I've never read a batman comic and I'm new to comics in general. I'm currently reading Fables and The walking dead, I like Fables alot so I'm wondering if there are any batman comics that are like fables or any good batman comics that a newcomer should read. thanks in advance

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Welcome to Comic Vine, by the way.

• Year One: It's the definitive origin for Batman, and one of my favorites
• The Dark Knight Returns: Widely considered the best Batman story of all time. Batman comes out of retirement after 10 years to fight crime again. Plus Batman and Superman have a...disagreement which is fun to read
• The Long Halloween: A good detective comic that is set in Batman's earlier days, it's about this serial killer that only kills on specific holidays.
• Batman and Son: The start of Grant Morrison's epic Batman run, which introduces Batman's son in to the DC universe
• The Court of Owls: Batman has to fight this secret society that has been hidden in Gotham for centuries. My personal favorite Batman story
• Hush: A mystery that involves a criminal going by the name "Hush." Amazing art.
• Heart of Hush: The sequel to "Hush." It's a lot shorter, but in my opinion a lot better.
• The Killing Joke: The most famous Joker story of all time.

@lamdaddy20: Nailed it.

@cyberwarrior:

@squad123:

I'd strongly recommend reading Batman's New 52 series. It's his current ongoing series, and is meant to be a starting point for new readers. The creative team is incredibly good. Also, I'd recommend reading Batman: Eternal as it takes place between volumes 6 and 7.

- Don't read Hush, it's the worst Batman story I've read... and I've read a lot. There's no story, things just happen and characters just show up because HEY LOOK, JIM LEE IS DRAWING BATMAN!!!1!

-Make sure to read a decent bit of Batman before jumping into Morrison's run. It's a lot to take in and you'll appreciate it more the better you understand the character and his history. It's Batman at it's best imo.

-Morrison's JLA has a lot of great Batman moments and generally, great moments from all members.

-Mad Love is an essential story for any fan of Batman and Harley Quinn. Among one of the best stories I've ever read.

-Year One, TDKR, yadayada, Killing Joke, Snyder's run. The usual and essential recommendations

-Batman Adventures is a great companion piece to the animated series and it honestly feel likes you're watching the show.

Iamdaddy20's list is solid. And Hush is great.

In addition to what's been suggested, I'd suggest 'Batman: The Man Who Laughs'. It chronicles Batman's first encounter with the Joker.

Thanks for the advice, I'm either gonna start off with Batman 52 or Batman year one, also how many volumes are there in batman year one?

Earth One

So should I read year one new 52 or earth one first

Add No Man's Land but yeah, this.

@lamdaddy20: U R welcome)

so which one would be the ebst for a completely new batman reader and a new person to comics in general, i really like fables if that helps

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• Year One
• Dark Knight Returns
• Killing Joke
• Strange Apparitions
• Blades
• Mad Love
• Batman Annual #14

Hush is pretty awful, but if you enjoy Michael Bay movies a lot (for example) then you should possibly check it out.

There are so many to choose from, which one should I start off with

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@squad123: Year One, TDKR, Snyder's run. It doesn't really matter. Just jump in.

Detective Comics #457 - There is No Hope in Crime Alley! ; Make Way for the Elongated Woman! - One of the best Batman stories to date.

Batman #251 - The Jokers Five-Way Revenge! & Detective Comics #475 - The Laughing Fish! along with Detective Comics #476 - The Sign of the Joker! - Two great Joker tales.

Secret Origins Special #1 - Featuring Gotham City's Vilest Villains! - Great comic featuring various Batrogue origins.

Batman: The Killing Joke #1 - The Killing Joke - Shows how the Joker was changed by the chemical bath, and it shows one of his possible origins. Great read.

Batman Annual #14 - The Eye of the Beholder - Two-Face's best story.

Batman: Two-Face - Crime and Punishment - Great story that I highly recommend!

Batman: Year One - One of the greatest Batman stories ever told. This is a must.

Detective Comics #610 - Snow and Ice Part 1 : Ode to a Penguin along with Detective Comics #611 - Snow and Ice Part 2: Bird of Ill Omen - Fantastic two-parter by the great talents of Alan Grant and Norm Breyfogle.

I really don't recommend Hush, it's a contrived story, and the art is the only thing that holds it up. The Dark Knight Returns is alright, but it's more of hype than anything, though I still think it should be read for historical purposes. Heart of Hush is okay, Dini done his best to make it good.

I have the great honor of saying the first one I read was "Year One", better place to start than most.

@squad123

You could attempt to read them in order, which would vaguely be something like this for the recommendations -

Year One -> Man Who Laughs (the 1st Joker story) -> Batman Annual #14 (the 1st Two-Face story) -> Blades (is in "Collected Legends of the Dark Knight" also with Hot House) -> No Hope in CA -> Strange Apparitions (Laughing Fish is part of this) -> The Killing Joke

Though that may be a bit heavy on older material for you.

PS Someone mentioned "The Long Halloween" earlier, this is essentially a retelling of Batman Annual #14 (+ The Godfather).

@squad123: Just so you know batman's origin story is retold quite well in the new 52 series over the course of pretty lengthy story arc. Nothing wrong with Year One, it's pretty good, but you're just throwing away money if you buy both.

I once tried to start from the very first issue. Although iconic, it's very cheesy and boring to my taste. I reccomend year one.

I recommend a Snyder run so I suggest this list in order:

Zero Year (origin story of New 52)

Court of Owls (start of the New 52)

Death of the Family

Batman Eternal

Endgame

• Batman Year One
• Batman the Court of Owls
• Batman Hush

Batman R.I.P.

You're joking, right? xD RIP is probably my favorite Batman story of all time, but it's a TERRIBLE starting point, not only for people unfamiliar with Batman, but for people unfamiliar with Morrison's run in general.

I'm just joking yeah LOL

@squad123: for a good sample of each era I would get the greatest batman stories ever told paperback trade. Also get knightfall. Year one and DKR are great but they don't really give you a good sense if batman as a character. Its better to read those stories once you read a bit of batman.

Court of owls is another good starting point.

@squad123: First off, welcome to Comic Vine!

I would recommend Batman: War on Crime by Paul Dini and Alex Ross. The comic itself is out of print, but you can find it in The World's Greatest Heroes collection - which also collects several similar stories by the same creative team. Each story spotlights a different one of DC's most popular heroes - like Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and more - and sums them up perfectly for both new and seasoned readers. The art is also nothing short of amazing, and is really the highlihgt of the series.

As if I haven't hyped this book enough, you can buy it here on a InStockTrades.com; http://www.instocktrades.com/TP/DC/WORLDS-GREATEST-SUPER-HEROES-TP/JUN100215

Wich is a great place to find pretty much any in-print trade paperback in the cheap.

I've heard from a lot of people that like The Man Who Laughs, some even like it more than The Killing Joke.

I read it myself recently and I wasn't too impressed. Things just seemed to happen and I wasn't really impacted by any of it. I actually regretted spending the money. Don't get me wrong, it was a decent read, but I guess it just didn't click for me - which is weird because I'm usually a big fan of Joker stories and especially Ed Brubaker's writing.

My point is, I'm curious. If you wouldn't mind sharing what you enjoyed about it it might help me appreciate it more after a re-read. Because I really wanted to like that comic from the get-go, but, like I said, I just couldn't get into it for some reason.