10 Essential Batman Stories For New Readers

Batman has barely been off our screens since the nineties animated series, and between the DCEU, Gotham, and countless animated movies, that's showing no signs of stopping.

In the comics, Bats is going through something of a renaissance thanks to the efforts of Scott Snyder, Tom King and countless other writers and artists who have all done an incredible job of retooling the Caped Crusader for new readers. Still, even with the brilliant main Batman title and an origin story that's so well know it's practically a modern myth, 75 years of history can be more than a little intimidating for people who are just now getting into the comic books. Maybe they really enjoyed Christian Bale's depiction, perhaps they caught Beware The Batman on Cartoon Network before it got shunted to the graveyard slot, they may even have come across him for the first time in the Injustice series of videogames. They want to get started with reading the Batman comics, but with over seven decades of material to choose from, where do they start?

Well, that's where we come in. We've compiled a list of the essential Batman stories for new readers, for people who have little to no idea of what the Dark Knight is like in his comic book incarnation. This isn't necessarily a countdown of the best Batman stories, period, but a carefully curated selection of the single issues, story arcs and graphic novels that will give novices the best handle on the character, his extended Bat Family, his rogues gallery, his home city, and his place in the DC Universe. And it just so happens we will touch on some of the best Batman stories along the way, as well as some that are less well known.

With that in mind, let's get started with this beginner's guide to Batman! And if there's any other essential starting points we missed, shine the Bat signal in the comments and at the very least we'll have Huntress come along and check it out.