Originally Posted by
jb681131
Well here it goes:
For his origin you must read Batman: Year One by Frank Miller
For a good story and Two-Face's origins you ought to read Batman: The Long Halloween by Jeff Loeb
For a great story on the Joker you must read (really must) Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth by Grant Morrison
If you care about Robin (Dick Grayson) and Batgirl, you can read Robin: Year one and Batgirl: Year one.
If want you to know what happened to Jason Todd you can read Batman: A Death in the Familly
I suggest the long saga in 3-4 act Knightfall (Knightfall + Knightquest + KnightsEnd + Prodigual).
This saga includs The Vengeance of Bane, his great origine. A very good story.
If you like Catwoman, I suggest the excellent Ed Brubaker's run on Catwoman
After Knightfall you have 2 small sagas: Contagion, and Cataclysm (prequel to No Man's Land)
Then of course you have the huge No Man's Land Saga that I suggest reading
After that come 2 runs/sagas: New Gotham followed by Bruce Wayne: Murderer & Bruce Wayne: Fugitive
Along these 2 runs, there is the great Gotham Central serie that you can read
After that or on its own you can read Batman: Hush, not the best but still an important story to read.
After Hush I really suggest Paul Dini's run (yes the one that wrote the 90's cartoon serie):
Batman: Detective + Batman: Death and the City + Batman: Private Casebook
Batman: Heart of Hush + Batman, Streets of Gotham: Hush Money + Batman, Streets of Gotham: Leviathan + Batman, Streets of Gotham: The House of Hush
An excellent run
For more Paul Dini I also suggest his excellent Harley Quinn: Mad Love
Then you should read about the Al Ghul familly:
Batman: Birth of the Demon + Son Of The Demon + Bride Of The Demon
Batman: The Resurrection of Ra's Al Ghul
Once these read (You should), you must reat the huge Grant Morrison's run. It starts out great (Batman's son), then gets a little bit confusion (Batman in time), and ends awswome (Batman Inc.)
Before you can read the return of Jason Todd, Batman: Under the Red Hood + Red Hood: The Lost Days
So Grant Morrison's run goes as follows:
Batman by Grant Morrison Omnibus Vol. 1
Batman and Robin: Batman Reborn + Batman vs. Robin + Batman and Robin Must Die! + Dark Knight vs. White Knight
Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne
Batman Inc vol. - Batman Incorporated Deluxe Edition + Batman Inc vol.2 - Demon Star + Gotham's Most Wanted
Once, and only once you've read Batman Inc, you must read Batman & Robin New52 by Peter Tomasi <-one of my favorit runs
Before that If you like the Justice League I suggest JLA: Tower Of Babel
Then of course you can read Batman New52 by Scott Snyder. I found it not very good.
I would only sugget the first 2 volumes on the Court of Owl.
During the New52 era, I prefered Batman & Robin, but also Knightwing follow by the Grayson serie.
After that came the Rebirth era, which is also so so.
I would only suggest the mini-serie Batman: White Knight that is excellent and can be read on its own.
If you've got a liking for The Penguin you can read:
Penguin: Pain and Prejudice
Detective Comics New52: Emperor Penguin
If you like Mr. Freeze you can read:
Batman: Snow
And for more lesser know vilains I suggest:
Arkham Asylum: Living Hell
And for an excellent crazy story on the Joker:
Joker by Brian Azzarello and Lee Bermejo
For Hugo Strange stuff:
Batman and the Monster Men
Batman: Prey + Batman: Terror
Batman Arkham: Hugo Strange
If you are into Hugo Strange:
Batman, the Dark Knight: Cycle of Violance <- probably the darkest Batman story
For some Clayface and Man-Bat
Batman, the Dark Knight: Clay
Then for some excellement elseworld stories:
Batman: Earth One vol.1-2
Batman: The Doom that came to Gotham <- by Hellboy's creator
Batman & Dracula: Red Rain + Batman Bloodstorm + Batman: Crimson Mist <- awsome trio of stories
Have fun