So... Batman

[ClassicGMR]

Anyone here a Dark Knight fan?

Anytime I hear about a "dark" or "gritty" story there's always a comment about reading "Killing Joke" - a graphic novel from 1988.

* "That's nothing - you should read Killing Joke!"

* "The Killing Joke is the best Joker/Batman comic!"

* "Y R U NO REDDING TEH KILING JOK?"

... and so on.

So I did.

.

.

.

I didn't care for it. True - it was a dark story and the Joker really pushed boundaries but the story around it wasn't that good.

And Batman has a laugh with the Joker???

Anyway just felt like sharing! Now I'm all verklempt!

[tthurman]

"Give a call, we'll talk, no big whoop."

"Hello, Linda"

"Yes, welcome to coffee talk"

"I never did really like this joker character, ya know, he sort of freaks me out, sort a like Lady Gaga or something"

"I know what ya mean, I was just talking to Barbara about this last week, terrible woman.....just terrible"

[Draco1962]

Why so serious?

[hansolo77]

I gotta admit, with the rumors going on around with Marvel about what they're going to do with the universe after Secret Wars, I'm desperately trying to find something worth reading. To start things off, I picked up the collected Watchmen series, and I'm really liking it. Then I ventured a little more cult and picked up the first volumes of Preacher and Hellblazer. Haven't tried starting those yet, but I will get to them eventually. What I really want is something that is currently in production. I know The Walking Dead is real popular, but I don't want to dedicate myself to buying those books individually since I already got the first 2 compendiums (basically the first 96 books collected into 2 TPBs). So I decided I would go with Batman, as I've always been a fan but never read any of the books. Superman just seems so "meh" to me, and I don't really know much about the rest of the DC universe. I know the major players, but Batman has really been the soul of what a good hero should be; tragic/traumatizing back story, a superhero without super powers, dark and gritty. I joined up with a comic book torrent site (don't ask, I'll never tell lol) and found they have complete runs of many series. To try and make sense of it, in their forums they have a sub-forum called "reading orders" where people can post what the recommend the order to read the stories in. Of course, the first place I went to was Star Wars, and I now have on my HDD the complete publication. But after that, I took a peak over at the Batman area and found a very nice list of some 50 or so stories. The first one, that a lot of people recommended to start with, was Year One. I loved it so much, I went ahead and bought the TPB from Amazon. Good deal too, only like $7 instead of the $20 I think it costs cover price. I'm now reading the 2nd most recommended story which is "Monster Men". "Mad Monk" is next. I just checked, and "Killing Joke" is on my list, at number 31. But this is not only a recommended list, it's also a chronological one. So I'll get to it eventually! My local shop finally got in the first volume of "Knightfall". He's had volumes 2 and 3 for like a year but somebody bought the first one. I told him if he still has it come tomorrow, I'm going to get it. This book is huge too, 640 pages, and that's just the first volume. It has something like 25 books in total in it. Since it's on my list, there's no reason NOT to get it. I just wish I was reading Batman earlier. I want to start reading it NOW (current publication) but I'm not sure when I should pick up the book. It looks like DC is doing some major universe altering stuff right now (New 52 or something) and I thought I'd wait until that's settled. I got YEARS of back story books I can read though, so no rush!