I got these at a really good price, what's a good prior reading for full enjoyment? I already read Year One, Long Halloween and so on
>>151803468Don't read it now, you won't appreciate it. It's arguably the least new-reader-friendly Batman run in the history of the character.Grant Morrison's Batman is a direct response to the ever-increasingly grim storytelling in the Batman books from the 80s, 90s, and early-to-mid 00s.It references stories from literally every decade, dating all the way back to the 1930s, reintroducing characters and concepts that had been written out of continuity, with prejudice, two decades prior. It's not holding your hand, it's trusting that you're familiar with the characters or you'll go back to read the stories to understand the context.
>>151804024Sorry, missed the main point.You want a passing familiarity with literally every decade of Batman.First I'd recommend tracking down copies of the "Batman in the <decade>" collections for the 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s.Then you can get familiar with the rest of the big name stories from the post-crisis era of comics. Killing Joke, Death in the Family, Lonely Place of Dying, Knightfall, No Man's Land, and Under the Hood, etc.Then you want to read Identity Crisis and Infinite CrisisThen you're at least sort of ready for Morrison's Batman run.
>>151804160>Death in the Family, Knightfall, No Man's Land, and Under the Hood>Identity Crisis and Infinite CrisisBased anon recommending a bunch of garbage.
>>151803468The Black Casebook is an out of print trade that collects some of the silver age stories that were being referenced. It would probably cost more than the omnis if you really got a good deal on them, if you could even find it, but you can use it as a reading list for digital copies.
>>151803468You can start whenever you like. Grant’s obsessive faggot fans say shit like this: >>151804024 all the time but it isn’t true. You’ll miss som references but it’s still that’ll mean more if you read it a second time and see things from other stories if you keep delving back. There is no reason to not read them just to pick up on references. It’s a great run on its own and doing homework or prep work simply isn’t necessary.
>>151803468Previous Morrison batman stuff like Arkham Asylum and at least the first arc of JLA would set up the vibe and themes that the run goes for. and Dark knight, Dark city and the black casebook collection of silver age stories are mostly where the sometimes inexplicable and strange plots and references come from. the only one from that collection you really need is Robin Dies at dawn but some of the others might be helpful.
>>151805069seconding this, The Black Casebook lays a good foundation for the Morrison run
>>151805855This. I read it just fine without all of the autistic shit Morrison threw in beforehand and then went back and looked into it. It's also a run that welcome rereads.
