Over 85 years of Batman… What a strange sentence to say! It’s hard to believe that the thing I love the most in this world is older than my grandparents, but what a proud milestone for fans of this universe. Though recent years may have seen a downward spiral for Batman movies (sorry to say but the efforts of DCEU and the Snyderverse just didn’t cut it, though I appreciated a lot about those movies and their comic book accuracies) the comic books have remained stronger than ever – I would even go as far as to say that some of the new comics are amongst the best comics of all time.

In celebration of the one day of the year we all look forward to the most, Batman Day not Christmas, we have listed below what we would consider to be the best Batman comic of all-time Whether you are a long term fan, or you are only just finding your first comic books to read, there is something here for you. Let’s dive into the list of must read Batman comics.

1. Gothic

2. The-Long-Halloween

3. The Batman Who Laughs

4. A Death in the Family

5. Under the Red Hood

6. The Killing Joke

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Batman: Gothic

Written by Grant Morrison

Image by DC Comics

This entry on the list is not exactly your typical Batman comic. Batman: Gothic is built up from 5 issues of Legends of the Dark Knight comic book, issues 6 -10, and touches on some very disturbing topics. This first entry should be a warning for you all of what’s to come – in the 85 years Batman has been around, it hasn’t always been silly quips and catchy dance moves (thank you Adam West for your amazing contributions).

In Gothic, Batman must stop an immortal child killer from releasing a plague upon Gotham who in a turn of events, turns out to be Bruce Wayne’s old Headmaster who tormented him as a child. We see Batman fight his way through childhood trauma to stop this villain in potentially the most powerful storyline in Batman comic book history.

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Batman: The Long Halloween

Written by Jeph Loeb

Image by DC Comics

The Long Halloween is not only a great read, but it is probably the best Batman comic to start with – with the exception of maybe Batman Year One. The best part about this recommendation is…it hasn’t even finished yet! The Long Halloween has a long awaited third sequel called The Last Halloween, consisting of 10 issues set to begin September 28th 2024 – though if this is something that takes your fancy, I recommend you wait till the series finishes and pick up the complete graphic novel, since the experience is so much more engaging with a graphic novel.

In The Long Halloween, we are introduced to a lot of Batman comic characters. This story serves as an origin story for Harvey Dent, who as most will know, becomes Two-Face. After 2 years of protecting Gotham, Batman teams up with the likes of Jim Gordon and Harvey Dent to put a stop to Carmine Falcone’s reign which ultimately leads to Dent’s face becoming disfigured from an acid attack and thus the birth of Two-Face – it’s pretty heavy stuff but is so well written you will feel yourself feeling sympathetic towards Two-Face despite his evil plots later.

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The Batman Who Laughs

Written by Scott Snyder

Image by DC Comics

Ah, the sweet sweet multiverse everyone seems to love these days – you do not need to put on your favourite Avengers film to experience that. This comic has a compelling multiverse story with a creepy Batman/Joker hybrid. These days, when you see the name ‘Snyder’ attached to a Batman project, you may want to just launch Disney Plus instead, but do not be alarmed. This is a different Snyder and thankfully, Scott Snyder has done nothing but brilliant things for the Batman universe.

When this Batman/Joker hybrid travels the multiverse with the goal to kill every Batman, Batman must become exactly the thing he is fighting in order to win. This graphic novel is built on Batman’s own theory that if the Joker was ever to die, that toxin that makes him who he is would be released and turn his killer into the Joker. You might think this idea sounds very weird (that’s because it is), and it honestly makes next to no sense, and yet makes for such a damn good read. The artwork is fantastically creepy and gives the entire graphic novel a horror feel about it (though maybe not as creepy as the other horror comics we have talked about before). 

If I didn’t sell it to you yet, The Batman Who Laughs can be read on Amazon Kindle at no extra cost with Amazon Prime.

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Batman: A Death in the Family

Written by Jim Starlin

Image by DC Comics

It wouldn’t be an 85th anniversary celebration piece without an entry as old as time, A Death in the Family. Written in 1988, 36 years ago, and yet this still holds up as not only one of the best comic books of all time, as well as also being considered one of the most important stories in Batman comic history. One read of this and you will understand why.

A Death in the Family, as the title suggests, sees a loss in the Batman family and while I wouldn’t want to spoil it for you, it’s pretty horrendous. We follow Jason Todd (the second Robin) throughout his journey to find his real mother only to be kidnapped and tortured by the Joker. If you are not into dark plot lines, this comic might not be the one for you since it gets pretty heavy pretty quickly.

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Batman: Under the Red Hood

Written by Judd Winick

Image by DC Comics

So here we are, the best Batman comic ever made, Under the Red Hood. This graphic novel is the sequel to A Death in the Family, and what a story it is. Every time I’ve read this, I’ve felt as excited as the first time, the story is so gripping and has such an emotional plot twist it’s hard to not pick it up again and again. I can honestly say Under the Red Hood is my favourite comic book of all time, I cannot recommend it enough and will continue to do so – save yourself the nagging and just go read it already!

In Under the Red Hood, we see Batman deal with the grief of the recently deceased member of the Bat Family, as a new (or seemingly old) villain emerges and takes control of crime in Gotham. I should warn you, this is a big read. However, I promise you it is more than worth it. This is the comic book that changed my favourite DC character for good – though Batman will always hold a massive piece of my heart.

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The Killing Joke

Written by Alan Moore

Image by DC Comics

If this list was not enough to get you started, one final comic I would recommend is The Killing Joke, however this one will shock you to the core. Prepare for tears and yet strangely a very exciting ride as we see how far The Joker will go to break a good man.

The Killing Joke gives us the origin story of both Oracle, Jim Gordon’s disabled daughter, and The Joker from Red Hood to The Clown Prince of Crime. Yes you read that right, Red Hood! Many thugs have donned the red hood in the past and Joker just so happened to be wearing it when he fell into the vat of acid, becoming the menace we see today – though subjectively, he doesn’t pull it off as well as my guy above!

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Conclusion

I hope you find this list useful in your comic book journey and you enjoy these titles as much as I do. If you are more into movies, we have you covered with our list of best DC animated movies, most of the titles I mentioned above have a great movie adaption anyway – as long as you are getting your fix of this universe, that is all that matters to us!

Though this article is solely about the best Batman comic books, it would not feel right to not mention the late great Kevin Conroy. Kevin brought this world to life for so many of us and I have personally found it hard these few years to watch anything where he portrayed Batman. I never thought the lines ‘I am vengeance, I am the knight, I am Batman’ could make a grown man cry, yet here I am weeping during another watch through of the animated series. I will always hear that icons voice in my head as I read through my favourite books.

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