If you are irritated by overlong story arcs, confounded by continuity, or just new to comics, this is a volume you'll want to pick up if you are interested in Batman.

I remember reading Doug Moench's work regularly in books like Fantastic Four and Moon Knight when I was a kid in the seventies and early eighties. He is an old-school writer who still writes comics the old-fashioned way: by packing a solid amount of story into an issue and getting it done. Most of the stories in this collection finish in two parts; there are a few one-shots, and one three-parter that has no filler. There are two crossover issues, but one of them is effectively a standalone story in all respects; only the other feels like some parts are missing, but it's just one issue. You can read this book without any prior experience and never feel lost.

I'm also a big fan of Kelley Jones' artwork. It's highly stylized and not to everyone's taste, but I love his heavy use of shadow and contrast, dramatic flourishes, and creative (but always clear) panel design.

No universe-changing epics here, just good Bat-fun. ( )