Batman Starter Pack
Year One, The Long Halloween, Hush, Court of Owls, Under the Red Hood and The Killing Joke — the Batman shelf everyone should own.
7 picksGrab any pick — one click
Tap Buy to open Amazon, or the title for the full review.
- 1Batman: Year OneThe cleanest Batman origin ever put on paper — the perfect first comic.Buy
- 2
Batman: The Long HalloweenA definitive collected edition — real print, real cover, straight to your shelf.Buy - 3
Batman: HushThe best-looking Batman book ever drawn, full stop.Buy - 4
Batman: Court of OwlsA definitive collected edition — real print, real cover, straight to your shelf.Buy - 5
Batman: Under the Red HoodA definitive collected edition — real print, real cover, straight to your shelf.Buy - 6
Batman: The Killing Joke DeluxeThe definitive Joker story in a proper hardcover.Buy - 7
The Dark Knight ReturnsOld, angry Batman — still the most influential run in comics.Buy
Why this packRead the explainerHide
Why these picks belong together
Almost every Batman film borrows from these six books, so they're the fastest way to understand Gotham. They're ordered as a story arc rather than by publication date: origin first, then the detective years, then the villains who define him. Every one is a self-contained trade — nothing here requires reading another series first.
How to start
- 1
Start with Year One. It's short, it's the origin, and it sets the tone for everything else.
- 2
Work down the list — Long Halloween and Hush are the detective era, Court of Owls is modern Batman.
- 3
Loved it? Upgrade to Absolute Batman: Hush or the Snyder & Capullo Omnibus.