I'm new to comic books in general. With that said, Batman interests me the most. Good news is that I hear DC rebooted the entire series, calling it "The New 52." Bad news is that when I was doing research on the Batman comic book, I found that there are more batman titles: The Dark Knight, Batman & Robin, Detective Comics, Batman inc, etc.

1.) Where do I begin?

2.) Do they all tie into each other? If so, does that mean that I would have to read every batman comic just to understand the story? Or are they all independent from each other?

3.) Do you read all of them? Just curious because that sounds rather costly and confusing.

Thanks for your time.

Your best bet is to go to your local store and ask the owner.

@ace_of_spades90:

Just begin from issue 1. You only need to read Batman, Batman & Robin, and Batman Inc. Those are the good ones. I only read those three. They do sort of tie in to each other. Events that happen in the series do affect the other series. Something big in Batman Inc happens and totally affects Batman & Robin (no spoilers for you!). Batman by Scott Snyder pretty much doesn't mention anything from the other Bat-titles, but it's very good.

Yeah, so the New 52 is a great way to start, with those 3 titles.

After that, you can read the classics from before the New 52. PM me if you want, anytime!!

Oh and welcome to comic vine! I followed you so you can find me easily for help

Hi. You're correct that the New 52 is a reboot of DC Comics. However Batman along with Green Lantern pretty much weren't touched or rebooted at all, meaning all the history is pretty much still intact but confined in the time span of 5 years. So I recommend you look up some important Batman stuff such as the history of the robins.

1: I recommend starting with Detective comics or Batman. You should be able to jump into any #1 from the new 52 and have a pretty good idea of what's happening (Except Batman Incorporated).

2. The bat books are independent and stand on their own apart from crossovers such as Death of the Family. They all happen around the same time unless it's stated otherwise.

3. Nope. I read Batman,Batman and _ , and Detective Comics. Nightwing and Batgirl as well if you're talking about Bat family titles. Dark knight was pretty awful when I dropped it and I couldn't tell you if it's gotten any better

@batmannflash: First of all, thanks for the response.

You know how you said something big transpires in Batman Inc that affects the other series? Well does said event ever get explained outside of Batman Inc in full detail? Or would I be completely missing out by not reading Batman Inc.

@ace_of_spades90: New 52 'Batman' is a good place to start. If you haven't read any Batman comics in general then Batman Year One and Batman Long Halloween are essential reads, the latter being what got me into Batman comics in general.

Yeah the amount of Bat books is pretty ridiculous. Most of them are good though so it's not too bad

@ace_of_spades90:

1. I reccomend reading "Batman" You can start with issue #22 which came out in June. Its a story called "Zero Year" and it is a flashback to Batman's first year in Gotham. Its a great starting point for new readers.

2. They are all independent from each other. Occasionally they will cross over, but you dont HAVE to read the other books.

3. No I do not read all of them. I simply read "Batman" I also read "Nightwing" but that obviously isnt a book about Batman but one of his allies.

@ace_of_spades90: okay well Batman Inc isn't that good of a series so you don't need to read it. If you plan on reading Batman & Robin (which I recommend), you should at least check out Batman Inc issue 8. remember that! The event is very important. You don't need to read issue 8 to know what happens, but it's explained in that issue and you see how it happens. Batman & Robin only then shows its aftermath. You won't be completely missing out, but I highly recommend getting issue 8 of Batman Inc to truly understand.

@ace_of_spades90:

If you really want to start reading its best to just jump in. buy the next issue of batman and/or detective comics. you may be a little lost at first but most story arcs are only like 3-6 issues. a lot of times your comic store will have a few issues prior, so instead of starting on 23, which is this month, you can buy 21 and 22 at the same time. you can get back issues most of the time on midtowncomics.com or tfaw.com. then you can buy the trades that collects the first story arc, 2nd, and so on. if I jump on a series in the middle I like to work backwards on trades. then of course there is always digital, which you can also use to catch up on the story arc. if something important happens in another bat book, they give you a footer saying something like "see nightwing 21", so if you want to see what happens buy that issue. I just started reading last year and I felt the same way but once you start buying regularly its simple.

Thanks again everyone for the help.

But, uh, what is a story arc? God, this is embarrassing lol.

A story arc is a a story that spans a certain amount of issues before ending. IE: Detective Comics #1-6 may tell one story and then #7-13 will tell another.

@ace_of_spades90: No need to be embarrassed. Everyone was a newbie at one point :) If you have any other questions feel free to ask. Thats what the comic vine community is here for. To talk about awesome comics and help each other out!

The stories in comics dont change every issue. It usually take 3-6 issues to tell a complete story. Thats called a story arc. You can kind of think of one "story arc" as one episode of a tv show or a movie: it has a beginning, a middle, and an end. For example, if Batman fights Joker for 3 issues, that would be considered one story arc. Then in the next 6 issues he clashed with the Riddler, that would be considered another story arc. The story arcs usually are given a name, such as "Zero Year" or "The Court Of Owls"

Yes, definitely read the New 52 Batman. It's ridiculously good. I was shocked at how good it was. Also, give Batman: Year One a try. That's the best place for any aspiring Batman fan to start, followed by The Long Halloween and Dark Victory.

I'm new too and it took me a while to get all the lingo as well. Luckily we both came in when the New 52 is only about 23 issues in so you won't have to read a whole bunch of books to get what's going on. I suggest that you stick with the New 52 for a while because if you go back pre-52 then you may get confused by certain characters that no longer exist or different relationships that people have with old characters. Batman wasn't totally rebooted but a lot of things have changed.

Plus Year One is no longer canon guys. It's been what 15 years? Zero Year is the new Batman origin story. Year One will just confuse new people.

I began with the Batman Adventures

Starting out you should read as much as you can. When people ask "what should I start with?" The best answer is the closest comic to you, just be sure to read a bunch, and diversify. Try to read as many different titles, writers and artists as possible.

The more I think of it, the best place to start is with someone else's collection, do you know someone who'd let you read their stack?

Go get these books:

Batman Year One

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/1401207529/ref=sr_1_1_olp?ie=UTF8&qid=1375893270&sr=8-1&keywords=batman+year+one&condition=new

Hush

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/1401223176/ref=sr_1_1_olp?ie=UTF8&qid=1375893286&sr=8-1&keywords=batman+hush&condition=used

Under the Red Hood (book or movie, pretty much the same, movie is on Netflix)

book - http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/1401231454/ref=sr_1_4_olp?ie=UTF8&qid=1375893319&sr=8-4&keywords=batman+under+the+red+hood&condition=used

movie - http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B003ITZBVI/ref=sr_1_2_olp?ie=UTF8&qid=1375893319&sr=8-2&keywords=batman+under+the+red+hood&condition=used

then start reading the Batman comic and the Batman and Robin comics starting from issue #0 from the New 52

Yeah juste take Batman and Detective Comics

@ace_of_spades90: your answer was pretty answered so no need for me to answer that one. but don't feel embarrassed! I actually only started reading about 8 months ago and started with the New 52. I didn't know anything. But I did a lot of reading and research and I know much more. Don't be afraid to ask me (or anyone) questions!