Comic Books Comic Book • Page 475

I don't know how to think about this tbh.

 

Finished Steve Orlando's Supergirl run, was really good! Not a huge fan of the art for the first two volumes, but everything afterward looked great. I love the two team-ups with Barbara and with Kenan (still have to read New Superman!), and the writing just got better and better. There was a whole issue about how Kara inspired a nonbinary teen to come out, which was genuinely so heartwarming.

I ordered all of Gail Simone's Birds of Prey. A couple books are getting new editions and won't be out until October and May. While I'm waiting for those, I'll probably end up reading the others out of order, but that's fine, I'm just excited to finally get into them and see Barbara as Oracle

 

@xkaylinh I forget, have you read or looked into the DC miniseries Spirit World?

Spirit World #1 | DC

I finally got the trade and am halfway through, and I feel like it’d be very up your alley. (Not just because Cass Cain is in it, lol, but I bet that’d help for you.)

 

Thanks for the rec! I actually wanted to check it out a few months ago but my shop didn't have all the issues and when I looked into it there weren't any variant covers I really liked anyway so rather than track them down individually I figured I'll just get the trade at some point

 

The miniseries has a prelude story in an anthology that’s collected in the trade. And, the trade also has another story from a Pride anthology at the end. So I definitely think trade is the way to go.

 

i'm halfway through Raven's solo miniseries by Marv Wolfman, liking it a lot so far. was surprised to find both volumes at my used book store so i definitely had to pick them up

 

I’m in the home stretch (last 15 issues) of Immortal Hulk and about 2/3 of the way from catching up on World’s Finest.

Think I’m going to prioritize catching up on the X Universe and maybe Fantastic Four next.

 

Pretty sure I’ve got that complete Bryan Q. Miller run in floppy form. Those covers were great.

 

Al Ewing & Steve Lieber together on a Metamorpho ongoing series!!! What a killer writer-artist duo, my gosh.

 

Yes, do want.

 

Cass Batgirl: Silent Knight
Art is a little wonky and takes some getting used to, but the writing is pretty good. Cass runs into a meta human who rewires her brain so she can talk, but she loses a bit of her edge in the process bc she can't read body language anymore. In order to regain some of what was lost, she makes a deal with Lady Shiva and agrees to a fight to the death in a year's time.

Gail Simone Birds of Prey: Fighters by Trade
Kind of an awkward jumping in point since it's in the middle of Gail's run. Babs and Helena are beefing bc of something that happened previously. The Birds take down some Gotham mobs from within, Bruce initially disapproves of their methods but later has a change of heart. Dinah has a good talk with Ollie. Babs has a good talk with Jim. Just really good dialogue all around.

Steph Batgirl: Batgirl Rising
Probably the biggest surprise so far, very fast paced, really nice art. Cass steps down as Batgirl after Bruce's "death," Dick is Batman and Damian is Robin, Steph's college life clashes with her vigilante life in spectacular fashion. Babs and Dick reminisce as they find themselves mentors to their very own new Batgirl and Robin.

 

Is anyone in here pretty knowledgable about Batman comics? He's always been my favorite superhero by far and I've had some of the most recommended books for a while but I've recently gotten way into buying comics again for the first time in years and wanted to get a good Batman collection going.

I've created this reading list for myself and I wanted to know if anyone had any thoughts on things I should add (or remove?). I did some research and tried to arrange these in "chronological" order too

1. Year One
2. The Man Who Laughs
3. The Long Halloween
4. Dark Victory
5. Robin: Year One
6. Batgirl: Year One
7. Nightwing: Year One
8. The Killing Joke
9. Arkham Asylum*
10. Death in the Family / A Lonely Place of Dying
11. Sword of Azrael*^
12. Prelude to Knightfall*^
13. Knightfall*^
14. Knightfall Vol. 2: Knightsquest*^
15. Knightfall Vol. 3: Knightsend*^
16. Contagion*
17. Legacy*^
18. Road to No Man’s Land / Cataclysm*
19. No Man’s Land, Vol. 1*
20. No Man’s Land, Vol. 2*
21. Hush
22. Under the Red Hood
23. Heart of Hush*
24. Batman & Son*?
25. The Black Glove*?
26. RIP*?
27. Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?*
28. The Dark Knight Returns

• * = need to get
• ^ = need to figure out best way to get
• ? = maybe

I realize it's a huge project, especially since Knightfall and No Man's Land alone seem to be huge time commitments. Does this list generally make sense? Is there anything I should add or remove? The ones with question marks I'm not sure about including based on my research, and most of the ones that don't have any markings I've read before. I was planning on maybe tackling the New 52 stuff (Court of Owls, etc.) if I still want more after I finish all of this and am also considering doing the Grant Morrison stuff outside of this project which is why I'm iffy about including 24-26, but if those three stories could fit neatly along with this then I wouldn't be opposed to including them. Basically, my goal is to build a cool collection of the essential books and read them in an order that would make sense as a loooooong chronological story (although obviously it won't all fit neatly)

The ones with the "^" symbol are ones that I'm confused about how I should actually get them. Legacy seems to have the second of the two volumes entirely out of print and I don't see it for a reasonable price online at all, although I did find an older edition of the TBP online for much cheaper but I'm not sure what it includes. The way that Knightfall seems to have different missing parts depending on which collection you get is also very confusing to me

If I should take this to Reddit let me know lol

 

that’s a solid look at older comics, but you’ll definitely want to read Scott Snyder’s run and personally I thought Tom King’s run was the best comic run i’ve ever read, but he has his detractors

venom, Cult, Gothic, The Doom that came to Gotham, and Mad Love are also good

 

Definitely a good list. Other additions I’d suggest are:

Batman: The Black Mirror is a must add. All time great story.

Batman & Robin by Grant Morrison is fantastic (fits in after RIP). Batman Incorporated is also great if you enjoy the Morrison era (Batman & Son, Black Glove, RIP, B&R).

The only other two big eras you’re missing that I know are Bruce Wayne: Murderer/Fugitive and War Games. I haven’t gotten a chance to read these yet so I’m not sure how good they are, but they are bigger arcs/stories.

As far as getting the books, instocktrades.com is probably the best option for cheaper omnibuses/newer stuff/newer editions. I’ve also found success with eBay as long as you’re ok with copies that aren’t always mint like old library copies for cheap. For what’s in each book and the different editions, check Wikipedia collected editions section as they normally list that.

I’ve been doing something very similar with Batman & modern Marvel stuff. The best piece of advice I can give is honestly what you’re doing: make a list, look everywhere, and be patient. I check comic book stores everywhere I go, wife & I go to used book stores all the time, and I have my list ready for every Con that I go to.

 

Yeah I didn’t add Black Mirror since it seems like u plan on reading Morrison and Snyders run, but I agree its excellent and great to read between runs

 

Also Ram V’s glorious Detective Comics run just came to an end. The only thing holding it back was the always serviceable but never incredible art that switched artists like every issue, sometimes within the same issue. I know it’s been said before but monthly comics are such a better model. Its been a boon for Batman and Wonder Woman

 

I kinda didn't expect the current run of Birds of Prey to be longer than twelve issues but I'm glad it's gonna be continuing.
apparently there won't be a 12th issue of Outsiders, "#11 (of 12)" will be longer and serve as the finale.
Of course, new Cassandra Batgirl is starting up soon, which I'm very much looking forward to. This'll replace Outsiders as the second series on my pull list. I'm wondering if I should add a third...
Renee Montoya is getting her own miniseries as The Question, an alias I have zero knowledge of. I'm hesitant to put it on my pull list bc 1) I only know her from BTAS and as a love interest of Kate Kane and 2) the covers so far aren't very appealing to me haha
Dinah is getting a Black Canary miniseries but from the synopsis it doesn't sound very interesting. I only know her from the Arrowverse and Birds of Prey, of which my main draw is actually Batgirl and/or Oracle.
speaking of the Arrowverse, there's also gonna be a Black Lightning series. Of course, his daughter Anissa is also queer, but I'm not sure yet how heavily the series will feature her (and potentially her girlfriend Grace Choi)
I think I'll flip through their respective first issues once they're out and decide then

 

I'm planning on getting the trades for Mariko Tamaki's and Ram V's Detective Comics runs... eventually. It looks like Renee Montoya is in those quite a bit, but that's only a bonus. Mariko Tamaki is one of my favorite comic writers, and Ram V's The Many Deaths of Laila Starr is amazing.

 

Both great and very different from one another. I wish Mariko would have stayed for longer, but in all fairness she did write a good amount of issues, they just did that weekly format thing for Arkham Tower, which, for a weekly series, came together pretty well.

 

@Vivatoto @Dodge725 Thank you guys!! I can already tell this is gonna be super fun

The one frustrating thing that I didn't realize is how many of these are out of print and mad expensive

 

I'm about halfway through The Flood now and I just noticed Stanley Artgerm Lau is the cover artist for this whole arc. His stuff is always great. If it's not too much trouble to dig them out, I'd love to see some pics of your floppies for this series

 

Cass Batgirl: To the Death
Cass gets her own place so Babs isn't in this volume as much. this basically chronicles the year leading up to Cassandra's deathmatch with Lady Shiva. there aren't any long storylines so it feels a little directionless at times, but there are a few great character development moments for her, plus a couple of fun team-ups with other Bat-fam kids (one with Tim/Robin and one with Steph/Spoiler). The aforementioned deathmatch itself is very satisfying. There are challenges to writing a character that doesn't speak much, but I think Cass is handled quite well. The art style still isn't my favorite, but the visual storytelling is top notch.

Gail Simone Birds of Prey: Progeny
Dinah and Shiva switch places! Shiva in the field--and not really getting along--with the other Birds, Dinah training where Shiva once did as a child. Dinah returns from Asia with adoptive "sister" Sin (who's in the current Birds run!) and--after foiling Talia's attempt to recruit Black Alice to the bad guys--eventually leaves the team to focus on her new role as a caretaker. Babs recruits some new members, including Barda (also in the current run!). They're sent on an international mission and things... don't go well, and Babs loses control of the team, in more ways than one. Gail continues to write amazing dialogue and inner monologue, impressively introspective. One of my favorite issues involves Dinah telling Sin of her past, as the daughter of the previous Canary, and as the new Canary herself.

Steph Batgirl: The Flood
The Calculator takes revenge on Oracle, turning some Gotham citizens into mind-controlled zombies in the process! Steph fights Catwoman, Man-Bat, and Huntress! Babs and Calculator clash inside their minds, while Steph and Wendy (Calculator's daughter, paraplegic ex-Titan) come to the rescue. Also in this volume, Steph takes on Clayface, and Steph teams up with Kara to fight... Draculas? plural?! a couple dozen of them, to be exact. This series continues to be so fun and super fast paced, definitely been the biggest surprise of the three.

 

I’ll dig around. I donated a bunch of stuff when I moved. But I feel like I kept at least a few of these for the covers. But I hope I’ve still got the whole run.

 

Sorry, one more Batman question - does anyone know if Batman & Son, Black Glove and RIP tie directly with Heart of Hush? I'm seeing that HoH seems to follow story beats of the former two and lead into RIP but I can't find a straight answer

I was thinking of doing the Morrison stuff separately but if those specific stories all tie together I'll include them in the initial collection