New 52 Batman is not as good as the old stuff

[Flash Gordon]

I loved Morrison's run. It reads way better in trade than when I read the single issues. It's amazing in trade.

That said DETECTIVE COMICS, right now, is one of my favorite books. Just pure art.

[Flash Gordon]

True, but it DID have the best Superman/Batman fight of all time. No Kryptonite, no 'prep time', the no-holds barred brawl people have been demanding for all these years:

Oh man I loved that, you can tell Johns didn't write it.

If that was a Geoff Johns comic, SUPERMAN would have gone flying through three buildings and BATMAN would have crippled himself.

[EdwardNigma]

I honestly don't like Knightfall at all. It is a cheesy story that introduced a boring (and still boring) villain just to break Batman's back ie sell comics. Bane is just a plot point. Describe Bane today. He is the guy who uh.....broke Batman's back. He's real strong and stuff. He is a genius for using the never tried tactic of having other villains fight the hero to wear them down before you fight him (last sentence is pure sarcasm).

[ispacehead]

I honestly don't like Knightfall at all.

Did you read the issues as they were released, or in trade?

I only ask because at the time of it's release we were getting weekly chapters, sometimes multiple chapters weekly.

Made the story a lot of fun for me.

[AlexanderLuthor]

Oh man I loved that, you can tell Johns didn't write it.

If that was a Geoff Johns comic, SUPERMAN would have gone flying through three buildings and BATMAN would have crippled himself.

????? Johns writes the most consistently weak Batman at DC. More likely he would have never written a scene like that because Lex Luthor would have outsmarted Batman to be Ambassador. But if you are talking strictly violence then no doubt Batman would have lost a hand since that's the new DC thing

[Flex Mentallo]

Still too early but as long as good writers contribute to the Batman mythos I will be happy.

[Conway]

I loved Morrison's run. It reads way better in trade than when I read the single issues. It's amazing in trade.

That said DETECTIVE COMICS, right now, is one of my favorite books. Just pure art.

See this is the point. There has been some bad stuff so far, but there is a lot of awful stuff just in between Frank Miller and Morrison (some of it by Frank Miller and Morrison).

Nostalgia is fine, but the only stories that get remembered in the long run are great. Long Halloween and HUSH are dull, and eventually their sales will get passed by Court of the Owls and Death of the Family, but Zero Year will never replace Year One.

This 'Tec run has a lot of potential. But we have to slog through a couple years 52 and The Return of Bruce Wayne before we get one Batman vs Robin.

[EdwardNigma]

Both for me. I read them when they originally came out and once again as a trade. Still bad.

[blackbolt396]

the best Batman era is the one you prefer.

That would be the 70s for me best Batman era ever.

[SiegePerilous02]

The old comics don't vanish from existence because of the reboot. You can still pick them up from your collection and read them any time you want. A dense, long continuity and history is overrated anyway, IMO; there's a reason the most successful graphic novels are stand alones or sit firmly outside of canon (DKR, Year One, Killing Joke, Watchmen, All Star Supes, etc.). DC needed to make things more accessible for a wider audience, and while YMMV on how successful they were, the New 52 was conceptually a very sound idea.

I just sort of take a "this too shall pass" stance on stuff I don't like. I may not like everything about New 52 Batman/DCU, but the next creative team and/or inevitable next reboot may adjust things back to the way I like them again. In the meantime, I read my old Batman comics or check out some Indy books.

[genki_desu]

We needed a younger more streamlined batman but not sacrificing the character and making him super different.
So compromise DC pretty much nuked his supporting cast and got the best of both worlds.

Why did we need a younger Batman?

I thought that part of his appeal was that he's a smart, confident, highly trained adult, not an unsteady youngster.

"Young Batman" stuff is OK for the odd story, but 30s-ish-Batman is the one that has always been popular with the public at large.

[byrd156]

The old comics don't vanish from existence because of the reboot. You can still pick them up from your collection and read them any time you want. A dense, long continuity and history is overrated anyway, IMO; there's a reason the most successful graphic novels are stand alones or sit firmly outside of canon (DKR, Year One, Killing Joke, Watchmen, All Star Supes, etc.). DC needed to make things more accessible for a wider audience, and while YMMV on how successful they were, the New 52 was conceptually a very sound idea.

I just sort of take a "this too shall pass" stance on stuff I don't like. I may not like everything about New 52 Batman/DCU, but the next creative team and/or inevitable next reboot may adjust things back to the way I like them again. In the meantime, I read my old Batman comics or check out some Indy books.

How is history overrated? History is what makes comics worth reading IMO. Why just read random one shots and series that will just be rebooted in a couple years? I hate the mindset of the New 52, the stories are brutal and have no substance and can just be changed on a whim by the writers or DC editorial.

[Speed Force League Unlimited]

Is the 52 relaunch Batman really that bad? I read Flash only (although I just wanted to let go of it all) and it's a fine fun series
As for how good or bad stories are before the relaunch, Az-Bat is bad, his portion of Knightfall is bad, not just because the character is bad, but also because the stories were pretty stupid and less than entertaining. Grant Morrison's run is highly praised, but it has a bunch of bad issues as well, and was infected by the terrible R.I.P story for a while
The best Batman run of post crisis is Alan Grant's run in collaboration with Norm Breyfogle, and the best running series is Legends of the Dark Knight

[Diggy]

Nostalgia is fine, but the only stories that get remembered in the long run are great. Long Halloween and HUSH are dull, and eventually their sales will get passed by Court of the Owls and Death of the Family, but Zero Year will never replace Year One.

...are you implying that Death of the Family is better than Long Halloween or Hush?

[Mantis Girl 94]

the best Batman era is the one you prefer.

Your nail is on the head. Being a brand new BM reading I prefer the new 52 stuff. 30 years from now I will argue that this era was the best. It seems everyone argues that the best BM stories are the ones they first read. There is really no point to fighting over it...it will always be so