Several of the choices are so obviously wrong that it's bizarre that they're even brought up in the first place, but hey, gotta consider every last suspect, right? The villain cards pop up in the set just as Alfred and Nightwing being to consider suspects for who could possibly have shot Batman, perhaps with the help of the Joker. Not only are all the cards lovingly reprinted along with Moench's text, but the book's editors actually included commentary from the artists, thus giving a rare insight into the creative process! The combination of characters, art, story, and commentary make Batman Masterpieces a must-have, and to show you what I mean, I'm going to post just the villain pages, almost all of which are by the painter Dermot Power ( Batman/Judge Dredd: The Ultimate Riddle, and concept artist for Batman Begins). Visually, it's a feast of portraits, and that alone would warrant a master post here.Įxcept it gets even better, because apparently the cards had enough of a cult following amongst collectors that the entire deck was given its own coffee table art book: Along the way, we get TONS of cards dedicated to rogues, some of whom pop up several times. Everyone posits their reactions and theories, including the Joker himself, who can't be sure whether or not he actually did it at all! This offered plenty of opportunities to hit all the big beats of the previous card series (major and minor characters, important events) plus create all-new settings for cards (scenes from the plotline, bizarre wacko takes on the rogues, the Joker popping up in classic Elseworlds).

The plot was simple: after the Joker once again escapes Arkham, Batman goes missing and is presumed dead, with the Joker being the likeliest suspect. And it was all written by none other than our old favorite, Doug Moench. The more cards you collect, the more parts of the story you'd have to piece together.

Inspired by the loose narrative of Topps' classic Mars Attacks! cards, the Batman Master Series set was the first series of cards to comprise a complete, original Batman storyline. In 1996, trading card company Fleer decided that they wanted to release a different kind of card set for Batman.

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