Hey, I've recently jumped back into comics in the summer of 2010 after over a decade of being away. I'm always hearing how great Batman Inc. was and I never checked it out. I was wondering if anyone here who has read the previous series would think it essential for me to read that before jumping into the new Batman Inc. or do you think it will be set up in a way, especially with the new 52, that welcomes new readers?

Not really. It continues from Batman Incorporated: Leviathan Strikes! which in turn continues from the pre-Flashpoint Batman Incorporated ongoing. You might also have to read Batman & Son and the pre-FP Batman & Robin run to really make sense of it all.

You must read Batman Inc. before reading the new volume and also Batman and Robin(only Morrison's run).

@scottyhanstein said:

Hey, I've recently jumped back into comics in the summer of 2010 after over a decade of being away. I'm always hearing how great Batman Inc. was and I never checked it out. I was wondering if anyone here who has read the previous series would think it essential for me to read that before jumping into the new Batman Inc. or do you think it will be set up in a way, especially with the new 52, that welcomes new readers?

You're gonna have to read Morrisons entire Bat saga to truly enjoy it.

Will definitely look into back issues/collections before jumping in. Thanks for the info!

@scottyhanstein: I wouldn't. Morrison is not the star he once was. His work on Batman over the past several years has been a painful labor to read. If you read Batman Inc, you might leave comics again and NEVER come back.

"That guy who hates Morrison" has got to be one tired schtick at this point.

@scottyhanstein: Well in all fairness the DCnU is supposed to be ok for anyone to start on. And since none of us has read DCnU's Batman Inc. I say go for it. Its not a strange premise, Batman creates an international team to fight crime all over the world. So lets not deem it a bad or in-understandable read without it coming out.

Snyder has done better work with Batman than Morrison ever has, but to each his own.

I hate Batman, Inc. Just throwing that out there.

@ArturoCalaKayVee: If DC were to take the concept away from Morrison and give it to Higgins, then I would be aboard. Higgins can write the Bat-family well, just look at Gates of Gotham.

@jsphsmth said:

@ArturoCalaKayVee: If DC were to take the concept away from Morrison and give it to Higgins, then I would be aboard. Higgins can write the Bat-family well, just look at Gates of Gotham.

Yeah but DC worships the water that Morrison pee's on so that won't happen. I like Morrison, I just don't like Batman, Inc. I like the idea of Batman being solely Batman in Gotham and not Batman of the world.

@scottyhanstein I am slightly confused which Batman are you planning are reading. I have not read Batman Inc and currently i am reading Batman and Robin, Batman and Dark Knight and I am not lost at all. So i say jump on in.

I'm not lost, not at all. I read Batman, and Batman & Robin but that really has nothing to do with what I was asking. I was asking if I had to read the previous run of Batman, Inc. (before the relaunch in September 2011) before reading the new run of Batman, Inc. This post really just concerns Batman, Inc. both old and new, no other Bat books are relevant. After looking into it I don't think I'm going to bother with Inc. at all, either run. Snyder's my boy.

@scottyhanstein I am sorry i did not realize there was a Batman INC after the relaunch in Sept 2011, my bad.

@scottyhanstein: Snyder is quite awesome. I would agree that full appreciation of the Batman Inc. run would require the previous stuff... honestly, I think it'll be just as readable or approachable whether you've had prior exposure to it or not, particularly the Batman, Inc. pieces of it all... I normally refrain from telling people not to buy books... but I think this might be the rare case where I'd hesitate to try to back you out of your decision... I love Grant, (well, it's complicated, at the very least) I love Batman Inc, I think it'll be awesome... but you're probably making the right call holding off on it. After all, this is basically the final chapter, not the optimal place to start launching people.