#The 10 Best Batman Comics to Read Alongside ‘The Batman’
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“The 10 Best Batman Comics to Read Alongside ‘The Batman'”
<span class="mx-1">No, ‘The Dark Knight Returns’ is not one of them. These are tales that expose a Caped Crusader stumbling through his vengeance vow.</span>
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By Brad Gullickson · Published on March 2nd, 2022
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<em>This article is part of The Reading List, a recurring column where we encourage you to take your enthusiasm for a particularly groovy movie or TV series and direct it into a wide array of extracurricular studies. This entry picks the best comics to read alongside The Batman.</em>
Two Batman comics always come up when filmmakers are asked about their source material inspiration: Frank Miller and Klaus Janson‘s The Dark Knight Returns and Miller and David Mazzucchelli‘s Batman: Year One. Released in 1986 and 1987, respectively, they radically altered our perception of Bruce Wayne and nearly eradicated our memory of Adam West’s campy television series. The Dark Knight Returns and Year One are serious, grim business, and when partnered with Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ Watchmen and Art Spiegelman’s Maus, they signaled the medium’s maturation. When Mom, Dad, or Teacher scoffed at your comic book obsession, you could throw these titles in their laps with a loud, “So, there!”
The new movie The Batman (2022) doesn’t quite escape their shadow, but when co-writer/director Matt Reeves initially sold his take on the character to the DC Fandome audience, he purposefully avoided their mention. Instead, he took the opportunity to celebrate an underrated Batman short story. In his movie, as Reeves explained it, “[Batman] is broken…[he’s] driven by the parts of himself he doesn’t yet know, that sort of psychological Jungian shadow side. That sort of version is very much connected to the vision from Darwyn Cooke‘s Ego.”
Shockingly, when you watch Reeves’ Batman movie, you will actually not see much, if any, influence from The Dark Knight Returns. But you will see Year One, and you will see Ego, and you will see glimpses from a few other tales as well. Starring Robert Pattinson as the titular superhero, The Batman is a coming-of-age procedural featuring a Caped Crusader stumbling through his vengeance vow. Bruce Wayne does not have it all figured out, and if you find this unassured version appealing, I’ve gone ahead and assembled an appropriate comic book reading list for your pleasure.
DC Comics has your first leg on this journey already covered. The first three titles below were recently assembled into a collector’s box edition, hoping to catch some sales off The Batman. The rest you’ll have to hunt for, but it should be easy, as all are currently on sale for reasonable prices both physically and digitally. Beyond the first three comics, I’ve arranged them according to my preference and how well they connect with Matt Reeves’ movie.