The new DC Comics movie The Batman by Matt Reeves has seen great success in the opening weeks of its theatrical release. Critics and review sites are giving high praise for the newest installment of the Live-action Batman universe. The Movie has been described as being filled with comic book source material staying true to the characters' mythos appearing in the movie.
Accurately portraying the source material is an essential aspect of comic-book movies. Fans who don’t feel like the superhero on the screen represents their favorite version from the comics will let it be known. Batman has a sea of comics to pull exciting and favorable content from that has been the product of 75-years of continuity. Here are some of the best comics to read after watching The Batman.
8 Batman: Hush
Batman: Hush is one of the most highly acclaimed stories in Batman’s library. Written by Jeph Loeb and drawn By Jim Lee, the story follows The Dark Knight as he is faces opposition on all fronts.
The world’s greatest detective must decipher a plot against him that has been crafted with personal knowledge, leading Batman to believe that it’s someone who knows his true identity. Joker, Killer Croc, The Riddler, Superman, and so many more make appearances in one of the most well-crafted stories about the caped crusader.
7 Battle For The Cowl
Battle for the Cowl by Tony Daniel is a story that erupts after the death of Gotham’s Dark Knight. The events of Final Crisis left many holes throughout the DC universe, one of them being the vacancy left by Batman’s death. Left in pieces with no clear understanding of what to do with themselves, the bat-family is in disarray as Gotham begins to crumble around them.
An unspoken fact is that to cull the rising threat in Gotham and get things back to normal, a new Batman must appear. A civil war erupts among the members of the Bat-family, forcing Nightwing, Red Robin, Damian Wayne, Red Hood, and several others to fight over the right to dawn the mantle of the Batman.
6 Knightfall
Knightfall is perhaps one of the strongest stories in Batman’s continuity. It's a dark and gruesome tale involving the first instance of Batman stepping down and allowing for his replacement. The story features a slue of writers and artists that joined together to create something truly unique.
After a calamitous brawl with Bane, Batman is left unable to perform his knightly duties and is forced into retirement. This introduces the Character John Paul Valley, also known as Azrael, into the role of Gotham’s protector, which triggers a chain of events that left an impression on the entire Batman universe. Gotham is nearly turned to dust as Azrael loses control of himself and becomes judge, jury, and executioner.
5 Batman: Year One
Frank Miller is often quoted as being the master of the Dark Knight, having written several highly acclaimed stories that have greatly expanded the characters' depth. Batman Year one is one of those stories and takes readers back to the beginning as Bruce Wayne finally returns home with a mission.
Year One explores Batman’s first interactions with the GCPD, the start of his friendship with James Gordon, and just how corrupt and riddled with crime Gotham City was before the age of the bat. The story also dives into the past of James Gordon and his life before being commissioner and explores the actual difficulty of Batman cracking down on an entire city as just one man.
4 The Dark Knight Returns
Another Frank Miller work, The Dark Knight Returns, is a cult classic highly acclaimed by many fans of comics all over the world. Years into the future, where billionaire Bruce Wayne is an older man, too old to scale the rooftops of Gotham, beating thugs to a pulp. Readers follow the brooding philanthropist on the verge of a mid-life crisis, pushed to the edge by the mundane life of a civilian.
Bruce puts the cowl back on and begins to patrol the now criminal-filled streets of Gotham, just like old times. But getting back on the horse is a challenge; the lack of youth leads the Batman to do things a different way, but the wisdom of his old age makes him a completely different animal unleashed on the criminal element of Gotham.
3 Batman: Noel
Batman: Noel is a somewhat elseworld tale that follows Batman and several of his rogue's gallery, including the Joker, in a twisted version of A Christmas Carol. Lee Bermejo is the Author and Artist of the story, mixing the Batman Mythos with the original novel by Charles Dickens.
Batman takes the place of Ebenezer Scrooge, while the characters around him represent the ghosts that visit: Catwoman, the Ghost of Christmas Past, Joker, the Ghost of Christmas Future, and Superman, the Ghost of Christmas Present.
2 Batman: The Long Halloween
The Long Halloween by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale occurs during a massive gang war between the most prominent crime families in Gotham. Batman is still at the start of his career, and in the midst of trying to suffocate the flames of chaos in his city, he learns of a serial killer that claims victims once a month every month.
The Long Halloween stands as the blueprint for what made Gotham and Batman what they are today. The event that evolved Batman into the world's greatest detective, transformed Harvey Dent into Two-Face, and spawned the city’s most gruesome super villains.
1 Batman Earth-one
Batman: Earth-One is a unique series of comic issues that do a somewhat retelling of The Dark Knight’s origins and life as Gotham City’s crime fighter. The imprint of Earth-One brings the entirety of DC Comics' trinity down to ground level and makes them more fallible.
The Batman's storyline follows an inexperienced and flawed version of Batman that makes more mistakes and grows as he fails. Earth-One is written by Geoff Johns and drawn by Gary Frank and went on for three volumes.