I am pretty much a total rookie when it comes to comics (in the middle of the walking dead if anyones interested), and i'm really into batman and wanted to ask about the comics specifically. Im sure that everyone must get sick of these types of questions, but i've looked online and heard mixed answers for which order to read batman.

I'm most interested in the modern age as i've heard excellent things about it, and i've just ordered year one. I just wanted to know where was best to go after this? Should i read Shaman? Long Halloween? I've looked at this list on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Batman_comics#Modern_Batman

After looking at this im inclined to go to Shaman next as it seems like the more logical (chronological) route, and then go from there.

Could someone please guide me??

Batman: Year One

Batman: Year 3 and/or Robin: Year 1

Batman: The Killing Joke

Batman: A Death in the Family

Batman: A lonely place of dying

Batman: Rite of Passage

Batman: Identity Crisis (the arc, not the mini series)

KnightSaga

Batman #0 ad Robin #0

Prodigal

Troika

Contagion

Cataclysm

Aftershock

No Man's Land

Bruce Wayne: Murderer

Bruce Wayne: Fugitive

War Games

Hush

Identity Crisis

Under the Red Hood

Infinite Crisis

52

Batman RIP

Final Crisis

Battle for the Cowl

Batman: Reborn

Batman: Return Of Bruce Wayne

Bruce Wayne: The Road Home

Pretty sure I got all of them in about the right order.

What about the ones i mentioned? Shaman (which is listed as directly after Year one), long halloween? The man who laughs? etc...

I heard that especially long halloween is good! Sorry to be a pain (again!) Just dont want to start reading the comics and miss an important storyline, or arc, i think thats what the correct term is!

Oh and also im guessing that The dark knight returns, and the dark knight strikes again are seen as seperate altogether? But still an excellent read if i've heard correctly

@rflynn89

Are you looking for stories that are good or that are important... or both?

I've never read the Long Halloween... meant to but haven't. I don't consider it all that important as such, but if it's as good as people say I might add it to it to what i'd consider important.

The Man who laughs I haven't read either... but looking at it on wiki, yes it might be considered important.

Read shaman, don't remember what happened in it. Pretty sure it's not important

The Dark Knight Returns and Strikes Again do not happen in mainstream continuity. They happen in the same universe as All-Stars Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder though (all written by Frank Miller)

Long Halloween and The Man who Laughs would both happen after Year One, before Year 3

Shaman would have happened prior to Year One and during Year One

Ah right, all that you just said just made much more sense!

And i'm looking for a bit of both yeah. I think i'm going to have a look at the modern age and pick out the ones which i should read i.e long halloween, hush etc.

I'll probably read all those in the same continuity from year one onwards, and read those such as returns and strikes again seperately and take them as their own stroy arc

I'm still a little bit tempted to get shaman, since its the first in the ''Legends of the dark knight'' series, and if im going to read further ones like 'Prey'' etc, i should probably read this.

Unless you think the legends of the dark knight series isnt that good/important? Again sorry for the questions/lack of knowledge! It would be so much easier for new readers if it followed one story! Suppose that would make it a bit boring though!

@rflynn89: Legends of the Dark Knight arcs are stand alone more or less... There are a few stories I would suggest skipping because they are really bad in my opinion but over all Legends of the dark knight is a good series.

I hadn't read many comics like a year or 2 ago and I decided to read up on DCU from the beginning of the modern age... what i did is list off all the books that had to do with a character that is part of modern age continuity and then i'd either read the entire series or read a year of one series and then the same year of another series.... Or I'd read up to the point where there are huge cross overs and stop then catch up to all titles to that arc and then i'd read that arc in order... That's not really practical or recommended though as there are like 1000 just Batman books in the modern age... and quite a few more from other series that happen around Batman...and not all the stories are that great or important.

Ah right ok, so some parts of the modern age are in the same continuity, whereas returns, strikes again, and legends of the dark knight are mostly seperate, and yeah i'll probably only read the essential parts of each.

I think if i tried to follow characters and then catch up to that point like what you did i would a) spend a fortune and b) spend all my time reading! I think what im going to do is use my list of all the comics in the modern age up to i think its batman inc. atm? And read the issues which i've been recommended, the 'most important' or 'best ones'. And since they brought out new 52 recently it sort of confuses things even more by effectivly rebooting it, really wish i started earlier! Only read half of walking dead so far (bought the compendium after watching the tv series), and its far more straight forward obviously! I would highly recommend that btw, if you havnt already watched or seen it?

So to sum it up: Continuing story in the modern age starting from Year one (which i cant wait to recieve), dark knight returns, dark knight strikes again and legends of the dark knight. And for all of them just reading the good and important ones?

Thanks for all your help! Might be a little more used to these comic universes and story arcs soon!

@rflynn89:

Legends of the Dark Knight is part of modern age continuity. It just jumps around and isn't one continuous story for most of its run. It's Modern Age continuity that focuses on the early years of Batman.

Year One is in most continuities...

The Dark Knight Returns, Strikes Again, All-Stars Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder are a separate continuity.

Nothing in the new 52 really works so if it's your goal to have that make sense you've failed that one already cuz it's impossible lol

Ah ok i got that bit wrong about legends lol.

I think im just going to totally ignore 52 if im honest, they're just adding more universes or whatever than there needs to be! Might end up getting Shaman though, as you said probably not that important but i can get it for only £6.99 and thats all 5, so its quite tempting!

Have you read or watched walking dead btw?

For Batman, 52 isn't an absolute necessity... although understanding the one or two key sequences in which his story is touched upon provides the necessary background for a plot seed later developed.

Cataclysm and No Man's Land are two of my favorite pieces of Batman history, which I would highly recommend, just because of the concept and the manner in which the arc touches upon most of the basic elements of Batman mythos. That is just my advocacy.

Yeah after two people have said maybe not to bother with 52, im going nowhere near it for now!

And yeah i'll give those two a go, definitely heard of no man's land before. I'll probably go through the list highlighting my preferences and others recommendations, just to make sure i dont lose track!

Thanks for your input too!

@rflynn89: 52 is a good story, but it's not necessary.

The problem with No Man's Land is that the collections are incomplete. NML is a huge story that has many facets to it that you need to look through and buy all the individual books to get the entire series. the NML collection only give you the main story and leaves a ton out.

As far as reading Walking Dead.... no. It doesn't interest me. I'm reading 70 comics/manga a month now, and if I were going to add more I'd add back many of the manga I stopped reading to catch up with DC and Marvel a bit (I've read half of all books in the Ultimate line of Marvel. The half that remain are the multiple mini-series.) But yeah I'd pick back up Gantz, World greatest desciple Kenichi, Hunter x Hunter, Baby Steps, Holy Land, Freezing, Gantz, and several Others I can't remember off the top of my head... which I'm roughly 60-100 chapters in each of them away from being current with all of them.

I think that's (the 52) after u end in the... present? well better say the current events because the 52 "retake" (don't know even if that word exist) the story line of before Flashpoint, and about no man's land .... I have heard lot about it I'm looking for it but I can't find it because I want the complete series, u know Cataclysm, Aftershock, and then No man's land, after I think it goes Murder and then Fugitive (Some of my favorites) but for now I recommend you don't read too much elseworlds and if you read them always think on "Whatever happened to the man of tomorrow" (elseworld created after superman's "dead") phrase:

" This is an imaginary history... Aren't they all?"

@rflynn89 said:

Ah ok i got that bit wrong about legends lol.

I think im just going to totally ignore 52 if im honest, they're just adding more universes or whatever than there needs to be! Might end up getting Shaman though, as you said probably not that important but i can get it for only £6.99 and thats all 5, so its quite tempting!

Have you read or watched walking dead btw?

If you use Torrents and have a Demonoid Account check out this huge 20GB Torrent. It's the entire Modern Age Batman in Chronological Order (All the way up to right before Battle for Cowl would start). It has practically everything.

Walking Dead the comic is awesome, and the story is much better than the TV show. The TV show is entertaining, but as a comic fan the changes they are making from the comic are very annoying. But neither the less still enjoy it. Also if you like Walking Dead check out Invincible which is Robert Kirkman's other comic series that is really popular.

Durakken: Yeah i'll have more of a look into NML, thats certainly one of the arcs i've had recommended a number of times, so i'll make sure to try and not miss anything!

I cant say i've ever been interested in manga, im not really much of a fan of the animation (apologies as i know almost everyone loves it). I could never read 70 a month, think i'll slowly work my way through batman, and see what else takes my fancy.

RedOwl_1: Dont really know what you mean by elseworlds, afraid im still a bit new to this. Do you mean try not to read too many continuations? If so think im going to stick to the main one following year one, dark knight returns and strikes again.

dannymalt: I dont use torrents im afraid, nor do i have a demonoid account, but i will have a look into if it does have everything im interested in. Might just get the actual comics though, i kinda like to have a physical book/comic infront of me to read, can be a bit of an obsessive collector with stuff like this.

I agree the walking dead comic is better than the tv show, not sure about the changes though. Some stuff like the introduction of daryl is excellent (he's probably one of my favourite characters). The change i didnt like is how theyre dragging out the recovery of carl in the episode 'Bloodletting', when that whole episode was only 5 pages long in the comic. In england the 3rd episode will only air tonight, so if you've seen it then no spoilers please lol. Dont know how far you are into the comic, but i cant wait for the coming episodes if they stick relatively close to the comic! And yeah i've briefly had a look into Invincible, heard a lot about that from others, might see about reading it after i've eventually sorted out batman!

For ongoing comics, read: Batman, Batman and Robin, Detective Comics, Nightwing, and The Dark Knight. DC's reboot has made it easy for you jump on, and you should totally read these.