Best Batman Story Of All Time? (Comics, Movies, Games, etc.)

General Discussion
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Court of owls, Long Halloween, Dark Knight Returns .

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1 Hush
2 Long Halloween
3 Killing Joke
4 Batman year one
5 Return of the Dark Knight

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For me Hush or Long Halloween

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What is the best series (Not Batman Beyond) to read in this app?

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I really like Scott Snyder’s New 52 run (found under Batman 2011, starting with #1)

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Picking a best Batman series from the DCU library is too hard for me. My pick for best storyarc however is “Hush”, which begins with Batman (1940) #608.

If you want a great current Batman title (that’s not on DCU), give Batman and the Outsiders a whirl.

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This is the 20 best issues for Michael Usland, executive producer of all Batman movies and author of The Boy who loved Batman, an autobiography.

  1. Night of the Stalker from Detective Comics #439, which I read over Thanksgiving 1973, I immediately pronounced to
    be the BEST Batman comic book story ever written, and since then, nothing has changed my mind.

I made Tim Burton read it when we were pitching him to direct the 1989 Batman, and you’ll see its influence in the opening sequence of the film. I bow before my comic book course guest lecturer Steve Engelhart, and Neal Adams and Sal Amendola, and Archie Goodwin, for this historic work- in which, by the way, there is NO dialogue.
Batman says nothing. He doesn’t have to. The emotional impact is intense.

  1. Night of the Reaper from Batman #237, which came out
    around September 1971, became a hot topic in my comic
    book course about the impact comics could have on an audience and as hard evidence
    of their growing sophistication in theme and storytelling. This
    is a POWERFUL tale everyone should read, and it is courtesy of another of my comic book course guest lecturers, Denny O’Neil, and the magic that is
    Neal Adams.

  2. Robin Dies at Dawn from 1963’s Batman #156, which I read when I was twelve, is a Bill Finger, Shelly Moldoff, Charlie Paris opus that moved me to tears when I was a kid.

  3. The Laughing Fish, a
    multi-parter starting in Detective Comics # 475 in 1978, was one of my three most favorite Joker stories ever told, brought to us by the minds of Steve Engelhart and artist Marshall Rogers, who brought style to the Dark Knight

  4. Batman #1 from Spring 1940 qualifies in its entirety, but particularly for the very first Joker story (but don’t ignore the nearly as great first Catwoman tale), courtesy of Bill Finger, Jerry Robinson, and Bob Kane.

  5. Daughter of the Demon from 1971’s Batman #232 kicked off the emergence of Ra’s al Ghul and his daughter, Talia, giving us fans the greatest Batman villain created post-Batman TV
    show. From the typewriter and pencils and pens of Denny O’Neil (of course) and Neal Adams (who else?).

  6. The First Batman from Detective Comics #235 in
    1956 was one of the very earliest superhero comic books I ever read (or maybe mostly looked at the pictures), which also happened to be the issue that expanded and redefined the origin of Batman himself, making me feel as a new reader that I was getting on board the Batman saga on the ground floor, all thanks to Bill Finger, Shelly Moldoff, and Stan Kaye.

  7. Batman: Year One took off in Batman #404 in 1987 from the talents of Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli and was a huge influence on Batman Begins.

  8. The Dark Knight Returns, in 1986, was a seminal graphic
    novel out of the fertile mind and artistry of Frank Miller, as he deconstructed Batman for a brand-new generation.

  9. Batman Annual #1 from 1961! Man oh man oh man!

  10. Detective Comics #327 from 1964. Not one single story, but the whole look and feel of this entire comic book was just revolutionary and shocking. Gone was the artwork of Shelly
    Moldoff’s Bob Kane, and arriving was next-generation artist Carmine nfantino. John Broome was the new writer. Batman’s chest symbol suddenly had a yellow circle around it. The Batmobile overnight became a sports car. The Bat-Signal was
    ditched in favor of the Bat-Phone. Aunt Harriet arrived to live with Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson. Batman held a GUN on a bad guy! What the-? And even the backup feature, “J’onn J’onzz, Manhunter from Mars,” was given the boot from the
    book by the super-stretchy sleuth, the Elongated Man.

  11. One Bullet Too Many from 1969’s Batman #217 by Frank Robbins and Irv Novick, in which Batman closes the Bat-Cave, ships Robin off to college, andmoves into the heart of Gotham City above the Wayne Foundation. The times they are a-changin’!

  12. The Killing Joke graphic novel from 1988 by Alan Moore and Brian Bolland had the largest impact on the Joker’s portrayal in The Dark Knight movie.

  13. There Is No Hope in Crime Alley from Detective Comics
    #457 in 1976 was another classic by the always reliable
    Denny O’Neil and Dick Giordano.

  14. A Death in the Family, erupting in Batman #426 in 1988 was a story in which, once again, Robin dies at dawn. This time for real. At least I could’ve sworn! But… sigh … it’s comic books…

  15. Challenge of the Man-Bat, beginning in Detective Comics
    #400 in 1970 from Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams, was a truly chilling modern-day comic book version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

  16. The Man Behind the Red Hood from Detective Comics
    #168 in 1951 by Bill Finger, Lew Sayre Schwartz, and Charlie Paris. Just when you thought you knew all about the Joker.

  17. Both Batman #253 and #259 in 1973 and 74, when he meets the mysterious figure who most directly influenced his own creation, the Shadow, as written by Denny O’Neil and rendered by Neal Adams.

  18. The Demon of Gothos Manor from Batman #227 in 1970, which made our hero
    less the Caped Crusader and more the Dark Knight, compliments of Denny
    O’Neil, Irv Novick, and Dick Giordano.

  19. Secret of the Waiting Graves from Detective Comics #395 in 1970 marked the first Batman collaboration between the Dynamic Duo of Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams.

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Also use Search and Enter

Start Reading Series Batman

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I suggest Batman: The Long Halloween. It’s a great mystery, and while it doesn’t spoonfeed you the solution, I think there’s one that can be pieced together from the evidence it gives you, which is really cool.

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Batman 232 Daughter of the Demon. (Also first appearance of Ra’s Al Ghul)

Batman 251 The Joker’s 5 Way Revenge
Arguably the first “modern day, psychotic killer” Joker appearance.

If heroes are only as good as the villains they face, and the Joker & Ra’s are the most defining.

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I really, REALLY, like Neil Gaiman’s Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader. It’s a very special story and a good ending to the volume of bats. It gets into the philosphy of what batman means

Oh also Grant Morrison’s Batman and Robin run is really fun. Dick and Damian are too funny.

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I love Morrison’s run but I would recommend reading it as a whole. And it’s a mess in terms of a reading order. I’ll recommend Detective Comics Rebirth, Batman 2011, Batman Arkham Asylum (it’s not based on a game, it’s the other way around), and obviously Year One (Batman 404-407). Those are much easier to read if you’re new to comics than 70s issues (but come back to them because they have a lot of the best Batman stories there are), or Morrison’s run which jumped around 4-5 series.

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I still dig the Batman & Son run from Grant Morrison. The Man Bat cover of the second issue I believe it was got me back into full force comics reading, staring at me from the spinner rack.

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I recommend Scott Snyder’s new 52 run. It’s a great starting point and will make you want to read so much more!

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Rebirth has been fun. The I Am sagas were great.
Also the detective rebirth was awesome.

All Star Batman was really fun to read.

Long Halloween was a good classic.

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I’m not personally the biggest fan, but if I’m being honest, most people seem to enjoy Snyder’s work.

Oddly enough, I’ve never chosen a favorite perhaps because I usually buy used comics so I get a smattering of this and smattering of that when I see a good deal.

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You asked about the best comic in the title, but then you said best series in the post. I’ll try to answer the question in different ways.

  1. The best single issue is “Night of the Stalker.”
    https://www.dcuniverse.com/comics/book/detective-comics-1937-439/de6a07a1-4e2a-440f-98b6-fdea5cf65c95/

  2. The best graphic novel is Son of the Demon.
    https://www.dcuniverse.com/comics/book/batman-son-of-the-demon-2006-1/43b1c96f-f899-4093-baac-497af6ffa2f4/

  3. The best miniseries is Batman: The Cult.
    https://www.dcuniverse.com/comics/series/batman-the-cult/b76316d4-c2f6-4be8-ab0e-746d0e447f32

  4. The best continuous series (of a manageable length) is Batman and the Outsiders.
    https://www.dcuniverse.com/comics/series/batman-and-the-outsiders-1983/0f0bf4e6-bb40-47ca-b978-639d430a1d6e

  5. The best anthology series (of a somewhat manageable length) is Shadow of the Bat.
    https://www.dcuniverse.com/comics/series/batman-shadow-of-the-bat/17f4693e-6357-48a3-a9ba-fcde1f7d4696

  6. The best run (that’s fully available on here) is Grant Morrison’s epic that begins in Batman and continues in other series.
    https://www.dcuniverse.com/collections/story-batman-and-son
    https://www.dcuniverse.com/collections/story-batman-rip
    https://www.dcuniverse.com/collections/story-final-crisis
    https://www.dcuniverse.com/comics/series/batman-the-return-of-bruce-wayne/aff2fd59-4d19-4089-ae26-74309c216cee
    https://www.dcuniverse.com/comics/series/batman-and-robin-2009/f7fad37b-e4db-46ac-875e-ab42d737a4c1
    https://www.dcuniverse.com/comics/series/batman-incorporated-2010/dad96cbc-b260-4a08-b429-9e84d24da260
    https://www.dcuniverse.com/comics/series/batman-incorporated-2012/34a64605-e47b-4095-a29c-c47ed18db916

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Batman: Hush

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James Tynion IV’s rebirth run on dedective comics is some of the best Batman and supporting character stories and arc I’ve read in years.
Denny Oniel is my favorite batman writer you can’t go wrong with any of his stories.

A fun read is Gates of Gotham. Dick’s Batman while Bruce is gone, but it fleshes out Gotham City, and Gotham is my favorite fictional place so this story does a cool job

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Scott Snyder’s run is the best starting point you could ever ask for.

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