The Best Batman Era Is One You'd Never Suspect

2. A Whole New Bat-Family

Bat Family DC Comics
DC Comics/Dustin Nguyen

But of course, in discerning Batman's greatest era it would be remiss to ignore the other books that supported Morrison's run. Love it or hate it, Batman is more than just the main Batman comic and it's often the case that these supporting series carve out their own devoted followings while the main arc progresses. Reborn was no different.

While Morrison worked on Batman & Robin, Return of Bruce Wayne and later Batman Incorporated, other writers and artists were busy at work fleshing out this new period. Greg Rucka and J. H. Williams III produced the formidable Batwoman: Elegy while on Detective Comics, Bryan Q. Miller helmed a cult favourite Batgirl comic with Stephanie Brown under the cowl, and Fabian Nicieza presided over an old school (and criminally overlooked) Bat-book in Red Robin, which saw Tim Drake attempt to discover his father's true fate while fending off with the League of Assassins.

All of these books were tremendous, but certainly one of the more underrated was Paul Dini, Dustin Nguyen and Derek Fridolfs Streets of Gotham. The trio had previously collaborated on Private Casebook and Heart of Hush, and Streets continued that hot-streak with three volumes' worth of brilliant stories, mirroring the main Batman & Robin title by showing Dick and Damian adjusting to their new roles, but while also fleshing out the city's criminal underworld and giving Hush his best arc to date. It compliments Morrison's main comic wonderfully, and is a must-read for those enamoured with Dini's work on Batman: The Animated Series.

Batgirl Bryan Q Miller
DC Comics

Lastly, there's The Black Mirror. Released after Bruce Wayne's return and the commencement of Batman Incorporated, The Black Mirror was Scott Snyder's first stab at Batman and it's arguably his finest moment with the character. Joined by Jock and Francesco Francavilla, The Black Mirror was a haunting, psychological look at Dick Grayson's past and present, and reaffirmed in no uncertain terms that he was every bit as much Batman as Bruce was.

All of these books, though not Morrison's design, reflected the ambition of that main series. This was a genuinely brilliant era for all Batman characters, one duly reflected across the range of titles DC were publishing at the time.

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WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.