There's only one comic you should be reading, Larry.

For those that like DC comics... 😜 You know what I find interesting with a lot of these modern books, they all get awards... but most of it sucks. The only series you mentioned worth reading is Absolute Superman, but that's because of Jason Aaron. The only reason that DC initiative has any credibility. Absolute Batman was a travesty... the plot, the new origins... let's make The Goonies but call it Batman... (I'm trying to think of other analogs to explain how absolutely campy that **** was... unintentionally... Sandlot...) Now the Gallery were all his buddies growing up in Crime Alley, oh Boy! The Joker is just a generic corrupt billionaire... except not the Joker, because he DOESN'T laugh... EVER! Boom! Let's make Batman the biggest he ever was, because [He's stupid as ****)... lol. I'm paraphrasing, but that's what the artist basically said. That it was to reflect the most violent circumstances of the Batman arcs. Frank Miller had Batman kill people. Are you serious? It's more like, let's make our Batman... Absolute, thus bigger than the Dark Knight. BS. That wasn't the first time Batman has killed either. Bob's 1st book w Finger #27. The inspiration for Tim Burton's Joker. Except in #27... dude dies after being thrown into the acid vat. Batman... if you like DC Comics IS Kane & Finger, Moore, & Frank. Read their stuff. Skip Absolute Batman... unless you like retcon slop. 😇👍💠 The Killing Joke bodies Absolute Batman, here's why: It's the most comprehensive depiction of Batman we've ever gotten, full stop. It, much like the BS Scorsese films was partially inspired by 'The Man Who Laughs' while honoring Finger & Kane. The Joker has no origin... but for Batman. They're cosmic force analogs... like for matter and anti-matter. We know all about the governing laws of nature — matter (Batman... but wait)... Anti-matter... mostly a mystery. Batman is crazy. That's why Keaton's live action Batman was the best. He understood that more than any other actor who did it other than Kevin who did the animated version of The Killing Joke. The reason The Killing Joke is special, is it's not clear if Batman is dead when you read it. Perspective. From Barbra Gordon... we'll get to that, and the Joker homage to beginning of Kane & Finger in #27... it's cool how all this stuff links together... After being freaked out by Batman, that Joker gets pulled into a chemical waste outlet pipe into a reservoir/swamp nearby. Except it's a lie. Because the Joker is insane... and he says he can't remember where he came from. To be clear: That's the callback to #27. I interpret the Joker recounting his origin in "The Killing Joke" as almost a 4th wall break talking directly to the reader. "[Remember the acid vat in #27... since day 1 kiddies]". That is what Moore and the Joker was telling us in that sequence in the book... mirrored by Heath Ledger's monologues... Always a killer. Heath Ledger obviously picked up on that and made it a center piece of his interpretation. The animated version of the book is entirely narrated by Barbra Gordon. Who also might be crazy, when you put the facts together. She was shot and paralyzed. As essentially a child soldier for Bruce as Batgirl. That's some serious PTSD... potentially. Her perspective may be a reflection of the stories we were always told. Bruce Wayne's broken mind. That's the story we know. And Barbara's and the Joker's perspective raised that idea to the surface definitively in Moore's 'The Killing Joke'. Because as I mentioned, Batman has killed people from the beginning. That's why... (I think) it's called "The Killing Joke". The moral code is in his head, comedians like Pete Holmes has even joked about it... Alot of his foes, thugs, probably died... or were permanently maimed, disfigured... Paralyzed (like Bat Girl... the context is simultaneously subtle and obvious). I like Psychological Realism... why I dig Dostoevsky, and Mary Shelley... Batman is the same. We only know about crazy. We've accepted it as "grounded"... "rational". I do NOT kill. That's 'The Joke'. That's why "The Killing Joke" is the best Batman story/movie. The grand irony of Batman: Everyone says they like Batman because he has no super powers. I disagree. Everyone says they like Batman, because he's grounded in his purpose... serves an immutable moral code to not kill. What's if "crazy" is Bruce Wayne's super power? What if he's a vigilante murderer... which had been the charge against him from both his allies and his foes? And that's why "The Dark Knight" is special. Frank understood this. What better emphasis than killing the Joker? To show us grounded... "rational" in the mind of the lunatic one Bruce Wayne. He takes the mask off... for real. Because it's not believable that Bruce would let the man live that killed his adopted son (The Dark Knight)... OR that paralyzed his surrogate daughter (in The Killing Joke). And it's unlikely that Bruce gave any quarter outside of his delusions... to the thugs, murders, SA perps, he met on the streets. In his head he never killed anyone. He even kept saying it, after clear examples.... Because he's ****in' crazy. He's not the hero. He never was. He's an anti-hero. He's the Punisher but he thinks he's Superman... I know that's different companies, but an apt metaphor. Oh, in case you're unaware... I'm talking about Detective Comics #27. Which is when Finger and Kane created Batman. That's essentially Batman #1. And... In the very FIRST issue he kills someone, and for decades has been saying he never has, never will. That's literally "The Killing Joke". Most people don't get the joke. To add: What the Batman franchise, imo, needs... I'm biased, btw, I think Batman is one of the greatest literary characters ever created... IS... To end the subversion. And I think Keaton is still young enough to play old Batman. Where you combine the pointed revelations by Moore, Miller, Finger & Kane. If a Trilogy, start with "The Killing Joke". Have the second movie open with Bruce in Arkham... and flashbacks of Batman mutilating the corpse of the Joker after killing him in a maniacal laughing rage at the end of the first movie (combining Miller & Moore's titular endings). Being pulled off the body... attacking the officers... breaking down into tears when Gordon arrives. What did Nolan have Harvey Dent say? [You die a hero... OR....] End the subversion. That movie should be an "acid trip" of paranoid delusions. Bruce Wayne hearing voices... the shattered laughter & screams of his departed foil... guiding him, coaching him... to escape the Asylum/Prison. That's where Batman should go, and Batman should die when he realizes the truth himself. Blood in...