Oh man, I missed the vote! Would Battle for the Cowl fit?

Well TDKR is great, but I'd put Long Halloween above it. Year One is awesome, but it's really Commissioner Gordon's story.

Hush came out on top in this? That's so sad. Though the fact that Court of Owls received 10% of all votes is even sadder.

Wow... I would not pretend that my personal choice should be no. 1... everyone's got opinions.

But there are some Eisner-award winning stories on this list that got beat out by Hush. There are a couple of Eisner winning stories that aren't even ON the list.

I like Hush the character though, its a great story. But its not number one.... and "a detective story first...villains galore...tons of allies..." could be applied to several of the other stories on the list... notable Long Halloween.

Never underestimate the power of Jim Lee I guess.

EDIT: Interesting thing I noticed over the weekend... DC/Batman's official Facebook page picked up on this article and posted it... tons of people on facebook commenting they disagree as well.

I really loved Hush, but I think it's a bit overrated. I really loved The Black Mirror and Year One.

Hush is cool, but story wise I don't think it's #1.... I went with Long Halloween

I gotta admit I did enjoy Hush, but for someone just getting into the bat books I wouldn't recommend it as a first reading solely because it would require knowing at least a little bit more backstory or this new bat fan may get a little lost. I prefer TPB's nowadays just because you tend to get more of the whole story. I'd ask them what kind of story they wanted. If a lot of time, the whole Knightfall saga. Aside from that I would recommend the newer edition of Death In The Family with A Lonely Place of Dying since they make for a great read as far as Batman, Dick as Nightwing and Robin, how Tim came into the picture, and how much Jason actually meant to Bruce. Also Under The Red Hood I always thought was a killer storyline with some fair humor peppered in. I've read TDKR a few times and it's ok, but I think for someone just getting into the bat books it might be almost as overwhelming as the Knightfall saga.

@citizenbane: That's so sad! Man do I love Batman the Animated Series.

Heart of Hush was better