Reddit mentions of Batman: Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?

From Batman: What Ever Happened To The Caped Crusader?
>"I'm the Batman, I protect the city. I rescue people. I investigate crimes. I guard the innocent. I correct the guilty. And I GET it. I mean I REALLY get it. The end of the story of Batman is he's DEAD. Because in the end the Batman dies. What ELSE am I going to do? Retire and play golf? It doesn't work that way. It CAN'T. I fight until I drop. And one day, I WILL drop. But until then, I FIGHT."

The image

From Batman Year One
>"Ladies. Gentleman. You have eaten well. You've eaten Gotham's wealth. It's spirit. But you're feast is nearly over. From this moment on -- none of you are safe.

I have previously made a post describing the different editions of Knightfall, and how best to collect that series, and about both of these runs of interest, I hope you don't mind me repeating that information. There are recent omnibuses and trade paper backs of both series', depending on what you prefer, and I will detail what is the most up to date versions in collecting these series.

For Knightfall:

Omnibus: 1, 2, 3

Trade paper back: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

The 3 omnibuses contain the same material as the 9 trades. As for what to read before Knightfall, people often recommend the Legends of the Dark Knight story arc Venom for introducing the chemical substance Bane uses but otherwise has little bearing on the story (it's probably cheaper to buy digital copies of the trade/individual issues, as I believe the trade is out of print), or Sword of Azrael for introducing Jean Paul Valley, as he has a lot gong on in the background with him. (Note, there are two versions, the 1993 version which is often out of print, though tells just the Sword of Azrael introduction, or the modern 2016 version, which contains both the introductory arc to be read before Knightfall, though also containing a post-Knightfall arc for JPV). In terms of what you need before hand, I read the 2012 editions, and I felt lost without Sword of Azrael and Prelude to Knightfall. It does showcase a lot of odd characters here and there, I feel like if you have a somewhat familiarity of Batman's villains (i.e. Arkham or BTAS experience) then you would be fine.

Knightfall happens early enough in the post-crisis continuity, which helps for the purpose of being a new reader. Morrison's run, on the other hand, happens at the end of the post-crisis continuity. I'm not saying reading all of post-crisis is necessary, I mean I hadn't before starting, but it does draw a bit from post-crisis knowledge (things like Hush, Under The Red Hood, etc.), though crazily enough, Morrison made everything canon. Not in a way that not reading everything is prohibitive, more so in a way that embraces even the Gold/Silver/Bronze age Batman stories. The pre-crisis stories Morrison drew influence from are collected in The Black Casebook, but really, I never found it necessary to read, it is just interesting from a history perspective. The rest of Morrison's run is fairly easy enough to follow. This infographic describes the order for reading in trade paper back format, though if I recall correctly, they have recently started putting Morrison's run in omnibus format.

Trade Paper backs: Batman and Son (New edition comes with The Black Glove arc, too), (optional Resurrection of Ra's Al Ghul), Batman RIP, then, it gets a little messy, as you might consider reading the DC wide event Final Crisis, which isn't Batman specific, but has huge ramifications for Batman going forward, but admittedly, without broad DC knowledge, can be confusing, anyway, following that is (optionally Battle for the Cowl and Whatever happened to the Caped Crusader?, which are not written by Morrison, but BftC is plot relevant to Batman going forward, and Gaiman's WHttCC? is a short and extremely well made reflection on Batman) then Batman and Robin: Batman Reborn, Batman and Robin: Batman Vs Robin, Time and the Batman, The Return of Bruce Wayne, Batman and Robin: Batman and Robin Must Die!. This is followed by the post-crisis Batman: Incorporated, but DC rebooted mid-Morrison run, so that it is finally completed with the New 52 Batman Incorporated volume 1: Demon Star and Batman Incorporated volume 2: Gotham's Most Wanted.

All of this (at least the Morrison parts, not any of the optional sections) are collected in omnibus editions: 1 containig Batman and Son, The Black Glove and RIP, there is a Final Crisis Omnibus, which I have heard is more complete, and there is 2 containing Time and the Batman, the first 3 Batman and Robin volumes, as well as The Return of Bruce Wayne. Lastly, there is the Batman Incorporated Absolute Edition finishing the all the Batman Incorporated stuff.

So Morison's may seem a little messier or harder to start, I wouldn't necessarily say it is harder, if you follow the list I have provided. I would recommend attempting it after a little more experience with comic Batman however, but it's hard to really say how much experience is needed. Some start with it, and have a great time. Another thing to consider is that with so much comics, especially omnibuses and absolute editions, it does get very expensive. I would recommend tackling it in bite sized chunks, like maybe just the first arc of Knightfall, or initially the pre-Final crisis Morrison stories, making sure you like either enough to commit to buying and reading more. I hope this has actually been helpful and informative, and hasn't made any of this seem too hard to follow!

Batman: The Black Mirror, Dark Victory, Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader, Heart of Hush, Prey, Trinity

I believe you are thinking of "Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusdader" by Neil Gaiman.

https://www.amazon.com/Batman-Whatever-Happened-Caped-Crusader/dp/1401227244

It's a great read and the story you are referring to has a great twist about Batman's greatest foe.

It does not. This is the only collection of that story.

http://www.amazon.com/Batman-Whatever-Happened-Caped-Crusader/dp/1401227244

1. I'm colorblind
   
   
2. BTMAN
   
   
3. There's a penguin on top of the telly.

Since you do seem interested in Batman, I hear Whatever happened to the caped crusader is really good. Also, I like the Gotham Central series. Which I think it's fantastic due to the new perspective it offers (Gotham PD as opposed to Batman, they fucking hate batman)