Definitive Batman New 52 reading order

[masahikotahara]

Browsing the internet I'm finding a lot of different reading orders for the (major) Batman story arcs of the New 52.

With ''Rebirth'' kicking off, I'd really like to have a definitive list of reading orders, starting with:

BATMAN: ZERO YEAR

BATMAN: COURT/CITY/NIGHT OF (THE) OWLS

BATMAN: DEATH OF THE FAMILY

REQUIEM

Help! Please?

[Panfoot]

While Zero Year does chronologically take place first, i'd still go by the release order of the major story lines, so...

Court/City of the Owls -> Death of the Family -> Zero Year -> Endgame -> Superheavy

[PurpleGlovez]

Okay, this is very basic and doesn't have everything (I don't have all my notes in one place) but I didn't want to leave you hanging - so here's an issue-by-issue reading order for a healthy dose of material. Will update more tomorrow.

Batman: The Dark Knight 0
Detective Comics 0
Batman 0 (takes place in the midst of Batman 22)
Zero Year (Batman vol. 4: Secret City, vol. 5: Dark City)
- Batman 21-27, 29-33
Batman/Superman 1-4 (vol. 1: Cross World)
Justice League 1-6 (vol. 1: Origin)
Batman 44
Batman & Robin 1-8 (vol. 1: Born to Kill)
Detective Comics 1-7 (vol. 1: Faces of Death)
Batman: The Dark Knight 1-8 (vol. 1: Knight Terrors)
Detective Comics 8
Batman 1-7 (vol 1: Court of Owls)
Night of the Owls (reading order based on timestamps)
- Batman 8
- Batwing 9
- Batgirl 9
- Batman and Robin 9
- Nightwing 8-9
- Red Hood and the Outlaws 9
- Birds of Prey 9
- Batman 9 (continues off 8, jumps around a bit)
- Detective Comics 9
- Batman: The Dark Knight 9
- Batman Annual 1
- Catwoman 9
Batman 10-12 (Court of Owls conclusion)
Detective Comics 10-12
Detective Comics Annual 1
Batman and Robin 10-12
Batman: The Dark Knight 10-15 (vol. 2: Cycle of Violence)
Death of the Family (Batman vol. 3, Detective Comics vol. 3)
- Batman 13-17
- Detective Comics 13-17
- Batman and Robin 13-16
Batman and Robin Annual 1
Batman and Robin 17
Batman Incorporated 1-5
Red Hood and the Outlaws 17-18
Batman Incorporated 6-10, 12-13
Requiem
Batman and Robin 18
Batman 18-20
Detective Comics 18-20
Batman: The Dark Knight 16-21 (vol. 3: Mad)
Detective Comics 20 epilogue, 21 (takes place during and after DK 20-21)
Batman and Red Robin 19*
Batman and Red Hood 20*
Batman and Batgirl 21*
Batman and Catwoman 22*
Batman and Nightwing 23*
Batman: The Dark Knight 22-25
Detective Comics 22
Detective Comics Annual 2
Detective Comics 23-26
Batman Annual 2
Batman: Joker's Daughter 1
Detective Comics 27-29 (Gothtopia)
Batman and Robin Annual 2
Batman/Superman 5-7
Forever Evil, including...
Villains Month (personal reading order)
Joker (Batman 23.1)
Joker's Daughter (Dark Knight 23.4)
Penguin (Batman 23.3)
Two-Face (Batman and Robin 23.1)
Riddler (Batman 23.2)
Clayface (Dark Knight 23.3)
Harley Quinn (Detective Comics 23.2)
Poison Ivy (Detective Comics 23.1)
Ventriloquist (Dark Knight 23.1)
Mr. Freeze (Dark Knight 23.2)
Court of Owls (Batman and Robin 23.2)
Ra's al Ghul (Batman and Robin 23.3)
Killer Croc (Batman and Robin 23.4)
Man-Bat (Detective Comics 23.4)
Scarecrow (Detective Comics 23.3)
Bane (Batman 23.4)
Arkham War
Forever Evil Aftermath: Batman vs. Bane
Batman: The Dark Knight 26-29
Batman and Two-Face 24-28
Batman and Aquaman 29
Batman and Wonder Woman 30
Batman and Frankenstein 31
Batman and Ra's al Ghul 32
Robin Rises: Omega
Batman and Robin 33-37
Robin Rises: Alpha
Batman and Robin 38-40
Batman and Robin Annual 3
Batman Eternal 1-28
Batman 34
Batman Eternal 29-34
Bat-Mite Sneak Peek
Bat-Mite 1-3
Gotham Academy 1-6
Gotham Academy Sneak Peek
Gotham Academy 7
Robin: Son of Batman 1
Batman Eternal 35-42
Batman 28
Batman Eternal 43-51
Batman Eternal 52, pgs. 1-24
Arkham Manor 1-6
Gotham Academy 8-10 (8 seemingly cameos Bruce, this might not be possible)
Batman Eternal 52, pgs. 25-38
Gotham by Midnight 1-5
Superman 40-44
DC Sneak Peek: Superman
DC Sneak Peek: Action Comics
Action Comics 41-44
Aquaman 47-48
Endgame (Batman vol 7)
- Batman 35-40 (main story)
- Batman 35-39 (back-ups)
- Batman Annual 3
- Batgirl: Endgame
- Detective Comics: Endgame
- Gotham Academy: Endgame
- Arkham Manor: Endgame
Batman Sneak Peek
DC Sneak Peek: Batman/Superman
Batman/Superman 21-24
Batgirl 41-42
Batgirl Annual 3
Grayson 12
Grayson Annual 2
Batman/Superman 25-27
Detective Comics 45-46
Batman 41-43, 45-46 (opening scene)
Batgirl 43-52
Batman & Robin Eternal
Robin War
- Robin War 1
- Gotham Academy 13
- Red Hood/Arsenal 7
- Grayson 15
- Detective Comics 47
- We Are Robin 7
- Robin: Son of Batman 7
- Teen Titans 15
- Robin War 2
Detective Comics 48-52
Batman 46-52
Darkseid War
Final Days of Superman
Rebirth

EDIT: Added some more stuff but there's still some missing (especially Eternal/Superheavy era) - some day when I get more energy I'll dive into more of that stuff. Tomasi's Requiem arc weaved in and out of at least ten different Bat-family titles, but ironically, not Batman and Detective Comics... Batman and Catwoman 22 is after Detective Comics 20 and supposedly takes place two weeks after Batman and Red Robin 19, but I'm not sure how things mesh with the Mad Hatter arc in Dark Knight... oh well. The problem with New 52 continuity is, due to an insane spider web of ill-planned references, the continuity between titles can get very tight and you'll sometimes have multiple titles starring Batman that literally take place on the same night. I'm not as invested right now as I once was and I've mainly been reading pre-Flashpoint stuff for the past couple months.

[Kingcrimsonprog]

Okay, this is very basic and doesn't have everything (I don't have all my notes in one place) but I didn't want to leave you hanging - so here's an issue-by-issue reading order for a healthy dose of material. Will update more tomorrow.

Batman: The Dark Knight 0
Detective Comics 0
Batman 0 (takes place in the midst of Batman 22)
Batman 21-27, 29-33
Batman/Superman 1-4
Justice League 1-6
Batman 44
Batman & Robin 1-8
Detective Comics 1-7
Batman: The Dark Knight 1-8
Detective Comics 8
Batman 1-9
Detective Comics 9
Batman: The Dark Knight 9
Batman Annual 1
Batman 10-12
Batman: The Dark Knight 10-15
Batman 13-17
Detective Comics 13-17 (takes place during Death of the Family)
Batman and Robin Annual 1
Batman and Robin 17
Batman Incorporated 1-5
Red Hood and the Outlaws 17-18
Batman Incorporated 6-10, 12-13
Batman and Robin 18
Batman 18-20
Detective Comics 18-20
Batman: The Dark Knight 16-21
Detective Comics 20 epilogue, 21 (takes place during and after DK 20-21)
Forever Evil
Batman and Two-Face 24-28
Batman and Aquaman 29
Batman and Wonder Woman 30
Batman and Frankenstein 31
Batman and Ra's al Ghul 32
Robin Rises: Omega
Batman and Robin 33-37
Robin Rises: Alpha
Batman and Robin 38-40
Batman and Robin Annual 3
Batman Eternal 1-28
Batman 34
Batman Eternal 29-34
Bat-Mite Sneak Peek
Bat-Mite 1-3
Gotham Academy 1-6
Gotham Academy Sneak Peek
Gotham Academy 7
Robin: Son of Batman 1
Batman Eternal 35-42
Batman 28
Batman Eternal 43-51
Batman Eternal 52, pgs. 1-24
Arkham Manor 1-6
Gotham Academy 8-10* (8 seemingly cameos Bruce, this might not be possible)
Batman Eternal 52, pgs. 25-38
Gotham by Midnight 1-5
Batman 35-40
Batman 41-43, 45-46 (opening scene)
Batgirl 43-52
Batman & Robin Eternal
Robin War
- Robin War 1
- Gotham Academy 13
- Red Hood/Arsenal 7
- Grayson 15
- Detective Comics 47
- We Are Robin 7
- Robin: Son of Batman 7
- Teen Titans 15
- Robin War 2
Detective Comics 48-52
Batman 46-52

Wow that's awesome. Could you squish it down to just collected/trades too ?

[masahikotahara]

Thanks, PurpleGlovez.

I would like to go by story arc, so let's start with the Batman: Court/City/Night Of (The) Owls.

The collected editions (HC/TPB) go like this:

Batman, Volume 1: The Court Of Owls
-> Collects Batman (Vol. 2) #1-7

Batman, Volume 2: The City Of Owls
-> Collects Batman (Vol. 2) #8-12, Annual #1)

Batman: The Night Of The Owls
-> Collects the tie-ins (random order):

• Batman (Vol. 2) #8-9
• Batman Annual (Vol. 2) #1
• Detective Comics (Vol. 2) #9
• Batman: The Dark Knight (Vol. 2) #9
• Batwing #9
• Batman & Robin (Vol. 2) #9
• Red Hood & The Outlaws #9
• Birds Of Prey (Vol. 3) #9
• Batgirl (Vol. 4) #9
• Nightwing (Vol. 3) #8-9
• All-Star Western (Vol. 3) #9.

I would like an issue-by-issue approach for the whole ''Owls'' story arc.

[SicariiDC]

This is the list I used, turned out awesome...it goes issue by issue and trade...

https://m.reddit.com/r/comicreadingo...rder_issue_by/

[PurpleGlovez]

Updated my first post a bit... doesn't have everything, but still. If you want me to explain anything just lemme know.

[masahikotahara]

Updated my first post a bit... doesn't have everything, but still. If you want me to explain anything just lemme know.

Thank you!