Given the rumors surrounding Gotham City this April Fool's, I thought this was a great time to finally post something sent to me by Chris Ullrich. Thanks Chris -- and sorry it took me a week to post it. The good people over at ComicMix have put together the essential reading list to prepare you for The Dark Knight. There are eleven books on this list; plenty to keep you busy until July. Remember to pace yourself -- graphic novels are pricey, and you need to save money for your movie ticket! (And that DVD of Batman: Gotham Knight. Actually, you're probably going to need to take a second job if you really want to major in Batman Studies.)
If you must choose only one book off this list, read Frank Miller's Batman: Year One. I wish I still had my copy, I regrettably passed it on to my sister's boyfriend and am sorry I did. It's never coming back! Darn my generosity, because I really want to reread it now. Plus, my Miller Batman trilogy is now incomplete.
As noted by some of the readers, the list omits The Killing Joke and Arkham Asylum as they don't fit in with Batman's rookie years. However, if you truly want a complete education, you owe it to yourself to read The Killing Joke. Before filming began, Christopher Nolan gave a copy to Heath Ledger, who reportedly took much of his Joker performance from it.
Enjoy! And don't be afraid to read these in public, either. They're classy and mature.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-01-2008 @ 10:31AM
Rich said...
Note that a hardcover, recolored version of 'The Killing Joke' was just released in the past couple weeks. Haven't picked it up yet, but from what I've seen it's an attractive package.
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4-01-2008 @ 12:02PM
Jesse said...
There was a collection called the "The Complete Frank Miller Batman" that was a slightly oversized leather bound collection of "The Dark Knight Returns" and "Batman: Year One" and oddly some Batman Christmas story Miller wrote. It's kind of awesome, especially if you haven neither and the money to spend on it because it's no longer in print.
Side Note: If I loan someone something I write it off as not a gift until actulally get it back. I "gave" someone a copy of Memento I had that became obsolete to me when I got the collectors edition on DVD that way. Never loan anybody anything you ever want to see again. I learned that after loaning a book to one of my brother's exes.
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4-01-2008 @ 2:40PM
AJ Wiley said...
I am rather embarrassed that of those stories, I've only read the brilliant "Year One" and the rather overrated but still enjoyable "The Long Halloween."
Gotta go bust out my library card...
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4-01-2008 @ 3:41PM
The Addict said...
The two books that people MUST read for this movie are "The Killing Joke" and "The Long Halloween." The former redefined comics for me, while the latter got me so excited that this was the source material that Nolan's using for Two-Face. Also, it's cool to see connections between film and comics with the I believe in Harvey Dent marketing that spawns from this book.
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4-06-2008 @ 1:10AM
Tommy said...
Batman: Year One & Killing Joke are a "must read"...they're great! I have not read "The Long Halloween" but everybody just goes off on it so I guess it's good. I thumbed thu a copy once at a book store & didn't care too much for the art but that's just me.
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Thanks, Tommy
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