the vynsane asylum

Harass (misspelling intentional) only has balls on his chin and his ass.

I read the first half of Odyssey. Which was/is the 12 part maxi series by Neal Adams. Which got bumped up to 13 issues. But then got truncated to six issues because of the Nu52 relaunch, and restarted as a 7 issue series. Even though it's all one story. Which I thought was dumb, but I'll leave the reasoning and speculation to you.
Anyway, it's not good. First of all, its set during the time Dick is Robin, but he's running around in Tim's first costume. So that's just bugging me the entire time. But mostly, it's because the dialogue is atrocious and the story flow just stutters like somebody with palsy trying to foxtrot. Bruce, Alfred, and Dick are really short and snarky with each other, and their traded barbs are just tired cliches. Nobody talks like that in real life.
And the art. It's not horrible because it's Neal Adams. But it's like he's getting old and life's too short to spend time on a page, so he's scrawling them off in minutes instead of hours and they've got that rugged convention sketch look to them. He's definitely trading on his name.
I only have the first six issues, and the first issue of the relaunch, which would've been 7 is some idiot at DC hadn't--ah whatevs. By the time Batman is running around underground on giant dinosaurs in Land of the Lost, I'd complety lost interest.
You're much better served by going back and rereading Neal's stuff from the 70s.

Ahhhh. I cleansed my palate with two wonderful minis from 2006 by Matt Wagner. Batman and the Monster Men and Batman and the Mad Monk.
Both series are set early in Batman's career, immediately following Year One's events. And the two series dovetail in perfectly with other "Year One" stories like Catwoman: When in Rome, and The Long Halloween. The beginning of the series mentions the Red Hood in a newspaper, so the timeline is established smartly.
In Monster Men, Capt. Gordon has entered an uneasy alliance with Batman, but the rest of the force isn't onboard yet. Bruce is "dating" Julie Madison, whose industrialist father is in deep with Sal Maroni. Sal Maroni is also doing business with a Hugo Strange(this book leads to his fascination with the Batman) who is doing illegal experiments. Exceptional series.
The slightly less awesome, but still fantastic Mad Monk follows immediately after and concerns vampires and missing heroin shipments. Sadly, I'm missing the last two issues, which I need to rectify post haste.

Definite thumbs up on these two series. Matt Wagner's niorish art is fantastic. I love his Batman.

Sounds interesting. How well does it jive with the Year One Hugo Strange story in Legends of the Dark Knight ages ago?

I'd have to reread that series.
Basically, in this one Hugo is doing illegal genetics work and making big, feral cannibals 12 ft tall(The titular "Monster Men"). Batman tracks him down(first time they meet), and says he's going to put Strange out of business. Then he gets into a fight with the monsters, and loses his batbelt, cape and weapons. Hugo recovers them. At the end of the series, Hugo goes on TV as a "Batman expert" which sort of checkmates Batman because if goes after him now, it'll look like a personal vendetta against the schmuck on TV badmouthing him.

Actually, these books might be taking place during TLH. Batman has his Second run in with Catwoman, and makes reference to their first meeting at 'Roman' Falcone's place. Was that in TLH?
Also he has a brief meeting with Harvey Dent in Dent's office. Dent is startled to see him, but not in "Who the fuck are you?!?" way. More like "Ah! Don't sneak up on me!" way. So he obviously has a tentative relationship with Bats at this point.
But the end of Y1 just happened, because Gordon is still shook up over the fact his wife and kid almost died. He's having nightmares about it. So the end of Y1 had happened recently.

Errf. I'll have to freshen up and reread some stuff.

Finished up the 21 issue Streets of Gotham series. Missing 3 of the 21 issues, but got the gist. All of these spinoff series were sadly dependent on whatever spew Morrison was writing in the main book. Bruce is dead. Bruce is back. Yadda yadda. And this was when Dick took over and the Bat books ballooned to like six ongoings. So this series was a continuation of Paul Dini's story from Detective getting its own book. It was partially about Dick, but since that was getting covered in Batman and B+R, this was following Hush, who had cut himself to look like Bruce and was playing the part of Bruce, but on a very short leash held by Alfred and the "Outsider" team. It also had a ridiculous villain called Bedbug. And back up stories featuring Manhunter, Ragman, and Two-Face.
There were a few bright spots, including a two patter featuring C-list villain The Carpenter. But mostly it was just an attrition book for DC trying to milk Bat enthusiasts on as many titles as possible. It's sad to waste talent like Dini on this while Tony Daniel was mucking up the main flagship book. Fair reading, but nothing of importance happens, or could've happened in a fourth string series.

I've been reading The Batman Chronicles which was a 48 page Quarterly title that ran between 1995 and 2001. It lasted 23 issues, of which I have 20. It contained 3 or 4 (or sometimes even 5) short vignette tales in the Batman universe. And by god these are some of the best Batman stories I've ever read. Here's an example from John Ostrander's Oracle:Year One story. Such a brilliant follow up to The Killing Joke.

Next up is World's Finest. A 10 issue Maxi Series starring Batman and Superman. Each issue takes place in a different year starting with Batman Year One and follows the two heroes slow progression from antagonists to friendship. I'm missing the first two issues and the last one, but apparently each issue is set on the anniversary of some guy's death that could've been prevented if Bats and Supes had worked together instead of butting heads. So they "team up" every year on that day. Some decent moments, like Superman offering his take on Jason's death and Barbara's shooting in year seven. Or suggesting Dick create a new identity in year six. And Bruce having dinner with Clark and the Kents in Smallville. This came out in 1999, so it was smack in between the time retcons overhauls of Zero Hour and Infinite Crisis, and thus the timeline doesn't quite sync up, but overall it had some nice character development.

I read Devil's Bone and Devils Dance by Matt Wagner. Two Prestige Oneshots joint published by DC and DarkHorse. They were a follow up to Devils Riddle and Devils Masque where Batman threw down with Hunter Rose.
This time Grendel-Prime shows up from the future and tries to steal Hunter's skull which is on display in a Gotham museum. He ends up killing like 100 GCPD and kicks Batman's ass before Bats can send him back to his own time. But in the end Hunter Rose's skull winds up as a trophy in the Batcave.
You can never go wrong with Grendel, Batman, or Matt Wagner.

Still plowing through the Bat books. A couple oneshots and Prestige minis. I wonder how they decided which books were gonna get the Squarebound treatment? Because there's nothing remarkable about these books that warranted a $5 price tag per issue in 1992 when regular comics were a buck. Or $7 an issue in 2003. Anyway.

Batman:Day of Judgment. A oneshot that takes place during the Judgment Day Event. Which was taking place during No Man's Land. So, Batman has to ditch NML Gotham and go help the JLA fight in the big Judgment Day crossover(which was a big mystical Underworld/Hell event) and leaves Nightwing and Robin in charge of NML. But because of the JD thing, a bunch of dead Mobsters from the 1930s come back as zombies in zoot suits and Dick and Tim have to fight them.
Batman:Death of Innocents. A oneshot about the horrors of landmines. A WayneTech employee gets killed by a landmine in some made up European country. Batman has to go in and rescue his daughter. But she dies on the last page from a landmine. All of the information and testimonials from Senators and soldiers in the book was much more compelling than the story itself. Landmines SUCK people.
Run Riddler Run. A 3 issue Prestige series by Gerard Jones and Mark Badger from 1992. Batman has to team up with Riddler against some hi-tech armor wearing bigots who are trying to gentrify a neighborhood and have been deputized by Gotham to do so. Badger had some nice splash pages, but mostly his work is scratchy and I don't care for it. The plot felt dumb to me. I was struggling with my suspension by the second issue.
Batman:Tenses. 2 issue Prestige from 2003 by Joe Casey and Cully Hamner. Set a year after Batman's debut, Bruce is taking back control of Wayne Enterprises and streamlining the company. A downsized employee has visions of the future which drives him crazy and turns him into a serial killer cannibal. Batman defeats him. I have no idea why this was a $7 Squarebound book. It reads like filler.

Six more Batman oneshots.

Batman Plus Arsenal. Part a "Plus" series of oneshots from 1997 that team A-List heroes with lesser known heroes. In this one Arsenal teams up with Bats to save his baby momma Cheshire from KGBeast. Roy, coming from the Ollie Queen school of obnoxiousness riffs well against the Dark Knights moody silent trope. Good stuff.

Batman:Blackgate, Isle of Men. Oneshot set during Cataclysm. Blackgate prison gets hit during the quake and some villains break out. And a death row inmate redeems himself by helping his lawyer and a nun escape the carnage.

Batman: Huntress/Spoiler: Blunt Trauma. Also set during Cataclysm. Huntress and Spoiler team up and stop Cluemaster and some other Blackgate escapees. But Spoiler lets her dad go so Huntress won't kill him.

Batman: Batgirl:Girlfrenzy! Part of the Girlfrenzy series of oneshots from 1998. Batgirl(Barbara) goes up against serial killer Mr. Zsasz. Excellent tale by Kelly Puckett and great art by Jim Balent.

Batman: Scarecrow: Fear. This came out in 2006, but it's a reprint of a 1986 issue of Detective with a 1979 cover. Don't get me wrong it's got great Alan Davis art in it, but I don't know why they would put an issue like this out in 2006.

Batman/Catwoman: Follow the Money. a oneshot by Howard Chaykin from 2011. Despite it having Batman and Catwoman with unfortunate Chaykin Bigchins, the story was pretty damn good. Some Wayne Enterprises employees steal billions from the pension fund. Which means auditors coming in will find a money trail leading to Batman. So Catwoman and Batman have to break in and steal the paperwork. Batman has moral gray area issues with doing this even though it means his can. Catwoman is great at pointing out he's a damn vigilante who breaks the law everytime he puts on his bat ears. Great moral fencing between the two. Excellent issue. Highly recommended. Despite the giant chins. Howard, you bastard.

Three more Prestige minis. (can two issues really be considered a miniseries? That seems deceptive).

Batman: ManBat. A three part Elseworlds tale from 1995 by Jamie Delano and painted art by John Bolton. Kirk Langstrom has moved his family into a cavern under the isolated desert of Monument Valley. A young pro animal rights woman steals a canister from a lab and stumbles into his lair. Turns out the canister is full of a new breed of grasshopper designed to rid the world of humanity by eating them. Langstrom wants to release it because humans created it and he wants them to reap what they've sown. Batman shows up and tries to talk him out of it. A very engaging story with gloriously beautiful Bolton art.

Batman: R'as al Ghul Year One. One of two Two issue minis released in 2005 to coincide with the Batman Begins film. After Râ's' death(this is in continuity Râ's, not movie Râ's by the way. I think it takes place after Death and the Maidens maxi series) Batman receives a posthumous letter from the Demon telling how he found the Lazarus Pits originally. And how he has to build a new one or else nobody will ever die again and the dead will rise and the earth will overpopulate in a matter of weeks. Some kind of Lazarus Pit mumbo jumbo about their connection to the Earth. Eh. It was alright.

Batman:Scarecrow Year One. The other 2 issue series released in 2005. Follows Batman's first meeting with Scarecrow. Also reveals how Jonathan Crane became a nutcase at the hands of his Great Grandmother when he was an unwanted child. Pretty good story by Bruce Jones and artist Sean Murphy. I'm not sure if this retcons any previously established Scarecrow origin or not.

Five more oneshots.

Dark Knight Gallery. A book of pinups by various artists from 1996. Including a pic of Bane by Dick Sprang. Also images by Bret Blevins, Mike 'Ringo, and a really bitchin' Gary Frank pin up.

Batman: Seduction of the Gun. I read this Anti-gun issue back in 1993 when it first came out but just reread it. Damn, I'd forgotten how violent this issue is.

Batman: Two Faces. An Elseworlds oneshot from 1998 written by Abnett and Lanning. Set in the 1880s, Bruce uses a rare orchid to distill a serum that can cure Harvey Dent's psychosis. But he tests it on himself first and gets superstrength. Naturally, his first instinct is to dress up like a bat(huh wha?). Then Joker turns up and starts killing Catwoman's hookers. In the end it turns out Bruce IS the Joker! Dent is forced to kill Bruce during a final moment of lucidity and, after taking the correct dosage of the serum, becomes the new Batman.

Batman: The Hill. A oneshot from 2000 written by Christopher Priest. Batman and Gordon are helpless to stop a criminal drug dealer who runs a Projects building in Gotham known as The Hill. It's a damn shame Priest isn't doing regular work at the Big 2.

Batman: Out Worlds at War. Oneshot from the 2001 DC Event written by Greg Rucka. A spaceship crashes in Gotham and President Luthor is covering it up. A stupid sounding plot is smartly written as a detective/political intrigue story by Rucka.

8 more Prestige style oneshots.

Realworlds: Batman These were, I think, a few oneshots from 2000 that featured "real" characters inspired by Batman, Superman, the JLA etc. This one is about a mildly mentally challenged man named Charlie who used to dress up as Batman as a little kid, and still does as an adult. Everyone in his neighborhood plays along. Then his former "Robin" shows up and she's now an addict and prostitute and he has to "rescue" her. A touching story. Anarky will be pleased to know Charlie is obsessed with his arch villain, Louie the Lilac.

Batman: The Order of Beasts. Elseworlds tale from 2004. Set in 1938, Bruce Wayne is visiting London just before WWII, and gets involved in a murder mystery involving a secret society and Nazi sympathizers. Eh.

The Batman of Arkham. Elseworlds take from 2000. In 1900, Dr. Bruce Wayne has just taken over Arkham Asylum. His assistant Dr. Crane disagrees with his therapy for certain inmates like Killer Croc. And when Joker doesn't him with his laughing gas, Wayne is admitted as a patient and Crane takes over, brutalizing the inmates. Eventually Croc helps Bruce escape and return things to normal.

Batman: Dark Allegiances. Yet another Elseworlds take from 1996. This one is by Chaykin back before he turned shitty. It's set in the mid 1930s as KKK and other fascists plot against FDR. In the finale, at a meeting between Hitler and FDR Batman saves both men from a dual assassination plot!!! Yes, that's right. Batman saves Hitler!

Batman/Demon. From 1996. Batman teams up with Etrigan to stop a occult serial killer trying to raise the Demon Baal. Batman ends up going to hell!!! Literally. Several great moments. He meets Abattoir(who was killed by Jean Paul while he was Batman), who's waiting in line at the River Styx. A demon posing as Jason confronts Batman about his death, as well as thousands of countless Joker victims. Good stuff by Alan Grant.

Batman: The Book of Shadows. 1999. Some inter dimensional beings or demons or something are having a serial killer contest to lure Batman out because their obsessed with tarot cards. Not very good.

Batman/Nightwing: Bloodborne. From 2002. Batman gets infected with a virus deep in arctic circle of Russia and Nigtwing had only hours to rescue him and find the cure. Exellent Kelly Puckett story marred by wretched Toby Cypress art.

Batman Begins Movie Adaptation. Just like it sounds.

And 5 more Prestige oneshots.

Batman/Phantom Stranger. From 1997. Batman teams up with Phantom Stranger to stop some organized crime thugs from finding an using some jewelry from the lost Continent of Lemuria. Eh.

Batman: D.O.A. From 1999. Batman is poisoned by Penguin, Joker, and TwoFace from Arkham in an elaborate plot. He has 24 hours to live and uses it to find a kidnapped little girl, all the while he's suffering from debilitating fatigue, vomiting etc. meanwhile Tim, Oracle, and Gordon are trying to find the cure. Excellent white knuckle adventure.

Batman/Scarface: A Psychodrama. From 2001. Ventriloquist disposes of Scarface as part of his Arkham therapy. The little monster finds his way to Penguin, who gives him back to Wesker to fuck with him now that he's 'cured'. The duo inevitably returns to crime.

Batman/Joker:Switch.From 2003. Joker travels to London and a crazy surgeon removes his mouth and puts it on the back of his head. The whole book is just strange. Let's move on.

Batman/Poison Ivy: Cast Shadows. From 2004. A new skyscraper is built that blocks Arkham Asylum and Ivy's flowers aren't getting sunlight. So she breaks out and kills a bunch of people with poison plants and knocks the building down with vines.


So that's it for my Batman pile for now. I still have a bunch I unfinished minis that I'm waiting for issues to complete. And huge runs of LotDK, Shadow of the Bat, and Gotham Knights to finish before I start on those.