Recommend some Batman

Strange Apparitions is probably the best silver age Batman. It is the best still in print for sure. It is worth mentioning that the late 70s was a low point for DC in terms of print quality and the current collection on sale looks to be scans from a printed comic. I really wish DC would do something with their back catalog along the lines of Marvel.

I’d love to reread the Doug Meonch/Paul Gulacy stuff from the early 80s.

Probably the height of Batman in his “Dark Knight Detective” mode.

Sometimes Batman is done best when he’s part of an ensemble. Grant Morrison’s run on JLA nailed him. Really great stuff, especially the first story arc. Just make sure you bail on the trades when Morrison did.

They just need to go in and pull out all the stupid electric Superman stuff.

It isn’t very iconic but I really like the Batman / Planetary crossover. Especially when the Drummer refers to the Adam West Batman as a transvestite.

“Did the tranny prostitute just spray us with semen?”

Bonus for when Elijah Snow calls himself, Mr Freeze.

“Bat-apologies.”

Weren’t there two Planetary crossovers? One where they meet different versions of Batman and another where they were the villians and Batman and wonderwoman, minus costumes, took them out?

I only remember the one with the different versions of batman. :( I might have to track the other one down if it’s worth it.

A lot of good suggestions this far.

If you like alternate reality you might enjoy Batman and Dracula: Red Rain. It’s an Elseworlds title by Doug Moench and its got plenty of awesome. :)

Yes - they are both part of the same Planetary trade, IIRC. The Batman crossover stuff was fantastic - all the different versions of the Bat. The other story suffered for not having Cassiday’s art, but was still pretty interesting.

Can anyone point out which JLA trades I should get if I’m just looking for the recommended (Morrison) trades?

The JLA trades New World Order, American Dreams, Rock Of Ages, One Million, Strength In Numbers, Justice For All and World War III. There’s some other non-Morrison stuff mixed in with those. Also, he did a great book with Quitely called JLA: Earth 2 that isn’t a numbered volume of the JLA trades. That’s an excellent book.

Earth 2 is great, though the end is a little anticlimactic.

There’s also the first story in JLA:Classified. It’s a great Morrison story, but I’d have a hard time calling it a great Batman story. I mean, it’s fucking bananas. I don’t want to spoil anything, but at one point Batman uses his Bat-UFO. You read that correctly. It’s as awesome as it sounds, and as completely fucking bonkers as it sounds. It’s also one of the few stories where Gorilla Grodd’s presence didn’t immediately make me roll my eyes.

The best way is probably going with the recently released JLA Deluxe editions. There are two so far, with I think one more to come, collecting all of Morrison’s stuff. The reason I’d recommend them is they’re oversized, nice looking editions and cheaper (at least in the UK) than buying the individual trades.

Whatever you do, don’t touch All-Star Batman and Robin. So awful.

Is it full of whores?

Here’s a script excerpt:

Perhaps he meant “fine” as opposed to “coarse”.

Thievin’ my damn links!

I really, really wish I could remember where I, at one point, saw the full script for the first few pages of All Star Batman #1. That bit up there I found on someone’s LJ, but I know I’ve seen the whole thing before, and it gets way, way worse than ‘ASS SHOT!’. Like, Miller starts talking about how he wants to make sure Vicki’s tits are all over the place, because it’s important to him that all the dudes reading have boners. It’s some really weird, distressing stuff.

Now I really want an annotated All Star Batman & Robin, with those notes right next to the panels. That way I can see exactly what Jim Lee thinks “one fine ass” is, and see what parts Miller insisted in including. (Balloons?)