Old Batman fan, new mission, reading list

[Ebak]

Hello happy happy people at CBR. My name is Ebak, just signed up today to this forum and I have a question for you all.

First, I want to say that I have been a batman fan ever since I was born back in 1991, thanks to the Animated series that aired during my youth. However I never once picked up a Batman Comic/Graphic Novel and read it.

That is precisely what I want to start doing. However I don't want to go riiiiight back to the very beginning, not Batman #1 anyway. I want to start post infinity crises. AKA Batman: Year One and anything after that.

However I can't seem to find a very reliable reading list out there. I found a list..but it was very confusing. The "Bad" story line was placed before "The Man Who Laughs" and "The Long Halloween"...however in Bad, Batman references to Joker and Two Face...if the timeline were to go via this reading list, he shouldn't even know who Joker and Two Face are yet.

My goal is to not get EVERY single comic...at least...I don't really want to do that. But what I do want to do is get the following:

1) The Main Storlines - I already have most, if not all of these, its just putting them into the right order (which Wikipedia doesn't seem to like)

2) Get the comics/novels that feature the first apperance of a member of Batman's Rogue Gallery, I have Jokers, but as far as I know thats it, no Riddler, no Scarecrow...its also not just the major ones I want to find, its the less known ones...like Zsasz, Calander Man etc.

3) Order them all (obvious one)

4) Reading them all (this is the one I'm really looking forward to)


However to do all this I need help from the community and other people. I'm aware that there probably is no definitive reading order list somewhere. But if there is at least something I can use to help me put everything into event order, I would appreciate if you could let me know. Thank you all very much for looking into this topic and I hope you can help me out.

[CocktailXYZ]

Originally Posted by Ebak

However I can't seem to find a very reliable reading list out there. I found a list..but it was very confusing. The "Bad" story line was placed before "The Man Who Laughs" and "The Long Halloween"...however in Bad, Batman references to Joker and Two Face...if the timeline were to go via this reading list, he shouldn't even know who Joker and Two Face are yet.

I believe I know which list you're referring to, and yes, it does have some minor time line discrepancies, but it's probably the best I've seen so far.

There are many continuity problems with Batman that make a perfect timeline an impossibility.

First, even though Batman was "rebooted" after Crisis on Infinite Earths, it didn't necessarily invalidate everything that happened before - for some villains (a vivid example being Ra's Al Ghul - you can find his original appearance in the awesome "Tales of the Demon" trade), their pre-crisis origins still stand without a new version. Now and then, you'll find references to pre-crisis material that is incompatible - in Prodigal, Killer Croc's history as a gangster working for the Squid is mentioned, which are the issues Croc was introduced - however, they also feature a pre-crisis Jason Todd.

Second, you'll find it difficult to place a lot of early year material if you sweat minor details just because Gordon's rank is terribly inconsistent by writers of the early year material and there are multiple post-crisis origins for much of Bat's nifty tools such as the Batmobile.

1) The Main Storlines - I already have most, if not all of these, its just putting them into the right order (which Wikipedia doesn't seem to like)

This is truly dependent on how deep you want to go. Trades only? Major events?

2) Get the comics/novels that feature the first apperance of a member of Batman's Rogue Gallery, I have Jokers, but as far as I know thats it, no Riddler, no Scarecrow...its also not just the major ones I want to find, its the less known ones...like Zsasz, Calander Man etc.

They dedicated a number of annuals as "Year One" for some of the villains. They were collected in a trade called "Four of a Kind". That covers Scarecrow, Poison Ivy, Man-Bat, and the Riddler.

Zsasz debuted in Shadow of the Bat #1. It's a four part story called "The Last Arkham". I don't think it has been collected in trade, but I could be wrong. It also has the first appearance of Amygdala.

I don't believe there is a post-crisis origin story for Calendar Man. In his first pre-crisis appearance, Robin is also present, so his first appearance is incompatible with The Long Halloween, if you include that in your chronology.

Some other origins (* marked are pre-crisis, but still used post-crisis):
Abattoir - 'TEC #625
Bane - Vengeance of Bane #1
Black Mask* - Batman #386-387 & 'TEC #553
Clayface (Matt Hagen) - Legends of the Dark Knight #89-90
Cornelius Stirk - 'TEC #592
Corrosive Man (also Kadaver's 1st app) - 'TEC #587-589
Hugo Strange - Batman and the Monster Men (Trade)
KGBeast - Ten Nights of the Beast (Trade)
Penguin - Secret Origins Special #1
Ratcatcher - 'TEC #585-586
Scarface - Showcase '94 #8-9
Two Face - The Long Halloween (Trade)

Wikipedia has a full run down of first appearances. Naturally, many of them are pre-crisis, since the list makes no distinction, but if you're looking for specific rogues, I'm sure the people here on the forums can help.

However to do all this I need help from the community and other people. I'm aware that there probably is no definitive reading order list somewhere. But if there is at least something I can use to help me put everything into event order, I would appreciate if you could let me know. Thank you all very much for looking into this topic and I hope you can help me out.

I don't feel like re-posting, since I just covered the subject a few days ago, so here's a link to two possibles:
http://forums.comicbookresources.com...53&postcount=3