Scott Snyder's Batman run

[Tomato]

So after hearing nothing but good things about Snyder's Batman run for ages, I think I finally want to bite the bullet and start going back through his run. Problem is, I was kind of apathetic to the n52 before now, so I really don't know where to start... Can anyone help me with that?

[bat1987]

Its pretty self contained and number #1 is very new reader friendly. If you want to go the paperback route just go by volumes:

Vol1 and 2 are the complete "court of owls" story, plus there's"night of the owls" TPB which contains the tie in issues but they are not necessary if you just want the core story (keep in mind that the companion tpb and vol2 contain some of the same issues). I liked this one a lot, I think COO are cool addition to the Batman mythos. Wasn't that big fan of the ending though.

Vol3 is "death of the family" story arc. There's also companion TPB with tie ins, but like COO its optional (and again has some repeat issues). If you like The Joker you'll like this one. It's been a while since we had good ol' Batman vs Joker story and this one is exactly it.

Vol4 and 5 is "zero year". Think there's also a companion TPB but its about other heroes during Zero Year not much about Batman himself so I didn't pay much attention to it. Again its entirely optional. First half of the story (Vol4) is the origin story, and is really strong IMO and the issue where Bruce becomes Batman is fantastic. Didn't like the other half of it as much but it was OK.

That's all you can get right now TPB-wise and its cheaper than single issues route. Snyder has some cool character moments in all of these and writes Bruce like very competent but also flawed which is a plus IMO. Capullo is a master artist and from fight scenes to emotional moments everything is top notch. Very dynamic and full of little details. I think they make a great team and I have enjoyed their run for sure.

Hope I helped, feel free to ask me any other questions you have.

[Silver Shocker]

If you haven't read it before, you should get Gates of Gotham. It's from before his New 52 run and has Tim Drake, Cassandra Caine AND Damien in it. The scene where they meet other alone is worth reading, but it's a great mystery story that's a great example of Snyder's attention to detail and world-building (Snyder is known for going into great detail about the history and architecture of Gotham, and in this story architecture is literally part of the plot). There's also The Black Mirror, another one of his earlier arcs, but sadly I haven't read that one so I can't speak of it's quality personally.

As for the Nu52 run, I would recommend you start with either Court of Owls or Death of the Family. CoO is a great story if you stick with it all the way through, though DotF is a pretty great Joker story if you're more interested in that (though I found the ending a bit of a letdown).

Personally I didn't love Zero Year; to me it's his weakest arc. While it certainly has its moments (nearly every issue of act one starts with Batman doing something awesome.) I found it a little too slow and too similar to earlier stuff like Batman Begins, Arkham Origins, ect. The fact that it takes place in the past also kills some of the momentum of his run for me. The lack of Bat Family characters compared to the other arcs also makes it less interesting to me.

[Tomato]

So I've read up through issue 33 now (I stayed up to 7am reading it), and I also knocked out the first annual. Really impressed with the new take on Mr. Freeze, and the whole romp with the Joker was impressive. The second half of the Year Zero arc was a bit weak (I just started skimming after a while, I wasn't really impressed.) but I'm interested in going back and reading the side stories at some point this weekend.

[bat1987]

Agreed about second act of Zero Year. First one is a cool modern take on the origin while the second one is just "Batman in his early days VS the Riddler". The whole thing with the city was a bit over the top IMO. Some interesting things in the very final issue of the story though.

Also make sure to read second annual as well.

[murs47]

I would definitely check out the Black Mirror trade. I'm almost inclined to say I enjoyed it more than Court of Owls, the Joker story, and Zero Year. Although, not by much.  Gates of Gotham is a fantastic read as well.