Should I read Infinite Crisis (2012)? More details inside!

[IllusiveSpectre]

Hey all! I'm new here

I'm a huge Batman fan! :D I have been reading a lot of Batman comics since last year.

Here's the list of Batman comics I have read so far:

Batman: Year One
The Long Halloween (CLASSIC!)
Dark Victory
The Killing Joke
A Death in the Family
A Lonely Place of Dying
Knightfall
Batman Prodigal
Cataclysm
No Man's Land (EPIC!)
Batman Evolution
Officer Down
Bruce Wayne: Murderer?
Bruce Wayne: Fugitive Vol.1
Bruce Wayne: Fugitive Vol.2
Bruce Wayne: Fugitive Vol.3
Hush (AWESOME!)
War Drums
War Games Act One: Outbreak
War Games Act Two: Tides
War Games act Three: Endgame
Identity Crisis (The first Justice League of America crossover story I have ever read)

So... do I have to read Infinite Crisis next? Is it worth it? Will I miss anything if I decide to skip this? I heard that you have to know a lot of DC stuff in order to fully appreciate all the Crisis stuff like Infinite Crisis and Final Crisis.

Please reply. Thanks :)

[Arvandor]

No. It's rubbish.

[Mr. Holmes]

No I would avoid.

[stk]

I agree with the above posters. You are better off without it.

[Dr. Cheesesteak]

Final Crisis on the other hand... in fact, if/since you're going in chronological order, looks like the entire Morrison run is coming up.

[geoff2005]

unless ur in a rush to catch up to something, why not? maybe ull like it maybe not

[The Duke]

Infinite Crisis has little interaction with Batman. Final Crisis was Batman's story though.

A rule to follow is that Grant Morrison is always worth reading. And Morrison Batman is eminently readable.

[Batman9]

Infinite Crisis has little interaction with Batman. Final Crisis was Batman's story though.

A rule to follow is that Grant Morrison is always worth reading. And Morrison Batman is eminently readable.

Final Crisis was not Batman's story, at all. It wasn't anybody in particular's. Not wanting to spoil, he was barely in it!

[The Duke]

Final Crisis was not Batman's story, at all. It wasn't anybody in particular's. Not wanting to spoil, he was barely in it!

Ah, I change my view to say read the Batman stuff by Morrison and the original run of Scott Snyder in Detective.

[IllusiveSpectre]

No. It's rubbish.

No I would avoid.

I agree with the above posters. You are better off without it.

So I will not miss anything significant when reading post Infinite Crisis Batman/Batman's family stories, right? :) I don't have interests in reading Superman/Justice League America/Green Lantern comics.

Yes, I intend to read all the essential (canonical) Batman stories in chronological order :D

I will check out Morrison's Batman stories.

I heard that Final Crisis is not very noob friendly :(

Thanks for the replies :)

[cactusmaac]

You can read Infinite Crisis on it's own terms. It's not essential reading but not a complete waste of money either.

In terms of Batman, it wrapped up the storyline that had been running through Identity Crisis when he'd been mind-wiped by other Leaguers and he was extremely pissed about. It cleared the stage for Morrison's take on him.

Again, not essential at all.

You should try getting

Batman: Haunted Knight - this collects a number of Halloween specials by the team behind Batman: The Long Halloween
Batman: Venom - this is a significant pre-Knightfall story
Gotham Central - by the Murder-Fugitive team
Morrison's run
Court of Owls

Good non-canon stuff:

Batman: Mad Love and Other Stories
the three Batman: Black and White volumes
Batman: Ego and Other Tails

If you want good Batman stories where he's in the Justice League, check out Morrison's JLA run which have a number of awesome Batman moments.

[Kensei]

I would say that at least a cursory understanding of both "Final Crisis" and "The Return of Bruce Wayne" is necessary to get why Bruce was gone and presumed dead for a significant period, but reading the summaries on Wikipedia should suffice without wading through the actual books if you are most interested in Batman and not the entire Justice League.

[Buried Alien]

INFINITE CRISIS isn't particularly important for events *presently* happening across the BAT-line of comics, but it's interesting as a snapshot of the end of a direction Batman had then been heading towards since 1986 and had accelerated beginning with CATACLYSM and NO MAN'S LAND. It was the end of the "Batjerk" era. Thereafter, we'd see the return of a kinder, gentler Batman.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[IllusiveSpectre]

@cactusmaac, OK I will check out these comics, thanks :)

I would say that at least a cursory understanding of both "Final Crisis" and "The Return of Bruce Wayne" is necessary to get why Bruce was gone and presumed dead for a significant period, but reading the summaries on Wikipedia should suffice without wading through the actual books if you are most interested in Batman and not the entire Justice League.

The problem is that there are a lot of other characters in Infinite Crisis saga that I'm not familiar with so I doubt I will understand exactly what happened during Infinite Crisis saga :(

INFINITE CRISIS isn't particularly important for events *presently* happening across the BAT-line of comics, but it's interesting as a snapshot of the end of a direction Batman had then been heading towards since 1986 and had accelerated beginning with CATACLYSM and NO MAN'S LAND. It was the end of the "Batjerk" era. Thereafter, we'd see the return of a kinder, gentler Batman.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

Good to know, thanks :) Do I have to skip the 52 stuff that immediately follows Infinite Crisis?

[Aquacatlungfish]

Your list lacks Dark Knight Returns. That's the next Batbook you should get.