Thoughtful, emotionally real Batman stories for a newcomer
February 10, 2011 9:29 AM Subscribe
Help me to find Batman trade paperbacks for my housemate to read! I really, really want her to appreciate how awesome Batman can be at its best. She's not read many comics before, but just read and enjoyed 'Bruce Wayne: Murderer'. She liked the focus on moral reasoning and personal dilemmas, as well as the fact that nothing supernatural happened. I don't think she'll like Frank Miller.
I've done a lot of my Batman reading in weirdly bitty ways in bookshops and at other people's houses, so I don't have a vast store of TPBs to lend her; however, I've been thinking lately that I'd like to acquire a few more. I get the feeling that her enthusiasm is a bit fragile, so I really want to be showing her the best of what Batman can offer before gently breaking to her how much crap you have to wade through to get there.
She liked 'Bruce Wayne: Murderer' a lot, but I seem to recall 'Bruce Wayne: Fugitive' being really awful, so I'm not going to go for that for the time being. I have 'Arkham Asylum', which I love, but I'm not going to give her that yet because I think she might find it a bit trippy to begin with. I think she'll find 'The Dark Night Returns' etc. even more wearyingly macho than I did.
I've been thinking of getting all or some volumes of 'No Man's Land', because I seem to recall that being a good place to find some of the more intense discussions of what is the best way to go about living and relating to people. Some more good storylines involving Leslie Thompkins (ie before DC decided to trample all over her characterisation with hobnailed boots) might be nice. Some good Ra's Al Ghul might work, or some really nihilistic Joker stories. Basically stuff where the characters represent radical ethical positions, or alternatively storylines where the characterisation is exceptionally subtle and realistic.
She would have preferred the art to be better in 'BW:M', so particularly visually awesome stuff would be a bonus.
I've done a lot of my Batman reading in weirdly bitty ways in bookshops and at other people's houses, so I don't have a vast store of TPBs to lend her; however, I've been thinking lately that I'd like to acquire a few more. I get the feeling that her enthusiasm is a bit fragile, so I really want to be showing her the best of what Batman can offer before gently breaking to her how much crap you have to wade through to get there.
She liked 'Bruce Wayne: Murderer' a lot, but I seem to recall 'Bruce Wayne: Fugitive' being really awful, so I'm not going to go for that for the time being. I have 'Arkham Asylum', which I love, but I'm not going to give her that yet because I think she might find it a bit trippy to begin with. I think she'll find 'The Dark Night Returns' etc. even more wearyingly macho than I did.
I've been thinking of getting all or some volumes of 'No Man's Land', because I seem to recall that being a good place to find some of the more intense discussions of what is the best way to go about living and relating to people. Some more good storylines involving Leslie Thompkins (ie before DC decided to trample all over her characterisation with hobnailed boots) might be nice. Some good Ra's Al Ghul might work, or some really nihilistic Joker stories. Basically stuff where the characters represent radical ethical positions, or alternatively storylines where the characterisation is exceptionally subtle and realistic.
She would have preferred the art to be better in 'BW:M', so particularly visually awesome stuff would be a bonus.
Mad Love is a fantastic addition to any Batman library.
Also, branching out away from BM, you might want to try The Justice League's Identity Crisis.
posted by mrsshotglass at 9:42 AM on February 10, 2011
Also, branching out away from BM, you might want to try The Justice League's Identity Crisis.
posted by mrsshotglass at 9:42 AM on February 10, 2011
It's Frank Miller, but Year One is very good, and I don't think it indulges his hyper-masculine tendencies. Caveat: I've not read it in years.
posted by chazlarson at 10:02 AM on February 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by chazlarson at 10:02 AM on February 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
Batman: Year One is Frank Miller, but otherwise hits all your buttons.
posted by mkultra at 10:03 AM on February 10, 2011
posted by mkultra at 10:03 AM on February 10, 2011
The Batman Adventures are kind of adorable.
I've enjoyed Batman and Robin despite knowing little background on recent batevents beyond "Bruce Wayne vf qrnq ng gur zbzrag, ready okay go!"
Gotham Central is gritty side-character awesome.
Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? made me cry. It also contains the issue solidifying Poison Ivy's character.
posted by nicebookrack at 10:05 AM on February 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
I've enjoyed Batman and Robin despite knowing little background on recent batevents beyond "Bruce Wayne vf qrnq ng gur zbzrag, ready okay go!"
Gotham Central is gritty side-character awesome.
Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? made me cry. It also contains the issue solidifying Poison Ivy's character.
posted by nicebookrack at 10:05 AM on February 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
Aaaand for classic standalone serious creepy, Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth.
posted by nicebookrack at 10:08 AM on February 10, 2011
posted by nicebookrack at 10:08 AM on February 10, 2011
It's Frank Miller, but Year One is very good
And if you like that, The Long Halloween and Dark Victory carry on in that general "early Batman" timeline.
posted by Fleebnork at 10:57 AM on February 10, 2011
And if you like that, The Long Halloween and Dark Victory carry on in that general "early Batman" timeline.
posted by Fleebnork at 10:57 AM on February 10, 2011
I enjoyed the initial semi-recent Grant Morrison stuff, (Batman and Son, Black Glove, Batman and Robin, etc) from before Wayne got lost in time. Basically, there's a limited window between the end of Final Crisis and Darkest Night where Batman comics were free to be Batman comics without too much worry of super-crossover events.
What cemented Batman as awesome for me, though, was the Batman: The Animated Series show. I still consider that to be my 'baseline Batman' when it comes to character histories and the like.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 11:38 AM on February 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
What cemented Batman as awesome for me, though, was the Batman: The Animated Series show. I still consider that to be my 'baseline Batman' when it comes to character histories and the like.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 11:38 AM on February 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
I seem to remember the Batman/Grendel crossover being pretty good when I read it like 20 years ago.
posted by axiom at 11:46 AM on February 10, 2011
posted by axiom at 11:46 AM on February 10, 2011
+1 to what Fleebnork suggested. Both of those books are really good books and read more like a noir-ish detective story than a superhero story.
posted by cuando at 12:39 PM on February 10, 2011
posted by cuando at 12:39 PM on February 10, 2011
It's actually a Wonder Woman story that Batman is part of, but the TP titled Wonder Woman: The Hiketeia is a good 'the moral dilemmas superheroes face' story and maybe just the kind of meaty emotional/ethical stuff you're looking for.
posted by bartleby at 2:07 PM on February 10, 2011
posted by bartleby at 2:07 PM on February 10, 2011
Response by poster: Let's be clear here, I don't think she's ready for anything surrounding Batman:RIP. We had a conversation after BW:M where she said "I really liked it but it was very confusing when Batgirl was there because I thought you'd told me Batgirl was who Oracle used to be. And you're going to have to run me through the Robins again. Basically the only thing that stays the same is that Bruce Wayne is Batman, right?" and I said "Hrm, yes, well, about ninety percent of the time Batman is Bruce Wayne except during Knightfall when it was Dick Grayson for a bit and then sometimes Azrael I'll have to tell you about him and I think maybe last time I checked Bruce Wayne was dead but he probably isn't any more so let's forget about it for now shall we."
I'm also still a bit apprehensive about Year One. All the other Miller stuff I've read has been the sadistic, dull action-hero Batman I'm trying to convince her isn't the whole deal. I've also read that Miller's Batman characterisation is broadly consistent. I'm open to the possibility of its being different, though - I just need more detail.
posted by Acheman at 2:27 PM on February 10, 2011
I'm also still a bit apprehensive about Year One. All the other Miller stuff I've read has been the sadistic, dull action-hero Batman I'm trying to convince her isn't the whole deal. I've also read that Miller's Batman characterisation is broadly consistent. I'm open to the possibility of its being different, though - I just need more detail.
posted by Acheman at 2:27 PM on February 10, 2011
Response by poster: After looking around the web a bit, Batman: Absolution looks about perfect. What else is like that? I'm not looking for stories that are really important to continuity or mythology, just interesting, carefully written, morally serious ones.
posted by Acheman at 2:47 PM on February 10, 2011
posted by Acheman at 2:47 PM on February 10, 2011
In that case, you should definitely pick up The Long Halloween, as suggested above. Bonus points if she's watch Dark Knight, since she'll most likely pick up on how much of TLH ends up in TDK.
posted by Ghidorah at 5:50 PM on February 10, 2011
posted by Ghidorah at 5:50 PM on February 10, 2011
ditto The Long Halloween. If something along the lines of the animated series would work, there's BATMAN DETECTIVE and BATMAN DEATH AND THE CITY by Paul Dini, who worked on the show.
how would she feel about Gotham Central?
posted by Geameade at 9:22 PM on February 10, 2011
how would she feel about Gotham Central?
posted by Geameade at 9:22 PM on February 10, 2011
Response by poster: I've been trying to get to somewhere (ie Roman Road Idea Store, Foyles or Forbidden Planet) where I can take a look through some Gotham Central TPBs as well as The Long Halloween and maybe even Year One. I'm still sceptical enough about all of them not to go straight to Amazon, because 'noirish' fiction tends to avoid precisely the kind of earnest moral philosophising that my housemate likes. I was hoping to go this weekend, but other events supervened; hopefully next Saturday will work. I might end up getting some GCPD stuff for myself even if it isn't right for her.
Absolution just arrived, though, and I think it's going to be a hit. I also ordered 'Spiritual Currency', the standout best issue of No Man's Land, as a book on its own. She's been enjoying 'Batman: Black and White'. I remember reading a few good Detective Comics arcs before the War Games fiasco started (this was approximately when I gave up keeping up with Batman continuity) but they don't appear to have been made into TPBs - maybe I'll track down the single issues. I read all of 'Identity Crisis' back in the day, and felt it started interestingly and promised a lot but fizzled away into rubbish very quickly. Still thinking, pretty seriously, about 'The Hiketeia'. I think the Animated stuff and anything spinning off from it is going to be far too 'kiddie', however much its fans are going to protest at this.
I'm still looking for a really good Ra's al Ghul story, and I'm starting to wonder whether this isn't one of those cases where the composite Ra's in my mind is cooler and more Schopenhauerian and worked-through than any concrete instantiation.
posted by Acheman at 4:46 AM on February 15, 2011
Absolution just arrived, though, and I think it's going to be a hit. I also ordered 'Spiritual Currency', the standout best issue of No Man's Land, as a book on its own. She's been enjoying 'Batman: Black and White'. I remember reading a few good Detective Comics arcs before the War Games fiasco started (this was approximately when I gave up keeping up with Batman continuity) but they don't appear to have been made into TPBs - maybe I'll track down the single issues. I read all of 'Identity Crisis' back in the day, and felt it started interestingly and promised a lot but fizzled away into rubbish very quickly. Still thinking, pretty seriously, about 'The Hiketeia'. I think the Animated stuff and anything spinning off from it is going to be far too 'kiddie', however much its fans are going to protest at this.
I'm still looking for a really good Ra's al Ghul story, and I'm starting to wonder whether this isn't one of those cases where the composite Ra's in my mind is cooler and more Schopenhauerian and worked-through than any concrete instantiation.
posted by Acheman at 4:46 AM on February 15, 2011
Response by poster: Just to follow this up, I looked through The Long Halloween and Dark Victory in a bookshop, and they're not the right thing at all, and neither is anything to do with TAS. However, it did help me and my housemate to articulate another thing that's important about good Batman stories: that they're not, hum, how to say this, stiflingly straight. I mean, the Batfamily is this wonderful non-heteronormative extended family, the relationships aren't gay, but they're sure as hell queer, and I think you lose that when you turn the whole universe into this exploration of men's problematic relationships with their wives, punching, and the bastards who punch their wives. I guess that also explains why I hate this whole Damien Wayne bullshit quite so reflexively, too.
On a more positive note, I found another good book for my housemate called 'Batman: Night Cries'.
posted by Acheman at 4:32 AM on April 23, 2011
On a more positive note, I found another good book for my housemate called 'Batman: Night Cries'.
posted by Acheman at 4:32 AM on April 23, 2011
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