Read Batman comics? Help a guy out!

[Queen Michael]

I recently discovered a library that's got lots of Jeph Loeb Batman trades. These are the ones they have:


Batman: ghost a legends of the Dark Knight, Halloween special
Batman: the long Halloween
Batman: dark victory
Batman : hush

Which, if any, of these can be read as stand-alones without continuity problems? Do I need to read any of them in some specific order? Have you read any of them without reading any others, and if so, did you feel that you understood what was going on even though you hadn't read any other of them?

 

[EeveeElectro]

I haven't read it yet, but I hear The Long Halloween is pretty damn good. It carries on from Year One (which is now a movie if you can't get hold of the comic. It's more or less exactly the same as the comic) and was written after Legends. Dark Victory is the sequel to the Long Halloween. I don't know anything about Hush, I'm afraid.

I'd recommend reading the Long Halloween first then Dark Victory in terms of continuity. It isn't a direct sequel to Legends but I'd maybe give that a read too, because Batman.

 

[GiantRaven]

The only level of continuity you'll need here is the knowledge that Dark Victory is the direct sequel to Long Halloween.

 

[Silvanus]

The Long Halloween comes first, and can be read out of continuity. Dark Victory requires you to have read Long Halloween for its continuation of the story of the Falcones, the Maronis, Harvey Dent and others.

Hush can be read out of continuity, too. It carries on a lot of Loeb's "traditions" (such as a wide variety of villains, twists in the tale, Scarecrow speaking primarily in children's verse). The only important continuity point with Hush is that it comes before Face The Face (in which Harvey Dent's sanity starts to suffer again), as well as (of course) the later stories that feature Hush (if you plan on reading Hush, I'd recommend reading Heart of Hush afterwards).

I haven't read it yet, but I hear The Long Halloween is pretty damn good. It carries on from Year One

This is true, though there are several other stories that come between Year One and Long Halloween. The important in-between ones would be Monster Men (which introduces Hugo Strange and Sal Maroni) and The Man Who Laughs.

 

[Axolotl]

I'd advise reading Hush first since it's pretty much an explanation of all the important moments in Batman's history before Morrison's run. It's got pretty great art as well.