hey guys. i have a silly confession/question to ask

its my first time reading comics. i decided to start reading since this new 52 would make it easier for me to catch up.

ive been reading JL, Batman and Batman and Robin since the new 52 launched.

and i have a few questions to ask..

1.) are all of these comics in one "universe"? like.. you know the whole court of owls issue going in batman right now? is that actually happening in the justice league/batman and robin issues? if so, how come theres no mention of it... and how can batman be in two places at once... dealing with nobody and the owls?

2.)do i have to buy nightwing, catwoman, etc just to understand the current event of an issue? again, as an example, the court of owls. do i need to read nightwing, etc just to understand the whole court of owls invasion on gotham?

thanks so much!

@mackytung: They are indeed acting within a shared universe... the way that Batman (and other characters) can be dealing with several different conflicts is basically just by operating on the assumption that the titles are focusing on different days/months.. oftentimes this might up causing continuity problems, but that is one reason for having strong coordination with editorial staff... for instance, you'll notice that in Justice League #8, Batman is not present with the team because the events once again correspond with the events taking place.

2) No, you do not need to read anything more than you choose to. Those others are taking place at the same time, may enhance the overall flavor of the event and might explore an additional plot point... basically it is choosing between "standard" and "deluxe". And you most certainly do not need to have read all prior issues. Again, doing so creates a fuller experience, but it is not required.

@mackytung said:

hey guys. i have a silly confession/question to ask

its my first time reading comics. i decided to start reading since this new 52 would make it easier for me to catch up.

ive been reading JL, Batman and Batman and Robin since the new 52 launched.

and i have a few questions to ask..

1.) are all of these comics in one "universe"? like.. you know the whole court of owls issue going in batman right now? is that actually happening in the justice league/batman and robin issues? if so, how come theres no mention of it... and how can batman be in two places at once... dealing with nobody and the owls?

2.)do i have to buy nightwing, catwoman, etc just to understand the current event of an issue? again, as an example, the court of owls. do i need to read nightwing, etc just to understand the whole court of owls invasion on gotham?

thanks so much!

1. Yes they are all happening in one universe. Look at it this way, Batman is popular, so his books sells. They could produce 10 batman books and people would buy it. So theres that. The timeline isn't so set on a specific issue. So things happening in B&R could be before Batman. He could've fought nobody first then the owls. The court of owls are also mentioned in Justice League.

2. You don't have to buy Nighwing, Catwoman, Birds of Prey, Red Hood and the outlaws and all. But if you wanna get a good perspective from all sides of the camera then you should get them. Everyone of the tie ins have been really good. Especially Red Hood, Batgirl and Nightwing so far. I would recommend get those that interest you. Tim Drake is appearing in Red Hood and Batman: Dark Knight. Batman The Annual would also be pretty interesting. But at the end of the day its not required to get them.

Get used to Batman being everywhere without an explanation. A bi-product of him being so popular a character, I'm afraid.
 
Some of the Court of Owls tie-in issues aren't really integral to the plot but just, as TheOptimist said, enhances the overall flavour of it all. Like the Batwing issue, for example. It was a good issue for sure (as usual), but you won't be missing out on any major plot point by not reading it.

thanks for the answers guys!

so i wonder if theyll be able to avoid continuity problems.

hmmm. im really enjoying comics now. haha. been wanting to read ever since but i felt like i'd be lost if i just bought a random issue.

anyways, i tried reading Detective Comics and The Dark Knight... they kinda sucked. haha! to each his own i guess. im strictly a batman guy so i kinda dont have an interest in batwing and catwoman and such. but im wondering, just to get more basis,

I'm definitely gonna keep buying JL and Batman. Aside from that, do you guys recommend Batman and Robin? And as an off topic question, i wanna try a nonbatman comic. so hows the superman/action comic going? :)

again, thanks for your responses guys. i feared i was gonna be bashed for being a noob with such questions.

@mackytung said:

thanks for the answers guys!

so i wonder if theyll be able to avoid continuity problems.

hmmm. im really enjoying comics now. haha. been wanting to read ever since but i felt like i'd be lost if i just bought a random issue.

anyways, i tried reading Detective Comics and The Dark Knight... they kinda sucked. haha! to each his own i guess. im strictly a batman guy so i kinda dont have an interest in batwing and catwoman and such. but im wondering, just to get more basis,

I'm definitely gonna keep buying JL and Batman. Aside from that, do you guys recommend Batman and Robin? And as an off topic question, i wanna try a nonbatman comic. so hows the superman/action comic going? :)

again, thanks for your responses guys. i feared i was gonna be bashed for being a noob with such questions.

Batman and Robin is great IMO.

You should really try Red Hood, its kinda like an anti hero team of outlaws with Jason Todd (2nd Robin) with the most beautiful art ever.

Other than that, Action Comics Aquaman, Flash, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern are the cream of the crop IMO.

If you're looking for something dark and edgy Swamp Thing and Animal Man. But if its pure superhero fun, you should try those mentioned above.

ill give them a try! :)

i was checking out the reviews of detective comics and TDK. and i noticed one thing... how come these comics feature the more classic batman villains while 'Batman' has had... 0 so far? yeah, i know we have the whole Owl arc (which I LOVE) but I wonder... is 'Batman' ever gonna show the classic villains? might just be me worrying since im new. hehe.

@mackytung said:

ill give them a try! :)

i was checking out the reviews of detective comics and TDK. and i noticed one thing... how come these comics feature the more classic batman villains while 'Batman' has had... 0 so far? yeah, i know we have the whole Owl arc (which I LOVE) but I wonder... is 'Batman' ever gonna show the classic villains? might just be me worrying since im new. hehe.

Snyder is bringing Mr. Freeze in for the Annual.

@mackytung: I'm not reading the Night of the Owls cross, but it does effect some issues that I've been reading. For example, Catwoman's tie in was written very well. It had a Talon assassin, but it continues a minor plot that was setup in previous issues. I believe this would be an easy issue to pick up for someone unfamiliar with the title. It is not essential to the crossover storyline, but it does give some insight into Ephraim Newhouse. Just in case he is mentioned elsewhere.

@mackytung: It's in the same universe, but I geuss if you buy Earth-2 technically that's not on the same earth, it's a parallell Earth.

There are recent mentions of The Court of owls in Batman and Robin and Justice League.

I suggest buying Nightwing because it's a brilliant story and it does fill in some blanks from the court of owls story arc.

nobody knows how Batman can do all of that stuff he does at the same time.( see what I did there :D)

also I recommend buying teen titans, it's a great book!

@mackytung:Truthfully, I'd recommend picking up a few issues of Nightwing during Night of Owls, only because his backstory has been connected to the Court of Owls and their Talons. But if you happen to like characters, Nightwing and the Red Hood are really interesting development-wise.

are all of these comics in one "universe"?

Yes.

how can batman be in two places at once... dealing with nobody and the owls?

Cause he's Batman.

do i have to buy nightwing, catwoman, etc just to understand the current event of an issue?

As said, "Batman" is the only comic that's essential. However, the others will indeed enhance the overall experience.

And as an off topic question, i wanna try a nonbatman comic

Many Batfans (myself included) enjoy Deathstroke. Read him up and pick up the book if it sounds interesting.