10 Essential Batman Stories For New Readers

4. Dark Victory

Apart from, perhaps, the pair's follow up.

Dark Victory is a direct sequel to The Long Halloween, with Two Face engaged in a turf war with the mob over Gotham's streets, which Batman has to deal with whilst also unravelling the mystery of a serial killer known only as the Hangman. Along with introducing more of the Dark Knight's rogues gallery - as well as a new District Attorney who provides a different, critical view on his methods - Dark Victory tells the story of how young circus performer Dick Grayson was orphaned and became Batman's first sidekick, Robin.

Artist Tim Sale was initially reluctant to work on the story, due to a personal dislike of the Robin character, which he didn't feel squared with the dark and gritty Batman character. His fears were allayed, as any sceptical new readers might be, with a story which showed how essential he was as a counterbalance to the Dark Knight, still in his early years and struggling with his chronic loneliness and fear that he will make the wrong decision.

Robin, we learn, is important to Batman on both a personal and a crime fighting level. And there's still a lot of awesome crime fighting to be seen in Dark Victory, which ties up the threads of The Long Halloween with aplomb, whilst holding onto its noir sensibilities.