Clueless About Everything

[Greediness]

Hello, I was thinking about getting into comic books (the volumes so that I won't have to collect individual issues). I have a few questions that I hope some of you can answer:

1. Where would be the best place to start off for someone wanting to read Batman?

2. I was also thinking about getting into Batman Beyond, is it better than the animated Batman Beyond series?

3. Is the New 52 Batman worth picking up?

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thank you!

[Earth-2 Refugee]

I'd be happy to help.

I'd say start by picking up trades of the Rebirth Batman as they come out. They're great reads, and are what got me back into Batman.

Batman Beyond Unlimited, Batman Beyond Universe, and Batman Beyond Hush are all worth getting. The Batman Beyond of the main universe is nothing like the show while the previously mentioned books are continuations of the show.

I only read the first two volumes of New 52 Batman, but they were amazing.

[jbmasta]

The New 52 is a good place to start. The first volume is The Court of Owls, with other major storylines including Death of the Family and Endgame. The first Rebirth trade, collecting the I am Gotham storyline, comes out in a couple of months, so if you're willing to wait you can pick that up.

The Earth 2 titles, Earth 2, Earth 2: World's End (takes place place concurrently with the last year or so of Earth 2 in terms of release date) and Earth 2: Society (takes place Convergence, which takes place after E2 and E2WE), have their own Batman, different characters from the mainstream Batman.

The character of Batman Beyond enters the main continuity in the Futures End event, where Terry travels back in time to prevent the AI Brother Eye from taking over the future (his present). That ends with Tim Drake taking the mantle as the Batman of Neo-Gotham in the present of BB. This is the set up for the 2015 Batman Beyond title, which has at least two trades available at the moment.

[Earth-2 Refugee]

The New 52 is a good place to start. The first volume is The Court of Owls, with other major storylines including Death of the Family and Endgame. The first Rebirth trade, collecting the I am Gotham storyline, comes out in a couple of months, so if you're willing to wait you can pick that up.

The Earth 2 titles, Earth 2, Earth 2: World's End (takes place place concurrently with the last year or so of Earth 2 in terms of release date) and Earth 2: Society (takes place Convergence, which takes place after E2 and E2WE), have their own Batman, different characters from the mainstream Batman.

I'd say if you're looking purely for Batman, avoid Earth-2. I love the original run of Earth-2, but it isn't a big Batman book. He dies in #1, and the second Batman doesn't come along until the Annual, and doesn't take a major part until even later. Even then, the new Batman was a 60+ year old man on steroids with the third Batman being a reporter disabled from the waste down. For an introduction to comics, don't go to Earth-2 unless you adore the Justice Society characters. Besides, there was a major drop in quality for a while with World's End, Convergence, and the first chunk of Society.

I'll just say if you're looking for Bruce Wayne and Terry McGinnis from the cartoon, avoid Earth-2 and avoid the main universe Batman Beyond.

[Green Goblin of Sector 2814]

Start with Batman: Year One by Frank Miller. By far the best Batman origin. Then read The Long Halloween, Dark Victory, and Prey. All three of those stories work as more or less sequels to Year One. You can also pick up any classic Batman story in trade form. Knightfall, Hush, Killing Joke, Death in the Family, etc.

Snyder's Batman run is also good reading. For current Bat-book offerings, though, I'd say All-Star Batman and Nightwing are probably the better ones coming out right now. Tom King's Batman is shaping up to be good, but its a slow burn, and it'll probably read better in trade.

[jbmasta]

I'd say if you're looking purely for Batman, avoid Earth-2. I love the original run of Earth-2, but it isn't a big Batman book. He dies in #1, and the second Batman doesn't come along until the Annual, and doesn't take a major part until even later. Even then, the new Batman was a 60+ year old man on steroids with the third Batman being a reporter disabled from the waste down. For an introduction to comics, don't go to Earth-2 unless you adore the Justice Society characters. Besides, there was a major drop in quality for a while with World's End, Convergence, and the first chunk of Society.

I'll just say if you're looking for Bruce Wayne and Terry McGinnis from the cartoon, avoid Earth-2 and avoid the main universe Batman Beyond.

Society at least shows that version of Batman, the E2 Dick Grayson, as part of an ensemble cast, like how Batman is usually portrayed in the Justice League. It's an alternative take, but because it's a different world it's equally valid as what's going on the in the mainstream books.

[Atlanta96]

New 52 Batman starts out strong, but the rest of the series is very hit or miss. Most of the stories are very polarizing, but it's worth reading so you can make your own judgements. The current run is also accessible to new readers, and I think it will be more satisfying in the long term. If you're interested in Batman working with a team of vigilantes, known as the Bat-Family, I'd recommend the current run of Detective Comics.

All Star Batman, another ongoing series, is good for spotlighting Batman's iconic villains and is pretty entertaining overall. But it's more flawed than the other Batman books in my opinion. If you like Two-Face it's essential reading, though. I haven't read Batman Beyond, but if you want to read about someone other than Bruce Wayne there's a pretty good Nightwing series at the moment.

[jbmasta]

If you're open to Batman as part of an ensemble cast, the Justice League title might be worth a read. The Darkseid War storyline is excellent, and includes one-shots that focus on each major member of the League in that storyline. The main arc is collected in volumes 7 and 8 of Justice League, while the one-shots are collected in their own collection titled Power of the Gods.

[Atlanta96]

If you're open to Batman as part of an ensemble cast, the Justice League title might be worth a read. The Darkseid War storyline is excellent, and includes one-shots that focus on each major member of the League in that storyline. The main arc is collected in volumes 7 and 8 of Justice League, while the one-shots are collected in their own collection titled Power of the Gods.

But stay away from the current Justice League run, it's crap

There's also a series called Trinity that focuses on Batman Superman and Wonder Woman that, for its first 2 issues, has been pretty darn good. It's a better Justice League book than the actual JL book, IMO.

[Pohzee]

If you are interested in Rebirth, then come January pick up the trade paperbacks (TPB/vol.) of anything that from the Rebirth line that piques your interest. It is mostly new reader friendly, but some parts may be hard to understand without reading the New 52 run.

I started reading Batman comics with the first two volumes of the New 52, and I definately recommend them. For my two cents, I was disappointed by everything that followed, but it pretty popular and definately worth giving a shot.

I have found myself enjoying stories set in Batman's early career (and as such are pretty new reader friendly.) Year One and the Long Halloween are musts, and Dark Victory, the sequel to Long Halloween is good too.

[Earth-2 Refugee]

Society at least shows that version of Batman, the E2 Dick Grayson, as part of an ensemble cast, like how Batman is usually portrayed in the Justice League. It's an alternative take, but because it's a different world it's equally valid as what's going on the in the mainstream books.

I won't argue Dick Grayson since I quit reading the book at issue 4, but I'm mainly looking at what the OP has asked for, which seems to be Bruce Wayne Batman stories since he's been the only one under the cowl in mainstream media.

[Red obin]

The new 52 batman is great but the trades are in an awkward order.

[Kingcrimsonprog]

I say just google a bunch of Best Batman comics ever lists, and work your way through them.

[Metamorphosis]

I agree, New 52 is as good a place to start for someone new to start as any. Amazing stuff. Read up to and including Zero Year, at least.

[joybeans]

Hello, I was thinking about getting into comic books (the volumes so that I won't have to collect individual issues). I have a few questions that I hope some of you can answer:

1. Where would be the best place to start off for someone wanting to read Batman?

You have a few options. The most beginner-friendly reads would be:

Batman: Year One, by Frank Miller - The definitive Batman origin story
Batman: The Long Halloween, by Jeph Loeb - A detective story chronicling the fall of the mob and the rise of Batman's rogue gallery of freaks. Followed up by Batman: Dark Victory.
Batman: Hush, by Jeph Loeb - A mystery that brings in a number of Batman's rogues and allies. Best treated as a guide to the modern Batman mythos.

Other recommended standalone stories:

Batman: Ego and Other Tails, by Darwyn Cookie
Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on a Serious Earth, by Grant Morrison
Batman: Dark Knight, Dark City, by Peter Milligan
Batman: Heart of Hush, by Paul Dini (his entire run is worth reading, but not all of it is in print)
Batman: The Black Mirror, by Scott Snyder

Longer reads:

Batman: No Man's Land (major crossover collected across 4 volumes)
Gotham Central, by Greg Rucka and Ed Brubaker (4 volumes)

2. I was also thinking about getting into Batman Beyond, is it better than the animated Batman Beyond series?

Depends on which comic series you're talking about.

The Batman Beyond minis by Adam Beechen (Hush Beyond, etc) were poor. The Kyle Higgins run of Batman Beyond 2.0 were a bit better. These comics continue off from the animated series.

The mainline Batman Beyond series by Dan Jurgens is mediocre, and unnecessarily convoluted, due to having been saddled with tying up plotlines from a failed weekly event. The Rebirth series has a cleaner start, and might be closer to what you're looking for.

3. Is the New 52 Batman worth picking up?

Sure, it's a good run that varies between decent and very good, and has maintained a consistent creative team for 10 volumes.

Other New 52 recommended Batbooks:

Batman and Robin, by Peter J. Tomasi (7 volumes)
Grayson, by Tim Seeley and Tom King (5 volumes)
Catwoman, by Genevieve Valentine (Volumes 6 and 7)
Detective Comics, by Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato (Volumes 6 and 7)
Batwoman, by JH Williams and W. Haden Blackman (Volumes 1-4)

Rebirth:

Batman, by Tom King
Nightwing, by Tim Seeley
Detective Comics, by James Tynion