Friday, June 11, 2010

BATMAN HITS #700

The monthly Batman comic "BATMAN" reached a milestone issue this week with #700! (Batman #1 debuted in 1940!)

To mark the occasion, I thought I'd do another JIMMY'S FAVORITE BATMAN STORIES for any non-comic reading Readers who might want to pick up some kickass Batman comics (hint hint).

In "chronological" order:

YEAR ONE
A great retelling of Bruce Wayne's early days of becoming The Batman. "Batman Begins" took heavily from this book.
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THE LONG HALLOWEEN
A great mystery set within the year that the Rogue Gallery ("the Freaks") muscled out the traditional Organized Crime Families and clutched their villainous claws around Gotham's jugular.
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THE CULT
Batman pushed to the edge... and broken! See what happens when he rebuilds his mind and starts breaking the bad guys' bones!
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ARKHAM ASYLUM
The Inmates have seized control of Arkham Asylum. Their only demand: Send Batman in unarmed. Awesomeness ensues.
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THE KILLING JOKE
A fan-favorite unofficial Joker Origin as well as a fantastic out-of-continuity "Final Batman/Joker" story. A MUST.
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THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS
A futuristic story where a decaying Gotham screams for help & justice... that only Batman can dish out. So an old Bruce Wayne comes out of retirement to crack skulls. One of the absolute best Batman stories ever!






* Killing Joke & Dark Knight Returns are my all-time top 2 Bat-Favorites.

7 comments:

Timewaster said...

Can't argue with any of those choices. Have you read any of "Gotham Central"? It's a Batman related book that Batman rarely shows up in. Sounds terrible - but is awesome.

Jim said...

I LOVED Gotham Central!

Frank Gillespie said...

you have very good tastes sir!

Valkaad said...

Those are not only awesome Batman books, but some of the best overall stories of all time.

Anonymous said...

You covered it all. Mignloa's "Gotham by Gaslight" is an outsider favorite for me.

Jim said...

Yeah, Gotham By Gaslight is fantastic!

I tried to keep this list short and non-Elseworlds.

allen etter said...

The first three books in the Frank Miller series was excellent story telling. The fourth, where he fights Superman, was for me a real letdown. The butt-kicking he gave the mutants was great.