The Batman: Best Comic Book Reading Order For New Fans

The long-awaited reboot The Batman has proven to be a great critical and commercial success upon premiere, and will likely be bringing in new fans to the character in the process. On top of the rich corner of the DC universe that Matt Reeves is building with Robert Pattinson’s Batman, there will surely be more fans going back to the source material as well.

The Dark Knight has one of the richest and most celebrated catalogs in the comic book medium, so it can be understandably intimidating on knowing where to start. However, there are several great picks to read through the highlights of Batman’s earlier years and into veteran status.

Year One

Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli’s seminal Year One is often regarded as Batman’s definitive origin. The Batman as a whole and Pattinson’s portrayal of the titular hero drew heavily from it thematically and in terms of tone, atmosphere, and Bruce Wayne’s characterization.

This origin has the gritty, grounded crime-noir feel that the movie prioritized, as well as making Gotham City somewhat of a character in and of itself. Bruce was a bit of a drifter in Year One, as he was still learning how to balance his two personas. Likewise, it served as a great parallel origin story for James Gordon’s tumultuous new life in Gotham, as well as Selina Kyle’s proto-Catwoman days.

The Man Who Laughs

The Joker is undoubtedly Batman’s most notorious supervillain, and his comic book history is nearly as old as the Dark Knight’s. The Clown Prince of Crime’s first appearance came within the pages of Batman #1 back in 1940, and writer Ed Brubaker and artist Doug Mahnke’s The Man Who Laughs is a remake of his debut for the modern age.

Given that Year One ends with Gordon teasing that a crazed clown is poisoning Gotham City’s water supply, The Man Who Laughs is a natural next step to read. This story centers around the Joker targeting rich industrialists in the city in preparation for something bigger and more heinous.

Haunted Knight

Though many longtime Batman fans will reasonably cite The Long Halloween as Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale’s quintessential work with the brooding superhero, the duo formed a sort of loose trilogy of great comics. Haunted Knight is a series of anthology stories coming from the pages of the Legends of the Dark Knight series’ Halloween specials, and it’s what led the team to go through with TLH and its direct sequel.

It’s comprised of the stories “Fears,” “Madness,” and “Ghosts” that involve a variety of Batman’s colorful rogues’ gallery members. Scarecrow takes center stage in the first, Mad Hatter in the second, and — in A Christmas Carol-themed story — Poison Ivy and the Joker in the final one. The latter, in particular, is a compellingly surreal read and insight into Bruce’s scarred psyche.

The Long Halloween

Loeb and Sale returned for the sprawling detective-thriller The Long Halloween, and one of Batman’s greatest mystery cases in the comics. Reeves also took tasteful inspiration from this crime epic, with the Riddler taking on a villainous role similar to the Holiday Killer’s — only on a much grander, more sinister scale.

The Long Halloween also takes place two years into Bruce’s career as Batman, with organized crime still at the top of Gotham City’s corruptive food chain. However, it’s entering its waning days as the aforementioned “Holiday Killer” is targeting notable figures in the criminal underworld, inciting a gruesome and public gang war. The enthralling mystery is further emphasized by Sale’s vintage brand of moodily-stylized and exaggerated noir artwork.

Dark Victory

In the aftermath of Alberto Falcone’s arrest as the elusive Holiday Killer — or at least one of the killers — Loeb and Sale’s sequel, DarkVictory, takes place a year later with a copycat murderer on the rise. This serial killer is dubbed the “Hangman,” given how they murder their victims and leave bloody notes at the crime scene. They’re targeting different GCPD officers that were associated with Harvey Dent (now Two-Face).

Amid the brutal string of murders is an intense territory war between Two-Face’s up-and-coming mob against other villains as well as the skeleton crew of Falcone’s remaining crime family. Perhaps the biggest landmark moment was how this comic remade Dick Grayson/Robin’s origins and fulfilled the “rise of the freaks” in Batman’s mythos over organized crime. Dark Victory also looks to have had a hand in influencing Catwoman’s character arc in The Batman.

The Long Halloween Special

Even after 25 years of topping many fans’ lists as the greatest Batman comic book ever written, the team came back in late 2021 to tie up loose ends. The Long Halloween Special was released as a one-shot comic to unravel secrets that seemingly died off after TLH and DV.

Revelations once thought buried are resurfacing, with the once trinity of friends and partners in crime — Batman, Commissioner Gordon, Harvey Dent — are at the center of it all. The one-shot was met with high praise and comes at a great time for new fans to get the full picture of the story that even longtime fans are just now reading.

The Killing Joke

After years of over-the-top-camp began to bring Batman’s popularity down, the late Dennis O’Neil revitalized the superhero in the early ’70s by bringing him back down to earth to his pulpy crime-noir roots. Then in the ’80s, that streak his a crescendo with writers like Frank Miller, Grant Morrison, Alan Moore, and more skyrocketing the Dark Knight’s relevance.

The latter wrote one of the best Batman comics of that decade, which doubled up as the definitive Joker story. It presented fans with a (possible) origin story for the maniacal villain and a deep look into the Clown’s warped psychology. Similarly, it’s an excellent story of parallels with Batman, demonstrating how succumbing to gruesomely nihilistic worldviews aren’t justifications for the Joker’s atrocities.

A Death In The Family

One of the most controversial events to happen in DC Comics and Batman’s mythos was the death of Jason Todd — the second Robin. The young, angst-ridden young man was viciously murdered by the Joker, and it had lasting ripple effects on the Dark Knight’s life. A Death in the Family was centered around this tragic loss, one that Batman to this day considers his greatest failure.

It’s one of the dark milestones in the character’s lore, and it came from a fan vote in the mid-’90s. It’s what paved the way for his revival as the Red Hood, the strained relationship with his adoptive father, and his eventual reintegration into the Bat-family.

Knightfall

One of the most iconic and classic Batman comics, as well as one of the hero’s biggest defeats, came in the expansive Knightfall arc. This storyline featured a massive list of creatives and served as the first major role for Bane. This ominous supervillain carries a bloody vendetta against Batman, with Bane setting off a plan to let Arkham Asylum’s rogues loose upon Gotham.

He did this knowing the city’s protector wouldn’t rest until they were all rounded up, and once Batman was at his weakest mentally and physically, Bane would strike the crippling blow. The villain deduced who the Dark Knight was, broke into the Batcave, and famously “broke the Bat.” Knightfall was famously an influence for Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises.

Hush

Jeph Loeb teamed up with legendary artist (and now CCO of DC Comics) Jim Lee for his last major Batman arc. Hush became a modern classic in its own right, and while it doesn’t measure up to the likes of The Long Halloween or Dark Victory, it was a thrilling action/adventure with a “mystery” wrapping.

At the time, it was many new fans’ first Batman comic, as it lent itself well to being a “blockbuster superhero movie” in comic book format. “Hush” is leading a bloody trail that not only targets Batman but signals a grudge against Bruce Wayne specifically. Aside from the new villain, Hush was also a major turning point in Batman and Catwoman’s romance.

About The Author