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The Wellington Comic Lover’s Guide to... Batman

By Gus

You think the collection is your ally, but you merely borrow the collection. I was born in it! Moulded by it! It’s the Wellington Comic Lover’s Guide to Batman!

comic covers on a black background

Who is Batman?

After witnessing the death of his parents at the hands of a petty crook, Bruce Wayne dedicates his life to avenging them. Deciding that Gotham City needs someone who can work outside the law to bring wrongdoers to justice, Bruce trains his mind and body to peak performance and adopts the bat as a symbol to strike fear in the hearts of criminals.

He is vengeance. He is the night. He is Batman!

The Dark Knight Classics

Given that Batman is one of DC Comic’s most published heroes, we’re just going to cover the major highlights of his publishing history, then get you up to speed with the current Batman series. We’ll cover Detective Comics, Robin, and Batman’s villains in later blogs.

Batman’s Early Years

These stories take place in Batman’s early days as Gotham’s Caped Crusader, or explore his time travelling the globe and training for his fight against crime.

  • Batman: Year One - One of the most enduring origin stories for Batman, following Bruce Wayne as he returns to Gotham at the same time Commissioner Gordon joins the Gotham City Police.
  • Batman: Zero Year – A newly-minted Batman protects Gotham after the city has been reduced to an apocalyptic wasteland by the Riddler. We also see Bruce’s globe-trotting training to become Batman.
  • Batman: Haunted Knight – A horror-themed take on a young Batman facing off against the Scarecrow, Poison Ivy, and The Penguin.
  • Batman: The Knight - An adventure from Bruce Wayne’s globe-trotting period, as he trains alongside a renowned cat burglar in Paris.
  • Batman: ego and other tails – After a criminal encounter leaves Bruce wondering if he should continue being Batman, his psyche splits, as his ‘Batman’ half must convince ‘Bruce Wayne’ to continue the fight.
  • Batman and the monster men : dark moon rising - Batman is used to fighting organised crime, but is he prepared to face his first superpowered foes?
  • Batman: the imposter – Inspired by the 2022 Batman film, Batman must clear his name when an imposter Batman begins lethally dealing with criminals.

Classic Batman stories

  • Batman: black and white (volume 2, 3, 4) - Collections of short Batman stories, told in stark black and white inks.
  • Tales of the Batman - Collects the Batman work of artist Tim Sale, including a romantic chase with Catwoman and a team-up between Batman’s lesser-known villains, the Misfits.
  • Batman by Neal Adams. Book one – A collection of stories by the late Neal Adams, one of Batman’s definitive artists.
  • Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth - Joker has taken over Arkham Asylum and Batman must rescue his hostages, but as he ventures further into the asylum, he begins to lose his grip on reality. This comic was one of the inspirations for the Batman: Arkham games.
  • Knightfall Part One and Knightfall Part Two - Batman’s first encounter with the scheming strongman Bane, which leaves Bruce incapacitated and replaced with the vigilante zealot Azrael.
  • Batman, the cult / Starlin, Jim - The charismatic shaman Deacon Blackfire unites Gotham's unhoused population into a dangerous cult that Batman must stop before they destroy the city.
  • Batman Hush - Batman must confront a gauntlet of his classic rogues, as well as the mysterious new villain Hush.
  • Batman Under the Red Hood - A villain from Batman’s early career returns to the Gotham underworld, and his identity shakes Batman to his core.
  • Batman The Black Glove - Batman reconvenes with a team of international vigilantes that he inspired years ago as they confront a sinister killer.
  • Time and the Batman - Batman flashes back and forward through his history in this 700th issue anniversary celebration.
  • The Return of Bruce Wayne - After seemingly dying in Final Crisis, Bruce Wayne must fight his way through history to return to the present, becoming a caveman, cowboy, pirate, and more.
  • Batman : his greatest adventures – A collection of stories inspired by the renowned Batman: The Animated Series.
  • Batman: Night of the Owls - A secret society called the Court of Owls targets Batman and his allies.
  • Batman : universe - One of Batman’s wildest cases sees him travelling across the universe in pursuit of a mysterious jewelled egg.
  • Batman : kings of fear – Batman falls victim to the Scarecrow’s fear gas while he faces a riot at Arkham Asylum.

Possible Endings

There have been many stories exploring Batman’s twilight years, possible ends, and potential successors.

  • Batman: The Dark Knight Returns – After a ten-year retirement, an elderly Bruce Wayne is compelled to return to crimefighting to face a darker Gotham City, joined by a new Robin.
  • Batman : whatever happened to the caped crusader? - Batman’s greatest foes and friends attend his funeral, as they recount the many ways the Dark Knight could have died.
  • Batman: last knight on Earth - Touted as the ‘last Batman story’, this sees Batman waking up in an apocalyptic future. He sets out to find out what ended the world, accompanied by the disembodied head of the Joker.
  • Batman beyond. Vol. 1, Escaping the grave – In a future Gotham, the elderly Bruce Wayne guides the new Batman, Terry McGinnis, who wears a hi-tech suit of Bat-armour.
  • Batman : under the cowl – When the Dark Knight falls, who rises to take his place? A collection of stories where other heroes take up the cowl of Batman, including Nightwing and Damian Wayne.
  • Kingdom Come – In a future where metahumans run amok, an infirm Bruce Wayne protects Gotham with an army of Bat-bots and leads a team of superhuman operatives against Superman’s new Justice League.

The New 52

The DC Comics reboot The New 52 left most of Batman’s history intact while mixing in a few new elements. Written by Scott Snyder (American Vampire) and primarily drawn by Greg Capullo (We Have Demons), Batman gained a new origin in Zero Year, a new threat in the clandestine Court of Owls, a reinvigorated Joker that leaned into grotesque horror, and was even replaced a new corporate-sponsored Batman in a mech suit.

Snyder’s tenure on Batman would continue in All-Star Batman, where he gave his stamp to Batman’s classic villains, and the multiverse-spanning Dark Knights: Metal series, where a team of evil Batmen invaded the world (see the Multiverse section below).

DC Rebirth

Tom King (The Vision, Omega Men) oversees Batman in the DC Rebirth era, as the Caped Crusader is physically and psychologically tested by Bane, settles a war between the Joker and the Riddler, and considers giving up his mission to marry Catwoman.

Infinite Frontier

Previous Detective Comics writer James Tynion IV finally takes on the main Batman title, threatening Gotham City with The Joker War and a reinvigorated Scarecrow.

Dawn of DC

Chip Zdarsky (Daredevil, Newburn) is the current Batman writer, with his storyline exploring two of Batman’s classic contingency plans coming back to bite him; his vicious ‘back-up personality’ Zur-En-Arrh and an unstoppable android called Failsafe.

I Am Batman

Jace Fox, the son of Batman ally and Wayne Enterprises CEO Lucius Fox, has recently taken up the mantle of Batman to defend New York City.

Parts of this run are also collected as Batman by John Ridley.

More Batman series

These are just some of the many other Batman series we have in the collection.

The Batman Adventures

Batman: The Animated Series was one of the most celebrated adaptations of Batman, distilling the Dark Knight’s history while also introducing new characters to his mythology, like Harley Quinn. The series also received its own set of comics, written by the show’s writers.

Batman: The Animated Series writer Paul Dini also wrote an autobiographical comic, Dark night, about his time recovering from a street assault while working on the show.

Batman Beyond

A sequel to the original Batman: The Animated Series where an elderly Bruce Wayne trains a new Batman, teenager Terry McGinnis, in a futuristic Gotham City. Like its predecessor, the series also got its own comics.

Batman Beyond was eventually incorporated into the main DC Universe and got its own series during DC Rebirth.

Batman: The Dark Knight

A supplementary series to the New 52 Batman.

Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight

Batman’s first digital anthology series, now collected in print.

Batman: Urban Legends

A recent anthology series that sees Batman teaming up with other DC heroes.

Batman’s Teams

In addition to being a member of the Justice League, Batman has also formed his own teams to protect Gotham City and beyond.

Batman Incorporated

Bruce Wayne reveals to the press that he has been “secretly funding” Batman for years, and creates Batman Incorporated, a crime-fighting NGO that sets out to put a ‘Batman in every city’. Members include Argentina’s El Gaucho, the United Kingdom’s Knight and Squire, the indigenous American Man-of-Bats and Raven Red, and Australia’s Dark Ranger.

The Outsiders

As the name suggests, the Outsiders are a team created by Batman that operate outside of the rules of the Justice League. The most recent incarnation is led by Batman and Outsiders mainstays Black Lightning and Katana, as well as Bat-Family members Orphan and Signal.

Batman Across the Multiverse

Dark Nights: Metal and Death Metal

The culmination of Scott Snyder’s Batman run, Dark Nights: Metal sees the Earth being invaded by the Dark Knights, a team of evil Batmen from the ‘Dark Multiverse’ led by the Batman Who Laughs, a fusion of Batman and the Joker.

The Batman Who Laughs returned with a new army of Dark Knights in the sequel, Dark Nights: Death Metal, which was the finale of Scott Snyder’s run on Justice League.

Death Metal spin-off series

The Dark Knight Returns

Not content with the Dark Knight Returning, Frank Miller wrote two sequels to his renowned Batman epic; The Dark Knight Strikes Again, where Batman recruits a team of elderly heroes to stop a despotic Lex Luthor, and Master Race, where Batman must face an army of Supermen from a restored Kryptonian city.

Miller also wrote All-Star Batman and Robin, which takes place in the early history of this universe and shows how Batman first recruited Dick Grayson to be his sidekick.

Batman: White Knight

Artist Sean Murphy (The Wake, Punk Rock Jesus) spearheaded his own take on the Dark Knight which has now expanded into its own continuity. In ‘White Knight’, Batman faces scrutiny for his methods from a seemingly reformed Joker, as the former Clown Prince of Crime runs for mayor of Gotham City.

Batman ‘66

The 1966 Batman series starring Adam West returned with its own comic, frequently crossing over with other TV heroes like The Green Hornet, The Man from U.N.C.L.E, The Avengers (no, not those ones), and Lynda Carter’s Wonder Woman.

More Batmen Across the Multiverse

  • Batman: Creature of the Night – In a world where Batman is just a fictional character, Bruce Wainwright grows up processing his grief through his favourite comics.
  • Elseworlds : Batman. Volume two – Collects the Batman: Red Rain trilogy, wherein Batman fights Dracula and becomes a villainous vampire.
  • Elseworlds : Batman. Volume three – Alternate universe tales of Batman in different pasts and futures
  • Batman : Thrillkiller – Batman, Robin and Batgirl fight the Joker in the swinging 60s.
  • Batman : the doom that came to Gotham – Written by Hellboy creator Mike Mignola, a Batman in the 1920s fights Lovecraftian versions of his classic villains.
  • Crime Syndicate – In a world where the Justice League are evil, the nihilistic vigilante Owlman patrols Gotham City.
  • Flashpoint – In an alternate timeline created by the Flash, Bruce Wayne dies and his father Thomas Wayne takes up the mantle of Batman instead. Flashpoint Batman would later return in Tom King’s Batman run.
  • Batman : Earth One and Earth One : Volume 2 – A vengeful and more fallible Batman begins his career as a vigilante in Gotham.
  • The Multiversity – The Batman of the wasteland Earth-17 and the chibi Batman of Earth-42 team up to solve a multiversal mystery.
  • The Jurassic League – On the dinosaur-populated planet of Earth-27, a caped Allosaurus called Bat-Walker avenges his parents and fights the acid-spitting Jokerzard.
  • Dark Knights of Steel – In a swords-and-sorcery version of the DCU, Bruce Wayne is the Bat-Prince, a disputed heir to the Lands of El.
  • Batman : city of madness / Ward, Christian - Batman must team up with the Court of Owls to stop 'Batman Below', a Cthulhu-like Batman creature from a dark dimension.