The Best Batman Comics of All Time
Who is Batman? Sometimes, he’s a lone vigilante of the night, a creature whose thirst for vengeance fills criminals with dread. Sometimes, he’s a member of a larger team, such as the Justice League, the Outsiders, or his own extended family of Robins and Batgirls. Sometimes, he’s a figure of compassion, and sometimes, a figure of terror.
Batman has proven his elasticity as a concept; someone writers can shape in a variety of ways. That durability has allowed Batman to flourish for over eighty years, expanding into television, cinema, video games, and toys. However, comic books still best capture the many shades of Batman and contain some of the greatest superhero stories ever. To elaborate, find here, the best Batman comics to ever enchant readers.
1. Batman #404–407 (1987)
A year earlier, writer and artist Frank Miller gave the world a gritty and brutal Batman with The Dark Knight Returns. For the story of Bruce Wayne’s first days in the bat suit, Miller takes a more humane approach, seasoning his take on an inexperienced caped crusader with interesting human moments. Miller achieves this goal with the help of penciler David Mazzucchelli, whose thick, but soft line work conveys the tragedy of James Gordon’s marital crisis or Bruce’s first failed outing as a vigilante. Together with Todd Klein’s letters and Richmond Lewis’s colors, Batman: Year One reinvigorated the Batman mythos from the ground up.
2. Batman #251 (1973)
While the Joker made a splash in his first appearances, the character had faded into obscurity by the 1970s. The hit Batman TV series, in which Caesar Romero portrayed a mustachioed Joker, reduced the Clown Prince of Crime to a gimmicky nuisance, unsuited for the more serious stories writers wanted to tell after the show’s close. That changed with “Joker’s Five-Way Revenge,” written by Denny O’Neil and drawn by Neal Adams. Adams’s flowing and dynamic designs suit O’Neil’s story about the Joker returning with a vengeance, destroying his old enemies with sadistic traps. “Joker’s Five-Way Revenge” set the Joker on the path from obscurity, becoming one of the most popular comic book characters of all time.
3. Batman Annual #14 (1990)
His horrid appearance notwithstanding, Harvey Dent, the baddie known as Two-Face, might be the most sympathetic of Batman’s antagonists. Although the character has been around in one form or another since the 1940s, 1990’s Batman Annual #14 gives the character the full development he deserves. Written by Andrew Helfer and drawn by Chris Sprouse, this Batman comics issue retells the tragic origin of Harvey Dent, whose facial scarring gives him license to indulge a dark side fostered by childhood trauma. Lest one thinks this is just a Two-Face story, though, Helfer approaches the narrative through Batman’s perspective, demonstrating Bruce Wayne’s skills as a detective and connection to a man who must live a double life.
4. Batman: No Man’s Land (1999)
For decades, writers have imagined Gotham City as a pit of urban blight, a city in which everyone from the destitute to the powerful is corrupt and depraved. But in the 1998 crossover Cataclysm, things went from bad to worse for Batman’s hometown, as an earthquake devastates the city. The excellent follow-up storyline No Man’s Land, which stretched across every Batman comics-related title in 1999, showed how the city responded, breaking into turfdoms ruled by a leader such as the Gotham Police, the Penguin, the Riddler, and others. As Batman does his best to hold his broken city together, readers understand the depth of connection between Gotham and its protector.
5. Batman & Robin #1 (2009)
The titular heroes of Batman & Robin #1 are not Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson, at least not in that order. Set after Wayne’s apparent death, Batman & Robin finds Grayson, now a young adult, after spending years as Robin and Nightwing, taking his mentor’s place in the cape and cowl, with Wayne’s son Damian as Robin. Writer Grant Morrison and artist Frank Quitely use this changing of the guard to interrogate everything great about the Batman mythos. Even if Dick learns that he must embody Batman in his own way, as a quipping former acrobat instead of a brooding spook, the story serves to remind readers of the central power of the Batman story.
6. Batman: The Cult (1988)
Before Bane broke the Bat, zealot Deacon Blackfire tore him down in the four-issue miniseries Batman: The Cult. After getting careless while investigating the disappearance of unhoused people in Gotham, Batman becomes the captive of Deacon Blackfire and his cult, and subject to rigorous brainwashing. Writer Jim Starlin indulges in the psychedelic psychology that marked his work with Marvel characters Adam Warlock and Thanos. Great horror artist Bernie Wrightson, working with colorist Bill Wray and letterer John Costanza, adds to the terror of Batman’s psychological breakdown — and the thrilling climax where he puts himself together again.
7. Batman #1 (1940)
Batman #1 does not contain the first appearance of Batman; that’s coming up later. However, it does introduce to the world two key aspects of the character. First, Batman #1 debuts Catwoman and the Joker, the villain whose anarchic evil and ever-present grin counters the hero’s dark thirst for justice. Second, the issue also features the first telling of Batman’s origin, including the paradigmatic scene of the Waynes’ murder and Bruce spying a bat on the bust of his father. Even more than Batman’s first appearances in Detective Comics, writer Jerry Finger uses Batman #1 to debut the hero who continues to capture audiences’ imagination today.
8. Batman: Gotham by Gaslight (1989)
Thanks to his malleable nature, Batman gets used most often in Elseworlds tales, Batman comics stories set outside the main continuity that often reimagine the characters in bold ways. One of the best Elseworlds stories, Gotham by Gaslight finds Bruce Wayne beginning his work as Batman at the same time that Jack the Ripper comes to Gotham. Writer Brian Augustyn indulges all the tropes of 19th-century fiction to make Wayne a detective at the height of the Age of Reason. However, the real draw comes from the art by penciler Mike Mignola, inker P. Craig Russell, and colorist David Hornung. Together, these artists make a moody, gothic version of Gotham City, one that matches the story’s eerie tone.
9. Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #1-5 (1989 – 1990)
Few creatives have shaped Batman comics as well as Denny O’Neil, both as writer and editor. O’Neil’s understanding of the character is on full display in the great story “Shaman,” first printed in Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #1 – 5. “Shaman” takes place near the start of Bruce Wayne’s career, when he just starts to grow comfortable in his Batman persona. His investigations bring him to an underground cult led by a charismatic Shaman, who wears a mask to hide his identity. O’Neil and his collaborators — penciler Edward Hannigan, inker John Beatty, letterer John Costanza, and colorist Richmond Lewis — unfold the tale as a ripping Batman adventure. However, O’Neil also uses ideas about dual identities to interrogate Batman’s purpose.
10. Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (1986)
When writer and artist Frank Miller broke out on Marvel’s Daredevil, he had an unloved and underused character to work with, allowing him to indulge his interests in ninjas and hard-boiled fiction. The same could not be said about Batman comics, which Miller took on with the ground-breaking miniseries The Dark Knight Returns. Set sometime in the future, after Bruce Wayne has faked his death and become a recluse, The Dark Knight Returns features an aged Batman coming out of retirement to exact brutal vengeance against enemies old and new, as well as his one-time ally Superman, now a puppet of the government. Imitators may have gone too far trying to emulate the series’ bleak tone, but no one can ignore the massive influence of The Dark Knight Returns.
11. Batman #1-7 (2011)
Unlike most of the company’s output, Batman comics more or less retained their previous continuity during the New 52 event that rebooted DC Comics. However, writer Scott Snyder, penciler Greg Capullo, and inker Jonathan Glapion do take Batman comics back to square one in a sense with the Court of Owls story. After learning about a planned attack on Bruce Wayne’s life, Batman uncovers a secret society operating in Gotham for decades. In addition to facing down an opponent with more skill and resources than he’s ever encountered, Batman learns that his beloved city may not have ever been his city at all.
12. Batman #676–681 (2008)
In the pages of the mind-bending crossover Final Crisis, Batman died at the hands of the New God Darkseid. Over in the ongoing comic, Final Crisis writer Grant Morrison, working with penciler Tony Daniel, expands the story of Batman’s death with a five-part story that involves an attack mastermind by new villain Dr. Hurt, who claims that he is Bruce’s deceased father Thomas Wayne. As Dr. Hurt unleashes his forces on Batman, Bruce gains help from mental tricks and supernatural sources, all part of Morrison’s metatextual games that integrate every Batman comics story into an ongoing monomyth.
13. Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #6-10 (1990)
Long before taking over the title in the mid-2000s, Grant Morrison wrote a more straightforward but compelling Batman comics tale in Legends of the Dark Knight. The five-part story “Gothic” begins with the crime lords of Gotham realizing that an old enemy called Mr. Whisper has targeted them for death. In their desperation, the mobsters turn to the one person who can help them: Batman. While Morrison and artist Klaus Janson, working with letterer John Costanza and colorist Steve Buccellato, don’t indulge in any fourth-wall breaking, “Gothic” does have a mystical element that pushes the tale further than the average Batman case.
14. Detective Comics #27 (1939)
In his original design, artist Bob Kane imagined Batman as a blond-haired man in a red jumpsuit, with black leather wings attached to his back. Fortunately, writer Bill Finger got a hold of the idea before Kane sold it to DC Comics, and created something more familiar for Batman’s debut tale, “The Case of the Chemical Syndicate” from Detective Comics #27. Save for the central figure’s get-up and double-identity, “Chemical Syndicate” unfolds just like any other story from a 1930s mystery comic. However, thanks to Finger’s designs and Kane’s workmanlike drafting, Detective Comics #27 set the stage for Batman stories yet to come.
15. Batman #232 (1971)
Batman comics have such a great rogues gallery that multiple characters can claim the title of “arch-nemesis.” In 1971’s Batman #232, writer Denny O’Neill and penciler Neal Adams introduce one of the best. The terrorist Ra’s Al Guhl introduces himself by walking into the Batcave and explaining the simple logic he used to determine Batman’s secret identity, before sending the hero on a dangerous mission. In that brief conversation, Ra’s Al Guhl establishes himself as a villain with the intellect to challenge Batman and the resources to enact his plans, starting a conflict that will reoccur again and again.
16. Batman: The Long Halloween (1996-1997)
The best Batman comics must often balance the gimmicky nature of the characters and the pulpy tone that best suits the hero. Few epics have maintained that equilibrium like the twelve-part story, Batman: The Long Halloween, written by Jeph Loeb and drawn by Tim Sale, with moody colors by Gregory Wright. On the trail of the Holiday Killer, whose action threatens to start a war between Gotham’s major mob families, Batman must interrogate some of his worst enemies and consult the oft-mocked baddie Calendar Man. Loeb’s script sometimes borrows too much from the movies — The Godfather and The Silence of the Lambs in particular — but Sale and Wright’s gorgeous visuals mitigate most criticisms.
17. Batman: Shadow of the Bat #1 – 4 (1992)
With one of Batman’s best creative teams at the helm, writer Alan Grant and penciler Norm Breyfogle, DC Comics launched its new ongoing Shadow of the Bat with a story that has an irresistible premise. Batman has been arrested and sentenced to Arkham Asylum, alongside the criminals he battles. As Robin and Nightwing try to get Batman out, the Dark Knight matches wits with puritanical director Jeremiah Arkham, himself under the influence of new serial killer Mr. Zsasz. The first issues of Shadow of the Bat don’t reinvent the wheel, but they do tell a satisfying nuts-and-bolts Batman story from some of the best-to-ever work on the character.
18. Detective Comics #471 (1977)
Writer Steve Englehart and artist Marshall Rogers collaborated for just a handful of issues, but they stand out as some of the best Batman comics of the 1970s, right along with those of O’Neil and Adams. Detective Comics #471 shows off the duo’s exciting take on the character, with the rich story “The Dead Yet Live.” Seeking medical attention for radiation exposure, Bruce Wayne checks into a respected facility only to be subjected to a radical new treatment, one that forces him to question his identity. As he fights to regain control of his mind, Bruce discovers his doctor’s true identity: Hugo Strange, the evil psychologist and Batman’s first supervillain, back for revenge.
19. Batman #10 (1942)
Although she first appeared as the Cat in Batman #1, 1942’s Batman #10 reimagines Catwoman as the character readers know today. The story “The Princess of Plunder,” written by Bill Finger and drawn by Bob Kane, presents Catwoman as an alluring antagonist for Batman, someone whose beauty and moral flexibility somehow appeal to the stoic hero. Finger doesn’t go into detail about Batman’s motivations at the end of “The Princess of Plunder,” not even when Robin charges him with letting Catwoman go on purpose, but readers already see the start of a long and complicated relationship.
20. Batman #217 (1969)
1969 saw the debut of the hit Batman TV, but the editors at DC Comics were already moving away from the goofy stories of the Silver Age that inspired the show. Batman #217, written by Frank Robbins and penciled by Irv Novick, has a dramatic cover by Neal Adams, in which Batman announces that he’s leaving the Batcave forever. Indeed, the story does see Batman and Alfred moving out of Wayne Manor after Dick Grayson leaves for college, putting an end to their partnership. Low as these stakes may seem, the story gives Batman a hard break from his previous adventures, setting the stage for his turn to more moody and serious stories.
21. Batman and Dracula: Red Rain (1992)
Batman and Dracula: Red Rain may be the most famous DC Elseworlds tale, because of its fantastic premise: what if Batman became a vampire? Written by Doug Moench, who guided some of Marvel’s most influential horror titles before joining DC to write Batman, penciled by the expressive Kelly Jones, inked by Malcolm Jones III, and colored by Les Dorscheid, Red Rain reads like a German Expressionist nightmare. Even though he battles hordes of bloodsuckers, including Dracula himself, Batman’s most desperate fight is within his own mind, as he tries to keep his hunger at bay and continue his crusade against crime.
22. Detective Comics #235 (1956)
All superhero comics suffered after the end of World War II and the onset of moral crusaders such as Dr. Fredric Wertham. Thanks to his appearances in other media, Batman comics managed to stay in print throughout this period, but few fans look at his stories from the 50s and 60s with admiration. One of the few exceptions came via writer Bill Finger and penciler Sheldon Moldoff in the story “The First Batman” from Detective Comics #235. The story does undermine Batman’s mythology to a certain degree by revealing that Bruce’s father, the good doctor Thomas Wayne, once fought crime in a bat suit like his son. However, the rollicking adventure satisfied fans, including a young Grant Morrison, who would bring the Thomas Wayne Batman back in the 2000s.
23. Detective Comics #327 (1964)
By the 1960s, things looked bleak for Batman comics. Stories about aliens and robots diluted his solo comic and more interesting characters like Elongated Man threatened to take the top spot in Detective Comics. The problems went much further than Batman’s outfit, but no one can deny that Detective Comics #327 offered a step in the right direction by introducing “New Look” Batman. Decked in a gray and blue costume, with a yellow and black bat insignia on the chest, New Look Batman did catch the eye of readers and became the prime costume for decades to come.
24. Batman #156 (1963)
Batman comics of the 50s and 60s notoriously featured dramatic covers that had nothing to do with the story inside. 1963’s Batman #156 has one of the best covers ever, an image by penciler Sheldon Moldoff and inker Charles Paris of Batman carrying Robin’s limp body. “Robin Dies at Dawn!” declares the cover blurb. Fortunately for the readers of the day, Bill Finger composes a story good enough to match the cover, in which Batman hallucinates about Robin’s death. However, Finger also dilutes the power of that story with laughable elements, such as baddies dressed in gorilla costumes who call themselves the Gorilla Gang.
25. Knightfall (1993-1994)
Even the biggest Batman comics fan must admit that the Knightfall event from the start of the 90s sought to replicate the massive sales of the Death of Superman storyline from the preceding year. However, instead of introducing a big gray beast to pummel the hero to death, as happened with Superman, Knightfall featured the (then) relatively new villain Bane, a master tactician and hulking brute. Bane did indeed break Batman’s back. But first, he wore down his opponent’s mental resistance by freeing all the inmates in Arkham Asylum. Thanks to this plot contrivance, Knightfall plays like a retrospective of Batman’s heroic journey as much as it does a cynical take-down.
