Batman Recommended Reading

Batman is one of the oldest and greatest super-heroes in existence, along with his supporting cast having been handled by more writers and artists than probably any other comic book character throughout history. His mythos has been adapted into many different settings and genres and even time periods. There are many different sides to the character and interpretations of his personality and motivations. Having been published since in 1939, it can be difficult to figure out where to start with Batman... this is a guide on which stories are good for readers unfamiliar to the character, and provides recommendations on great stories for experienced readers as well. 
If you're looking for a chronological listing of Batman collections, try the Batman Trade Reading Order project. 
==New readers==
* Batman: Year One is the definitive origin story, written by Frank Miller with artwork by Dave Mazzucchelli.
* Batman: Dark Moon Rising is a two-part story written and illustrated by Matt Wagner about Batman's first confrontations with supernatural crime and horror, taking place in his first year as the caped crusader. Batman and the Monster Men introduces mad scientist Hugo Strange and his creatures, Batman and the Mad Monk has him fight an ancient vampire. 
* Batman: The Man Who Laughs is Ed Brubaker and Doug Mahnke's one-shot graphic novel featuring Batman's first meeting with his greatest nemesis, the Joker.
* Batman: The Long Halloween is a story by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale set in Batman's earliest years, dealing with the change in Gotham's underworld from organized crime to costumed freaks and his earliest alliances in the war on crime, revolving around the search for a holiday-themed serial killer.
** Batman: Dark Victory is the sequel to The Long Halloween, a second maxi-series by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale. The story revolves around a new serial killer in Gotham named the Hangman murdering police officers, and takes place during the introduction of Robin. 
* Batman: Hush is a modern classic written by Jeph Loeb with artwork by Jim Lee, a conspiracy involving almost every member of Gotham's rogues, designed to strike at the heart of Bruce Wayne by a mysterious new enemy known as Hush. 
* Batman: The Court of Owls by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo is the first Batman story in New 52 continuity. Batman investigates a conspiracy dating back to the origins of Gotham that played a role in his parents' murder. 
* Batman: Strange Apparitions by Steve Englehart and Marshall Rogers is one of the classic definitive runs on Batman, a collected Bronze Age series. 
* Batman: The Dark Knight Returns is Frank Miller's 1986 classic, an epic story set in a future where Bruce Wayne has long since retired, and triumphantly returns to the cowl in a new era that needs him more than ever and refuses to tolerate his attitude and presence.
==Further reading== 
* Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth is a graphic novel by Grant Morrison and Dave McKean depicting a more ethereal and cerebral interpretation of Batman, taking a look into his psyche when Arkham Asylum is taken over by its inmates.
* Batman: The Killing Joke is a classic graphic novel written by Alan Moore telling the definitive Joker's origin story and examining his motivations. In the modern day, Joker kidnaps James Gordon and cripples Batgirl, forcing Batman to chase him down in a circus. 
* Batman: The Cult is a four-part series by Jim Starlin and Bernie Wrightson featuring a villain named Deacon Blackfire who organizes the homeless and takes over the city, using indoctrination techniques to break Batman mentally for the first time. 
* Batman: Ten Nights of the Beast is a four-issue story by Jim Starlin and Jim Aparo introducing the deadly Soviet agent KGBeast as he comes to Gotham and attempts to assassinate President Reagan. 
* Batman: A Death in the Family is the classic story of Batman's greatest failure, the tragedy of Robin's death at the Joker's hands. The four-part story by Jim Starlin with artwork by Jim Aparo was ground-breaking with its depiction of the brutal death of a popular character.
* Batman: Blind Justice is a murder mystery involving mind control that revisits Bruce Wayne's early years in training while he's put on trial. Sam Hamm wrote the enduring tale looking at the man behind the mask as an anniversary piece for Detective Comics. 
* Batman: A Lonely Place of Dying is the introductory arc of Tim Drake becoming the third Robin after the death of Jason Todd, discovering Batman's secret identity through his own detective work and fighting Two-Face for the first time. 
* Batman: The Last Arkham introduces several new villains as Batman is determined insane and locked up in the Asylum by Jeremiah Arkham, alongside his greatest enemies. 
* Batman: Venom is a memorable five-part storyline by Dennis O'Neil where Batman struggles with his human limitations after failing to save a young girl, and becomes reliant on super-steroids that briefly turn him into a broken drug addict. 
* Batman: Knightfall is a massive trilogy featuring Batman's ultimate defeat at the hands of Bane, the rise of Azrael as the new Batman, and ending with the triumphant return of Bruce Wayne.
* Batman: Contagion is a thematic prelude to No Man's Land, with Gotham City decimated by a deadly plague known as the Apocalypse Virus and Batman doing everything in his power to fights its spread and end the infections. 
* Batman: Cataclysm is the story of a massive earthquake destroying Gotham City, with crossovers in every ongoing Batman volume leading directly into No Man's Land. The dark knight is pushed to his limits by the natural disaster, exhausting himself to save every life possible from a villain he cannot fight while everything he's ever worked for crumbles down around him. 
* Batman: No Man's Land was an epic year-long crossover between all of the character-related titles. Following the events of Contagion and Cataclysm, Gotham City becomes a desolate wasteland no longer part of the United States. Batman and his allies attempt to bring order into the lawless new society overrun by territorial gang warfare. 
* Batman: Turning Points is a mini-series that retells several of the most important pivotal moments in Batman's career and his relationship to Commissioner Gordon. 
* Batman: Officer Down deals with the fallout of Commissioner Gordon getting shot by a mysterious assailant. Batman and the police work hard to figure out the assassin's identity as Gordon struggles in a coma. 
* Bruce Wayne: Fugitive is a massive story that involves Bruce Wayne elaborately set up alongside his bodyguard and lover Sasha Bordeaux for the murder of Vesper Fairchild by an enemy who knows all of his secrets. 
* JLA: Tower of Babel is a story by Mark Waid showing how prepared Batman really is, when Ra's al Ghul steals and uses contingency plans he had created to defeat the entire Justice League in case any one of them ever turned evil. 
* Batman R.I.P. and Batman: Last Rites are the stories that chronicle the death of Bruce Wayne during the events of Final Crisis and the consequences of this event within the Batman Family.
* Batman: Battle for the Cowl is a story that takes place immediately after the apparent death of Bruce Wayne during Final Crisis, as Gotham City erupts in a massive crime-wave organized by the new Black Mask and the city's heroes struggle against each other to determine who is most worthy to continue the Batman legacy.
* Batman: Black and White is a collection of short stories written and illustrated by top talent from across the industry, told entirely in black and white to showcase the artistic talent. 
* Batman: Cacophony is a three-issue mini-series written by Kevin Smith as a spiritual successor to his earlier Green Arrow: Sounds of Violence, featuring the dark knight up against break-out villain Onomatopoeia and the Joker. 
* Batman: Dark Detective is the sequel to Strange Apparitions, a return to the character after many years by Steve Englehart and Marshall Rogers. 
* Batman: Dark Knight, Dark City is a very dark Riddler story where Batman is put through a number of trials organized to finish an ancient demon-summoning ritual organized by a conspiracy that involved Thomas Jefferson. 
* Batman: Face the Face is a One Year Later story taking place after the missing year following Infinite Crisis, as Batman and Robin return to Gotham. Having left the reformed Harvey Dent in charge while they left to train around the world, their first big challenge is a murder mystery involving several small-time super-villains. 
* Batman: Gotham by Gaslight is the original Elseworlds story by Brian Augustyn and Mike Mignola, featuring a Victorian-era Batman hunting down Jack the Ripper. 
* Batman: Gotham Underground is written as a companion piece to Salvation Run, depicting the power struggles in Gotham's crime structure when the Suicide Squad begins abducting the major villains and Intergang attempts to take over the Penguin's enterprises. 
* Batman: Gothic is a five-issue story written by Grant Morrison and illustrated by Klaus Janson involving an ethereal villain from Bruce's youth named Mister Whisper. 
* Batman: Haunted Knight is a collection of Halloween specials written for Legends of the Dark Knight by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale. 
* Batman: Red Rain is an Elseworlds story by Doug Moench and Kelley Jones that involves Batman fighting Dracula in a world of vampires. 
* Batman: Rules of Engagement was the first story arc in Batman Confidential, written by Andy Diggle and illustrated by Whilce Portacio. It details the first meeting of Batman and Lex Luthor. 
* Batman: Son of the Demon is a graphic novel featuring Ra's al Ghul by Mike W. Barr and Jerry Bingham. Batman and Talia al Ghul consummate their marriage, resulting in the child Ibn al Xuffasch.
** Batman and Son is the storyline that introduces Damian Wayne as the son of Batman, based upon the events that happened in Son of the Demon. It was written by Grant Morrison. 
* Batman: Tales of the Demon is a saga written by Dennis O'Neil that introduces the classic villain Ra's al Ghul. 
* Batman: Thrillkiller is an Elseworlds story that re-imagines Batgirl and Robin as part of 1960s-era counter-culture. Bruce Wayne, having lost his fortune, is a detective working for the police department. 
* Batman: Under the Hood is a Judd Winick story featuring the resurrection and return of Jason Todd as the new Red Hood after his murder during A Death in the Family and taking place during Black Mask's control of the city's criminal element.
* Batman: War Games is a big crossover story taking place in the aftermath of a violent shoot-out that leaves all of Gotham's major crime bosses dead. Batman and his team struggle to quell the chaos and rioting as every gang in the city attempts to take advantage of the power vacuum. 
* Batman: Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? is Neil Gaiman's meta-fictional take on the death of the character, paying tribute to every era of his publication at the Dark Knight's funeral. 
* Batman: Year 100 is a gritty Elseworlds set in a dystopian future written and illustrated by Paul Pope. 
* Batman and Robin is the original storyline showcasing Dick Grayson's tenure as Batman alongside Damian Wayne as Robin, originally chronicled by Grant Morrison. 
* Batman: Ego is a psychological exploration of Batman by Darwyn Cooke.
* Many Deaths of the Batman revisits Bruce Wayne's origins as a killer begins murdering the many men who trained him and dressing them in Batman suits. 
* The OMAC Project is part of the Countdown to Infinite Crisis following Identity Crisis, as Maxwell Lord uses Checkmate to take control of Batman's hero-monitoring satellite Brother Eye. His army of OMACs begin assaulting every hero on Earth. 
* Untold Legend of the Batman is the definitive Pre-Crisis origin story on the character.
==Single issues==
* -- One Bullet Too Many
* -- Daughter of the Demon
* -- Joker's Five Way Revenge
* -- The Clown at Midnight
* -- Batman in Bethlehem
* -- Time and the Batman
* -- Joker's Late Night Lunacy
* -- Mortal Clay
* -- The Eye of the Beholder
* -- Work That's Never Done
* -- The Player on the Other Side
* -- The Case of the Chemical Syndicate
* -- There is No Hope in Crime Alley
* -- The Doomsday Book
* -- Fool's Errand
* -- Dead Reckoning
* -- Mimsy were the Borogoves
* -- Slayride
* -- Blood Secrets
* Secret Origins Special #1 -- Original Sins
Category:Batman