Oh no... another addiction on the way...

Well I think I've started down another dangerous path. I've just bought four Batman comics of off ebay. Are they the most expensive things in the wolrd? No. I got all four for less than $70. However, I feel i could be spending a lot in the future.

I bought "The Killing Joke", "The Long Halloween", "Hush: Vol 1" and "Hush Vol 2". These seem to be the creme de la creme of the Batman world.

Batman has always been my Superhero. As a kid i LOVED the cheesy live action series. I LOVED Burton's bat films (Batman Returns was actually the first movie poster I ever owned. As a young teenager, I adored Batman: The Animated Series. Name a Bat toy i had it. I loved everything about this world and the Batman himself. However, I am ashamed to say that I have NEVER read a Batman comic.

After the travesty that was Schumacher's handling of the franchise, I was so elated to see that the studio had finally got the Bat back on track. Not only was he on track... but "Batman Begins" was the most solid, realistic and amazing outing for the Bat to date. It was such an amazing work.. and from all accounts... it was the one that stuck most rigourously to the comics. All this has gotten me eagerly awaiting the next two installments in Nolans series.

For those who do not know,(possible spoilers i suppose) the word on the street is that the second film will focus on Joker, while introducing Harvey Dent as the good willed DA of Gotham that befriends Batman and becomes a trusted Allie in the fight against the criminals. The Third film will follow the Joker's court trial, where Harvey Dent is hit in the face by Joker's Acid, turning him into "Two-Face". He then becomes the main villain in the third film.

Based on the fact that my only reference for Joker (and all the villains i suppose) are the films that have been made to date and The Animated Series.. i figued I need to know more. As good as they all were, they were limited. People alwasy talk about just how messed up and amazingly macabre the Joker and his antics are. I've never seen that Joker.. and consquently, have never LOVED him. Seeing as how the next two films will most likely use "The Killing Joke" and "The Long Halloween" as the biggest forms of reference, i figured I wanted to get as familiar with these characters in all there glory as I can.

So any other Bat fans here? Have you guys read these comics? What do you think (without giving anything away?). What is "the best" comic in the bat series? Your favorite? Any I should read after this?

Aghhhhhh the obsession starts all over again (which totally ROCKS!)

I am glad I found someone else who likes Bats.

The Hushh comics are the ones that got me hooked and I have bought every issue of "Batman" "Gotham Knights" and "Nightwing" since then.

Have been keeping up to date with the Batman main title? SOme HUGE HUGE HUGE stuff has happened (If you wanna know, just ask)

Cool! I collected Batman for awhile and have the very arcs you picked up. Your going to love the Long Halloween, actually you are going to love all 3 arcs. Great stories. I also have a big chunk of the Nightwing series (almost all of them). I highly recommend picking up Arkham Asylum, Knightfall Part 1: Broken Bat and Knightfall Part 2: Who Rules the Night. All 3 are in TPB form now. Oh yeah get The Dark Knight Returns and Cataclysm too. I don't want to spoil any of it for you. If you like Bats you'll like all of these.

just a few suggestions that haven't been mentioned -- Batman: Faces by Matt Wagner -- love his take on the Batman/ Bruce Wayne dynamic; also his two batman/ grendle crossovers; Batman: Year One -- & I'll second the Arkham Asylum recommendation -- great art & story. The Batman Black & White collection is also fantastic! have fun!

Thanks for all the suggestions guys...

I also just moved all the volumes of Batman The Animated Series to the top of my Netflix list... hehe.. i'm in full fledged Bat Mode here! (this is a GREAT series by the way.... or at least I remember it as being one)

Ooo you picked up some good ones! Others have already mentioned most of the good Batman comics. If you're interested in an ok offshoot one I recommend "Scratch" in which Batman appears. It's not like the ones previously mentioned by I enjoyed it.

Huge Bat-fan here too, although Superman is popular with me as well. I can't emphasize how great The Dark Knight Returns is. It didn't only redefine Batman but how comics are seen in society. A lot of it's imagery was used in the first Batman film too.

Of course the greatness of DKR is mitigated a bit by how horrid Dark Knight Strikes Back is, but just ignore that one.

Darklord Dave said:

Of course the greatness of DKR is mitigated a bit by how horrid Dark Knight Strikes Back is, but just ignore that one.

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Hush...do not speak of that horrible, HORRIBLE comic. *shudder*

CAhobbit said:

Hush...do not speak of that horrible, HORRIBLE comic. *shudder*

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Oh no.. I guess it truly is bad... ok.. will steer clear!!

Dark Knight Returns is Frank Miller, no? I think I'll check that one out next (when i'm done with (and if i enjoy) the ones I have ordered already).

I also caught a bit of Batman vs. Dracula on tv.... that is baaaaad

I'm watching Batman Begins as we speak.

Such an amazing movie, even after seeing it a few times already

The Killing Joke and The Long halloween are brilliant! Two of my fav e batman comics! Im a HUGE batman fan. Also pick up Frank millers Dark Knight returns and Batman Year one.

Enjoy!

Don't forget YEAR ONE, a sort of BATMAN BEGINS for the comics, also by Frank Miller. Right up there with DKR, imo.

You bought 4 comic strips for $70......

I usually pic mine up during a fleamarket for $0.50

Just got, read and finished "The Killing Joke". WOW. Very cool comic. Very cool Joker.. and i love his origin story. Similar to what Burton did but SO MUCH MORE to it. The fact that he had lost his wife and was forced to go on with this crime.. the fact that he had so much reservation about commiting the crime in the first place... the fact that he was in the "Red Hood" makes it even more interesting because it almost put him that much closer to going crazy. Being stuck in this hot wierd thing that was smelly and made him see the world in red. Then all of a sudden he's running for his life, Trying to outrun the bullets.. then all of a sudden.. there is this imagine.. this frightening dark, brooding creature.. a BATMAN! And then he falls... into the acid... that turns him into THE JOKER.

When he emerges.. it is all too much. He snaps.. right there. One day. That was all it took. And what was the last image he saw before he plummeted? Batman. Brilliant!

As The Joker, he is ruthless. He is deep, calculating and totally F'D!!!

I can definitely see how Nolan could spin this into an even more amazing film than Batman Begins.

My only concerns:
At the end of Batman Begins... Batman is already informed that there is somebody in Gotham calling himself "The Joker". What does this mean for the sequel. Is it possible that Batman already encountered him, and saw him plummet into the acid and we just didn't see that? I wouldn't imagine so.

I LOVED the carnival freaks! It will be SO creepy to see all these goons and freaks crowding over Gordon... the pics of his daughter flashing before his eyes and the Joker's cool and cruel constant berating. The only thing is, and this is just my opinion... i feel that a cheap carnival ride with bright colors and tv screens... a ride.... will not translate well to screen. Certainly not in keeping with Nolans dark vision. But perhaps i'm wrong.. i loved all the ideas.. just not sure i would love the look on screen

comments?

The Killing Joke depends completely on the reader being totally invested in Gordon and Barbara already. That wouldn't really work for the Batman Begins universe.

We don't really need another Joker origin story on screen I think - that was basically the first Burton movie. I'd rather have it again focus on Batman with Joker as a twisted genius that he has to match wits against. If Nolan just makes it focus on the Bat rather than the supporting guest star villains of the week, I'll be happy.

I trust Nolan so I'm sure whatever he does will be amazing. However, the origin story in The Killing Joke presents a much more complex and well rounded character. Jack is great in Burton's Batman, but it really isn't the essence of the character.

I just rented the new Batman vs. Dracula DVD - Excellent!

My kids and I all really loved it. Pretty scary looking vampires who are
actually dangerous as well. Interesting to see in a kid's animated movie.

JS

We don't really need another Joker origin story on screen I think - that was basically the first Burton movie. I'd rather have it again focus on Batman with Joker as a twisted genius that he has to match wits against. If Nolan just makes it focus on the Bat rather than the supporting guest star villains of the week, I'll be happy.

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That is indeed a good idea. But how long can you spend your time digging in Batman's history and keep it focussed on him? That would about 2 or 3 movies in total tops! After that, you'd just spend your time rehashing the same crap over and over. Which basically means that the Batman Begins franchise wont last very long. Then again, the first Batman movies by Burton had the same issue with the villains. After 2 movies, it got old.

The problem the movies got into, in my opinion, was they had too many villains in them. Catwoman and Penguin in Returns, Riddler and Two-Face in Forever, and Ivy and Freeze (and in the background Bane, which would have made a nice story all by himself) in B&R. They tore through villains too quickly, without focusing on any of them enough to make them interesting to those people who aren't familiar with them already. I wasn't crazy about the idea of two villains in Begins, but I think it was done well. And Ras wasn't a villain throughout the whole movie anyway.

IMO, I think a really well written story about Harvey Dent/Two-Face would make an excellent movie. The key is to show how close Harvey and Bruce were before the accident though. And you need to show the turmoil between the two sides of Two-Face. The Dent side of his personality should be just as important as the other, although in recent years in the comics Harvey hasn't surfaced as much. In my opinion, that was the one area that could have been done better in Return of the Sith. Anakin should have been struggling more with both sides of The Force. Standing there with tears running down his face as he prepared to execute all of the children in the temple would have much more dramatic.

I have been reading Batman comics for almost 20 years. There have been plenty of good ones. I'm now a few months behind though. Moving to another state and a newly built house have put comics much farther down on the priority list. Hopefully I can get back into it and get caught up.

I just reread the War Games crossover, one of the best stories depicting the genius of Batman. Welcome to the comic scene LOTRSWfan... I too concur with LE, Batman Year One is the Batman story to read. The Hush arc is good, but without a background on the characters involved it would be easy to get lost. Another good Batman read which hs just started is Batman: Gotham County line written by Steve Niles (30 days of Night, Zombie), issue 1 blew my socks off, issue 2 released today...