11 Batman Stories to Read Before Watching ‘The Dark Knight’

Alan Kistler

Alan Kistler is a freelance writer who has contributed to MonitorDuty.com and PopCultureShock.com. He is a freelance video editor who occasionally acts in independent film projects. His blog is located at alantkistler.squarespace.com.

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12 Responses

  1. Chris Ullrich says:

    Thanks Alan, now I have more books to buy. Good article.

  2. Anonymous says:

    I have read none of these except for Batman Year One.

    I have a lot to catch up on too!!

  3. Tom Fitzpatrick says:

    What about Morrison's and McKean's ARKHAM ASYLUM? That was definitely a classic.So's Moore's and Bolton's BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE.

    • Alan Kistler says:

      As I said, these were stories taking place during Batman's early solo years. The Killling Joke takes place many years later, after Batman is now on his second version of Robin and the original Batgirl has mostly retired, so it fell out of the timeline. Same with Arkham Asylum.

  4. Rick Marshall says:

    Since the list was intended to encompass a timeline running up to 'The Dark Knight,' and 'Killing Joke' seems to include the origins of the Joker, the book seemed to occur (in the our rough estimation) during and after the time period portrayed in the film… On that note, however, it's a very rough estimation, so there are bound to be good arguments for including many omitted titles.

  5. Katie says:

    Need to buy those books now :Dhttp://katie.blogsite.org

  6. akiva says:

    you forgot Batman: The Killing Joke, which the directors have said the movie will be somewhat based on?

  7. Mike says:

    I was 6 or 7 when Tim Burton's Batman came out in theaters and, not having ever read a comic book, I had no frame of reference for the film. But, of course I loved it and immediately became obsessed (what kid in the 80's wouldn't?). The first Batman book I purchased was an early issue of Legends of the Dark Knight – the first issue of the Gothic story. Here it is almost 20 years later and I cam remember much of the story quite vividly. It's really one of the best Batman tales ever told and I'm glad to see it on your list.

  8. Tommy says:

    Great Article: Thanks for the list of graphic novels I need to read. I have a few of them & agree that they are awesome. There's a few I don't have but I'm kinda broke right now, ha ha.BATMAN FAN? Visit The Bat-Blog!http://www.bat-blog.comThanks, Tommy

  9. Anonymous says:

    why wasn't "batman:shaman" included on this list? it explains the origins of the bat cave.

  10. juan juan says:

    this was really funny …………..

  11. nicholas win says:

    i absolutely just simply love batman