WHERE TO BEGIN?

The character Batman made his first appearance in Detective Comics #27 (Published May 1939) and was created by the duo of Bill Finger and Bob Kane. Over the years, Batman has undergone many iterations, personalities, and slight costume alterations, but a few fundamental concepts remain the same.

First, Bruce Wayne becomes Batman after the death of his parents (there have been variations on this history, but the in cannon storyline remains the same). There are some who will point towards the work for creators Dennis Oâ€™Neil and Neal Adams as truly defining the character (They essentially brought the character from the old â€œcampyâ€ style made popular from the Batman live-action TV series to a darker tone). I fall under the belief that â€œmodernâ€ Batman fans should start with Frank Millerâ€™s “Year One” storyline (Batman #404-407 Feb-May 1987). Here we get what the recent Chris Nolan films used for influence in Batman Begins.

The story of â€œYear Oneâ€ is essentially the early start of Bruce Wayneâ€™s career as Batman. It introduces all main players of Gotham along with a less than experienced Bruce as a vigilante. The series not only inspired Nolanâ€™s Dark Knight Trilogy, but had major influences on the video game Batman: Arkham Origins, the animated movie Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, and was adopted to an animated video itself in 2011.

From Batman: Year One, a great many years and issues of comics transpired as the character began regaining popularity and sales. Keep in mind Year One and many subsequent issues all fall under what is currently known as the â€œPre-New 52â€ era of comics. A quick catch up on what New 52 is. In 2011 DC comics concluded an event known as â€œFlashpointâ€ (a company cross-over event that saw the â€œhistoryâ€ of DC Universe re-written due to the action of DC character The Flash). At the conclusion of Flashpoint, the DC Universe â€œresetâ€ its history, erasing the continuity that had been established over the last few years. While not the most popular decision by DC Comics, it certainly wasnâ€™t the first time they had altered their characters in story continuity (there had been other big history changing companywide cross-over events) it was first that seemed to change so much drastically. One of the titles that had a more â€œsoft rebootâ€ (meaning continuity was altered, but nothing extremely severe) was Batman. The character had been having a lot of success in sales leading up to the Flashpoint story line dating back to the Year One era. Not wanting to â€œrock the boatâ€ DC Editor and Chief Bob Harras made to have iconic Batman storylines still remain â€œin continuityâ€ but with a few â€œtwistsâ€ that would be revealed by the writers of the book as time went on. The core concept of Batman: Year One remained however, Bruce still lost his parents in an alley way, he still travelled the world to learn and become a force against evil, he was eventually inspired for the concept of being â€œBatmanâ€. So that leaves a big question for new readers, where to begin? Do you stick with the pre-New 52 continuity and catch up on some of those amazing stories? Or do you want to jump into the current state of the character? Well I will help guide you in both directions.

Starting to read Batman from the 1980â€™s and the Pre-New 52 continuity is, without a doubt, going to a long task, but a fun one! Unlike the New 52 era, this older Batman run lasted for a long time with multiple books, various stories, and tons of collections. While Itâ€™s completely possible to read any of the stories in any order (some will refer back to older books, but typically writers/editors on the series were good at keeping the big storylines self-contained without too much need for prior knowledge on events) it is always helpful to get a sense of â€œchronologicalâ€ reading reference. So while publication of these stories might seem like jumps in time, the chronology of the events are in order: