I love comics of the 1960s - 1980s, and Batman has always been one of my favorites. Recently I finished enjoying a collection of over 500 pages of Batman (and Detective) comics reprints from the 1960s in DC Showcase: Batman Volume 4.These stories are from the 1960s, when Batman's popularity was at an all-time high thanks to his hit liveaction TV series. This collection includes battles with The Joker, The Riddler, Catwoman and a league of assassins, and appearances by Robin and Batgirl. It's a really enjoyable collection and nowhere near as "dark" and "brooding" as the Batman of the 1990s and 2000s.
It's one for the collection that will be read over and over again.
Stories in this collection highlight Batman's 300th appearance where in Detective Comics #327, editor Julius Schwartz decided to give Batman and Robin a "new look". This paperback is the fourth collection to reprint the first stories from Detective Comics and Batman with this new editorial approach in black and white, and in chronological order. This fourth collection reprints stories from June, 1968 to September, 1969.