Batman New 52 was designed to restart Batman’s corner of the DC comic book universe. It gave many of its characters a fresh start so that new readers could jump in right at the beginning and not feel like they were missing out on years of history. DC launched the New 52 in 2011 with fifty-two titles across its universe.
Batman was not completely rebooted like some of the other characters were, but there were no lingering storyline arcs for the comics to pick up, so readers could dive right in with the New 52 starting point.
Where Did Batman New 52 Begin?
The entire New 52 universe began at Flashpoint, and if you are interested in looking at what caused the reboot story-wise, you could pick up that story, which is collected in a single volume for convenient reading. It’s not absolutely necessary to read Flashpoint before picking up Batman New 52, says DC Fandom.
What Batman Story Should I Start with?
There are several Batman series that make up the Batman new 52 reading list, including Batman and Robin, Detective Comics (check Twitter) and the singularly titled Batman. You should start off with Batman and Robin, though, to get in at the beginning. Volume 1 of this comic series is called Born to Kill and collects issues #1-8.
Where to Go Next?
From there, you can read Batman issues #1-7, called the Court of Owls. This is collected as single volume for easy reading. Don’t jump into the next few issues of Batman and Robin or even continue the Batman comic series after that, though. Instead, go on to Detective Comics and read #1-7, collected as faces of Death or Batman- Detective Comics Volume 1.
From there, you should hop back to the regular Batman series, reading Batman Volume 2, the Court of Owls, collecting issues #8-2. Follow that up with Batman Annual #1.
That will give you a good start on the initial Batman New 52 storylines. Here is how the rest of the reading order should go:
- Batman: The Night of the Owls
- Batman- The Dark Knight Volume 1- Knight Terrors
- Detective Comics Volume 2- Scare Tactics
- Batman and Robin Volume 2- Pearl
- Batman- The Dark Knight Vol. 2- Cycle of Violence
- Batman Volume 3- Death of the Family
- The Joker- Death of the Family
- Batman and Robin, Volume 3- Death of the Family
- Batman, Incorporated Volume 1- Demon Star
- Batman, Incorporated Volume 2- Gotham’s Most Wanted
- Batman- Detective Comics Volume 3- Emperor Penguin
- Batman- The Dark Knight Volume 3- Mad
- Batman Volume 4: Zero Year- Secret City
- Batman Volume 5: Zero Year- Dark City
- DC Comics: Zero Year
That will take you all the way through the Batman New 52 series and bring you up to date for the next line of comics, called DC You, which kind of refreshes things once more and gives you a new jumping in point.
We hope this look at the Batman New 52 reading order is helpful to you as you figure out how to work your way through all of the various issues of Batman.
Check out the Batman Animated movie series too – (see here)
Last Updated: June 1, 2022
