8. Batman: A Death in the Family (by Jim Starlin)
Another seminal Batman story arc which I have to believe was somewhere near the top of Ledgers reading last while he researched his swan-song role, A Death in the Family follows multiple plots, the most notable of which is the Jokers murder of Jason Todd, who was Robin at the time. Death in the Family looks not just at the Joker, but at Batmans relationship with the Joker and poses the ultimate question: should Batman break his code and kill his nemesis, given how uncontrollably psychotic he really is? This is the Joker we see in The Dark Knight, the Joker that kills not for pleasure but because he can, that plots to cause anarchy not for a cause, but for the sake of anarchy. Other Batman books look at similar themes, but Death in the Family was amongst the handful that did it early, and did it well enough to influence the continuity. If I was playing a part in a Batman movie, Id re-read Death in the Family and Id re-read it again and again until I could remember it word for word, image for image. To say that Ledger didnt, in that six month period in which he studied the character in a motel room prior to shooting, would be like saying Anthony Hopkins didnt read Silence of the Lambs when researching Lecter.