(no subject)

[badninja]

I WANT TO GO BACK TO COMICS

Or rather, specifically, I want to read Bat-family comics before Bruce comes back and ruins the current awesome dynamic like I know he will. :|

So, uh, which and how many series do I have to pick up for this? I HAVEN'T LOOKED AT DC COMICS IN THREE YEARS, BE GENTLE WITH ME

(Oh god why has it been that long since I read a comic book. I am so ashamed of myself now.)

Comments

[nenena.livejournal.com]

So, uh, which and how many series do I have to pick up for this?

Depends on how much backstory you want for Damien and/or Bruce's "death", I guess.

Personally I'd skip over Bruce's "death" (it was lame) and jump right into the "Battle for the Cowl" miniseries, which was only five issues and sets up everything about the current status quo. It's not the greatest, but it's essential reading in terms of what's going on currently with Dick, Jason, Damien, and the Joker. (Also, you'll want to read the trade version of "Battle for the Cowl," not the individual issues, because as far as I'm aware only the trade version has the extra story that explains how the Joker busted out of Arkham and got his current mouth-scars to match the Dark Knight movie version.)

After "Battle for the Cowl" you can read the current "Batman and Robin" series, which is really the best of the current stuff and focuses entirely on Dick-Batman, Jason-Hood, Damien-Robin, and Scarlet.

Tim now has his own series, "Red Robin." So if you want moar Tim, read "Red Robin."

That's all the stuff for the current dynamic, really. There's more backstory about how Bruce died scattered around a zillion other issues and miniseries, but if you want less Bruce and more everybody else you're good with just "Battle for the Cowl", "Batman and Robin", and "Red Robin." There are also the "Batwoman" comics that are published within "Detective Comics," but you can get all of the current "Batwoman" stories in trade now ("Batwoman: Elegy" is the first trade so far. It's really, really good.) But Batwoman has her own entirely separate storyline going on and she's not really connected to the rest of the Batfamily.

Er, hope this helps!

[badninja.livejournal.com]

That helps so much! It's exactly what I needed, thank you. <3

[innerbrat]

There's also Batgirl, starring Stephanie Brown, whichis probably the best place to go for post-RIP Babs as well.

[badninja.livejournal.com]

post-RIP?

also

wait

steph is batgirl?

FUCKING WIN

[innerbrat]

It's the best place to go for Babs post Batman RIP, I meant. She's in the Birds of Prey now, and that might pick up, ut the Batgirl Rising trade is out now and excellent.

And, I may have spoiled (heh) the first issue of Batgirl for you there. Oh well, it is fucking win.

[badninja.livejournal.com]

Oooh, Batgirl Rising sounds promising from title alone. And it's more I'm not sure what RIP is but everyone keeps referencing it. I have so much reading to do before bringing Dick back in the bar, good lord.

Hey, I wouldn't have picked it up otherwise (Cass got ruined for me long ago, I AM STILL BITTER ABOUT THIS) so knowing is a good thing. :D

[innerbrat]

Batman RIP is what happened just before Final Crisis, leading up to Bruce's Death. the whole Batfmily was completely reshuffled in Battle for the Cowl and Batman Reborn:

Batman- Dick Grayson
Robin - Damien Wayne
Red Robin - Tim Drake
Batgirl - Stephanie Brown
Oracle - Barbara Gordon
Red Hood - Jason Todd
Batwoman - Kate Kane
MIA - Cassandra Cain, Bruce Wayne

[grotesques.livejournal.com]

throw in Streets of Gotham in there. it follows the Batfamily with Dick Greyson as Batman but also features a whole bunch of other characters, like Hush, Firefly, and Black Mask. and it's kind of told from like, an outsider's perspective so it's really interesting.

[badninja.livejournal.com]

I've always meant to pick up Streets of Gotham, so thank you for reminding me of it. :D

[sdelmonte]

Red Robin is the best of the bunch. The first year makes a complete arc and takes Tim from the depths back to being Tim.

Batman and Robin is pure Grant Morrison, so if you like his work, you'll probably like this. Be warned that Damien is a major player here. Crazy thing is that I used to hate him and now he is a worthy star.

Most of the praise for the Batwoman stories in Detective was lavished on JH Williams' art. The Rucka scripts were good though the stories were not as imaginative as I had wished. The Question backup was fun.

Streets of Gotham is a little hit and miss. Basically, the more Dini contributes, the better. But when he is not around, it's not worth reading.

The other Batbooks are weaker, with Batman itself suffereing under Tony Daniel's limited writing skills.

[badninja.livejournal.com]

So Tim is actually normal now? And not like, dropping grotesque amounts of angst everywhere like a zombie? :x

Damien's a huge reason I'm going back to reading, so that'll be good. XD Little brat and his frickin hood, haha.

The Question backup?

...how's the Arrow family faring?

[sdelmonte]

The whole point of the first year of RR was to repair Tim, I think. I hope DC does such things for the rest of its younger heroes.

Rucka wrote a series of 10 page stories with Renee Montoya, the current Question. It ended when Rucka announced he was done writing other people's characters for the foreseeable future.

The Arrows have been dragged through utter bad story Hell. Roy lost an arm, Connor was given unnecessary powers, Oliie went all dark, Dinah divorced Ollie, and Mia was caught in the mess, too. No one is happy with any of this.

[badninja.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad to hear that. Tim is always a big reason why I read comics. I started reading comics because I thought he was cool. Then I forgot comics and started reading them again because of Peter Parker, but Tim will always be my first comic love.

RUCKA YOU'RE MEAN. I am so interested in Renee as the Question I don't even.

Didn't Connor get mixed with Plastic Man or something? I am going to sit here and pretend former bar comic canon is current comic canon. the Arrows were a lot better off. :P

[sdelmonte]

As cool as Ollie can be, life was better when Ollie was dead and Connor was GA and Kevin Smith and Judd Winick were never allowed to write either of them. Come back Chuck Dixon!!

[badninja.livejournal.com]

YES YES YES That is my opinion exactly but I never say it anymore because it makes people want to hit me. But these people never got to read Connor!GA, so I don't think they can give a fair opinion yet. XD

No matter what Dixon is always steadfastly my favourite writer. Even if I know something is bad I will love it just because he penned it. I swear I don't employ favoritism at all.

[sdelmonte]

Alas, Chuck and Dc got into a fight over the events leading to RIP, and he swore off DC for good. I think he means it, given how many writers seem to be of the same mind. When DC goofs, it GOOFS.

[badninja.livejournal.com]

Oh man. :x Has he gone over to any other company?

[sdelmonte]

He's doing stuff for Dynamite and IDW - most notably a GI Joe series - but he's more or less off the map.

Maybe the announced revival of certain CrossGen books by Marvel will get him some jobs there.

[badninja.livejournal.com]

CROSSGEN. Oh my god that is so awesome, I did not know that was being revived. I hope he writes something for that. It would win so hard.

[innerbrat]

THE ARROWS ARE FINE. ALL FINE JUST DANDY.

They just haven't bneen in any books in the last two years. Yeah, that's it. No Arrow books at all since 52. Nuh huh. None.

[badninja.livejournal.com]

...that is one of the BEST ICONS EVER.