Hey all. I'm a big Batman fan, and I'm looking into picking up good Batman stories to read from over the years. I used to collect from 92-97 and have picked up sporadically since then. Today I picked up Batman Year One and Dark Knight Returns. And I plan on getting The Long Halloween ad Dark Victory next. Just wanted some ideas from others on what you think is some good Batman stories to get.

I think you basically got it.

I'm sure there will be people who recommend more and are much bigger Batman experts than me, but those are the main stories that everyone tries to emulate today. I mean there are some other famous things you can read (Knightfall, Killing Joke, ect.) but Dark Knight Returns and Year One are the big ones (And the other's you chose are great too).

Outside of that, I'd say you need to choose what kind of Batman you like. He's a super inconsistent character with a long history where most things aren't canon to anything.

There's:
-Pulp Detective style Batman
-Super Hero genius JLA Batman
-Wacky 1950's/60's Batman
-Scooby Doo cameo 70's Batman
-Gritty realism Batman
-Father to bat-kids Batman
-Alternate universe Batman

Other than what you've mentioned, I recommend:

-Killing Joke
-Death in the Family
-Any Batman trade by Grant Morrison - Black Glove, Batman & Son, Batman RIP, Batman Inc...

You probably already got/read these but:
Contagion
Cataclysm
No Man's Land
Knightfall
Morrison's JLA stuff. (that's the JLA super-hero genius Batman, the one haters call Bat-god)
Batman RIP
Under the Red Hood
Killing Joke

Those are the ones that come immediately to mind.

What, nobody recommended Hush? For shame....

Thanks for suggestions so far. I own Hush, Knightfall, Knightquest, Knightsend, Under the Red Hood in single issues. I also have Killing Joke. I read RIP from Library. Wasn't overly impressed. Joker was best part of that story to me.

Guess that leaves No Man's Land still. Death in the Family also. I also heard the first Ra's Al Ghul story was pretty good. Any more suggestions anyone can think of?

Edit: What about Court of Owls? Heard that was good too. Any word on that?

Birth of the Demon for Ra's Al Ghul is pretty good. Court of Owls was good (IMO) and the storyline in progress, Death of the Family, is also quite good and it features The Joker.

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned Gotham Central, one of the best Bat-titles to emerge in the past decade.

Also, avoid anything with Kevin Smith's name on it.

I just said last night that I'd have laughed my ### off if WK said:

"Hey folks! We understand that people want a Killer Moth, but we unfortunately were compelled to replace him with Baphomet. Sadly, this means that Killer Moth cannot, and will not, be made, because reasons."

I agree. I flipped through his Widening Gyre book. And for someone who claims that he loves Batman so much, Smith can't seem to write Batman very well.

I enjoyed his reboot of The Green Hornet and The Bionic Man for Dynamite more than anything he's done for the Big 2. I think that it's the established characters who already have "voices" that he can't seem to imitate very well.

Be sure to pick up anything Dini did while writing Detective Comics. Most of them are single issues stories, with a few two-parters, or follow-ups to previous stories. What I'm saying is, they are great, and it doesn't much matter what order you read them in. Get anything you can. He is my favorite writer of both Batman, and the Joker, and my favorite issue of a comic is from his Detective run. Can't recommend it enough.

The Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told/The Greatest Joker Stories Ever Told-- late 80s editions
-Millions of these were printed, so despite their age, you can get them dirt cheap, and you should. They're a mixed bag, but they give a sense of the scope of stories told with Batman and many key and influential stories (the first Joker tale, Strange's monster men, "Robin Dies at Dawn," "The Joker's Five-Way Revenge") are included.

Tales of the Demon by Denny O'Neill, Neal Adams, and others
-includes all of the early classic R'as al Ghul stories and Batman engaging R'as in a bare-chested sword duel.

Strange Apparitions/Legends of the Dark Knight: Marshall Rogers
-The former is OOP and goes for about $50, the latter reprints most of the same content, plus its 30 years later sequel and some other material.
-Until Miller came along, the Englehart/Rogers Detective run was THE post-Dozier take on the character, and was the basis for the script that eventually became Burton's film. So what's in here: The second ever appearance of Deadshot, which saved him from obscurity; The classic Joker Fish two-parter; Rupert Thorne was introduced before Englehart, but this is the height of his time in the comics; Clayface III makes his debut; Hugo Strange discovers batman's secret and so does Silver St. Cloud, the best of Batman's non-superhero girlfriends.
--Those Greatest Stories volumes I recommended? They reprinted three of the Englehart/Rogers issues, because they're that good.

The Killing Joke by Alan Moore and Brian Bolland
-Moore regrets writing this comic; he finds it cynical and about nothing but Batman comics. He's wrong on the second point (artists should rarely interpret their own work), but even just as a commentary on Batman comics, it's a stunning achievement.

Ten Nights of the Beast by Jim Starlin and Jim Aparo
-An unstoppable Soviet Assassin rolls into Gotham to stop piece talks. The ending is genuinely shocking, but sells it completely. The trade is OOP

Arkham Asylum by Grant Morrison and Dave McKean
-spring for the 15th anniversary edition which includes Morrison's entire script. This comic is both great and an utter failure. The two halves are completely at odds, which is why you need the script. McKean's art is gorgeous on its own terms, but it ill-serves Morrison's story, which actually called for a Brian Bolland type and was only supposed to be 64 pages (McKean blew it up to about 100).

Dark Knight, Dark City by Peter Milligan and Kieron Dwyer
-Arguably the best Riddler comic ever, and material here was mined heavily by Grant Morrison. DC reprinted it in '11 in a DC Presents mini-trade, but the colouring doesn't sit well on the paper stock; I'd recommend back-issue diving instead, and picking up the rest of Milligan's run wouldn't be a terrible idea (they're all quite cheap).

The Rucka/Brubaker runs
-Rucka joined during No Man's Land (which is a very mixed bag) and Brubaker came on board not long after. Basically what you're looking for is:
Detective Comics #741-775 (Rucka), 777-786 (Brubaker)
Batman #582-607 (Brubaker)
There are several trades reprinting part of the run:
New Gotham: Evolution
New Gotham: Officer Down
Turning Points (a separate mini tying into Officer Down)
Bruce Wayne: Fugitive/Murderer v1-3
DC Comics Presents: Batman #1-3
The Man Who Laughs (also includes the titular one-shot by Bru)
Both of them wrote a down-to Earth take on the franchise, with a particular emphasis on the cops, which is why the two joined forces for Gotham Central, where Batman is a supporting player. It's awesome.

Grant Morrison's Batman:
The Black Glove Deluxe HC
RIP
Final Crisis
Batman and Robin Reborn
Batman vs. Robin
The Return of Bruce Wayne
Time and the Batman
Batman and Robin Must Die!
Batman Inc. v1-2 (v2 is about halfway done)
-Self proclaimed world's greatest Batmanologist Chris Sims (it's actually Will Brooker, who wrote his doctoral thesis on Batman) has declared this the greatest Batman run of all time, despite it not being done, it's hard to argue with him on the basis of it prior to Batman Inc (it could have wrapped up well there if Morrison so chose). Morrison's run starts off with a simple premise-- it all happened, every Batman story, including the 50s sci-stories most people like to ignore. If you just like a street-level Batman, this is not for you, but if you're cool with Batman in the JLA, this is THE Bat-epic.

Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? by Neil Gaiman and various
-The titular story is mediocre meafiction, but it's an easy way to get the two stories from 1989's Secret Origins Special by Gaiman-- an origin for Two-Face and one for the Riddler that is frakking amazing.

Birth of the Demon =/= the first R'as story. Birth is... OK, but it's not as good as the original 70s material

You guys really like recommending expensive OOP print books, don't you? The first two Dini trades and those two suggestions from Jimmyboy will probably run about $150-200 for the group of four.

Boyblunder, you mis-characterize Dini's pre-Heart of Hush run. While it's true it's one and two-parters, there are several arcs running through them and they do need to be read in order.