Huk-L on Every Major Batman Storyline of the Last 20 Years

Arguably the Greatest Batman Story Ever Told. Or wait, Superman's the Jesus cipher, so, um, scratch that. Or wait, is Superman more of a Moses figure? Does that mean Batman can be Jesus again? Regardless...

Chapter One: "WHO I AM HOW I CAME TO BE" (ever hear of a semicolon, there, Todd Klein?)

Opening shot is of an elevated train (but not an Monorail, or even an El, but still, the number of visual references to YO in Batman Begins is boggling), the first character we meet is James Gordon, disgraced Chicago cop bound for a police force so corrupt that disgrace looks good on a resume.
Year One immediately and masterfully recalls the claustrophobic urban angst that fuelled the gloomy early years of the late-Depression Golden Age of comics and flavours it with Scorsese's seamy New York of Mean Streets, and most significantly Taxi Driver.
"Barbara's flying in. I don't care how much it costs. Train's no way to come into Gotham," Gordon tells us.
Youthful millionaire (billionaire?) Bruce Wayne comes in by plane. "I should have taken the train, I should be closer," he says. "I should see the enemy."*
Here we have the key differences between Wayne and Gordon, our heroes juxtaposed in Year One so strikingly that it almost negates the need for Harvey Dent. Both men are punishing themselves--Gordon for his never-fully divulged Chicago sins, Wayne for surviving the attack that killed his parents--but where Wayne has built his guilt into a crusade, Gordon has the responsibilities of the mundane world to keep him grounded.
Chapter One creates a far more compelling and sympathetic character of Gordon than Wayne, though when I first read this at 11 or 12, I didn't think so. Wayne alternates between Hamlet and Travis Bickle--an intentional allusion made clear on page 10. His existential soliloquies are peppered with military jargon and he eagerly takes the physical abuse that will become a nightly side-effect of the “mission� he’s so wholly devoted himself. Gordon, meanwhile, receives a much-less invited beating from his fellow cops and is far less committed to the war on crime. “I keep telling myself it’s either or pumping gas,� he says at one point.

*Miller’s use of running interior monologues for Batman and Gordon in Year One obviously inspired Jeph Loeb to use them for Batman and Superman in his Superman/Batman. Beating the device to death, however, was likely a Loeb original concept.

God help me, I really want the ultratruboOMGWTFBBQ edition that they just put out, but that'd make THREE printings of the damn thing that I own already (counting the floppies).

And really, after this storyline, what else is there worth reading in the Batman books? Really?

"Officer Down", which I may do next, is really very good, despite (or because of) a few note-for-note transcriptions from Homicide: Life on the Street, and there's hardly any Batman in it (it is, I believe, the set-up for Gotham Central, as well).

I'm a big fan of GOTHAM CENTRAL, even though I'm very much ambivalent on the whole 'realistic portrayal of superheroes' as that tends to make them fall apart pretty fast.

But I'm not likely to change my mind.

Three weeks after the fateful night where we learned that violence and fear are all that hold currency on the streets of Gotham, Gordon resolves a hostage-taking incident with a mininum of brutality, spurring complaints from his fellow cops to Commissioner Loeb.
Here, a few short nights before the first appearance of the Batman, we can pause to wonder what sort of a Gotham Gordon might have built without the interference of a dilletante vigilante. We see him quick to lay aside his sidearm, and his homelife seems to have a certain contentedness to it. Had cleaning up Gotham been Gordon and the not-yet crazy (and not-yet seen) District Attorney Harvey Dent, might an actual change have been affected? Working within the law, could Gordon have rid the GCPD of corruption, taken down the Falcone family and restored dignity to the streets of Gotham? Would his marriage to Barbara have lasted?
We'll never know, of course, but in those fleeting moments leading to the first reports of the Batman, Gordon's life seems to be heading towards a happier future than we know he'll have.
From the moment that phone call first informs Gordon of Batman's existence, his life changes for worse. He meets Essen on the Bat-Squad, he begins working more nights, his closest ally is a shadowy figure who demands total loyalty from Gordon but offers no guarantees of his own. The moment the Batman enters his life, Gordon is doomed to the same unhappy solitude of the Dark Knight, only without the gadgets or cape.

There are several, often conflicting, images of the Batman in Chapter Two. We see him struggle to capture barely competent B&E artists, utterly terrifying armed robbers (that image of the buckshot going through his cape is particularly strinking), and clumsily escaping the GCPD, who have Commissioner Loeb's sanction to use deadly force against him.

For all the talk of how Frank Miller's Batman, both here and in Dark Knight Returns (just thought of something: was Tim Burton's Batman Returns supposed to be in some way a reference to DKR?) finally shrugged off the camp shroud of Adam West, the following image seems to be lifted straight from the "Some days, you just can't get rid of a bomb" scene from the 1966 Bat-flick.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y298/hukl/batmanyo1.jpg

WARNING: OVERLOEB! (though is pronounced "lobe" or "leeb"?)
I like a lot of what Tim Sale does, but the dude needs to understand that only Hawkman should have a beak.
Dark Victory is basically Hush with better colouring. Loeb kills all the non-canon characters introduced in YO, either to serve notice on Frank Miller or to explain why they never appeared in later Batman stories.
Loeb really loves the idea of Batman & Catwoman sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g. I don't. If you read every Jeph Loeb Batman story, every single one of Batman's enemies is his mirror image. It's a whole fucking universe of "The PLAYA On The Other Side!"

I suppose if I had read these stories one issue at a time over the course of two years (as they were released), and not in one late-night Hawkins' Cheezies and steeped iced tea fuelled session, I might not have found it so fucking tedious. Fuhgeddaboutit!

(Re: Huk's first image on this thread)

So, unable to sleep and too knackered to turn on my computer, I reread (most of) Hush last night, and GOOD LORD is it awful. The int. monologue is bad on an Identity Crisis level, and in the intro to Vol. 2, Jim Lee talks about how Jeph Loeb was "writing to my strengths as an artist" and then made a joke about how that meant no plot, just big stuff, WHICH IS EXACTLY what ASB&RTBW is, I guess. And throughout Jim Lee commits several swipes from DKR (though those are pretty cool, and it's actually kinda fucking odd that Lee hasn't continued to do so in ASSBATS), and GOOD LORD, the Batman/Catwoman romance has never been duller.
REREADING the thing, the ID of Hush is even more obvious (though not as FIRST PANEL HEY LOOK AT THIS GUY WITH THE END OF THE WORLD SIGN) than Rorschach's in Watchmen upon a second reading, and much less rewardingly so. There are, of course, the odd BLATANT misdirection toward making you think it's Jason Todd--such as Hush standing on a building that probably has the letters R-O-B-I-N-S-O-N (as in Jerry) on top, only the O-N is cut off by the panel's edge. BUT, considering that Tommy Elliot is the ONLY new character intro'd in the story, AND the hamfisted (but pleasingly watercolored--or digitally-effected to look like watercolors) flashbacks to Tommy constantly outwitting Brucio, I mean, COME ON, people.
And in terms of introducing something/someone NEW to the Bat-Mythos, Hush is less worthwhile than Bane was, since, um, (as anyone who's read Gotham Knights over the last few years knows for a GODDAMNED RETARDED FACT) Hush (the character) has ZERO value outside Hush (the storyline).
HUSH = MUSH

:p

The "I Can't See The Forest, There Are Too Many Damn Trees In The Way" Award: This award goes to every single person out there who wrote a negative review of All Star Batman and Robin, the Boy Wonder because "Batman was out of character," or "there's too much sex and violence," or "Batman's actions don't make any sense," or "the dialogue is stilted," or, and this is my favorite, "it will alienate people who buy it after watching the movie." Folks, this comic is exactly what the civilian populace thinks a super-hero comic is all about: deliberately stupid dialogue, sexy dames and extreme violence. Frank Miller knows precisely what he's doing with this book, and Jim Lee, while not my favorite artist in the world, gives it a mass-appealing, polished look that will draw in people attracted to high-profile comics events. It's not quite a comedy, but it's got its tongue planted firmly enough in cheek to make Miller's deliberate tweaking of fanboy expectations that much more delicious. It's damn near the platonic ideal of a Batman comic.

Frankly I'd rather see a Milligan/McCarthy Batman. Or Wagner and Ezquerra. If you have to have an ocean of T&A and violence, let's make it good T&A and violence.

in an old Sin City lettercol Miller was very forthright abt certain artists copping his style - inc. Jim Lee on Deathblow!

How about Charlie Adlard & Robbie Morrison? Their Gotham Knights fill-in with Batman & Freeze was aces. I imagine it wasn't DARK and BRUTAL enough for them to get a regular gig, though.

So, what are the best Batman graphic novels, people? I've read Arkham Asylum, Hush v1., TDKR, The Killing Joke, and The Long Halloween, and to be honest haven't been blown away by any of them.

Try: BATMAN Year One by Miller and Mazzuchelli, STRANGE APPARITIONS by Englehart and Rogers, GOTHAM CENTRAL: HALF A LIFE by Brubaker, Rucka and Lark, BATMAN:EGO by Darwyn Cooke.

Most DC comics suck, tho.

I second at least the first three of Ward's recommendations.

City of Crime

Sadly, a lot of the best Batman stuff has never been collected. I love the Alan Grant/Norm Breyfogle runs of both Batman and Detective Comics back in the late 80s - early 90s. Many comics shops will probably have issues for cheap.

All the ones Ward recommended are better than what you've read thus far, though I'm not the biggest fan of EGO.

Those all sound good. City of Crime is a fantastic addition to the Batman mythos, great story. (I vote satisfyingly opaque)

I actually liked Batman: Year 100 a lot - Pope's artwork is always fantastic, though I'm still confused by what it was actually about in the end.

Turning Points is pretty cool, too, I think - pre-Infinite Crisis step through the ages kind of story with Gordon and Batman meeting several years apart throughout their careers. Not essential, but fun.

Yeah, I'm starting to really appreciate (from a loooooong ways away) the Grant / early-run co-writer? (John Wagner?) / Breyfogle Detective run -- their flip over to Batman didn't do much for me, but that flip happen just before I left the hobby.

I also have (possibly misguided) fond feelings for the Starlin / Aparo run up to & NOT including "Death in the Family" -- I imagine the KGBeast storyline aged as well as my hole-ridden HANG LOOSE t-shirt, but I definitely felt a sense of THRILLPOWER (copyright FT) when buying it off the racks.

If you can source (millionth time I've said this on ILC, apologies) "The Hungry Grass" or "The Executioner Wore Stiletto Heels!" from Peter Milligan's run on Detective Comics, those are two seriously wonderful (and short) Batman stories.

I've never read the famous 1970s Marshall Rogers run. Is it collected. And worth reading?

STRANGE APPARITIONS is the name of the collection!

I agree w/ EZ that a lot of the best Batman stuff has still to be collected - the great Dick Sprang strips from the 1950s, the underrated Gerry Conway issues from the 1980s (a lot of them drawn by Don Newton and Dan Adkins, one of the all-time great Batman art teams), the early 70s Jim Aparo stuff (mostly written by the otherwise obscure David V. Reed) etc. etc.

Forgot to mention the GREATEST BATMAN STORIES EVER TOLD volume which does indeed round up some single story gems - the dialogue-free Englehart/Amendola strip that Cooke riffs on in EGO, O'Neil and Giordano's 'No Hope In Crime Alley' (a big influence on Miller's approach to the whole primal orphaning scene, I think), a wonderful imaginary story by TV writer Alan Brennart, and the only Batman story ever drawn by Alex Toth...

Is there a collection of the Mike W. Barr / Alan Davis run (that doesn't include Batman: Year Two, which was a 4-parter that AD only drew the first chapter of; the last three parts were by Todd McFarlane)? Those were fun colorful angst-free Batman & Robin books (&, IIRC, included a guest appearance by SHERLOCK HOLMES in the 50th anniversary issue).

Year One>>>>>>>Dark Knight Returns.

I remember really liking Batman: Cult many years ago, but it's possible that a) it's out in print and b) I was wrong.

Dave Mazzucchelli has to be one of the most influential comic artists with such a small amount of published work. The guy drew Frank Miller's best two super hero stories in Batman Year One and Daredevil Born Again. I think comic artists have been ripping off how he drew a city all over the place, even more than Miller's stuff in Daredevil.

There are single issues of the Mike Barr and Alan Davis run on Detective that have been reprinted and they have separate trade for Year Two, but it has never all been collected. DC should get off their duff and put a trade together with the whole run including Year Two and the sequel Full Circle. It would make a good companion book to Strange Apparitions.

It would probably be cheaper to just track down the issues of Legends of the Dark Knight, which has a bunch of good stories in its run especially early on, but Doug Moench and Paul Gulacy did two great stories centering around Hugo Strange set in Batman's early years. The first one is collected under a trade called "Prey" (LOTDK 11-15) and the sequel came out a few years later called "Terror" (LOTDK 137-141). The trades are long out of print, but the original issues can be found cheap.

Another single Doug Moench story to track down Batman Annual #21, which should not be expensive at all. It is a really good one issue storyline with some great JH Williams artwork. The story is a total Master of Kung Fu story with Batman in the middle. Really cool.

Matt Wagner has also done a couple cool mini-series centered around Hugo Strange also set early in Batman's career called "Batman and the Monster Men" and a sequel called "Batman and the Mad Monk". Wagner also did a story in Legends of the Dark Knight dealing with Two-Face called "Faces" that was excellent and has recently been collected. There is also a story of the first team up of Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman he did called Trinity which features Ra's Al Ghul as the villain. I think all of these were really good. Whenever Grant Morrison decides to hang up working with Batman, I think Matt Wagner would be a good choice for DC to get to follow him, as he is a good writer and has a very different style. After reading Sandman Mystery Theatre, I think Wagner could do an excellent extended run with the Dark Knight on the regular book.

Bryan Talbot also did an excellent psychological Batman story in Legends of the Dark Knight 39 & 40 called Mask.

Really, just start with the beginnings of the Legends of the Dark Knight series. You can find most of the issues for a bout a buck a piece and there are great stories by Grant Morrison, Denny O'Neil and some of the others mentioned. There is all sorts of good stuff in that run, by far the most consistent of the Bat titles published.

Batman: The Man Who Laughs is a pretty good story about Batman & the Joker's first slowdance, with bonus story about the original Green Lantern + Commissioner Gordon + Batman (all my fantasies fulfilled).

Scik, you should run, don't walk to get Batman: Year 100. Kirby sez: Don't ask, just buy it.

The Batman Chronicles, reprinting EVERY Batman story in sequence are quite fun (but Superman Chronicles are even better). Avoid the first two Showcase Presents Batman volumes, the odd Infantino go-go story doesn't square the thundering dullness of most 60s Batman comics. The Showcase Presents Brave & Bold Batman Team-Ups, however, are FUN, esp. vol 2 on, which is later 60s Batman more serious than Adam West, but not yet the jag-off he would become in '86.

Ward, kudos to you for namedropping the Newton/Adkins team--really terrific stuff.

Earl, I think those two Wagner miniseries are both extended re-tellings of very early Batman stories.

Those Wagner stories are based on some early Batman story featuring his girlfriend Julie Madison, some vampires and he uses the little Bat gyro, but Hugo Strange wasn't in them. They are not exact re-tellings or anything. I thought they were pretty good.

If you take all three of those stories, the Moench/Gulacy, Wagner and Englehart/Rogers; Hugo Strange has has this origin told three ways and they were all really good.

I've read Batman stories here and there over the past 30 years, though I'm not really a fan. Along with everyone else, I dug The Dark Knight and Batman Year One (the former for the storytelling the latter for Mazuchelli). Didn't like Batman Year 100, despite my devotion to Pulphope's inkwork. Only other thing that really caught my attention was that long string of Kelly Jones issues. Writing was total crap, of course, but DAMN that motherfucker can draw.

Ive just finished greatest Joker stories trade and there's a 2 parter from Detective '78 (Englehart/Rogers)

* Batman goes peeping on his girlfriend silver st cloud (who looks like a porno star). He cannot tell her he loves her, and she dumps him at the end. Batman becomes Sadman.
* Hugo strange appears as a ghost and gives Batman some kind of adaptor and then scares a gangster into confessing, essentially by going WoooOOooOooo.
* The Joker does something to give all fish a joker face and then tries to copyright the 'brand', he also peels back the frame of one page letting you see the next. he explodes at the end.
* Gordon does his usual " this city, that bat" routine.

It was superb. where can I get more of this stuff? it was the exact point where the darkness was coming but (pre-watchmen) it wasn't being used instead of (and to the detriment of) everything else.

How much 1972-1978 Marvel (the period between Stan Lee and Jim Shooter as ed-in-chief) have you read? There is a LOT of crap in there but a surprising number of diamonds. Englehart's Avengers and Captain America; Gerber's Howard the Duck and Defenders; Moench's Master of Kung Fu (although I reread a lot of that recently and it's painfully dated).

Or were you specifically asking for Batman/DC recs?

"where can I get more of this stuff?"

There is a trade called "Strange Apparitions" that includes that Joker story and all of the Steve Englehart Detective run with artwork by Marshall Rogers & Walt Simonson (although you can't really tell it much from the inks). It is definitely one of the iconic Batman runs.

It is hit and miss, but there was some good stuff done with Batman from the late 70s though the 80s, it just wasn't that popular.

I grew up on that period of Batman and I kind of wish they would have the character get back to being more like he was back then. They often play Batman now as such an jerky obsessed joyless psycho. Batman is obsessed sure, but the guy seemed to enjoy it a lot more back in the old days.

So is it worth reading Officer Down?

Reading sure, but not paying for.]

earlnash: Have you checked out any of the recent Paul Dini detective run? It's definitely solid, fun stuff in that sort of vein, and collected in trades now. It seemed like post-Infinite Crisis they were going to try to get Batman back to that state, but I think Morrison's run (which is great in its own right) + Final Crisis sort of derailed it, but it's still a hell of a lot better than all that War Games-era stuff.

"where can I get more of this stuff?"

There is a trade called "Strange Apparitions" that includes that Joker story and all of the Steve Englehart Detective run with artwork by Marshall Rogers & Walt Simonson (although you can't really tell it much from the inks). It is definitely one of the iconic Batman runs.

If you're--ahem, ahem--torrenting them, you'd be after Detective issues 469 to 479.

I read most of the Batman titles. The Dini stuff was a nice throwback. The thing I liked about that it was there was a few of the mystery in an issue story. Alot of the early 90s Grant and Milligan issues are good in that way.

I think a big problem is the over emphasis on the Batman Family, where they often have to have Batman be flawed or make mistakes to open up story space for the half dozen Robins & various other minor characters get screen time.

There are stretches that are better than others. I think the Rucka/Brubaker run coming out of No Man's Land up until the pretty terrible Murderer/Fugitive story-line were pretty good and had some classic "Batman" stories. Officer Down is one of those stories and it is pretty good. The best one in that run was the Brubaker story line dealing with Lou Moxton, Deadshot and a cool character named Zeiss.

There's a Tales of the Demon collection that has most of the O'Neil/Adams/Giordano 70s hairy-chested love god Batman vs. even swarthier Ra's Al Ghul stories. Worth getting cheap if you can find it cheap.

Those Englehart stories were also reprinted in a Baxter format back in the 80s that should be cheap if you find them.

I need to go through my old 70s & 80s Batman and put together a 'mix' list of cool stories. There is definitely some other stuff not compiled that was pretty good. There was a bunch of great artists that worked on Batman in that time beyond Adams and Rogers, Gene Colan did bunch of issues, Jim Aparo, Paul Gulacy, the late great Don Newton, Trevor Von Eeden, Mike Golden and many others.

Cheers.

I was looking for only Batman type stuff as I can get pretty much every trade from my local Library ( give a hoot- read a book).

but should I wish to torrent non collected stuff, I'd like to know it was good. I think I bought most of the Dini run of Detective, butg theremust be loads of older stuff that's just waiting for rediscovery.

It bumms me out that if you told a music fan that there was loads of material sitting around in vaults from the biggest bands and no one had found a way to monetise it, they would look at you in disbelief. Try and get some sort of itunes for comics that all the labels agreed to, and didnt break the $1 an issue. with runs being like albums and getting a discount.

As it is I'll sniff round the torrent sites.

Earlnash. any tips after you put together a mix, greatly appreciated.

strange apparitions ordered from Library catalogue, will let you know what I think.

BATMAN SPECIAL #1 1984 "The Player on the Other Side" Writer- Mike W. Barr, Artist- Mike Golden

This one is a great annual sized tale with some fantastic Mike Golden artwork. The story is about Jim Gordon making a mistake leading to the death of a criminal and it spawns a 'player on the other side', as the child of this villain goes for revenge against cops like Batman does against criminals. It works and holds up pretty well. I think this one might be reprinted in the Best Batman of the 80s trade. Tony Bedard wrote a pretty decent sequel in Batman Confidential a year or so ago and it is all going to be compiled together.

BATMAN SPECTACULAR (DC SPECIAL SERIES #15) Summer 1978

I love this comic, I originally bought this one as a kid when it was new. I remembered it and tracked it down a year or two back when I started collecting together a bunch of Batman. It really might be one that is worth finding the original. It isn't worth crazy money or anything, but it is pretty cool. It is actually under DC Special Series if you look it up in databases, but basically it is a large mid-70s Batman annual. DC did a bunch of 80 page giants at the time, even the regular Batman Family then later the Detective series (when Batman Family was canceled) were large comics each month (or every other month I think).

Anyway this thing is the business, as it is almost a 'mini-trade' as it has all of this in one issue. David V. Reed/ Mike Nasser full length story that is pretty good, an excellent full length Ra's Al Ghul/Talia Batman story by Denny O'Neil & Mike Golden, then it has this really cool Batman prose story by Denny O'Neil with some knockout Marshall Rogers artwork. The prose story is laid out and similar to some of the stuff that Marshall Rogers later did with Don McGregor on Detectives Inc, if you are familiar. The last two by Denny O'Neil are great and should be reprinted big time.

This issue is definitely one of the single issues that kind of got me hooked on Batman.