Hi everyone.

I want to start reading the Batman comics but I don't know where to start. I found it on this site in recommended readings but I have some other questions that is connected with Batman and comics generally.

So PLEASE if someone knows it answer me.

Here is questions about comics in generally.

1. If I start to reading Batman "old" stories and don't read this new 52 story/Rebirth will I miss something ?

2. When the Rebirth comes is the "old" stories forever replaced and deleted, and is there any sense then to read the "old" stories ?

3. Can I read comic books and graphics novels instead that monthly issue ?

Here is questions about Batman comics.

1. When Bruce Wayne and Joker dies is story about them over and writers are not write about them anymore or writers just got back in past when they write about them ?

2. Is Joker in every comics/graphics novels like Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight, I mean Is every comic book Joker based on the words when he talk to Harvey Dent : "I'am not a schemer, I try to show the schemers how pathetic their attemtps to control really are".

3. And How to start reading Batman comics and what to read AFTER Bruce Wayne dies ?

1. You can read old Batman stories without worrying about the newer ones and vice versa.
2. The whole point of Rebirth is to embrace older stories and their elements in the current continuity and not toss them aside.
3. If you want to read older stuff that's the way to go. Even if you want to read current stuff you can always wait a few months and get the trade paperback / hardcover.

1. I don't know which death you refer to but death in comics is not a permanent thing and not always what it seems so keep reading.
2. There are as many interpretations of the Joker as is the number of writers who have handled him. Every writer brings a new layer to the character and tries to do something fresh with him.
3. Follow the recommended reading section here. You don't have to worry about after Bruce's death. Just keep going.

@apokos7: Alright, thank you very much.

If I understand correctly, in comics there are no like beginning and ending of story. Story just keep going ???

@bj44: Yes, American superhero comics from the big publishers are meant to be everlasting. You will find that a work from a certain writer will have a beginning, middle and ending but there will be no happily ever after since the next writer will pick up the baton and start his own story right after the previous one wraps up his own.

I just now made a post with Batman Continuity, fitting pre 52 stories into the new 52. All books I have listed are great ones, which influence the continuity of the new 52. I also mentioned some other books that do not fit in continuity but are good nonetheless (Batman War Games for instance). Just look which ones of these you like, you can also find reviews of these before buying them if you want.

@bj44:

1. Yes you will be missing things. I believe there are lots of very worthy old stories. Also, most Hero and Vilains origins have been told in older stories and won't be retold soon.
2. Rebirth brings back the old (pre-new 52) into the new 52 univers
3. I prefer graphic novels, it's up to you

1. reformulate your question
2. No, each author make a little different version of the Joker. The closest story to Ledger's interpretation is Brian Azzarello's Graphic Novel "Joker". This book is also one of the best Joker story you can find.
3. As for what to read, there is a bit you should know about DC:

In the DC timeline there has been 3-4 eras with 2 major reboots and rebirth:

• 1938 to 1986 : the golden age followed by the silver age (aka pre-crisis)
• 1986-2011 : the modern age (aka post-crisis or pre-flashpoint)
• 2011-2016: the new 52 (aka post-flashpoint)
• 2016 (june)-ongoing: Rebirth <- it is an event that revives the modern age heroes (while keeping the few good things about new52)

You guessed the 2-3 major reboots :

• 1986 : Crisis on infinit earths
• 2011 : Flashpoint
• 2016 : Rebirth

Each era can be read seperatly. But currently the most complete era is "the moder age" (that somewhat continues in New 52 and Rebirth because for Batman it wasn't a true reboot). It doesn't mean that the other eras are bad or don't have interresting comics to read.

I recommande reading from the modern age on in chronological order. It starts with Year One.

Then you can follow the recommended readings on Comic Vine if you want to know about Batman's main events. But there are other books with extraodinary and must read stories for any comics lovers (I can give you a list if you care).

Then you can read the following New 52 stories (I didn't like the Batman title so I only recommend the first two books):

• Batman Inc.
• Batman: Court of Owls
• Batman: Night of Owls
• Batman & Robin: books 1-3 - to read before Batman Inc.

The you can continue with Rebirth.

@jb681131: Thank you.

I have read Brian Azzarello Joker. Can you recommend me some other comics where Joker is like Heath Ledger Joker ?

Is comics like: Batman Year One, The Long Hallowen, A Death In The Family... is that trade paperback or graphics novels, and is Batman monthly issue connected with this modern age and "origin" story ??? It's really confusing me

Exactly like Ledger Joker's there isn't other stories. But lots of other stories have inspired most of modern Joker stories and interpretations:

1. The man who Laughs (story right after Year One)
2. The Killing Joke
3. Lovers and Madmen
4. Death in the Family
5. Joker: Devil's advocate
6. Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth (Grant Morisson's nice explaination of Joker's condition)
7. The Joker's Last laugh
8. Superman: Emperor Joker
9. Superman/Batman: With a vengeance !
10. The Greatest Joker Stories Ever Told - 17 single issue stories about the Joker, 1 Newspapper story, 1 Kellogs promotionnal storie
11. Joker (by Brian Azzarello)

In the old days, we would just buy an issue off the spinner rack at a variety of stores that sold magazines and just . . . read it.

(It didn't seem all that complicated.)

Read Year One and then read everything else. Prepare yourself for Morrison's run and then dive in.

... For the propering ordering from Year One:

1. Batman: Year One - Batman's origns by Frank Miller
2. The Man Who Laughts - First modern encounter with the Joker
3. The Long Halloween + Dark Victory - Epic story about Harvey Dent and Two-Face
4. Birth of the Demon (collected) - All you need to know about Ra's Al Ghul
5. A Death in the Family - A trajedy amongs Robins
6. The Killing Joke - Joker's origin story and a sad Batgirl fait
7. A Lonely Place of Dying - Here comes Robin 3
8. Sword of Azrael (prequel to Knightfall that should be read) - Origin story of Azrael
9. Vengence of Ban - The excellent story about Bane's origin and hatred for Batman
10. Knightfall (Knightfall/Knightquest/KnightsEnd) - An epic saga in which Bane distroys Batman and gets replaced by Azrael
11. No Man's Land - Another Epic saga where after multiple virus attacks and earthquake Gotham is declared a No Man's Land by the Government
12. Hush + Paul Dini's run - Origin of Bane
    1. Batman: Hush
    2. Batman: Detective
    3. Batman: Death and the City
    4. Batman: Private Casebook
    5. Batman: Heart of Hush
    6. Batman: Streets of Gotham, Vol. 1 – Hush Money
    7. Batman: Streets of Gotham, Vol. 2 – Leviathan
    8. Batman: Streets of Gotham, Vol. 3 – The House of Hush
13. Under The Hood - The return of Jason Todd
14. Grant Morrison's run
    1. Batman & Son - Batman discovers he has a Son Damyan
    2. Final Crisis - a Justice League event where Batman disapears in time after Darkseid final asault
    3. Batle for the Cowl + Batman & Robin: Batman Reborn - Who will the next "Batman" be after his disapearance ?
    4. The return of Bruce Wayne + Batman Incorporated vol.1 - Bruce Wayne jumps through time to the present and reveals he's been funding the Batman. While Batman travels the world to build a Bat-Franchise.
15. Court of Owls + Night of the Owls - Batman will discover dark secrets about Gotham - New 52
16. Batman & Robin New 52 (Book 1-3) + Batman Incorporated vol.2 - New 52
    1. Batman and Robin: Born to kill
    2. Batman and Robin: Pearl
    3. Batman and Robin: Death or the Family
    4. Batman Incorporated: Demon Star
    5. Batman Incorporated: Gotham's Most Wanted

And don't forget to read:

1. The Dark Knight Returns - Elsworld Story by Frank Miller the imagines Bruce Wayne at retirment age. Inspired the Batman vs Superman movie.

http://comicvine.gamespot.com/batman/4005-1699/forums/the-batman-new-52-continuity-guide-1811601/#15

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1.2.3

In this guide I have listed all stories which are canon for the new 52, excluding the Rebirth stories since I'm still reading those. With every story I also list why they are canon and if needed which parts are and which parts you can ignore (like for example 70% of the Knightfall saga). These are all Graphic novels / bundles and if you read them you won't miss anything that is canon.

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4,5,6

The stories I have listed are not only about the Joker, Batman has the best rogues gallery of any superhero and stories are listed in this guide about most of them.

This can be considered a spoiler but every comicbook reader will know that:

The main superhero never dies, he just disappears for a while and then returns / is resurrected etc. Batman in this case only lost memories and had to regain them (if you are talking about Endgame like I think you are). So of course he returns.

Also Rebirth is a continuation of the new 52 stories. It actually is still new 52 but now some pre new 52 concepts are being reintroduced into all stories running. Legacy is what DC tried to sell on us

@jb681131: I don't know why you tagged me in that ridiculously long post. The point of my post was that Year One should be read first, and you shouldn't have to worry about reading order. Information gets filled in as you go.

But Year One only applies to people following post-CoIEto pre-Flashpointcomics since it doesn't seem to apply to anybody reading just New52 and newer Batman stuff.

@commissar: Here is a few clearup

1. Batman has been published since 1938 - but the latest and only true reboot was in 1986 after Crisis on Infinit Earths, and started with Batman:Year One.
2. So it is not pointless for anyone to start there and continue on. And in my opinion the best starting point.
3. Also Rebirth stories embrasse all the history of heros since the 1986 reboot.

So far, there is nothing in the Rebirth comic book stories to indicate that they've abandoned things like Snyder's Zero Year and have gone back to Year One being canon again. Heroes are still the same de-aged state they were at the start of the New 52, and there's no indication yet that things like Jim Gordon's heart attack, his marriage (the second one for Jim) to Sarah Essen, or many other pre-Flashpoint important plot points are back yet. If that were the case, Helena Bertinelli would suddenly have a lot more past history / experience with the Babs and Dinah in the Birds of Prey than she does right now, and Barbara Gordon's dual identity as Batgirl would be mutually acknowledged with her father (which it doesn't seem to be yet in Batgirl and the Birds of Prey). So I think you're currently jumping the gun to say it's ALL back now.

@commissar Rebirth is meant to bring these things back. So in new 52 the Birds of Prey were not complete, Bertinelli was not part of it etc. in pre flashpoint she was and people loved it. So now they reintroduce it all. Now it is the birth of a new Birds of Prey. In pre-flashpoint Batman had an entire family he worked with, in new 52 there were only the Robins sometimes. Solution: Introduce those old members in new story arcs and make them more part of the Batman mythos again.

Pre Flashpoint Clark Kent was in love with that reporter, in new 52 they were not. So create a plot were they are together again. Continue on with introducing a flash family and Wally West. And many other things.

THe idea is not to remove the new 52, but to add things to the new 52 that were loved in the pre flashpoint era. Those things will be reintroduced again, told in probably a more modern way.

But the problem is, while some people are referring to aspects of the pre-New52 stories being returned and reintroduced into the New52 world (but not every exact detail from the past overwriting what's been done since the start of the New52), you also have others who say that DC Universe: Rebirth has now brought back EVERYTHING from before Flashpoint lock, stock and barrel.

I was trying to point out that, contrary to what jb681131 seemed to imply, we don't yet have any evidence that Miller's "Year One" story has been returned to continuity / canon yet in the current stories, so it's not necessary to read it if one is mainly interested in the current version of Batman.

@commissar: Agree with your. The things that have been retconned (Like Batman Year One being replaced by Zero Year) will not change. And I for one am happy that Zero Year was done. A more modern telling of Year One with a great story. It would be bad policy of DC if they removed these stories and replaced them with older ones. They can't use the Wonder Woman trick in every story they have.

Again, I do not believe all old stories will return into continuity, the new 52 was a hard reset. They will just add some concepts from the pre flashpoint era into new story arcs.

@commissar: But I'm not even talking about continuity. It should be read first because it's the essential Batman story.

New 52 was a soft reset for Batman and Green Lantern !

Not everyone share your opinion on Zero Year. But I don't really car on which is the current origin story, they were both so so stories, with a better quality for Year One texts/dialogues and art wise. The only origin you got to know is how his parents died, that made up his mind to try and forbid any similar events to happen in Gotham again. Used the best schools there was to study as much subjects as possible. Roam the world to learn as much things as possible. And come back to Gotham as Bruce WBayne the playboy and Batman, the dark knight.