Batman graphic novels – reviews

My most favorite superhero is Batman. I fell in love with this superhero after watching the TV series as a kid. My other favorite superheroes were He-man and Phantom as I watched them on TV and read comics. Batman comics are darker and more serious in nature. The villians are pretty scary too. So as an adult, I picked Batman graphic novels over every other superhero novels. I read most of these earlier but did not own copies of them. This year I bought some of my favorite Batman trade paperbacks/graphical novels and now I have a collection of them.

If you are looking for some recommendations of Batman comics, here are some that I have read, grouped according to authors’ names –

Alan Moore:

1. Batman: The Killing Joke 

   Alan Moore is probably the most well-known graphical novel writer (with books like Watchmen). After knowing that Heath Ledger’s role (in Dark Knight movie) was kinda based upon the joker in this book, I had to read it. Joker is totally psychotic and this book proves that. Also learning about joker’s past was the best part of it. Loved the dialogues between joker and Batman. This is my most favorite Batman graphical novel and I loved it the first time I read it. This year I re-read it and I liked it as much as I did the first time. If you like Batman, you should not miss this gem of a book. Illustrations are some of the best ones I have ever seen. Amazing book – 5 stars easily.

Scott Snyder:

2. Batman, Vol. 1: The Court of Owls

   My first one by Scott Snyder.
   This is the first book in a series and I need to read the next few books in the series to understand the whole story so that was a bummer. I have mostly read standalone Batman graphic novels so far. I was not the biggest fan of this art style. It was hard to tell what was going on sometimes and also who was talking to whom. I did like the story though. It is about this organization called court of owls who want to kill Bruce Wayne. His great grandfather Alan Wayne also makes a brief appearance in this story. But overall, I felt underwhelmed after reading this book for some reason and hence giving it just 3 stars.

Grant Morrison:

3. Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth 

   The artwork was really cool but the story as such wasn’t that great so gave it 3 stars.

Frank Miller: 

4. Batman: Year One

   Talks about Batman’s and Jim Gordon’s origins. Gotham city’s condition is portrayed before Jim Gordon came to Gotham city. Cat woman’s role was wasted though. I gave this book 4 stars. 

5. Batman: The Dark Knight Returns

   It made an interesting read but the graphics could have been better. I really liked the story but the way it was presented made it difficult to understand what was happening. During a fight, who was hitting whom? Even conversations were not that good. And sometimes when the thinking part comes, you won’t understand who is thinking that.. Is it Robin or joker or Batman or Superman?!! Many people are in the frame at once and you won’t know who is saying what..But ending was good, in fact very good. I read this one when the Dark Knight rises movie was about to get released. I later on realized that the movie was not at all related to this book, even though the titles kinda seem similar with Dark Knight making a comeback.
   3 stars for this book.

Jeph Loeb:

6. Batman: The Long Halloween 

   The mystery element in the novel was great. I am still confused about ‘Holiday’. Ending left me pretty baffled. Gilda part was something that I never guessed and I am not fully convinced about that either. However the other villains had very little part to play. Most part of the book was about ‘Holiday’. One of the best Batman books. I gave this one 5 stars. I need to re-read this book soon.
   {Spoiler:
   After some analysis, it looks like first it was Gilda, then it was Alberto who tried to get rid of Maroni and his men taking advantage of the fact that Holiday was on loose and finally it was Harvey or two face who killed Roman. Pretty confusing but yeah this looks like it. Need to read the book again.}

   ——-

I bought two new Batman books by Jeph Loeb (Hush and Batman Vs Superman) which I have to read still. I will post a review once I am done with those.

Have you read any of these comics or any other Batman novels? Please do recommend some of your favorites.