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Which Batman comic to follow?

Pick up the first two "Batman and Robin" volumes. They're fantastic and you can see Damian's progress improve over time. Grayson has been an excellent father figure. "Detective" is good. The Judd Winnick volumes are decent to read.
 
The current mega arc masterminded by Grant Morrison began with the "Batman and Son" trade which introduces Damien. Then you've got "The Black Glove" which leads into "Batman RIP".

Right after RIP is the "Final Crisis" crossover he wrote which tosses up the status quo. There's the non-Morrison "Battle for the Cowl" which establishes the new status quo. Then there's a bevvy of Bat titles but the main one is the Morrison written "Batman and Robin" and "The Search for Bruce Wayne".

Right now Morrison is writing "Batman Inc" which is only two episodes in. There's a lot of other titles as always but this is the only one he's writing.
 
Batman, Inc is considered the flagship book of the franchise right now. Everything else in the Bat-line is under this branch now. Yeah if you want to start with Morrison's run then pick up "Batman and Son" which introduces Damian.
 
"Ressurection of Ra'sh Al Ghul" doesn't really have anything to do with the larger Morrison story, does it? Or is that the moment where Damien really sides with his dad?
 
^ It's only relevance was that Ra's returned through a convoluted attempt to use Damian as a new host body through some kind of weird ritual set up by Sensei. Yeah it was the first time where Damian chose his father over his mother and grandfather. The second time was when Talia used Deathstroke to literally take over his body and cripple him. It really isn't necessary to read in my opinion.
 
I'm trying to think of what's likely to be widely available.

Pick up Batman: The Return and the two issues of Batman, Inc.. For Batman and Robin, pick up issue #19, the first issue of the Peter Tomasi run. And get the Scott Snyder run on Detective. That's what I'd recommend, if you want to get your feet wet.

As for the other Batman books... If you want Batman, pick that up with the start of the next arc; right now, it's in the middle of a storyline. Streets of Gotham, much as I'm enjoying it, is a dead issue in an issue or two. Batman: The Dark Knight #1 is more than likely to be hanging around comic shops.

Bat-family... Batgirl is fab. Red Robin is solid right now, too. Azrael is dead. Outsiders is soon to be dead.

If you like where things are at right now, I would then suggest backfilling with collections, and I'd start with Batman and Son...

  • Batman and Son
  • Private Casebook (collects some of the Dini/Nguyen 'Tec run
  • The Black Glove
  • The Resurrection of Ra's al-Ghul
  • Heart of Hush (the Dini/Nguyen R.I.P. storyline)
  • R.I.P.
  • Battle for the Cowl
  • The Batman and Robin trades
  • The Return of Bruce Wayne
  • The Road Home

And that would bring you up to where we are today.
 
I don't mean to sound anti-Morrison but I don't think Samurai8472 should pick up Morrison. Or at least he should be prepared for some disappointment. It's too dense and vague. I am speaking from personal experience. Think I'd read The Resurrection of R'as Al Ghul and then read Batman: RIP and I was like "I still don't understand RIP". So I was told to start all the way back from Batman and Son (from the ever helpful folks here on TrekBBS) and I did and I still am nonplussed.

Since that time I have read the two Batman and Robin trades, the two Red Robin trades, the trade for Battle for the Cowl, the Heart of Hush and so on. I would recommend the non-Morrison stuff more. So I would recommend Red Robin's two trades Collision and Grail. I would also recommend the standalone Batman trades - I liked Batman: Long Shadows but I didn't like Batman: Life After Death as much. And I really liked Whatever happened to the Caped Crusader. I recently read the first trade of Gotham City Sirens (Must read Heart of Hush prior to this) and quite enjoyed it too.
Grant Morrison is kinda the lead on the Batman universe. His stories have the most "universe-changing" stuff going on for the main character (Bruce Wayne). Now - maybe I just don't get it but I think Morrison takes a perfectly decent storyline and deliberately messes with it to make it vague/obtuse/ or plain simple not-A-to-B-logical. I know about throwing the reader into the story from different viewpoints until things start to make sense at the end - I think Skaar's storyline (especially Skaar: Son Of Hulk) is a good example. Things didn't make sense with so much disjointed narrative stuff but once you read the end, you can go back and read it and things hang together. I haven't found that to be the case with Morrison myself.

I've found more enjoyment in the Bat-family line of books. What's happening with Tim Drake, Dick Grayson (this is the main Batman line now), Catwoman (Gotham City Sirens). Morrison's main line is not totally a waste. Damien (the little b@$+@xx) is a fun character to read about and singlehandedly can make an issue both fun to read and repulsive. And it will have the main through-lines that will be "felt" in the surrounding storyline.

In short - there isn't really a good point to get onboard with Batman right now. But starting with Allyn Gibson's list is a great starting point if you want to get into this universe right now.
 
^ Wow. That's one of the first posts I've seen that is objective and reasonable concerning Morrison and just doesn't trash him. Great post and your points are great. I love Grant so I'll pretty much read anything from him.
 
While I really love Morrison's work, I can't help but feel that he maybe knows too much about Batman continuity for the good of his own storytelling.
 
I've been enjoying the Morrison run, even though it is too weird for its own good. I sampled some of Red Robin and Batgirl (Stephanie) and didn't care enough to keep reading. Too mundane and just there. I've been saving up the runs of Batman and Detective from the past few years and I'll be reading those sometime soon.
 
Red Robin and Batgirl are just plain fun in my opinion. Morrison's more "meta" stories are indeed weird and out there but he himself has stated that they're in part homage from the old 50's Batman alien and monsters stories. I've often stated in my defense of Morrison's work that I love how he has taken inspiration from all of Batman history and continuity and create new stories from that. Similar to what "Batman Brave and the Bold" has been doing. I think Morrison brought that up as an example last summer when discussing Batman history and influences. I know that his ideas and execution aren't for everyone..especially Batman "purists" who detest what he has done with the character but I love pretty much everything that he has done..and he's giving me Damian so in my eyes he can do almost no wrong :)
 
Also, I really, really, really hate the name "Red Robin". And I don't like how he instantly looks 30 years old in that new costume, which looks horrible anyway. I miss Tim Drake as Robin. Don't get me wrong, Damien as Robin is awesome. But I don't like the whole Red Robin premise or costume or name.
 
SPOILER!!!









Is Bruce Wayne really dead or did they bring him back to life? I haven't been following Batman going ons lately.
 
I'm not so fond of the name but really it's a homage to "Kingdom Come". Tim has evolved into a master detective in his own right. The first arc of "Red Robin" was pretty weird with all the Talia and Ra's stuff concerning making Tim a heir but the new creative team seems to have dropped all that. It was revealed that Tim is actually the one who came up with the Batman, Inc idea and suggested it to Bruce. Stephanie has come into her own as Batgirl and I like her banter with Oracle...speaking of which "The Death of Oracle" storyline concludes today. Bruce and Babs have implemented their endpoint plan for Calculator (I'm going to the comic shop later to pick it up). I think Babs is going to create a new identity for herself.
 
Just read the new issue of Batman Inc. It's only 3 in but I don't really care about these international Batmen and their lame villains. And the artist is terrible. This is the premiere Bat book by Grant Morrison, can't they get a GOOD artist?!

Also, whatever happened to "The Dark Knight" by David Finch? I thought that was an ongoing? Is he just taking forever to draw the issues or something?
 
^ I think "Batman: Dark Knight" is quarterly or something Finch is writing and drawing the book so it comes out when he finishes. I agree about Yanick Paquette not a fan of his work at all.
 
Lookingglassman said:
SPOILER!!!









Is Bruce Wayne really dead or did they bring him back to life? I haven't been following Batman going ons lately.
Click to expand...

Yes, Bruce is back. He's supposed to have been time travelling and there are two separate collections that you have to read for that. One covers his journey thru the timeline (Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne) and the other covers what he does as soon as he's back and interacts with each member of the Bat-family ( Bruce Wayne: The Road Home) - this second consists of a series of one-shots. It was more fun to read for me but there isn't a storyline as such. It's basically written with Bruce "active voicing" throughout about what he thinks of that particular Bat-family-member (or vice versa).

And Thanks, Admiral_Young :techman:

 
Mr Light said:
And I don't like how he instantly looks 30 years old in that new costume, which looks horrible anyway.
Click to expand...

I personally don't think he looks 30 years old in that costume. I thought that some of the artists have really done a good job depicting the different body-lines. eg. Dick is a more leaner-younger Bats. Similarly Tim Drake is also drawn pretty lean-mean tho' not quite spider-man. (Damien is pretty much a runt! There's even a joke thrown-in for us about that - Damien going on about how he doesn't need sleep and Alfred reminds him that it's necessary to grow taller).

Too bad, we already know (was it in Bats #666?) that he grows up to be a pretty tall Batman himself. Talking about Morrison's cryptic allusions - I have no idea what that was about with Commisioner Barbara Gordon and Prof Pyg and all that weirdness. I wonder if that is going to tie into anything at all or will it remain just general weirdness.
 
Yep it was Batman #666 where Future Damian debuted. Morrison has implied that the Future Batman stuff will eventually be paid off. We just don't know when yet. It has also been implied that Terry is born in the regular DCU continuity as we established in the Batman Beyond thread and is guided by Old Damian instead of old Bruce.
 
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