Batman Comics FAQ: Best for New Readers, Current Titles, Top Trades & Recent Events

[Xerophthalmia]

Miller, Morrison and Snyder's Batman stories are basically their own thing. No need to try to place them in some continuity, even if Morrison has a cool way of doing so.

I think Miller's Batman Year one should be read together with The long halloween and Dark Victory (who acts like "year two" and also served as inspiration for Nolan's Batman films) and then Dark Knight Returns (can be read as the last great batman story). Sort of a "classic" run.

Then there's Grant Morrison's insane Batman epic. Batman & Son, Batman RIP, Time and the Batman, Return of Bruce Wayne, Batman and Robin (vol1-3) Batman incorporated (vol.1, and then n52 vol.1-2 Demonstar and Gothams most wanted.). It's basically nuts, but epic. Uses more or less every batman-story there is into it's continuity. Batman becomes a Batgod-monk in it. It has everything from batcow to time travel, so beware. Can also be read as a one last great batman story (similar to DKReturns).

And Snyder's. I haven't read much of it, but from I hear it's rather good. A reboot of the batman story, with both new stuff and alot of homage to the old. Lots of horror elements. Reading order: Court of owls, City of owls, Death of the family, Zero Year: Secret city, Zero Year: Dark city, Graveyard shift (out next year) and beyond that there's Endgame also sometime next year.

Happy reading. I'd also recommend Brian Azzarello's Batman. Either Joker (very depraved but interesting take on joker) or the batman stuff he's done with Eduardo Risso (collected in b/w as Batman Noir. Has a great pulp feel to it, and NO ROBIN!). And also Alan Moore's Killing Joke, also a grim but good Joker-story!

Thanks a lot! I'll definitely check them out. :-)

[borntohula]

Okay, so I should begin with The Black Mirror? Cool, thanks. Even though I don't have to read The Night of the Owls, is it worth reading? I mean, does it add anything to the series as a whole?

Black Mirror is pre new 52 Batman. New 52 Batman is a new start, it's own thing. But since the basics is there (Bruce Wayne is batman) it'll probably fit into continuity.

Thanks a lot! I'll definitely check them out. :-)

Hope you find something you like. Enjoy !

[Xerophthalmia]

Black Mirror is pre new 52 Batman. New 52 Batman is a new start, it's own thing. But since the basics is there (Bruce Wayne is batman) it'll probably fit into continuity.



Hope you find something you like. Enjoy !

I most certainly will. Thanks for the help :-)

[Kingcrimsonprog]

Okay, so I should begin with The Black Mirror? Cool, thanks. Even though I don't have to read The Night of the Owls, is it worth reading? I mean, does it add anything to the series as a whole?

My first Batman purchase was Court, Night and City all in one go.

Night made me feel very ripped off and it left a sour taste in my mouth for over a year. Recently I went back to it and it was passable, with my expanded knowledge of the Bat family and all that... but mostly, its completely non-essential and for me at least, adds almost nothing to the story apart from the metaphorical sentence "this threat is bigger than just what was shown in the main story." Skip it unless you are wealthy or can get it for dirt cheap.

[Dark-Flux]

Night of Owls would i guess give you a fuller experience of the Owls story, but its my no means necessary and youd be fine just sticking to the main story being told in Batman.
Without spoiling too much NoO just basically collects the spinoff stories (not written by Snyder) of different Bat-family members encountering members of the Court of Owls. Its pretty mediocre overall imo, and i think its hard to justify the price of the collection. But its really a judgement call. If you really dig the mainline story and want more then yeah, check it out.

[nepenthes]

Welcome to the board. Ignore Night of Owls and come back to Black Mirror, it's fantastic but unrelated the current Batman run.

A few other suggestions here

[MajorHoy]

I love the Batman movies and the Arkham PS3 games, . . .

By the way, did you know there have been some comic books related to the Arkham games? (They're separate from regular Batman continuity.)

[Red_11]

Black Mirror is fantastic, Synder's best bat work IMO, but it doesn't have anything to do with the current Batman run. That's not to say it's not worth reading but it might leave you a bit mystified as it is essentially in a separate continuity from the current Batman stories. Just start with the first Batman trade post nu52 and go from there. I would recommend skipping NoO as most of the tie in's weren't very good and event the decent ones didn't add anything to the main story.

[Xerophthalmia]

I'm skipping The Night of the Owls. Just bought Court today at the comic book store and ordered The Black Mirror at ebay. I'll check the Arkham game related comics out too, thanks :-)

[cwcooper810]

PM's are activated when you reach 5 posts, but no worries I'll email to you. Am thinking to do the next year around Feb March 2015 - hope you can help!

Awesome, thank you. Cwcooper810@gmail.com

[Master of Fact]

Hey everyone

New to the forums and introduced myself on another thread.

Now to my problem, my wife bought me a load of graphic novels off of my amazon wish list and ended up with a few books. She got me Batman Haunted Gotham, Dark Knight returns, Batman year one and Death of the family vol 3 (with mask)


I dont want to read death of the family vol 3 without 1 and 2. I cant find vol 1 or 2. Maybe i am looking in the wrong place.

cheers

[MrStatham]

Hey everyone

New to the forums and introduced myself on another thread.

Now to my problem, my wife bought me a load of graphic novels off of my amazon wish list and ended up with a few books. She got me Batman Haunted Gotham, Dark Knight returns, Batman year one and Death of the family vol 3 (with mask)


I dont want to read death of the family vol 3 without 1 and 2. I cant find vol 1 or 2. Maybe i am looking in the wrong place.

cheers

Dependant upon which country you're in, volumes 1 and 2 of Batman can be found here;

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Batman-Vol-C...dp_kinw_strp_1
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Batman-Vol-C...dp_kinw_strp_1

You won't find 'Death of the Family' Volumes 1 and 2 because 'Death of the Family' is just the name of the story and it's actually Volume 3 of Snyder's ongoing Batman collections.

[Master of Fact]

Oh i see, vol 1 and 2 are not Death of the family. I did see these and wonder. Noob mistake. Thank you very much. ordered!

[Dayle88]

Book titles and volume numbers are all over the place for all the characters of all the publishers. You'll get the hang of figuring it out. Sometimes I'm still not sure I'm ordering the right thing and I've been buying these things for years

[ZedsDead]

Hey everyone

New to the forums and introduced myself on another thread.

Now to my problem, my wife bought me a load of graphic novels off of my amazon wish list and ended up with a few books. She got me Batman Haunted Gotham, Dark Knight returns, Batman year one and Death of the family vol 3 (with mask)


I dont want to read death of the family vol 3 without 1 and 2. I cant find vol 1 or 2. Maybe i am looking in the wrong place.

cheers

Luck guy! Read "Batman year one" first (obviously) then Dark Knight returns.
The volumes can be read later