Reddit reviews Batman and the Mad Monk

There's no book that is really a sequel to Year One, but if you want to read more early years Batman, check these out:

• Batman and the Monster Men
  
• Batman and the Mad Monk
  
• Batman: The Man Who Laughs
  
  They're all really good stories set in the time not too long after Year One.

There were a few tie-in series (Batman Adventures, Batman & Robin Adventures, Batman: Gotham Adventures, etc.) that were generally pretty good, if not great.

In addition, you'll want to pick up anything Batman from Bruce Timm and Darwyn Cooke's Batman: Ego and Other Tails.

EDIT: Even Matt Wagner's Mad Monk and Monster Men.

Thank you thank you.

As far as essential Bat stuff outside of what you've mentioned, I'd recommend the following:

"The Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told" = This is a collection I bought way back in '89 - it is still one of the greatest collections of Bat stories I own. there is a ton of great stuff in here that is essential. It comes highly recommended.

"Strange Apparitions" = Another really great collection. Not sure why it is so insanely expensive, but if push comes to shove I'm sure you can find it digitally (wink wink).

I also think Matt Wagner's Batman stories are amazing: Batman and the Monster Men and Mad Monk are really great. They take place in the "year one" period so this is a stripped down Bats, focusing on brute fighting prowess and detective work.

"Ego" by Darwyn Cooke is also a very interesting tale told with a unique and compelling visual style.

These two runs are from the old series "Legends of the Dark Knight" two separate arcs written by two different people but both are fantastic. First is "Shaman" , which actually takes place concurrently with Miller's Year One and next I'd recommend the run collected as "Prey" a great Hugo Strange story. If you can find any floppies of this old series (they're probably in the fifty cent bin at your LCS) I'd recommend you buy them up - this series was really great for about the first 50 issues or so, lots of great runs by some really talented folks.

For a change of pace look into some of the Elseworlds books too. Gotham by Gaslight, Night Cries, Gotham Noir, The Batman of Arkham, I mean there are a ton of these, some stink but most are surprisingly good.

Hopefully that's a good start!

Try The Cult (a personal favorite), Shaman (a pre-Year One origin story), Dark Moon Rising (Batman's first encounters with the paranormal; Monster Men and Mad Monk together), and the Black and White TPBs (a collection of stand-alone one shot stories by the best of the best artists and writers in the industry). The Long Halloween is required reading.

There's good and bad. As you can see above, I'm really liking Snyder's new take on the first year of Batmannery, but IMO, the new Robin origin sucks the balls of a million and one feral donkeys. Or something a normal person might say.

So with that in mind, my pre new 52 recommendations...

Batman: Year One Wouldn't be too surprised if you'd read this already. A gritty, 4-issue take on Batman's formative Batmanning, this has long been regarded as the gold standard. Highly recommended.

Teen Titans by Geoff Johns, Vol1 This features wildly different characterisations than New 52, however, I think it's solid work, and just fun comics. Features Tim Drake Robin. If this interests you, also consider Young Justice by Peter David, based around Tim Drake, Superboy, Bart Allen(Kid Flash,basically) and Wonder Girl. It's lighthearted and pretty accessible if you like teen drama/comedy.

If you're looking at Batman's early years, there's The Man who Laughs for the first Joker encounter, or Batman and the Mad Monk.

Batgirl: Year Oneis super fun, and Robin: Year One is also pretty good, this is Dick Grayson Robin.

Also, if we're talking about essential Joker stories and Batgirl, I can't avoid talking about the seminal The Killing Joke.

The whole Damien thing really requires reading all of Grant Morrison's trippy, sci-fi Batman run, a guide to which can be found here. This might be what you call intermediate Batman.

And I think that's a good primer for the Batman universe. Anything in particular you're interested in, i.e Batman and other heroes, Batman as detective, Batman as superhero? There are tons of paper devoted to whatever you're into.

P.S While it seems I haven't shut up in ages, this is just important stories of the last 20 or so years. I've got nothing if you want anything on Batman from 1939-1987. If you need some more Adam West-ish Batman in you're life you'll have to ask someone smarter :(

Ninja Edit: Singing Batman

Batman and the Monster Men and its sequel, Batmand and the Mad Monk. These are both really, really good and don't have a lot of the more 'tragic' elements of Batman. Plus there's a solid love interest in there as well that actually serves the plot

Amazon links. it's generally 2 separate books

http://www.amazon.com/Batman-Monster-Men-Matt-Wagner/dp/1401210910/

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1401212816/

Looks like Amazon has a copy for $13.99 at the moment. Better grab it! https://www.amazon.com/Batman-Mad-Monk-Matt-Wagner/dp/1401212816/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1465581561&sr=8-1&keywords=batman+mad+monk