the vynsane asylum

Is Batman overcompensating for being the butt of gay jokes for seventy years?

So, after getting unmasked in front of every person on Earth and every person on earth seeing his face, Dick Grayson is going to become a super spy and do superspy stuff without a mask and wearing a giant fucking "G" for Grayson on his superspy costume.


I have just one thing to say: Ha.

And carry a gun, making his mentor proud.

Using this as the DC dumping ground.

Interesting bookmark included in the comic book newspaper thingy they sometimes include free with purchase (Comic shop news? Whatever it's called, mine's already in the recycling & I'm too lazy to go get it). It has a list of DC Entertainment's "Essential 25" Graphic Novels:

Watchmen
Dark Knight Returns
Sandman vol 1
Batman: Year One
V for Vendetta
Saga of the Swamp Thing vol 1
Fables vol 1
Batman: Killing Joke
Y The Last Man vol 1
All Star Superman
Batman vol 1 The Court of Owls (which Batman would this be? New 52?)
Kingdom Come
Batman: The Long Halloween
Justice League vol 1 Origin (again wondering which Justice League book)
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen vol 1
Batman: Earth One
Green Lantern: Rebirth
American Vampire vol 1
JLA vol 1 (this must be the Mark Waid 90s series?)
Final Crisis
Batman Hush
Identity Crisis
Joker
Wonder Woman vol 1: Blood
Superman: Earth One

Comments? Alan Moore heavy would be the only one I could make with any knowledge or understanding. I liked Kingdom Come when it came out, I know some didn't. Anything that should certainly NOT be on here? I love lists like this & the arguments they can cause.

Anything New 52 or Earth One should not be on there.
Neither should All-Star Overhype Superman.

Hehe, I knew you didn't like it. Personally, it's the best take on Superman I've read (you're right, I haven't read much Superman at all). What was Earth One? I'll google it.

That JLA series would probably be the Grant Morrison one.
Court of Owls, JLA Origin, and WW Blood are all Nu52 I think.
The "Earth One" books were OGNs that were set apart from main DC continuity to tell "timeless" origin stories for Batman and Superman. Supes was by JMS and Shane somebody.
The Batman one was by Johns and Gary Frank and it had Alfred save Batman's life by shotgunning a dude to death. Yeah. Fail.

jjreason wrote:Using this as the DC dumping ground.

Interesting bookmark included in the comic book newspaper thingy they sometimes include free with purchase (Comic shop news? Whatever it's called, mine's already in the recycling & I'm too lazy to go get it). It has a list of DC Entertainment's "Essential 25" Graphic Novels:

Comments? Alan Moore heavy would be the only one I could make with any knowledge or understanding. I liked Kingdom Come when it came out, I know some didn't. Anything that should certainly NOT be on here? I love lists like this & the arguments they can cause.

I count five Alan Moore.
Three Grant Morrison
Three Geoff Johns (of course )
Two Snyder, Azzarello, Loeb, and Frank Miller.
And one each Gaiman, Willingham, Vaughan, Waid, Metzer, and JMS.




Watchmen - Yes.
Dark Knight Returns - Yes.
Sandman vol 1 - Never read Sandman. But Yes.
Batman: Year One - Yes.
V for Vendetta - Yes.
Saga of the Swamp Thing vol 1 - Haven't read it. But okay, Yes.
Fables vol 1 - Yes. Willingham's series is great.
Batman: Killing Joke - Yes.
Y The Last Man vol 1 - Yes.
All Star Superman - Yes.
Batman vol 1 - NO.
Kingdom Come - Yes.
Batman: The Long Halloween - Yes.
Justice League vol 1 Origin - The Johns/Jim Lee wankfest. NO.
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen vol 1 - Eh. Yes, I suppose.
Batman: Earth One - NO with a Fuck in front of it.
Green Lantern: Rebirth - It was good, but Top 25? Eh, that's a hard sell.
American Vampire vol 1 - This is on the list because it's one of the few Vertigo books remaining and it's written by current Batman golden boy Snyder. I feel other Vertigo books are more deserving.
JLA vol 1 - If it's the Morrison run, then Yes.
Final Crisis - A Hot Mess. NO.
Batman Hush - Eh. It's a summer blockbuster, not an Oscar Winner.
Identity Crisis - Good start, weak finish. But maybe a Yes.
Joker - I read this and can't remember anything about it. So No.
Wonder Woman vol 1: Blood - Although Azz's WW has been well regarded, it's Nu52. So NO.
Superman: Earth One - NO.

No Preacher or Transmetropolitan. Are they at odds with Ennis & Ellis over working at Marvel? Why else would those Vertigo favorites not get on there?

OR Hellblazer for that matter, or Robinson Starman which was getting as much mouth love from fanboys as Sandman almost back in 1995 or thereabouts.

I'm going to mostly concur with Foolery. Except Kingdom Come is boring, predictable, and just dull. And really 90s-heavy, though they try to pretend it isn't. (Steel?) Also I'd push for Identity Crisis being dropped.

Transmetropolitan and Preacher definitely should be here. Same with Hellblazer. I'd put iZombie on there as well, and, given how trendy these things tend to be and the show coming out by the same name (with little else to do with the book far as I can tell), I'm surprised it isn't.

It's light on some of the better 80s/90s stuff. Canon or not, hip to dis them or not, Man of Steel (the Byrne series, but you knew that), A Death in the Family, the first Robin miniseries (since "graphic novel" clearly means "collection" to them), Doomsday: The Death of Superman, and both Emerald Dawn and Emerald Dawn II are just amazing.

I'd advocate Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader as well.

Kingdom Come is to DC as Marvels was to Marvel - Alex Ross' coming out part art for both companies pretty much stepped forward and made people forget there were even words on the pages. For the jaw-dropping magnificence that was looking at this art the first time, the DC version pretty much has to make their list (and I'd put Marvels on the Marvel list too, for the same reason obviously). My 2 cents anyhow.

And speaking of the Marvel list - should we do that here or in the other topic? I'm guessing over there.

Oh, Kingdom Come has some of the most beautiful superhero art ever produced, no doubt about that. I suppose it does deserve its spot only for the art. Trouble is, the story borders on shit. Marvels at least had a decent, if not stellar, story, IIRC.

I also nominate 100 Bullets Vol. 1. Its absence is also odd, given that Azzarello and Risso are both still in good graces (and still on one of their main books, right?), and the Brother Lono collection just came out recently.

Am I blind? Crisis on Infinite Earths and Death in the Family did not make the list? Is that because these incidents have been retconned into Elseworlds thingies?

I have NO DC collection to speak of, and yet between trades & floppies I have about half of this list.

I'll eventually get going on Fables & Moore's Swamp Thing, but Y vol 1 was really boring so I'm not going back there I don't think.

I know we joke that DC is just making every Nu52 book a Batman book, but they've just added two new titles, Arkham Manor and Gotham Academy.

Arkham Manor is about turning Wayne Manor into the new Arkham Asylum after the old one is destroyed(or something?). That premise is unilaterally problematic on so many levels.

Tom Foolery wrote:Arkham Manor is about turning Wayne Manor into the new Arkham Asylum after the old one is destroyed(or something?). That premise is unilaterally problematic on so many levels.

What the fuck?

Stupid outweighs problematic here. Bruce worked out of Wayne Tower for a bit in the 80s, but he never gave up the Manor. Even when the quake totalled the place.

There's just way too great a chance of someone looking too closely at the clock and finding out far more than anyone outside his circle should know.