1990s’ Batman comics reading guide – part 2

Batman #440

As promised a couple of weeks ago, here is the second installment of my recommended reading order for the various Gotham City-based comics of the 1990s, which tended to play particularly well off each other.

What follows is not a comprehensive list of all the Batman-related material from this period, but an attempt to map the core narrative into a satisfying sequence that enables new readers to navigate this era’s intricate tapestry. I left out some specials that don’t quite fit in as well as the Adventures line and Elseworlds tales, because those are clearly set in alternate continuities and can therefore be read independently of the main series. I also left out the Gotham cast’s appearances in other DC superhero titles, because I had to draw the line somewhere.

In any case, you certainly don’t have to go through the whole thing – or even most of it! – to understand each individual comic. It’s just that, even if you skip large chunks of this, you’re bound to appreciate the larger saga more fully by at least following the general order.

TIM DRAKE’S PROBATION (1990-1991) [This era is still quite scattered in terms of talent and continuity, but you can see things gradually taking shape. If the late ‘80s was the dark era when Robin (traditionally one of the most colorful aspects of Batman’s world) was brutally murdered, in the early ‘90s we gradually enter a new phase, with the main through-line being Batman’s hesitant partnership with a young, well-adjusted Tim Drake who eventually becomes the third Robin (thus restoring some of the series’ lighthearted tone). The bulk of it was done by either the duo of Marv Wolfman & Jim Aparo or the duo of Alan Grant & Norm Breyfogle, with the latter’s work being substantially more exciting. This phase also includes Peter Milligan’s first handful of cult-worthy contributions to the franchise.]

Batman #436-439: ‘Batman: Year 3’ (collected in The Caped Crusader, v2 and Tales of the Batman: Marv Wolfman, v1) [Alternates between flashbacks of Dick Grayson’s origin and the present time. Includes a small Tim Drake cameo.]

Batman #440-442/The New Titans #60-61: ‘A Lonely Place of Dying’ (collected in A Lonely Place of Dying and A Death in the Family (2009 edition)) [Properly introduces Tim Drake.]

Batman #443: ‘The Coming of Crimesmith’ (collected in The Caped Crusader, v2)

Batman #444: ‘Crimesmith and Punishment’ (collected in The Caped Crusader, v2)

Batman #445-447: ‘When the Earth Dies’ (collected in The Caped Crusader, v3) [Sequel to ‘Ten Nights of the Beast’ (#417-420).]

Detective Comics #612: ‘Cats’ (collected in Legends of the Dark Knight: Norm Breyfogle, v2)

Detective Comics #613: ‘Trashed’ (collected in Legends of the Dark Knight: Norm Breyfogle, v2)

Detective Comics #614: ‘Street Demonz’ (collected in Legends of the Dark Knight: Norm Breyfogle, v2)

Batman #448-449/Detective Comics #615: ‘The Penguin Affair’ (collected in The Caped Crusader, v3) [Harold Allnut, first seen in The Question #33, arrives in Gotham City.]

Detective Comics #616: ‘Stone Killer’ (collected in Legends of the Dark Knight: Norm Breyfogle, v2) [Batman suspects the Joker – whom he last saw in ‘A Death in the Family’ (Batman #426-429) – is still alive.]

Batman #450: ‘Wildcard’ (collected in The Caped Crusader, v3) [The Joker returns.]

Detective Comics #617: ‘A Clash of Symbols’ (collected in Legends of the Dark Knight: Norm Breyfogle, v2)

Batman #451: ‘Judgements’ (collected in The Caped Crusader, v3)

Batman #452-454: ‘Dark Knight, Dark City’ (collected in Dark Knight, Dark City and The Caped Crusader, v3)

Bride of the Demon (collected in Batman: Birth of the Demon) [Mike Barr followed Son of the Demon with another Ra’s al Ghul epic, this one firmly set during Tim Drake’s probation era.]

World’s Finest #1-3 (collected as World’s Finest) [In this beautiful mini-series by Dave Gibbons and Steve Rude, the Joker is definitely back.]

Detective Comics #618-621: ‘Rite of Passage’ (collected in Robin: Tragedy and Triumph, Legends of the Dark Knight: Norm Breyfogle, v2, and Robin, v1: Reborn)

Batman #455-457: ‘Identity Crisis’ (collected in Robin: A Hero Reborn, Legends of the Dark Knight: Norm Breyfogle, v2, and Robin, v1: Reborn) [Alan Grant and Norm Breyfogle transition from Detective Comics to Batman, picking up where the ‘Rite of Passage’ arc left off. It finishes with Tim Drake donning the Robin suit. (Tim will be training abroad for the next months, hence his absence from Batman’s adventures.)]

Detective Comics #622-624: ‘Dark Genesis/Death of Innocence/Bitter Victory’ [This fill-in arc by John Ostrander, Flint Henry, and Mike McKone is definitely worth tracking down, but it doesn’t relate to the main saga and it doesn’t necessarily have to be read here.]

Detective Comics #625: ‘Abattoir’ [Marv Wolfman and Jim Aparo transition from Batman to Detective Comics, effectively switching the titles’ creative teams. This tale is set during the campaign for a mayoral election in Gotham City.]

Batman #458: ‘Night Monsters’ (collected in Legends of the Dark Knight: Norm Breyfogle, v2) [Sergeant Sarah Essen, from ‘Batman: Year One,’ returns to Gotham. Plus, Harold moves into the Batcave.]

Batman #459: ‘Saturday Night at the Movies’ (collected in Legends of the Dark Knight: Norm Breyfogle, v2) [Commissioner Gordon has a heart attack.]

Detective Comics #626: ‘Return to the Electrocutioner’

Detective Comics #627: ‘The Case of the Chemical Syndicate’ [Various versions of Batman’s first published adventure, as discussed here. The version by Wolfman and Aparo is the best fit for this continuity – in the one by Grant and Breyfogle, Commissioner Gordon is not hospitalized.]

Batman #460-461: ‘Sisters in Arms’

Detective Comics #628: ‘Hearts’

Detective Comics #629: ‘The Hungry Grass’ (collected in Dark Knight, Dark City) [Peter Milligan becomes Detective Comics’ regular writer. Hooray!]

Detective Comics #630: ‘And the Executioner Wore Stiletto Heels’ (collected in Dark Knight, Dark City)

Detective Comics #631-632: ‘The Golem of Gotham’ (collected in Dark Knight, Dark City)

Catwoman: Defiant [This graphic novel doesn’t have to come here, necessarily, but since it’s written by Milligan you may as well read it together with the rest of his run.]

Batman #462-464: ‘Spirit of the Beast’

THE THIRD ROBIN’S DEBUT (1991-1992) [As much as I love Batman’s solo stories, the overall mood really picked up once we got a regular Robin again, with this new Dynamic Duo making for a particularly engaging team (or perhaps it was the general sense of post-Cold War optimism, as if a burden had just been lifted…). Hell, there is even a case to be made (on some other post) that Tim Drake was the true star of the franchise throughout the ‘90s, not only because he provided the heart of most stories, but also because – unlike Batman – we got to see him grow and evolve.]

Robin #1-5 (collected in Robin: A Hero Reborn and Robin, v1: Reborn) [The first mini-series starring Robin (by Chuck Dixon and Tom Lyle) picks up immediately after Batman #457 and follows Tim Drake’s training abroad.]

Batman #465: ‘Debut’ (collected in Robin, v2: Triumphant) [Following his return to Gotham City in Robin #5, Tim Drake makes his official debut as the Dark Knight’s costumed partner.]

Batman #466: ‘No More Heroes’

Detective Comics #633: ‘Identity Crisis’ (collected in Dark Knight, Dark City and Batman: A Celebration of 75 Years)

Batman #467-469: ‘Shadow Box’ (collected in Robin, v2: Triumphant) [Dixon and Lyle provide a sequel to the first Robin mini-series.]

Detective Comics #634: ‘The Third Man’ [Fill-in by Kelly Puckett and Luke McDonnell, with no connection to the main saga. Puckett’s humorous mystery – in which Batman meets the Biddee sisters, a couple of elderly amateur detectives – must have left a good impression, because he was then hired to be the main writer of The Batman Adventures (where the sisters had a cameo).]

Detective Comics #635-637: ‘Mind Games/Mind Control/Control Freak’ [Guest-creative team: Louise Simonson and Jim Fern]

Batman #470: ‘Of Gods and Men’ [Part of the larger DC crossover War of the Gods]

Batman Annual #15: ‘The Last Batman Story’ [Part of the larger DC crossover Armageddon 2001, whose story about a superhuman who could see possible futures served as a pretext to imagine alternative endings for Batman’s saga]

Detective Comics Annual #4: ‘Succession’ [Also part of Armageddon 2001, an epic tale by Louise Simonson and Tom Grindberg]

Detective Comics #638: ‘The Bomb’

Batman #471: ‘Requiem for a Killer’ (collected in Arkham: Killer Croc)

Batman #472-473/Detective Comics #639-640: ‘The Idiot’

Robin II: The Joker’s Wild! #1-4 (collected in Robin: Tragedy and Triumph and Robin, v2: Triumphant) [Tim Drake’s first confrontation with the Joker takes place during ‘The Idiot,’ while Batman is away in Brazil.]

Batman #474/Legends of the Dark Knight #27/Detective Comics #641: ‘The Destroyer’ [Gotham City’s architecture is reconfigured – within the story! – to match Anton Furst’s designs for Tim Burton’s Batman movie.]

Batman #475-476/Detective Comics #642: ‘The Return of Scarface’

Detective Comics #643: ‘The Library of Souls’

Batman #477-478: ‘A Gotham Tale’ [This fill-in by 2000 AD alumni John Wagner and Cam Kennedy has no relation to the main saga, but it is one of the decade’s great gothic comics.]

Batman #479: ‘Pagan’

Batman #480: ‘To the Father I Never Knew’

LOOSE STORIES [A handful of specials and related comics that don’t have to be read in any particular order, but which take place around this time…]

Gotham Nights #1-4

Batman: Seduction of the Gun

Batman/Green Arrow: The Poison Tomorrow

Legends of the Dark Knight Annual #1: ‘Duel’

Batman: Two-Face Strikes Twice! #1-2 [Half of this story is a flashback featuring the original Dynamic Duo (back when Dick Grayson was the Boy Wonder) and done in the style of a Golden Age pastiche, but the other half is a modern-day adventure set early in Tim Drake’s career as Robin.]

Deathstroke, the Terminator #6-9: ‘City of Assassins’ (collected in Deathstroke, the Terminator, v1: Assassins) [A Gotham-set arc (written by Marv Wolfmam) in which the titular mercenary fights the Dark Knight]

Detective Comics Annual #5: ‘Acts of Madness’ [Like the two annuals below, this issue is part of the larger DC crossover Eclipso: The Darkness Within]

Robin Annual #1: ‘The Anarky Ultimatum’ (collected in Robin, v3: Solo)

Batman Annual #6: ‘By Darkness Possessed’

The Question Quarterly #1-5 [If, like me, you believe Dennis O’Neil’s and Denys Cowan’s stint on The Question feels like a close relative of the Batman family of books, you may as well read these quarterly issues from the early ’90s, which wrap up their run. Meanwhile, Green Arrow Annual #3 (written by O’Neil) bridges the gap in the story between the early series and this new format. Fans can then follow the Question’s further adventures in 1991-1992’s mini-series The Brave and the Bold (written by Mike Grell and Mike Baron).]

Ragman (v2) #1-8 [It is also worth noting that Keith Giffen’s and Pat Broderick’s remarkable reboot of the titular Jewish superhero (published in 1991-1992) is set in Gotham, with the obligatory Batman guest-appearances. It was followed by Elaine Lee’s and Gabriel Morrissette’s mini-series Ragman: Cry of the Dead, which shifted the action to New Orleans. Batman and Ragman then teamed up in Legends of the Dark Knight #51.]

Demon (v3) #1-39 + Annual #1 [Even though the core narrative (not to mention its surreal fantasy/comedy tone) of Alan Grant’s and Val Semeiks’s run on Demon has little to do with the Batman family of books, I should point out that this series is largely set in Gotham and it occasionally features appearances by the Caped Crusader and his supporting cast. By and large, the series can be read independently, although bear in mind that the delirious arc ‘Apocolypse Now!’ (#9-15) brings back the ancient reptilian being C’th, from Detective Comics #616. The following arc, ‘The Region Beyond’ (#16-20), ties into the War of the Gods crossover. Annual #1 (set after issue #25) ties into the Eclipso: The Darkness Within crossover. Issue #22 (‘Witch War’) and the satirical arc ‘Political Asylum!’ (#26-29) are fill-ins written by Matt Wagner and Dwayne McDuffie, respectively. The final ten issues (when the series goes completely off the rails into goofy slapstick) are illustrated by Rich Hedden.]

PRE-KNIGHTFALL ERA (late 1992) [This is when the franchise hit a particular groove (which it kept for most of the decade), with Doug Moench writing Batman, Chuck Dixon on Detective Comics, and Alan Grant on Shadow of the Bat. Although they were still telling separate stories, these comics deliberately set the stage for the upcoming Knightfall crossover.]

Batman #481-482: ‘Messenger of Zeus/Vengeance of the Harpy’ [Introduces the physiotherapist Shonra Kinsolving, who will play an important role in Knightfall.]

Detective Comics #644-646: ‘Electric City’

Detective Comics #647-649: ‘Inquiring Minds/Let the Puzzlement Fit the Crime/Malled’ [This arc – which among other things introduces the despicable mayoral candidate Armand Krol – is one of my all-time favorite Batman adventures.]

Detective Comics #650: ‘The Dragon’

Shadow of the Bat #1-4: ‘The Last Arkham’ (collected in The Last Arkham, Shadow of the Bat, v1, and Arkham: Victor Zsasz) [Introduces Jeremiah Arkham, who redesigns and reorganizes Arkham Asylum.]

Batman #483: ‘Crash & Burn: A Love Story’

Detective Comics #651: ‘A Bullet for Bullock’

Detective Comics #652-653: ‘Beyond the Law!/The Serpent Pit’ [Helena Bertinelli (aka the Huntress) moves to Gotham City.]

Shadow of the Bat #5: ‘The Black Spider’ (collected in Shadow of the Bat, v1)

Shadow of the Bat #6: ‘The Ugly American’ (collected in Shadow of the Bat, v1)

Batman #484-485: ‘Warpaint/Faces of Death’ (collected in Knightfall Omnibus, v1 (2017 edition), Prelude to Knightfall, and Arkham: Black Mask)

Legends of the Dark Knight Annual #2: ‘Vows’ [Heavily set against the background of the upcoming Gotham election.]

Batman #486-487: ‘Heavy Metalhead/Box of Blood’ (collected in Knightfall Omnibus, v1 (2017 edition) and Prelude to Knightfall) [Batman shows the first clear signs of burn-out.]

Shadow of the Bat #7-9: ‘The Misfits’ (collected in Shadow of the Bat, v1) [Armand Krol is now Gotham’s mayor.]

Robin III: Cry of the Huntress #1-6 (collected in Robin, v2: Triumphant)

Shadow of the Bat #10: ‘The Thane of Gotham’ (collected in Shadow of the Bat, v1)

Shadow of the Bat #11-12: ‘The Human Flea’ (collected in Shadow of the Bat, v1)

Shadow of the Bat #13: ‘The Nobody’ (collected in Shadow of the Bat, v2)

Shadow of the Bat #14-15: ‘Freaks’(collected in Shadow of the Bat, v2)