Hmm, interesting list. I like how you avoided obvious choices like Frank Miller's and Jeph Loeb's stories and the awful Death in the Family. Lonely Place of Dying, Broken City (though I hate the ending), and Death and the Maidens are all excellent choices. My list would be:

*Denny O'Neil's Tales of the Demon
*Steve Englehart's Strange Apparitions
*O'Neil's Shaman
*Grant Morrison's Gothic
*Collected Legends of the Dark Knight (for James Robinson's & Tim Sale's amazing "Blades" story)
*Morrison's Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth
*David Lapham's City of Crime
*any of the Batman: Black & White trades
*either Paul Dini's Detective or Death in the City
*Batman Chronicles vol. 1 (it may be primitive, but it's awesome)

Cheers,
Bob

Bob -- The idea here is just as you said, to avoid some of the obvious choices and highlight the lesser-known collections. Good call on Tales of the Demon and Strange Apparitions, and some of the Legends of the Dark Knight stuff. I never read City of Crime, mainly because it came out at the same time as some other contiunity-heavy Batman trades, and City of Crime was out of the mainstream. Is it really that good?

And I loved Dini's Detective; look for a review here soon.

I thought City of Crime was the highpoint for Batman between the Rucka/Brubaker and the Morrison/Dini eras. However, it's one of the bleakest and weirdest Batman stories I've ever read, so its relative obscurity is not surprising. But since you like Broken City, I think there is a good chance you might appreciate it.

Here's a spoiler heavy review if you're curious:
http://delendaestcarthago.blogspot.com/2002/01/comics-you-should-own-detective-5.html

Are there any other trades you wanted to add, but that didn't make the cut?

Cheers,
Bob

Here's the rest of that link:

2002/01/comics-you-should-own-detective-5.html

So glad you put Death and the Maidens up there. Amazingly overlooked series. Rucka's writing was great, as it often is, but I think Klaus Janson usually doesn't get the credit he deserves for his visual storytelling skills - he really came through for that story. He also did a good job in Batman: Gothic. I remember A Lonely Place of Dying being really good back in the day, too, and generally forgotten.

No Man's Land is a pretty good story, but I'm not sure it's totally worth the expense. Six trades and there are still missing crossover stories from the saga! (Mostly insignificant, I know, but I remember scratching my head over Batgirl-Cassie's introduction) I do appreciate the sheer epic level of it all, though.

I'm surprised at the praise for Broken City, but I could be alone in this. I didn't see it as much more than a Sin City "homage". It was competent, yes, but I didn't think it was spectacular.

I totally agree with Bob on City on Crime. Quite disturbing and weird, from the author of Stray Bullets! (I shouldn't have expected less) Despite being officially in-continuity, it gives off a creepy, alienating vibe that some of the best Elseworlds/LotDK stories do. Definitely among the best Batman I've read in years. Read it!

(Aw, you turned off anonymous comments :/)

Great picks, including yet another recommendation for Death and the Maidens! I used to dislike Klaus Janson's art but I hear nothing but praise for Maidens so I must pick it up soon.

The only addition I would make is Batman: As the Crow Flies collecting the issues immediately following Broken City. At only five issues' worth it's a short book, but I love Dustin Nguyen's art and it would be a great companion piece to his recent arc in Superman/Batman.

By the way, has any of Scott McDaniel's run on Batman, which began concurrent with Rucka's Evolution arc in 'Tec, been collected?

Bob and Nhexima, you've convinced me -- I'll have to give City of Crime a try. I didn't know Klaus Janson did Batman: Gothic, but I'll have to take a look at that as well.

I agree with Nhexima that No Man's Land is pretty sprawling, and for that reason (can't just pick it up easily), I hesitated to put it on the list. Of them, I think the first trade and the last are the best, with the most linear storytelling.

Nobody, I'm curious to hear more about what you liked about As the Crow Flies. Was it the story, too, or just the art? The story struck me as good, though not necessarily spectacular, but I did like the art very much.

There's no dedicated collection of Scott McDaniel's run on Batman, but I think some of the issues appear in the Batman: Bruce Wayne - Murderer and Fugitive trade paperbacks.

To nobody I would say that even if you don't like Janson's art, it's worth looking past to enjoy Death & the Maidens and Gothic, both of which are tremendous stories.
You and our gracious host would likely enjoy Gothic; it is the best supernatural Batman story I've ever read (though some of Monech's and Jones's stuff is excellent). I think DC put out a new edition recently.

As for the sprawling No Man's Land, I seem to recall Rucka's novelization doing a fair job of condensing a year of comics into a few hundred pages. Though the novelization isn't a comic or even a trade paperback just a little mass market paperback so I guess it can't qualify for the list.

To nhexima I'd say that I enjoyed Broken City mainly for the darkly humorous, Chandler-esque voice Azzarello gave Batman and Risso's art. The story while far from perfect was a welcome change right after Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee's wretched excess on Hush. As an example take Risso's toothless Pimp Croc, far cooler and funner than Lee's roid raging Monster Croc.

Cheers,
Bob

To be honest, C.E., I don't remember much about the story of As the Crow Flies except that Batman sees Jason Todd in what might be a hallucination, but turned out to be Judd Winnick teasing his upcoming Red Hood storyline. And IIRC the Scarecrow turned into a "Scarebeast"? Hokey perhaps but he struck me as rather frightening.

So I can't say it was the writing that stuck with me, and I haven't read it a second time since it first came out either. But mostly I just loved Nguyen's work (moreso even than his recent style in Supes/Bats), and with Risso's Broken City arc it formed the best 11 consecutive issues of Batman art until J.H. Williams Detective #821 (though I liked Andy Kubert's seven issues and prefer them to Don Kramer's recent work in 'Tec).