Reddit reviews Batman Incorporated
We found 13 Reddit comments about Batman Incorporated. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
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Reddit reviews Batman IncorporatedWe found 13 Reddit comments about Batman Incorporated. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
> 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:
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.
While it seems daunting, it's actually not that hard to read.
You'll want to find these trade collections (I've included Amazon links):
I have previously made a post describing the different editions of Knightfall, and how best to collect that series, and about both of these runs of interest, I hope you don't mind me repeating that information. There are recent omnibuses and trade paper backs of both series', depending on what you prefer, and I will detail what is the most up to date versions in collecting these series.
For Knightfall:
Omnibus: 1, 2, 3
Trade paper back: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
The 3 omnibuses contain the same material as the 9 trades. As for what to read before Knightfall, people often recommend the Legends of the Dark Knight story arc Venom for introducing the chemical substance Bane uses but otherwise has little bearing on the story (it's probably cheaper to buy digital copies of the trade/individual issues, as I believe the trade is out of print), or Sword of Azrael for introducing Jean Paul Valley, as he has a lot gong on in the background with him. (Note, there are two versions, the 1993 version which is often out of print, though tells just the Sword of Azrael introduction, or the modern 2016 version, which contains both the introductory arc to be read before Knightfall, though also containing a post-Knightfall arc for JPV). In terms of what you need before hand, I read the 2012 editions, and I felt lost without Sword of Azrael and Prelude to Knightfall. It does showcase a lot of odd characters here and there, I feel like if you have a somewhat familiarity of Batman's villains (i.e. Arkham or BTAS experience) then you would be fine.
Knightfall happens early enough in the post-crisis continuity, which helps for the purpose of being a new reader. Morrison's run, on the other hand, happens at the end of the post-crisis continuity. I'm not saying reading all of post-crisis is necessary, I mean I hadn't before starting, but it does draw a bit from post-crisis knowledge (things like Hush, Under The Red Hood, etc.), though crazily enough, Morrison made everything canon. Not in a way that not reading everything is prohibitive, more so in a way that embraces even the Gold/Silver/Bronze age Batman stories. The pre-crisis stories Morrison drew influence from are collected in The Black Casebook, but really, I never found it necessary to read, it is just interesting from a history perspective. The rest of Morrison's run is fairly easy enough to follow. This infographic describes the order for reading in trade paper back format, though if I recall correctly, they have recently started putting Morrison's run in omnibus format.
Trade Paper backs: Batman and Son (New edition comes with The Black Glove arc, too), (optional Resurrection of Ra's Al Ghul), Batman RIP, then, it gets a little messy, as you might consider reading the DC wide event Final Crisis, which isn't Batman specific, but has huge ramifications for Batman going forward, but admittedly, without broad DC knowledge, can be confusing, anyway, following that is (optionally Battle for the Cowl and Whatever happened to the Caped Crusader?, which are not written by Morrison, but BftC is plot relevant to Batman going forward, and Gaiman's WHttCC? is a short and extremely well made reflection on Batman) then Batman and Robin: Batman Reborn, Batman and Robin: Batman Vs Robin, Time and the Batman, The Return of Bruce Wayne, Batman and Robin: Batman and Robin Must Die!. This is followed by the post-crisis Batman: Incorporated, but DC rebooted mid-Morrison run, so that it is finally completed with the New 52 Batman Incorporated volume 1: Demon Star and Batman Incorporated volume 2: Gotham's Most Wanted.
All of this (at least the Morrison parts, not any of the optional sections) are collected in omnibus editions: 1 containig Batman and Son, The Black Glove and RIP, there is a Final Crisis Omnibus, which I have heard is more complete, and there is 2 containing Time and the Batman, the first 3 Batman and Robin volumes, as well as The Return of Bruce Wayne. Lastly, there is the Batman Incorporated Absolute Edition finishing the all the Batman Incorporated stuff.
So Morison's may seem a little messier or harder to start, I wouldn't necessarily say it is harder, if you follow the list I have provided. I would recommend attempting it after a little more experience with comic Batman however, but it's hard to really say how much experience is needed. Some start with it, and have a great time. Another thing to consider is that with so much comics, especially omnibuses and absolute editions, it does get very expensive. I would recommend tackling it in bite sized chunks, like maybe just the first arc of Knightfall, or initially the pre-Final crisis Morrison stories, making sure you like either enough to commit to buying and reading more. I hope this has actually been helpful and informative, and hasn't made any of this seem too hard to follow!
You should read Grant Morrison's Batman run. It ran from 2006 - 2013 and everything is collected in trade.
You'll need:
Batman and Son
Batman RIP
Batman and Robin Volume 1
Batman and Robin Volume 2
Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne
Batman and Robin Volume 3
Batman Incorporated Volume 1
Batman Incorporated Volume 1 (New 52)
Batman Incorporated Volume 2 (New 52)
Here you go:
And that's it!
Batman - Year One, the Long Halloween, Dark Victory, Hush , the New 52 era.
Green Lantern - Secret Origin, Green Lanterns, the Green Lantern , Earth One
Stephanie Batgirl - Batgirl: Stephanie Brown, Batman Inc, Tynion's Detective Comics
Arkham Games Based - Year One, Arkham Asylum, Hush, Under the Red Hood
TPB will be cheaper if you can find it used at a LCS.
Here's an amazon link for reference.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1401238270/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?qid=1452261340&sr=8-2&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=batman+incorporated&dpPl=1&dpID=51uAxK%2BBxtL&ref=plSrch
I'm on mobile, please forgive formatting.
I was planning on pricing it at $20 for the floppies ($15 for books, $5 for priority mail).
Quick question,
I'm looking to finish off my run of Grant Morrison's Batman.
I wanted to know which of these titles I'd need.
Batman Incorporated Vol. 1: Demon Star
http://www.amazon.com/Batman-Incorporated-Vol-Demon-Star/dp/1401242634/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1427069296&sr=8-1&keywords=batman+incorporated
Batman Incorporated
http://www.amazon.com/Batman-Incorporated-Grant-Morrison/dp/1401238270/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1427069296&sr=8-2&keywords=batman+incorporated
Batman Incorporated Vol. 2: Gotham's Most Wanted
http://www.amazon.com/Batman-Incorporated-Vol-Gothams-Wanted/dp/1401246974/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1427069296&sr=8-3&keywords=batman+incorporated
The Batman, Inc. storyline actually starts pre-New 52 with this trade and then continues into the New 52 with Demon Star and Gotham's Most Wanted. Did that answer your question?
Depends on where you'd like to start. I'd recommend here, in which Dick Grayson is Batman and Damien is Robin. If you'd prefer to start with Bruce as Batman though, I'd Recommend Batman Inc., starting here. It ties with Batman and Robin a bit.
> Countdown to Final Crisis
NO. NO NO NO. That book is so ungodly terrible. Please, do yourself a favor and read anything else.
Also, for Batman Inc, there are two ways you could do it. You can get the trades (which there are three of; the pre-N52 and the two New 52 -one and two) or you can wait for the omnibus, which contains all of the issues, both pre and New 52.
If you want the lead up to his death too, you need the whole Morrison run.
http://comicsastonish.com/2012/01/04/a-readers-guide-to-grant-morrisons-batman/
If you want some amazon links:
Batman: Batman and Son
Batman R.I.P.
Batman: Time and the Batman
[Final Crisis] (http://www.amazon.com/Final-Crisis-New-Grant-Morrison/dp/140124517X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1422589571&sr=8-1&keywords=final+crisis) Somewhat optional
Battle for the Cowl Also optional
Batman & Robin, Vol. 1: Batman Reborn
Batman & Robin, Vol. 2: Batman vs. Robin
Batman & Robin, Vol. 3: Batman & Robin Must Die
Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne
Batman Incorporated
Batman Incorporated Vol. 1: Demon Star (The New 52)
Batman Incorporated Vol. 2: Gotham's Most Wanted (The New 52)