New reader very confused over continuity

Hey guys, this is my first post on ComicVine. I've been genuinely into comics for about a year now. I was watching some Batman animated stuff and decided to read the comics. I'd been told by some to start with New 52 in DC, since it's a big reboot, a canon wipe, and good jumping on point. However, I wanted to read stuff in Batman I already knew about, such as Bane famously breaking him over his knee in Knightfall, and The Killing Joke. That being said, I'd started with Year One and am actually using the Weebly timeline listed above. So far I'm up to Dark Victory. I've been reading a lot of the Legends of the Dark Knight arcs too. So I'm not to Knightfall, Hush, NML, etc yet. Dick hasn't become Nightwing yet, there is no Jason Todd either. So I'm very early on.

Lately though, I decided to go ahead and read New 52. Basically because I understood that the New 52 is what's current- what's now, what's canon. This is what's going on in the DC world. That being said, I am about to read Batman: Court of the Owls.

However, from what I've seen and heard, it isn't any sort of origin story, and Batman isn't even very young. I also hear Bane still references breaking Batman's back in New 52. I also hear there isn't a new explanation for Nightwing, and that his volume 1 references him returning to Gotham or being Nightwing, after pre-52 events of him becoming Batman. A lot of signs are pointing me to the conclusion that New 52's Batman is just a continuity of the Batman that began in the 80s. Is this just an unofficial nod or fan appeasement, or is this accepted?

I also hear things leading me to believe that this Green Lantern is still a continuation of Johns' pre-52 series that began with Rebirth.

So as you can see I am very confused on what is canon and what isn't and could really use some explanation. Thanks guys!

Don't worry about canon. All 76 years is canon if you ask me.

Canon is everything they want this week.

Even if it doesnt make any sense.

Yes, Batman and Green Lantern are the only series that's still canon from the pre-relaunch, due to their success under Grant Morrison and Geoff Johns. There are things that still doesn't make sense for even existing readers from both mythologies. Some events that occur under Batman are connected to the DCU timeline as some of those books you've mentioned, which has to be crammed into a 5 year period in the New 52, so that's part of the problem. But don't worry about this, just read what you like. I would suggest for you to read Batman Zero Year, considering it's the modern origins of Batman. If was me, I would just read New 52 and then go backwards.

Thanks guys!

@mysoulz: Thanks man, sounds like good advice. I'm about to start Deathstroke, start Batman, continue Justice League, and continue Martian Manhunter in New 52. Much appreciated advice.

So wait, basically the Batman deal is- if it (a pre-52 event) hasn't explicitly been retconned yet, its basically still canon?

For example, which of these still happened in the same world I see in Zero Year and Court of Owls?-

No Man's Land

Hush

The Long Halloween

The Killing Joke

A Death In the Family

Jason Todd still died, so Death in the Family. Barbara Gordon was still shot, so Killing Joke. Hush absolutely didn't happen, as Batman Eternal is the first time the character shows up in the New 52, with a completely revamped origin. Not sure about either Long Halloween or No Man's Land

Though in pretty much all cases, you then have characters and events that are tied to them that didn't exist, which means the events happened but not in the same way. For example, Under the Hood which featured the return of Jason Todd still happened, but Dick Grayson was involved sometime after Jason unmasked himself, when before the reboot he wasn't. Death in the Family happened in that Joker killed Jason, but Jason's mother didn't betray him to the Joker (And in fact, instead of some random act of violence, it was all a part of some big master plan created by the Joker to screw with Batman) Assuming No Man's Land did happen, Cassandra Cain couldn't have possibly been involved, as she's just now getting ready to be introduced in Batman and Robin Eternal.

Yes, what you're thinking is correct, the timeline is a mess.

@lxnx: There is a good thread with a perfect reading order (in bold the main event, and in underline good to read stories). The New52 stories are not up to date :

http://www.comicvine.com/profile/batshrine/blog/batman-tpb-complete-chronology/79247/

Then concerning the New52, yes it is a reboot. And yes they didn't start from the begining of Batman's life. So some events have already happened in his life. We don't know them all, and some look very simalar to what is mentionned on the above posts. But since it's a reboot, these events might be retold oneday.

They kept some previous event just to be able easily to have many possible titles in their Batfamily series.