So, I have all of the Batman comics, issue #1-#713, and I was just wondering if it is worth it to spend my time reading all of them from start to finish, or read them in an order, and all the "important" ones, like Long Halloween, The Killing Joke, Knightfall, etc.? I have read around online, and I've got a rough list of the canon and important issues, and I've read some of them, but yeah, back to the question. Is it worth reading them from #1-#713?

In general I would recomand to start either at the the beginning of the Bronze Age arround 1969 (Silver Age can be fun but not if you read several hundred issues) or with Batman Year One (Issue #404) if you are not interested in pre crisis.

But you can't read the Batman series alone, the big events like Knightfall or Nomansland are ussually spread over many different Batman related series (Detective Comics, Robin, Batgirl, Nightwing, Catwoman, Azrael, Birds of Prey, Shadow of the Bat, Legends of the Dark Knight .... ), and stories like Long Halloween and Killing Joke were published as separate Miniseries or One Shots and not as issues in the regular "Batman" series.

@aahz: I'm pretty new to the comics, and so far, I've read Year One, The man Who laughs, Long Halloween, Dark Victory, Killing Joke, and just started on knightfall. And yeah, I agree, I was thinking that there has to be something inbetween to tie in to the comics. But if so, with the ones I have read, what should I read that fits into the story?

You can start from anywhere you want. There's really no need to read each story sequentially.

You only have just Batman titles it seems. I would read Grant Morrison's Batman and Son and go from there, but you'll need to read Final Crisis as a filler for the conclusion in R.I.P if you're interested in reading that story.

You still need to get other Bat-related series for other important story arcs.

@mysoulz: By other Bat-related series, which specific ones would be good to read?

@addyzbest: Since you're already invested in a single series, you can start off reading Grant Morrison's Batman run in order. I personally like reading stories that's the most recent and then reading backwards. You can read both Batman and Son and Black Glove, which do not require any Bat-related titles to read. You can read R.I.P after reading both story arcs, but you'll need to read Final Crisis to give you an understanding for it's conclusion.

You can also do research on Batman recommendations voted by Batman fans too. Each link that you click on provides a wiki summary including other titles that's needed for reading, which helps a lot.

@addyzbest: Here is my take at a recommendation list:

DC had 2 major reboots :

• in 1986 after Crisis on infinit earth
• in 2011 after Flashpoint

Thus making 3 main Batman timelins

1. 1939-1986 : Gold, Silver and Bronze ages
2. 1986-2011: Post-Crisis or Modern age
3. 2011-now: Post-Flashpoint or New52

If you want to be up to date you have to read the New52 stories. The main Batman Title is not very good in my opinion (exept maybe for the Owls arc). The Detective Comics Title is bad up to issue 17 I think and way better from issue 30. Batman & Robin is awsome. The Dark Knight is very dark and fun. Nightwing then Grayson are also good to read. As for the other title, I don't think they are must reads.

In parallel to the New52 you should get to know the modern age Batman with very iconic stories. Here is a good Timeline with all stories and main ones in bold :http://www.comicvine.com/profile/batshrine/blog/batman-tpb-complete-chronology/79247/