Bat-fans! As we swing into Batman Day 2023, we can’t help but feel a surge of nostalgia and exhilaration coursing through our veins, reminiscent of the first time we witnessed the Dark Knight patrol the shadowy corridors of Gotham City through the genius lenses of creators like Frank Miller and Alan Moore. Or perhaps the sinister, yet vibrant adversaries from the highly praised animated series. This is the perfect day to immerse ourselves once again in iconic storylines, blockbuster movies, and an Emmy award-winning animated series. Grab your favorite issue, or queue up your favorite movie about the Dark Knight, as we list the best way to celebrate Batman Day!
Top 10 Comics to read on Batman Day 2023
As bat fans around the globe unite to celebrate the much-awaited Batman Day 2023! This year, we’ve gone above and beyond to compile an exhilarating list of Batman-centric activities that span gripping comics, monumental movies, and unforgettable TV series that encapsulate the enigmatic world of our favorite caped crusader.
Batman Comics
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
(W) Frank Miller (A) Klaus Jansen
Writer/artist Frank Miller completely reinvents the legend of Batman in this saga of a near-future Gotham City gone to rot, 10 years after the Dark Knight’s retirement. Forced to take action, the Dark Knight returns in a blaze of fury, taking on a whole new generation of criminals and matching their level of violence. He is soon joined by a new Robin—a girl named Carrie Kelley, who proves to be just as invaluable as her predecessors.
Can Batman and Robin deal with the threat posed by their deadliest enemies, after years of incarceration have turned them into perfect psychopaths? And more importantly, can anyone survive the coming fallout from an undeclared war between the superpowers—or the clash of what were once the world’s greatest heroes?
Hailed as a comic masterpiece, The Dark Knight Returns is Frank Miller’s (300 and Sin City) reinvention of Gotham’s legendary protector. It remains one of the most influential stories ever told in comics, with its echoes felt in all media forms of DC’s storytelling. Collects issues #1-4.
Amazon: Click here to buy the graphic novel Batman The Dark Knight Returns on Amazon
Batman: Hush
(W) Joesph Loeb (A) Jim Lee
Gotham City is infected by a crime epidemic and all of Batman’s enemies have emerged to throw his life into utter chaos. But little do they know, they’re all pawns of the villainous Hush in an elaborate game of revenge against Bruce Wayne. Pushed past his breaking point, Batman will need to use more than the world’s greatest detective skills to uncover the true identity of this mysterious mastermind before it’s too late.
This truly unforgettable story by three of comics’ top talents–writer Jeph Loeb (Batman: The Long Halloween, Batman: Dark Victory) and artists Jim Lee (Justice League, Suicide Squad) and Scott Williams (All-Star Batman & Robin, Superman)–presents the Caped Crusader’s most personal case yet! Collects Batman #608-619.
Amazon: Click here to buy the graphic novel Batman Hush on Amazon
Batman The Long Halloween
(W) Joesph Loeb (A) Tim Sale
Christmas. St. Patrick’s Day. Easter. As the calendar’s days stack up, so do the bodies littered in the streets of Gotham City. A murderer is loose, killing only on holidays. The only man that can stop this fiend? The Dark Knight. In a mystery taking place during Batman’s early days of crime-fighting, Batman: The Long Halloween is one of the greatest Dark Knight stories ever told.
Working with District Attorney Harvey Dent and Lieutenant James Gordon, Batman races against the calendar as he tries to discover who Holiday is before he claims his next victim each month. A mystery that has the reader continually guessing the identity of the killer, this story also ties into the events that transform Harvey Dent into Batman’s deadly enemy, Two-Face.
The magnificent creative team of Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale reached their apex in Batman: The Long Halloween. This edition includes the original 13-issue series as well as four additional story pages cut from the original series, which are presented fully colored and restored to their place in the story. Also featured are sketches and an introduction by the director and writer of The Dark Knight Rises, Christopher Nolan and David Goyer
Amazon: Click here to buy the graphic novel Batman The Long Halloween on AmazonÂ
Batman The Killing Joke
(W) Alan Moore (A) Brian Bolland
Presented for the first time with stark, stunning new coloring by Bolland, Batman: The Killing Joke is Alan Moore’s unforgettable meditation on the razor-thin line between sanity and insanity, heroism and villainy, comedy and tragedy.
According to the grinning engine of madness and mayhem known as The Joker, that’s all that separates the sane from the psychotic. Freed once again from the confines of Arkham Asylum, he’s out to prove his deranged point. And he’s going to use Gotham City’s top cop, Commissioner Jim Gordon, and his brilliant and beautiful daughter Barbara to do it.
Now Batman must race to stop his archnemesis before his reign of terror claims two of the Dark Knight’s closest friends. Can he finally put an end to the cycle of bloodlust and lunacy that links these two iconic foes before it leads to its fatal conclusion? And as the horrifying origin of the Clown Prince of Crime is finally revealed, will the thin line that separates Batman’s nobility and The Joker’s insanity snap once and for all?
Legendary writer Alan Moore redefined the superhero with Watchmen and V for Vendetta. In Batman: The Killing Joke, he takes on the origin of the comics’ greatest super-villain, The Joker&; and changes Batman’s world forever.
Stunningly illustrated, Batman: The Killing Joke, The Deluxe Edition has been lushly re-colored by artist Brian Bolland, presenting his original vision of this modern classic for the first time
Amazon: Click here to buy the Graphic Novel Batman The Killing Joke on AmazonÂ
Batman: A Death in the Family
(W) Jim Starlin (A) Marv Wolfman & Mike Mignola
In 1988, Batman readers were allowed to vote on the outcome of the story… and they decided that Robin should die! Jim Starlin’s devastating graphic novel classic left shockwaves throughout the comic book industry, many of which are still felt today!
As the second person to assume the role of Batman’s sidekick, Jason Todd had a completely different personality than the original Robin. Rash and prone to ignore Batman’s instructions, Jason was always quick to act without regard to consequences. In this fatal instance, Robin ignores his mentor’s warnings when he attempts to take on the Joker by himself and pays the ultimate price. Driven by anger with Superman by his side, Batman seeks his vengeance as he looks to end the Joker’s threat forever.
This tale of loss, guilt, and brutality is considered one of the most defining pieces in the Dark Knight’s mythology. Batman: A Death in the Family collects Batman #426-429.
Amazon: Click here to buy the graphic novel Batman A Death In the Family on AmazonÂ
Batman Year One
(W) Frank Miller (A) David Mazzucchelli
In 1986, Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli produced this groundbreaking reinterpretation of the origin of Batman—who he is, and how he came to be. Sometimes careless and naive, this Dark Knight is far from the flawless vigilante he is today.
In his first year on the job, Batman feels his way around a Gotham City far darker than the one he left. His solemn vow to extinguish the town’s criminal element is only half the battle; along with Lieutenant James Gordon, the Dark Knight must also fight a police force more corrupt than the scum in the streets.
Batman: Year One stands next to Batman: The Dark Knight Returns on the mantle of the greatest Batman graphic novels of all time. Timeless in its appeal, Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli’s masterpiece would stand apart from the crowded comics field even today.
This edition includes the complete graphic novel, a new introduction by writer Frank Miller, and a new illustrated afterword by artist David Mazzucchelli. Completing this collection are over 40 pages of never-before-seen developmental material such as character and layout sketches, sample script pages, sketches, and more that provide a glimpse into the making of this contemporary classic. This volume collects Batman #404-407.
Amazon: Click here to buy the graphic novel trade paperback Batman Year One on AmazonÂ
Batman Volume 1 The Court of Owls
(W) Scott Synder (A) Greg Capullo
After a series of brutal murders rocks Gotham City, Batman begins to realize that perhaps these crimes go far deeper than appearances suggest. As the Caped Crusader begins to unravel this deadly mystery, he discovers a conspiracy going back to his youth and beyond to the origins of the city he’s sworn to protect.
Batman has heard tales of Gotham City&;s Court of Owls: that the members of this powerful cabal are the true rulers of Gotham. The Dark Knight dismissed the stories as rumors and old wives&; tales. Gotham was his city. Until now.
A brutal assassin is sinking his razor-sharp talons into the city&;s best and brightest, as well as its most dangerous and deadly. If the dark legends are true, his masters are more powerful predators than Batman could ever imagine.
This now-classic graphic novel from the #1 New York Times bestselling creative team of Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo is not just a fantastic jumping-on point for any new reader, but one of the greatest Batman stories ever told. With every year that passes, this masterpiece becomes more entrenched into this medium&;s pantheon of the greatest stories ever told. Collects issues #1-7.
Amazon: Click here to buy the graphic novel trade paperback Batman Volume 1 The Court of Owls on Amazon
Batman Three Jokers
(W) Geoff John (A) Jason Fabok
Batman doesn’t understand how or why, but the fact is certain: the man he has spent a lifetime chasing isn’t one man at all. There are three Jokers. Now that he knows the unbelievable truth, Bruce needs real answers. Joined by Barbara Gordon and Jason Todd, two former victims of the Joker’s brutality, the Dark Knight is finally on a path to defeat the madman once and for all. Every last one of him.
Geoff Johns (Doomsday Clock, Batman: Earth One) and Jason Fabok (Justice League: The Darkseid War) reunite to present one of the most highly anticipated comic events in years! Collects Batman: Three Jokers #1-3.
Amazon: Click here to buy the graphic novel trade paperback Batman Three Jokers on AmazonÂ
Batman Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Volume 1
(W) James Tynion IV (A) Freddie Williams
Written by top comics author James Tynion IV (Detective Comics) and beautifully illustrated by Freddie Williams II (Robin), this is a cross-over you never saw coming: Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Vol. 1. Join the Bat and some teenage turtles as they try to save their cities from the baddest of the bad guys!
NEW YORK CITY. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles face the battle of a lifetime, fighting both the fearsome Foot Clan and their leader, the Shredder, and the alien forces of General Krang… which is exactly Krang’s plan. Now a single dimensional warp can rid him of both of his greatest rivals at once.
GOTHAM CITY. From the Penguin to Killer Croc to Ra’s al Ghul and beyond, the caped crime-fighter called Batman already has his hands full protecting his city. Suddenly, a new enemy emerges—the Shredder and his ninja followers, transported to Gotham and unleashed upon an unsuspecting world. Now they’re on the hunt for the technology that will help them return home…and conquer Gotham City in the process, with the help of Batman’s deadliest rogues. But heroes come in all shapes, and the Dark Knight does not fight alone.
As the Caped Crusader joins forces with Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Master Splinter, can the Bat, the Rat, and the Turtles take down the most vicious villains from two dimensions?
DC Comics and IDW Publishing proudly present Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! Collecting issues#1-6.
Batman: Under the Red Hood
(W) Judd Winick (A) Doug Manke
Former Robin Jason Todd parted ways with the Batman over their vastly different approaches to crimefighting. Eventually, Jason trained himself to be a killer and a mercenary, and he took on a new identity and code name—the Red Hood—in order to strike his own brand of fear in Gotham’s criminals.
And now Batman must confront old wounds in an effort to stop the masked vigilante Red Hood.
Amazon: Click here to buy the graphic novel Batman Under the Red Hood on AmazonÂ
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