Eight Batman Stories Every Fan Must Read

ByPaul Posted on

5. Batman: The Killing Joke – Alan Moore

I tried very hard to avoid putting this on the list. Every list of recommended Batman will feature this and for good reason. As one of the best stories of the Joker, it’s a hard comic to ignore. However, once you throw in Alan Moore into the mix, it becomes something spectacular. Once again, our friend Jim Gordon makes a major appearance. However, this time, things are not all well. The events that transpire are the stuff of nightmares. While it’s notMoore’s greatest tale, it is one that truly cements the Joker as the insane clown prince.

6. Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth – Grant Morrison

Grant Morrison and Batman have a very beautiful and twisted relationship. While The Killing Joke is made of the stuff of nightmares, Arkham Asylum is made of stuff that those nightmares fear. The premise this time is that the inmates have taken over the asylum and demand that the Bat come and play. What ensues is a morbid and haunting tale that touches upon the history of the asylum itself as well the psychology behind much of the rogue’s gallery and even the Bat himself. Paired along with some very creepy and even disturbing imagery, this is a very unforgettable experience. I recommend picking up the anniversary edition which features the original script and notes from Morrison. It’s very insightful on an otherwise almost incomprehensible book.

7. No Man’s Land – Various

This storyline is big. I’m talking 80 issues big. It’s a heavy undertaking for sure, but one that is very rewarding.GothamCityhas recently been struck by a massive earthquake, leaving it completely cut off from the outside world. Batman decides to stay in the city to take care of it as it falls into chaos. The storyline features a large cast and some really great moments that cannot be missed. Luckily, DC recently compiled the entire set of comics involved into trade paperback form. At this point, there’s really little excuse to check it out.

8. Final Crisis – Grant Morrison

Last on the list is another crisis. Masterfully written by Grant Morrison, Final Crisis deals with murder mystery on a cosmic scale, corruption and death of great heroes, and a massive threat to reality itself. While the scale is grand, Batman still plays a large role in the machinations of the tale. So much goes on in the story, that it likely requires multiple readings and lots of supplemental material. However, the trade of FC is still great on its own.

While this is a good start, there’s still so much ground to cover. Here’s a quick list of more suggestions, presented in a mostly chronological order:

Dark Moon Rising – Matt Wagner

The Man Who Laughs – Ed Brubaker

Robin: Year One – Chuck Dixon and Scott Beatty

The Joker: Devil’s Advocate – Chuck Dixon

Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth – Grant Morrison

Knightfall – Various

Batman: Hush – Jeph Loeb

Identity Crisis – Brad Meltzer

Infinite Crisis – Geoff Johns

52 – Various

Batman: The Black Glove – Grant Morrison

Batman: RIP – Grant Morrison

Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? – Neil Gaiman

Pages: 1 2

I think I'm a part of the first generation of journalists to skip print media entirely, and I've learned a lot these last few years at Forbes. My work has appeared on TVOvermind, IGN, and most importantly, a segment on The Colbert Report at one point.

Similar Posts

18 Comments

  2. Grant Morrison is one of my favourite comic book writers! His Batman is awesome.

    I like the story of Year One but the art style really bugs me.

  4. My biggest problem with catching up on Batman, and the whole DCU as a whole, has been time and money. Buying single paperbacks is okay, but getting the bigger storylines can be quite expensive and in many cases the multi-issue crossovers sacrifice scale for story. I don’t mind a multi-issue crossover, but it does get hard catching up on events like final crisis, when they span almost the whole character range of the DCU.
    That being said, Scott Snyder is doing some amazing things with the character as we speak, the Black Mirror goes up there with my favorite Batman stories.

  6. I would’ve switched “No Man’s Land” for “The Dark Knight Returns”. NML was ambitious. but, in my opinion, besides the Rucka and Brubaker stories (the two main series, that is) everything else was quite bad. And those weren’t anything to write home about. Again in my opinion, both Rucka and Brubaker started getting better once NML ended.

  7. Any failure to mention The Dark Knight Returns is an intentional failure that negates most of your other picks and harms the integrity of the piece. I know you want to be original (and including No Man’s Land was much win), but this isn’t an original idea for an article so you’re going to have to deal with the most influential and consensus best Batman story ever old. This is like making a list of definitive 90’s alternative rock bands and leaving Nirvana out. Even if they aren’t your favorite, you simply can’t get around them. And Crisis? Come on. Batman being in the story doesn’t make it a definitive Batman story.

  8. I actually did have Dark Knight Returns on my last revision, but I’m not sure where it ended up. Don’t worry, I wouldn’t dare leave it off.

  9. Good list and bravo for leaving off Dark Knight Returns. I know I am in the minority but I find that one extremely overrated. Never got all the love it receives. The Long Halloween is my personal fave.

  10. Yeah, Crisis on Infinite Earths has no reason to be on this list. Batman is barely involved in that and he was one of the few characters whose history wasn’t drastically rewritten as a result of it. There were changes, to be sure, but no where near as significant as the changes to Superman and Wonder Woman. And Final Crisis is just a mess. Swap Final Crisis for Dark Knight Returns and COIE for literally anything else. Maybe Untold Legend of Batman to give a taste of pre-Crisis Batman.

  11. Like many others I was surprised to find The Dark Knight Returns absent from this list, but if you are a comics novice looking to get into Batman then it would probably be more confusing than anything else.

  12. I absolutely hated Final Crisis, and I think I can sum up why in one sentence: Vampire Queen flies a ship in the space between dimensions with Dr. Manhattan so Superman (with a newly acquired 4-D vision) can eventually fight a bag guy as a giant robot version of his self.

    What the fuck?

  16. There’s a really great miniseries from the early 80’s called the Untold Legend of the Batman by the largely overlooked (at least these days) Len Wein, John Byrne and Jim Aparo. I remember reading it dozens of times as a kid. Wish I could find it now…I still like Aparo’s depiction of Batman the best.

  17. Pingback: Naya Rivera, The Simpsons/Movie Homages, and 5 Things Your Girlfriend Says and What It Means | Brand New Cool

  18. Seconding the praise for leaving Dark Knight Returns off the list. It’s okay, but it think it gets more hype then it deserves. I am very glad to see NML here though, as I think it’s one of the best Bat stories, involving and developing and featuring not only the Bat but giving many of his supporting players their opportunity to shine. I especially like the Montoya/ Two Face story.

    I would have to question the inclusion of both Crisis books. I think Batman gets lost in both these tales, and Final Crisis is a horror show.

    In their place I’d include 2 stories from the 1990’s JLA series. Starting off with the opening “New World Order” story. Which features perhaps the single most Batmany moment I’ve ever read. (For those who’ve read it I’m talking about the part with the matches.) The other one I would add is Tower of Babble. It was recently adapted into the cartoon Doom, but that cartoon is a poor imitation.

    Honorable mention goes to Kingdom Come. More a Superman story, but even still Batman has great moments.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.