What type of Batman story do you prefer?

[bat39]

Inspired by a similar poll over on the Wonder Woman board.

EDIT: Please ignore the previous post. Have enabled this poll with multiple options.

[KangMiRae]

I voted for detective stories, taking on ordinary street crimes, clash against iconic villains, and character pieces. The thing is...you can make a Batman story that does all of these together, and writers have.

I think the best Batman stories take on at least two of these choices to make a fun and compelling story.

[Gotham citizen]

Pure detective story (with hard-boiled elements) in which Batman solves a mystery about a crime committed by the Mob or some iconic bat-villain.

[Riv86672]

Having a hard time voting, as I like a combination of all the options.
The fact that all these types of stories can be told about Batman is what makes him great.
The recent BATMAN UNIVERSE mini by Bendis did a fine job incorporating pretty much all the voting options into one story.

[Restingvoice]

World's greatest detective so his story should primarily be a detective

Ordinary street crime should occur as a cold open or as a distraction. A stressed-out Bat family member usually take it out on random street crimes.

The mob can be the mastermind of the case he solved
The iconic rogue member can work as both cold open and mastermind

Larger than life threats should only occur sparingly or as a result or cause by the detective case, for example, the mob boss or iconic rogue is bargaining with a larger than life threats and they have to commit a certain number of crimes.
In other words, these kinda threats should be The Man Behind The Man or Final Boss, not even First Arc or Second Arc Boss

I was thinking Barbatos when I said that but if you're including simple ghosts or Man-Bat, then they can be the Arc Boss. As long as the bulk of the story is detecting.

Character pieces can be done in a backup story, or take a focus on a character throughout the arc as a B plot

[scary harpy]

What about:

Clash between Batman and an new Rogue's Gallery member

I enjoy Batman versus a new villain.

I really enjoy stories taking an existing lesser known villain an upgrading her/him.

[Riv86672]

World's greatest detective so his story should primarily be a detective

Ordinary street crime should occur as a cold open or as a distraction. A stressed-out Bat family member usually take it out on random street crimes.

The mob can be the mastermind of the case he solved
The iconic rogue member can work as both cold open and mastermind

Larger than life threats should only occur sparingly or as a result or cause by the detective case, for example, the mob boss or iconic rogue is bargaining with a larger than life threats and they have to commit a certain number of crimes.
In other words, these kinda threats should be The Man Behind The Man or Final Boss, not even First Arc or Second Arc Boss

I was thinking Barbatos when I said that but if you're including simple ghosts or Man-Bat, then they can be the Arc Boss. As long as the bulk of the story is detecting.

Character pieces can be done in a backup story, or take a focus on a character throughout the arc as a B plot

That’s a nice balance, w. room to focus on one aspect or another.

Batman’s got a lot of aspects to him; detective, martial artist, street leveler, JLAer, to name a few. He’s also one of the few major heroes left w. an actual secret identity.
Lots to play with there.

[godisawesome]

I can’t choose an option, because I tend to find my favorite Batman stories end up incorporating all elements together, and that if I find a flaw in one, it’s usually because of the absence or mishandling of one element.

For instance, Paul Dini’s Heart Of Ice featured an iconic rogues gallery member who’s powers are significant enough to make the story a superhero one, features Batman’s human heart, and ends up revolving around a comparatively mundane crime committed by a corporate executive, which Batman has to discover through detective work.

For Robin, Tim Drake’s first miniseries is a pretty good representative as well: it’s a character piece for Tim becoming Robin, a mystery to uncover King Snake’s plot against Hong Kong, features King Snake as both a super villain (even if a restrained one) and as Robin’s first real rogues gallery member.

You can be restrained on a bunch of stuff, and I’ll be satisfied, just don’t screw up a part, or it’ll stick out as a weakness. Long Halloween is great until it turns out the central mystery is messed up. Morrison and King handle just about everything right, but lose a few people who don’t buy the human story they give Batman and co. Sometimes going too restrained limits a story as well, but if you finesse it, it won’t hold the story back - King and Morrison bkth have their defenders for getting a human Tory most people buy, after all, and the mystery of Long Halloween isn’t regarded as that bad.

[Jim Kelly]

"Pure detective story in which Batman solves a mystery" is what I prefer as a regular diet.

The others--"Batman taking on 'ordinary' street crime or the Mob"; "Clash between Batman and an iconic Rogue's Gallery member"; "Batman as a superhero fighting larger-than-life threats (alien, supernatural, technological etc.)"; "Character pieces about Batman or a supporting cast member"--should be sporadic fare. I soon get tired of them if they become an everyday thing.

[Celgress]

Street crime and detective stories followed by taking on a familiar supervillain (or multiple supervillains) are my favorites in that order. Batman is at his best when immersed in a noir type environment, IMO.

[Vakanai]

I voted for all of them. There's a place for each kind of story, and I know I've enjoyed each type. I just love Batman and how he can support such a broad range of stories.

[Toreador]

A nice mix of all those concepts would be best to keep monotony from setting in the book. A whodunit story (single issue or multi) followed by rogue gallery story followed by a crime noir story followed by an action story (a daring bank robbery, hostage situation or terrorist plot) and so on and so on.

Maybe bring in a guest writer for certain stories like James Patterson for the mystery story or Stephen King for a supernatural story (probably not those exact people but similar writers). Batman could fit into any of those kind of stories.

[Flash Gordon]

Pure detective stories. There's room for all kinds of stories, but I mostly like stories that do not have personal stakes for Batman. He's just there to help and figure out some criminality.

[TheJudge95]

I voted for "Clash with a Rogue's Gallery member" and "Character piece". Character pieces don't have to be boring stories of Batman and co. sitting around talking - they can have action too. Like Tom King said in a recent podcast, fighting and action is the language of superhero comics, and if you're not speaking in that language then it might as well be another genre. For example, Superheavy was a great combination of character and Godzilla-style action. I didn't vote for "Pure detective story" because those stories are a minority of Batman stories, and I don't like my Batman comics veering too towards noir (like David Lapham's City of Crime, which was a bit too gritty for my taste). Gotham Central was a good change of perspective, but I wouldn't want a whodunnit for every Batman story. At the same time, too many encounters with villains can make those villains lose their impact when they are used (Joker fatigue) and get repetitive. That's one reason I liked King's run; every arc, sometimes every issue, had a different style (all action, no action, villains, no villains, etc.) and made each issue surprising.

[Rise]

What makes Batman so popular is because you can do all of these and he wouldn't feel out of place. It's the reason why he has such a great variety in his stories.

I'm a person who loves mystery, but I would still prefer them not overdone any of them.