I think Long Halloween/Dark Victory are the best, DKR closely follows them though.

@danhimself said:

I really don't like Miller's take on Batman at all...he comes off as a psychopath when Miller writes him and that's not Batman to me

amen.

@Jonny_Anonymous said:

I'm gonna say no IMO

I don't like how Batman was portrayed in this novel.

Killing Joke was a great Joker story, but not the best Batman story. And frankly I loved Hush.

I really enjoyed DKR, but to me, it's not the best Batman story since I liked other stories like Batman: Year One and The Killing Joke.  However, DKR was the most influential in being the one that made Batman into a darker character again.

The Killing Joke is much better. Moore created a great character study piece about batman and joker.

It was good and undeniably influential, not my favorite though. I like The Long Halloween a lot more.

No. DKR is a Marvelization of Batman. I don't view it as authentic.

No Riddle Me That is.

Nope it isn't. It's overrated. The best Batman Graphic Novel is "Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader".

Nope. IMO its a tie between Year One, The Killing Joke and Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?

Sure it's badass, but I've read stories I prefered.

I also find better stories where Batman does true detective work.

Since The Dark Knight Returns is an elsworld story I would recommand that you read the Batman Vampire Trilogie, I found Batman way badasser in them.