 00s Batman holds up against 90s Batman, overall?

Hmmm...I'd probably pick Catwoman, but it's not exactly a Batman story, izzit?

Is Half A Life really a Batman story, though? (it wasn't mentioned on the nom thread, and the Dead Reckoning, well, I forgot). Soft Targets really has a lot to say about Batman and his effect on the city, while Half A Life offers little more than a sentimental aside (and that might even be from the "bonus" material included in the collection?) and is very much part of the larger Renee Montoya narrative Rucka has built, and in fact the beginning of her breaking away from the Batman stable in a way that few Bat-Cast members ever have.

xpost exposing my blatant hypocrisy

Soft Targets for me.

I guess you have a point - the Half a Life trade does include the earlier Renee/Two-Face stories which are Batman-heavy, but mostly it has little to do with him.

I'm now trying to decide between Year 100, Made of Wood and Ego.

I'm siding towards RIP, but also tempted to rep for City of Crime or Death and the Maidens especially for being underlooked.

I liked the Gotham Central one about the Joker, but don't remember much about Batman in it, so I voted for DKSA.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

i went with year 100, though dksa was a close second

Strikes Again. It gets better with each reading, which I can't say about much Miller's done in a long, long time.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

wow, this is some revisionist history

not a great decade for our man bruce on the evidence, really.

then again when the previous decade's most iconic bat-image might be kelly jones' overly articulated bat-musculature, i guess it's a "nowhere to go but up" situation.

A bit harsh, strongo! At least 2/3rds of the poll options were at least quite enjoyable reads for me. (Can't defend '90s Batman, though.) There's been classic Batman stuff in every decade, but besides maybe the '80s, I don't think there's been this volume of quality material.

I'm completely baffled that even four people on this board thought DKSA was better than really any of the stories that garnered one vote (and even most of the ones that didn't get one).

I still think DKSA is utter shite.

Regarding the 90s, I think it started really well, then took a big slide downwards with all of those overblown "big events" dominating the titles (not that all the writing on Knightfall and NML was necessarily bad). I'd say the 00s has been more consistant overall for Batsy, though I don't like any single 00s story as much as "Blades" or "Dark Knight, Dark City".

I still think DKSA is utter shite.

Seconded in the biggest way.

Dark Knight Strikes Again looks like Frank Miller sketched it out with a sharpie over a weekend.