Greatest ‘Batman’ comics of all-time

Who is the most popular comic book hero of all-time?

The most frequent answers are Superman, Batman, and Spider-Man. Sometimes we even hear Wolverine. Most countdowns would usually round out a top 10 with the Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Black Panther, and sometimes Captain Marvel.

The one thing those characters have in common is that they all have superpowers. That is, all except for Batman. With no supernatural abilities, he’s thus the most vulnerable and most relatable of all of them. Although a dude fighting crime in a bat costume is not exactly relatable, it’s not as if we mere humans can fly like Superman.

Batman also happens to have the best assortment of villains than any other comic book character in history, adding to the appeal of reading Batman tales. It also makes it nearly impossible to do a Greatest Batman Comics countdown. However, here at We Got This Covered, we tend to take on the impossible.

We already did a Greatest Batman Story Arcs, yet this countdown considers not just story arcs, but also single issue comics and original graphic novels that have helped define the Batman series.

Now — it’s time for the Bat countdown!

10. Court of Owls (2011-2012)

• Writer: Scott Snyder
• Artists: Greg Capullo, Jonathan Glapion

The reboot of Batman began with this story and it changes the way you think of Gotham and, to some degree, Batman himself. It’s a big risk to do a story that can potentially change the landscape of the entire series, but the creators were are able to pull it off perfectly thanks to their careful approach. It’s often cited as a modern Batman favorite and rightfully so.

9. No Man’s Land (1999)

• Several different writers and artists

This year-long storyline puts Batman in a Gotham wasteland after the city suffers a massive earthquake as seen in the underrated Batman: Cataclysm storyline that directly precedes this one. The government leaves the city to fend for itself, even going so far as to destroy the bridges to the city thanks to a virus quickly spreading within it. This effectively puts Batman in a Gotham of lawless anarchy.

The chaos of the city, as well the inability to get out of it, is reminiscent of Escape From New York though it’s even better because it stars Batman.

8. Night of the Stalker (1974, Detective Comics #439)

• Writers: Vin Amendola, Sal Amendola, Steve Englehart
• Artists: Dick Giordano Sal Amendola, Jerry Serpe

Batman chases three criminals after they shoot a couple in front of their child, immediately reminding Batman of the moment he witnessed his parents being murdered. Determined to catch them and bring all three to justice, the reader wonders if Batman will take matters into his own hands.

I won’t give away the ending, which I think is perfect, but this one-shot story is more than worth your time. It’s also often referred to when discussing the best single issues of Detective Comics.

7. The Dark Knight Returns (1986)

• Writer: Frank Miller
• Artists: Frank Miller, Klaus Janson, Lynn Varley

Frank Miller gives us a masterpiece by showing a 55-year old Bruce Wayne retired as Batman, thanks in part to Robin’s death a decade earlier.

The Dark Knight Returns is credited with a new era for Batman as it’s the beginning of the darker version of the character. The success of this comic brought us a boom in Batman comics as the late 80’s is filled with some of the best stories of the Gotham crime fighter (and, as you may notice, is also reflected in our countdown).

6. Ten Nights of the Beast (1988, Batman #416-420)

• Writer: Jim Starling
• Artist: Jim Aparo

One of the most overlooked Batman stories is this gem that introduces us to Anatoli Knyazev, the KGB’s main hitman known as the KGBeast. This character is the forerunner of Bane, perhaps even the inspiration for him, but much more intelligent and cunning than Bane. Because of this, one can argue that the KGBeast in this 4-issue story arc makes the perfect villain for Batman.

As part of the KGB unit known as “The Hammer,” Beast is successfully assassinating his targets in the U.S. and Batman attempts to stop him. However, our hero is in way over his head and almost every tactic Batman uses is negated by the Beast.

Ten Nights of the Beast is extremely underrated, never even mentioned in numerous top 25 Batman countdowns, but it still gets outstanding reviews on consumer-based websites and a significant amount of fans from that era cannot say enough great things about it. Having read it multiple times myself, I can tell you it does not disappoint.

5. The Joker’s Five-Way Revenge (1973, Batman #251)

• Writers: Denny O’Neil
• Artist: Neal Adams

This was the comic that turned a fun villain into a lethal villain having fun.

The Joker knows that one of his 5 main henchmen ratted him out to police. He’s uncertain which one, so to assure he eliminates the right one, he resolves to kill ‘em all. Can Batman stop him before he does so?

This was the beginning of the Joker’s change as a more serious criminal who would become a significant threat to Batman. Keep in mind that this came out only a few years after the Batman TV series, which depicted Joker as a goofy, almost childish, criminal. DC wanted to get away from that and paint him as more of a harsh and insane criminal. This comic was the true beginning of such a change which has now gone on to help define the Joker’s persona.

4. The Long Halloween (1996-97)

• Writer: Joseph Loeb
• Artist: Tim Sale

This is perhaps the best mystery in the entire Batman catalog. The crime to be solved here is a continuous series of murders that happen only on holidays. It starts on Halloween, then another is killed on Thanksgiving, then another on Christmas, etc. It goes all the way until the following Halloween with each chapter being a new holiday.

Batman’s most iconic villains are the suspects and we usually see one main villain per issue. It’s an excellent tale that does not disappoint as the reader tries their best to figure out who did it.

3. Batman: Year One (1987)

• Writer: Frank Miller
• Artist: David Mazzucchelli

This continues Batman’s new darker era, as initially introduced by Frank Miller the previous year in the aforementioned Dark Knight Returns. Whereas that book is about the end of Batman’s crime fighting career, this one is about the beginning of it.

As the title suggests, we’re told the story of Batman’s first year and it’s not all good. His vulnerability is on display and his failures are evident but, of course, they will shape him into the Dark Knight he would become. It’s also a story about Jim Gordon, who is similarly in his first year as an officer in Gotham after being transferred from Chicago. Thus we get to see how the connection between Batman and Gordon was established.

Overall, it’s the definitive work of Bruce Wayne’s first year as Batman.

2. Death in the Family (1988-89)

• Writer: Jim Starling
• Artist: Jim Aparo

In 1988, DC let fans decide the fate of Robin. As this 4-part story was released, fans were encouraged to call in to decide if Jason Todd, the Boy Wonder, should live or die. Because of this, Death in the Family received uncommon attention in the press and television media. Over 10,000 calls were made to decide Robin’s fate, at a dollar a pop, and the fans decision was about to get even more press. They voted for Jason Todd to die.

It would be the Joker delivering the fatal blow as the story focused on Robin’s journey to find his birth mother. The result was a comic that shook the Batman storyline and changed its direction forever. It’s a rare feat for a comic to transcend comics but Death in the Family, for numerous reasons, might be the best example in the Batman universe.

Death in the Family has a full 5-star rating on Amazon based on over 1,700 reviews, proving its worth even over three decades after its release.

1. The Killing Joke (1988)

• Writer: Alan Moore
• Artists: Brian Bollard, John Higgins

The ultimate Batman vs. Joker showdown.

This one-shot graphic novel was groundbreaking and helped changed the game in terms of how comics are perceived. No longer would it be a medium exclusively for children, thanks to the dark elements introduced in this book and a handful of others during this era.

The story could’ve been called, “One Bad Day,” because the Joker, who breaks out of prison, tries to prove that it takes just one bad day to make a good man insane. He decides that the best target for this theory is Police Commissioner Gordon and the Joker ultimately abducts him and takes him to an abandoned fair where he utterly humiliates him. This is after the most shocking moment of the book when the Joker shoots the Commissioner’s daughter who, of course, also happens to be Batgirl. She survives but is paralyzed and it changes Batgirl’s fate forever.

All of this lures out Batman whom the Joker correctly assumes also had one bad day that made him the way he is. In fact, an ongoing theme in this story is that Batman and the Joker may be more similar than either care to recognize.

The art is excellent and the scenes segue perfectly into each other. The book also acts as a Joker origin story, revealing how he became the Clown Prince of Crime. The writing is exceptional and the story is still celebrated today despite its creator, Alan Moore, stating this as a “regrettable misstep,” in his career. Fans and reviewers today still rank it a classic and any significant website review gives this book it’s highest rating.

As we now retreat to our Batcave, we hope you enjoyed this Batman countdown as much as we enjoyed putting it together. Who knows? Maybe the bat signal will bring us out again to do another batman-related countdown.

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