I recently went back and read Jeph Loeb & Jim Lee's geekeriffic run on Batman (issues 608-619) where EVERYTHING happens! The only thing their run was missing was Joe Mauer and Barrack Obama (circa 2008, not the present day Fraggle Barrack, whose delusional worshippers are slowly planning off ways to drink the kool-aid).EVERYTHING happens, but it wasn't necessarily a believable story in the realm of the Batman mythos and I never had the urge to keep reading the monthly comic.
However, I finally bucked down and read the following issues dubbed BROKEN CITY.
Broken City was written by Brian Azzarello with art by Eduardo Risso, the team behind the acclaimed series 100 Bullets which I have yet to read a single issue. Perhaps some day.
I loved Azzarello's JOKER tpb, where he painted the clown prince of crime as a truly horrific character due to his "reasoned" insanity.
Now, I also love his Broken City storyline.
It's a detective tale soaked in noir.
It's a murder mystery marinated in mayhem.
It adds depth to Batman's habitually recanted origin tale and, in my opinion, gives a sustainable motivation to Bruce Wayne's obsession to dress up like a bat and beat up bad men all night and bad girls some nights.
If you haven't read the tale, pick it up and be swept away into gritty juiciness.
