Reddit reviews Batman: A Death in the Family
We found 15 Reddit comments about Batman: A Death in the Family. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
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Reddit reviews Batman: A Death in the FamilyWe found 15 Reddit comments about Batman: A Death in the Family. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Batman: Year One is a fantastic way to begin. It introduces the major elements, tells a solid story, and the art work is fantastic.
The Long Halloween and Dark Victory are my next two suggestions. They're also my personal favorites (and Christian Bales!).
Others of note:
The Killing Joke
Arkham Asylum
Batman: Absolution
Batman: The Cult
A Death in the Family
Batman: Hush
I've got a few more but they're a bit scattered in terms of story line or canon. I'm also an outlier but I didn't care for "The Dark Knight Returns."
> It’s so confusing, why shouldn’t I just be able to follow his story from beginning to present?
> (I’m using Batman as an example but really I’d like help understanding how to follow comics in general as they’re all laid out this way, with overlapping arcs and timelines and such)
This isn't entirely how comics work. In general, it's not the only way other mediums work either. The REQUIREMENT that everything follows a strict, traditional/conventional 3-act structure (beginning, middle, end) is self-imposed and not necessary for good story-telling. The "beginning" of comics happened decades ago and the "end" is nowhere in sight; comics are perpetually stuck in the "middle".
You're already used to non-traditional narrative structure; it's used very often in other mediums. Why does Star Wars get a pass but not superhero comics? Did you see how Darth Vader "became" Darth Vader before he was introduced for the first time? Do you refuse to watch/read/play anything that will potentially have a prequel and ruin your "sense" of chronology? Did Memento or even Pulp Fiction melt your mind? When you go watch Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay, there aren't going to be in-depth introductions for every character.
It's OK to embrace your preferences. Most people like following stories from beginning to end. Now that there is 70+ years of comic history to explore, third parties have attempted ordering it all in some subjective, complicated chronology. It's not really possible, though. How do you handle flashbacks, especially when they're embedded in another story? Do you have to change the chronology to per-panel precision? What about simultaneous story releases? Alternate universes/timelines that are fully/partially "canon" and/or merged/retconned later? Varieties of characterization by multiple writers/artists?
Most of what made these superheroes "cool" in the first place was very topical. What powers do they have? What does their costume look like? Their backstories and character growth/development were fleshed out over the coming decades, more specifically in the "modern" age of comics when the demographic started transitioning to include adults.
There's no "perfect" or "definitive" sequence of events that Batman's story occurred in. That severely limits creators from writing new stories for the character without requiring hard continuity reboots. If you start solidifying that Batman grew up in X, met character Y, fought character Z, in a strict order that can't be changed, then you can't write stories that occur in between those moments. If you plan out Batman's entire chronology to fit a realistic calendar where Bane broke his back on Wednesday and the Court of Owls revealed themselves on Friday, then you (1) will find it won't make sense (because that's not how comics are made) and (2) are stripping all of the "magic" of comics away. Keep in mind: 70+ year old shared universes are an unprecedented achievement of storytelling. No other medium has accomplished something of this scale for this long. You should expect to think of something unique like that a little differently than you might be used to.
I think it's easier to get into comics when you drop the "need" to read EVERYTHING, IN ORDER. You should just read self-contained stories and treat them like separate stories. Think of it like a jigsaw picture puzzle that you're solving one piece at a time. You won't see the big picture (continuity) until you manually piece random pieces of it together over time. You even start to develop your own "methodology" (head-canon, community discussion, etc.) of putting those pieces together (reading comics) in a way that makes sense to you personally. Comics should feel more like self-discovery/exploration than procedure/work.
This is (roughly) how I got into Batman and what I suggest to new readers:
Hush is often regarded as one of the best Batman trades out there, so you're off to a good start.
Here's a rough list of other books you might enjoy, all widly embraced by fans of Batman while staying with a darker tone similar to Hush.
I''d also suggest reading Identity Crisis. Batman isn't the only character of the story, and while he doesn't make many appearances when he does he certainly makes an impact. Lastly, Gotham Central is also a great read, but it focuses on the GCPD MCU rather than on Batman himself, and how they deal with supervillains and working in a city with a masked vigilante.
Hope this helps.
I also got into comics with Batman Rebirth, afterwards I found this list here on reddit and all of them are just great, few of them are even extraordinary and without any of them we wouldn't have the Batman we have right now.
If I had to pick some highlights, it were The Long Halloween, Dark Victory, No Man's Land, Black Mirror and Hush, especially Hush was fantastic.
Still love Batman Rebirth though.
If you're interested in beginnings and endings, this copy of Death in the Family comes with A Lonely Place of Dying; Tim Drake's origin story.
Two birds with one stone, eh?
https://www.amazon.com/Batman-Death-Family-Jim-Starlin/dp/1401232744
To give OP a Head's up, "A Lonely place of Dying" is included in current reprints of the Batman: A Death in the Family trade paperback.
This is a tough one for me. I like the Marvel characters and movies better, but I like DC shows, both live action and animated, better.
Right now, I'm going to go with DC, since I'm waiting on the show Arrow to begin =).
But really, I'm just a fan of what they've done. The Batman trilogy was amazing, the show Arrow is very solid, I love Justice League and Justice League: Unlimited - they both did a great job of making an interesting show with solid characters, despite working with so many different characters.
Item from my wishlist: I have ones for both, but I'm going to go with this since I chose DC.
Summon three people: /u/heyredridinghood to be, well, the Red Hood (even though he already exists) as an anti-hero. I'll summon /u/TheEvilLightBulb to be the villain, The Evil Light Bulb (duh?), and I'll choose /u/RedDelibird to be the hero, Pokemaster!
Bonus: Marvel - Wolverine and DC - Martian Manhunter
"A Lonely Place of Dying" is the story line that introduced Tim as Robin. Oddly enough, it's often packaged with the "Death in the Family" story line. Chuck Dixon's Robin solo series details Tim's training and early career as Robin. I haven't read it yet (I will soon!) but Dixon also wrote some of the best Dick Grayson stories like Robin Year One and the best Nightwing run.
Links
https://www.amazon.com/Batman-Death-Family-Jim-Starlin/dp/1401232744/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_t_0/140-4985792-5278500?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=4MYE1XWYXDB64PZCG6DC&dpID=419fWJtFWPL&preST=_SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=detail
https://www.amazon.com/Robin-Vol-Reborn-Chuck-Dixon/dp/1401258573/ref=pd_sim_14_6/140-4985792-5278500?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1401258573&pd_rd_r=4MYE1XWYXDB64PZCG6DC&pd_rd_w=RC9YB&pd_rd_wg=4ftAK&psc=1&refRID=4MYE1XWYXDB64PZCG6DC
The Joker: A Celebration of 75 Years is basically a collection of stories about him
Joker by Brian Azarello is a standalone about him.
The Death of the Family arc is about him
A Death in the Family features him
that's all I can think of off the top of my head
Being a big fan of the Joker myself... couple of recommendations on that front...
The Killing Joke
Considered by many to be one of the best Joker stories around... A pretty twisted story, very dark subject matter. The Joker's idea/plan is to prove that it only takes one really bad day to drive someone insane. This was also used as a theme of the Joker in Nolan's The Dark Knight
The Joker
A noir-esque take on the Batman mythos... Worth the read if you're looking for something a bit different...
Batman: A Death in the Family
Another somewhat darker story... this one is the [spoiler](Death of Jason Todd/Robin) and the Joker plays a very central role in it all
Also, there's a comic "companion" to the Arkham games...
Issue 1
Issue 2
Issue 3
Issue 4
I really dig the cover art for issue 3... be sure to check that one out
Hope this helps a little
Sadly, I can't speak for DC Rebirth. I haven't read any of it. I can say that I loved the New52.
Batman list, in order of what I would read first.
Staples for Batman
Flash list (I don't know as much about the Flash)
Batman/Flash related things
No Man's Land - was originally collected into 5 trades but is being recollected into 4 much larger (including more issues) higher quality trades. Volume 1 was released in December, volume 2 comes out in april, 3 in august and 4 in this coming December. I read the original 5 volumes and it was a good story.
Heart of Hush - Hush Returns kinda sucked, Heart of Hush was a lot better.
Make sure you get the most recent release of Death in the Family as it includes A Lonely Place of Dying (Tim Drake's introduction as the 3rd Robin) which was not included in the many older versions.
JLA: Tower of Babel is a great Batman centric Justice League story. It is the inspiration for the recent Justice League: Doom animated movie but the source material has enough differences to be worth reading.
My Down syndrome sister inspired me...
Light your passion
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oh i see now. Sorry still kinda new to the whole book thing. Is this what you are talking about