(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!

[innerbrat]

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

[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.

[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.