Hypothetically, if someone who'd never read a comic before told you they were interested in Batman, what single issue/story would you recommend?
It would be easy to simply suggest Detective Comics #27 "The Case of the Chemical Syndicate", but I don't know if that's a truly iconic Batman. Same for The Dark Knight Returns. I'm not saying those aren't good stories, just that they don't really reflect what I think of as Batman.
Personally I think I'd go with "The Laughing Fish". I think it displays a lot if what Batman is about. It shows off his detective skills in his battle of wits with the Joker, we also get to see him using technology to escape dangerous situations, and we see him get to fight as well.
There are no wrong answers here, but I would like an explanation of why you chose a particular story.
Replies
"There Is No Hope in Crime Alley," from Detective Comics #457, March 1976. It retells the origin story, but shows Batman well into his career and shows how and why he is still committed to his mission. It's also the first appearance of Leslie Thompkins, a positive influence on Batman -- one who gives him hope and keeps him from going too far into brutality and despair.
Here's a piece on it from The 13th Dimension blog: "The Denny O'Neil Interviews: 'There Is No Hope in Crime Alley'".
Yeah, that's a good one. Batman does have one of the better origins around(most origins aren't that awesome).
ClarkKent_DC said:
Randy Jackson said:
That's why I've never accepted the retcon that the murder had a name -- Joe Chill -- and faced retribution. It's more poignant that the Waynes were victims of random violence, not a targeted hit, and their killer got clean away.
SINGLE ISSUE: Detective Comics #387. Reason: Batman's 30th anniversary; an updating of "The Case of the Chemical Syndicate" and Batman needs Robin.
STORYLINE: The Englehart/Rogers run, Detective Comics #471-476. Reason: after all these years, still the "definitive" run AFAIAC,
ALTERNATE: Batman #404-407 ("Batman: Year One").
Jeff of Earth-J said:
It's your pick and not mine, but I can't go for "Batman: Year One" for lots of reasons, mostly in that most of the changes it made to the Batman mythos made it worse over the long haul.
To wit: Jim Gordon being an exile from the Chicago P.D., Catwoman being a dominatrix/prostitute; Jim Gordon cheating on his wife; the Gotham P.D. being firmly established as being fundamentally corrupt; Jim Gordon not being old enough to have a twentysomething daughter, so Barbara Gordon had to be retconned later as his niece. That last bit was further retconned as Barbara Gordon actually being Jim Gordon's daughter because he slept with his brother's wife.
It's stuff like that that makes me understand why Commander Benson doesn't pay any attention to stuff after the end of the Silver Age.
1) Batman #47/Detective Comics #235 ("The Origin of Batman/The First Batman!") to show how deep and traumatic the story of Batman's beginning truly is.
2) The Denny O'Neil/Neal Adams Ra's Al Ghul storyline: this is a movie waiting to be made!
3) Brave & Bold #111: to see how intense Batman can be and still be able to adapt and deduce!
:It's your pick and not mine..."
Well, I did list it as an alternate.
Also, I would take into account the hypothetical person's taste and the reason for his interest. I would not likely recommend Detective Comics #387 to the same person as Batman #404-407.
The Denny O'Neill interview was very interesting, especially this:
"Buddha said if you have to kill, you need to kill, you kill to save your life, someone else’s life. Life is suffering is first-grade truth. This is sometimes unavoidable but you can not like it!" (italics from the article)
People who say they would never kill, not even to save innocent children, are selfishly looking after themselves. Failing to kill the Joker means that Batman (or a police officer) is responsible for all of his future murders. Going out of your way to save the Joker from someone or from an accident is truly insane.
ClarkKent_DC said:
Richard Willis said:
I can't accept the view that Batman or a police officer has any business killing The Joker, for the same reasons we don't want the police using deadly force based on anything but what the law and policy require.
However, going out of your way to save The Joker from someone or from an accident IS truly insane.
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