Source: goodcomics.comicbookresources.com
1. Night of the Stalker
An absolute must read for anyone who even casually likes Batman.
Steve Engleheart writes the character with all the best qualities of ‘70s Batman, and the art by Vin and Sal Amendola is unparalleled for the time. This is the preeminent “Batman seen as monster by criminals†story and hits every beat you’d want out of that.
After a gang of robbers gun down two parents in front of a child, Batman tracks them down and, one by one, silently picks them off. Every time the robbers think they’ve killed him, he shows up again as a force for unholy vengeance. There are so many great moments in this one that should be infinitely more iconic than they are.
Why we haven’t seen a hundred cinematic versions of Batman silently dropping the car keys at his feet and daring his targets to come and get them, I’ll never know. This one is collected in the “Batman: The Greatest Stories Ever Told†Trade Paperback, where it most certainly belongs.
And there we go! If you love Batman even half as much as I do, I’d give each and every one of these a good long read.
