The Dark Knight: FAQs: The Batman Comics List - version 3.2

[Author's note: As you may have noticed, the time between versions has been getting longer. Regrettably, this will probably be the last issue of this and the Batman FAQ for quite a while unless someone else can take it over. I just don't have the time to do this anymore. If you feel you can take over updating and posting this regularly, drop me a line. I can give you advice, assistance, and find out information, but I just can't give this the time it deserves any longer. Regards, Pete]

Batman Comics List
A List of Major Batman Comic Stories
and an attempt at a coherent timeline
Version 3.2 July 1995

Current author (versions 3.0 onwards) Peter Williams.
Original author (versions to 2.10) David T. Chappell.
Comments, suggestions and corrections
can be sent to peterw@zip.com.au

LEGAL STUFF: Batman and all related characters are trademarks of DC Comics. Mention of these characters in this document is without permission of DC Comics, but said use is not intended to challenge DC's trademark rights or copyrights. Readers who want to learn more about Batman are encouraged to purchase the comic books. Permission is granted for non- profit distribution of this document, provided all headers remain intact and the original authorship is acknowledged. Any other use requires the written permission of the author.

This list is available on Internet via anonymous ftp at ftp.hiof.no (numeric address 158.36.33.3) in the file /pub/Comics/Reference/Batman.ComicList. Mosaic users can access the above site via the WWW page ftp://ftp.hiof.no/pub/Comics. The Batman FAQ is available at the same site.

Changes This Issue

Bringing the story listing up to date.
Adding #0 issue info to the timeline
Tidying up history references and retcons from Zero Hour

The History of the Modern Batman
(aka "A paradox, a paradox, a most intriguing paradox")

Batman has existed as a character since 1939, with his first appearance in Detective Comics #27. Since then the character has been revamped several times, with the most recent changes occurring after the DC universe event known as "Crisis on Infinite Earths"

"Crisis on Infinite Earths" (Cover dates 4/85 to 3/86) is generally regarded as _the_ breakpoint in DC continuity. After Crisis finished, many characters had their histories changed. The most significant change happened to Superman, who got a complete rewrite in the "Man of Steel" (late 1986) miniseries. New stories followed in his regular titles, with absolutely _no_ links to the pre-Crisis stories.

Batman, however, never got a full rewrite from scratch. The process was slow and gradual, with several additions and alterations over the years. Due to this process, there is no 'official' cutoff point between the 'old' and 'new' continuities. A general rule of thumb is that all stories are part of the new continuity, until contradicted by a later story.

It all started with the limited series "Dark Knight" (3/86 to 6/86) (aka "The Dark Knight Returns"), appearing shortly after Crisis finished . Set in the future, it covered the return of Batman following ten years of retirement. The story is now generally regarded as an Elseworlds story (DC's line of stories set outside the normal continuity). It has been considered as the start of a darker or 'Grim `n Gritty' Batman.

The real changes began in 1987, with the "Batman: Year One" storyline (BATMAN 404-407, 2/87 to 5/87). This story provided a new, darker, realistic image, and the definitive Batman origin. The basics of the Batman character generally remained intact.

Year One told the story of Batman's first days as a hero. When it starts, Bruce is not in costume, and as it progresses he learns how to instil fear in criminals; for a while, no one knows whether he is human, bat, or demon. While the story did not have an immediate effect on present-day continuity, a few elements like a redefined origin for Catwoman and new love interest for Gordon popped up later. This storyline is still largely in continuity.

While this was running in BATMAN, an issue of DETECTIVE dealt with the gunshot wounding of Jason Todd (DETECTIVE 574, 5/87). This was similar to the incident which led to the leaving of Dick Grayson - the first Robin (BATMAN 408, 6/87). These two issues helped define the relationship between Batman and Robin, as well as that between Bruce and Leslie Thomkins. Leslie was the one who, with Alfred, took care of Bruce after the death of his parents.

This was followed immediately by "Batman: Year Two" (DETECTIVE 575- 578, 6/87 to 9/87). It featured a new villainous vigilante - the Reaper - and Batman's confrontation with Joe Chill (the guy who murdered his parents). This story also showed the reasons behind Batman's refusal to use firearms. It has now been taken out of continuity, since post-Zero Hour Batman does not know the identity of his parents' murderer.

"Did Robin Die Tonight" (BATMAN 408, 6/87) also contained the new origin and first meeting with Jason Todd. This differed markedly from the previous origin, as Jason was now a street kid, who stole the tires off the Batmobile. Formerly, Jason was a circus performer, whose family knew the Grayson family. This previous storyline is now invalidated.

In 1994, DC celebrated the (almost) 10th anniversary of "Crisis on Infinite Earths" with another universe revamp, "Zero Hour: Crisis in Time". Following "Zero Hour", several changes have been made to the Batman mythos. These include:

Batman has never caught his parents' killer. [This invalidates "Year Two"]
Batman never slept with Talia (the daughter of Ra's Al Ghul. [This invalidates the BRIDE/SON OF THE DEMON storylines to some extent.]
Batman was never in the Justice League. [This invalidates most of the early issues of JUSTICE LEAGUE AMERICA, and is currently the subject of some controversy].
Dick Grayson was officially adopted by Bruce Wayne
Dick failed to save someone from being killed by Two Face in an early encounter. This has caused him to be more uncertain and unsure of himself - especially in dealings with Two Face. [This was addressed in the "Prodigal" storyline].
Catwoman's origin was heavily altered in Catwoman #0.

The Timeline
(or how to age on a sliding scale)

ZERO HOUR #0 included a timeline, which provided an interesting, if somewhat compressed and Superman-centred look at how DC dates events. It dates events as follows:

0 Present day, Azrael / Bane (KnightFall/Quest/End)
-1 Tim Drake as Robin
-3 Jason Todd as Robin, Jason Todd killed by Joker
-4 Robin becomes Nightwing
-8 Dick Grayson as Robin
-10 Batman begins.
-25 Bruce Wayne's parents killed

This timeline invalidates most of the date references in the Batman comics, and causes many problems in trying to reconcile a lot of the ages of the characters.

Denny O'Neil provided an approximate timeline to date the stories in DETECTIVE 574 (5/87): "_Year 1_ was 5-6 years ago, _Year 2_ was 4-5 years ago, _Did Robin Die Tonight_ was about 3 years ago".

These dates don't really work too well now, so I've tried to work a rough timeline from references in the comics. Here goes ...

In DETECTIVE 574, which is assumed to be a present-day story, Leslie Thomkins reminds Bruce that it was 25 years earlier she began to look after him - following the death of his parents. Compare this to Year One, which is stated to occur 18 years after their deaths.
In BATMAN 408 ("Did Robin die Tonight") Ma Gunn mentions that Batman has been coming to Crime Alley on June 26 (the anniversary of his parents death) for "6 years or more". Also, in this issue, Bruce parts company with Dick Grayson. "Several weeks" pass, and Batman returns to Crime Alley, where he takes on Jason Todd, who has stolen the tyres of the Batmobile.
BATMAN 409 follows on immediately (the next day and night). BATMAN 410 begins 6 months later, and with BATMAN 411 they cover a period of four days. This is Jason's first outing as Robin. He is also referred to as a fifth grade dropout, which makes him at least 12, probably 13 (the magic age for Robins :)
Now, in BATMAN 416, we have a recounting of events that took place "one year ago". In that, Bruce states that he hasn't heard from Dick in 18 months, and Dick mentions in flashback that after the events of Batman 408 he left and they haven't talked since. So far so good. Now, Dick also states that at the time they broke up, they had been together for "six long years" Dick also mentions that he was 19 at the time of the break-up.
We now turn to the "Batman: Year Three" story arc (BATMAN 436-439, 9/89 to 10/89 [biweekly]), which takes place both in the present and the past. It deals with the death of Dick's parents, leading to him becoming Robin. In the present, it deals with the release of the man who caused their deaths, Anthony Zucco.
Dick returns to Wayne Manor in the present, mentioning that it is now two years since he left. This dates it at 6 months after the events in BATMAN 416. Anthony Zucco has served "12 years" at this point. Jason Todd has died a "few weeks" earlier ( "Death in the Family", Batman 426-429, 12/88 to 1/89 [biweekly]).
Alfred states that "It was almost ten years ago when Richard Grayson became a victim". Reference is made to Alfred petitioning the parole board or "the past 11 years" not to release him. Finally, Zucco hid a diary before he was arrested "11 years ago".
Finally, we turn to "A Lonely Place of Dying" (BATMAN 440-442, NEW TITANS 60-61, 11/89 to 1/90 [Biweekly]). This follows on within a month after "Batman: Year Three" since Bruce has funded the orphanage, which was due to close a month after the beginning of that story. In NEW TITANS 60 we learn that it was actually only a few days ago. A few days later, Tim Drake is talking with Dick Grayson. Tim is 13 years old at this stage. He recalls seeing Dick doing a quadruple somersault as Robin when he [Tim] was "about nine" ie four years earlier. We also learn that Dick became Robin about six months after the shooting of his parents, and that he was 13 at the time.
Other dates for young Bruce (cave fall, world travel, FBI) from #0 issues of BATMAN, DETECTIVE, SHADOW, and ROBIN.

Taking "Lonely Place of Dying" as year 0 (since it's the most recent concrete dating point), and dating backwards and forwards from then gives:

+1-2 Present Day: KnightFall/Quest/End, Zero Hour, Prodigal, Troika. Tim currently about 14-15.
0 "Lonely Place of Dying" - Tim begins as new Robin unofficially, age 13
0 Year 3 (present day stuff) Bruce age 34 (approx)

-0.1 Jason dies (approx) - age 15 (approx)
-0.5 Nightwing meets Jason
-1.5 Jason becomes Robin
-2 "Did Robin die tonight" - Dick leaves age 19, Bruce meets Jason age 13
-4 Dick as Robin - age 17, Tim recognises him, age 9
-8 Dick becomes Robin - age 13
-8.5 Year 3 - Dick's parents killed - Dick age 12.5, Tim age 4.5
-9.5 Year 2
-10.5 Year 1 - Batman starts age 24. Mention of Superman in Metropolis.
-14 Bruce joins FBI for six weeks. (approx) - age 20
-20 Bruce travels the world, leaning skills. (approx) - age 14
-28 Bruce Wayne's parents killed. (approx) - Bruce age 6
-30 Bruce falls into what would become the Batcave (approx) - age 4
-34 Bruce born.

[ Some dates have had to be adjusted. Tim's age references are essential, so they stay. Leslie's "25 years" reference has had to be stretched a bit to about 27 years. The "18 years" reference from Year One remains, which puts Bruce at age six at his parents death rather than eight as listed in "The man who falls" . Dick's time away from the manor fits in as well. Year Three's references to the death of Dick's parents are too large (need to be about 8 years, not 10). All of the Lonely Place of Dying references remain. ]

The Batman Comic List
(or, "Meanwhile...")

What follows is a list of several major Batman comic-book stories that fit into the current continuity. Unlike the Superman titles, however, there is usually no strict continuity for the Batman comic books. Events from one story occasionally lead into another, and subplots usually don't carry over from one major story line to the next. When a character re-appears after a long absence, he may or may not have been affected by the events of the story in which he last appeared. Due to this loose integration, nearly all previous stories are potentially "history" and thus possibly relevant to any other Batman story.

The following abbreviations are used within the list to indicate the title of the various comic books:

ACT - Action Comics	MOS - The Man Of Steel (miniseries)
AZR - Azrael	S:MOS - Superman: The Man Of Steel
ADV - The Adventures Of Superman	ROB - Robin (regular series)
BAT - Batman	SOTB - Batman: Shadow Of The Bat
CAT - Catwoman	SH93 - Showcase '93
DET - Detective Comics	SUP - Superman (Volume 2 - 1987)
JLTF - Justice League Task Force	TTN - The New Titans
LDK - Legends Of The Dark Knight	ZH - Zero Hour (miniseries)

Regular Series: Shown below are important events and major story lines from the regular Batman titles. They are listed in chronological order starting with the first major "official" story. (Order is down the first column, then down the second column)

Year One: redone origin and first appearance of Batman (Feb-May 87)
BAT 404-407

First team-up with Superman (Nov 86)
MOS 3

Year Two: early crimefighting, meets Joe Chill (Jun 87-Sep 87)
DET 575-578
[Probably no longer in continuity]

Did Robin Die Tonight?: Dick retired as Robin, Jason starts (Jun 87)
BAT 408

Ten Nights of the Beast: KGBeast assassin (Mar 88-Jun 88)
BAT 417-419

A Death in the Family: the Joker kills Jason Todd (Dec 88-Jan 89)
BAT 426-429
[428 - Jason dies]

Blind Justice: Batman's back is broken for the first time (Mar 89-May 89)
DET 598-600

Many Deaths of the Batman: Batman's teachers are murdered (May 89-Jul 89)
BAT 433-435

Year Three: Robin history (Zucco released) (Aug 89-Sep 89)
BAT 436-439

A Lonely Place of Dying: Tim Drake becomes Robin (Nov 89-Jan 90)
BAT 440-442 (parts 1,3,5) TTN 60-61 (parts 2,4)

The Mudpack: Clayfaces teamup (Sep 89-Dec 89)
DET 604-607

Dark Knight over Metropolis: Superman-Batman team-up (Jun 90)
SUP 44, ADV 467, ACT 654
[ADV 467 - Superman gives Batman the Kryptonite ring from Luthor]

The Penguin Affair: introduction of Harold (Jun 90)
BAT 448, DET 615, BAT 449

Dark Knight/Dark City: The Riddler possessed (Aug 90-Sep 90)
BAT 452-454

Identity Crisis: Tim is Robin officially (Oct 90-Dec 90)
[New costume]
BAT 455-457

Shadow Box: King Snake (Aug 91-Sep 91)
BAT 467-469

The Idiot Root - (Dec 91-Jan 92)
BAT 472, DET 639, BAT 473, DET 640

Destroyer: Gotham landscape redefined - (Feb 92)
BAT 474, LDK 33, DET 641

Electric City (May 92-Jul 92)
DET 644-646

Knightfall: Bane breaks Batman, Azrael takes over (May 93-Oct 93)
BAT 492-500 (parts 1,3,5,7,9,11,15,17,19)
DET 659-666 (parts 2,4,6,8,10,12,16,18)
SH93 7-8 (parts 13-14)
SOTB 16-18 (parts 16a-16c)

Knightquest-The Search: Bruce searches for Shondra Kinsolving
JLTF 5-6 (pts 1-2) (Oct 93-Jun 94)
SOTB 21-23 (parts 3-5)
LDK 59-61 ('Quarry' parts 1-3)

Knightquest-The Crusade: Azrael as Batman (Oct 93-Jun 94)
SOTB 19-20,25-28 BAT 501-508
DET 667-675 ROB 1,7 CAT 6-7

KnightsEnd: Bruce Wayne becomes Batman again (Jul 94-Aug 94)
BAT 509-510 (pts 1,7)
SOTB 29-30 (pts 2,8)
DET 676-677 (pts 3,9)
LDK 62-63 (pts 4,10)
ROB 8-9 (pts 5,11)
CAT 12-13 (pts 6,12)

Zero Hour: chronal disruptions and time travel (Sept 94)
BAT 511, S:MOS 27, ZH 4-0
DET 678, ROB 10, SOTB 31

Zero Month: retelling of origin stories (Oct 94)
BAT 0, SOTB 0, DET 0, ROB 0

Prodigal: Dick Grayson takes the mantle of the bat (Nov 94-Jan 95)
BAT 512-514 (pts 1,5,9)
SOTB 32-34 (pts 2,6,10)
DET 679-681 (pts 3,7,11)
ROB 11-13 (pts 4,8,12)

The Troika: Bruce Wayne returns to fight renegade Russians (Feb 95)
BAT 515, SOTB 35, DET 682, ROB 14

War of the Dragons: Batman fights King Snake and Silver Monkey - (May 95-Jun 95)
DET 685, ROB 17, DET 686

Dark Knight: A possible future - DARK KNIGHT 1-4 (Mar 86-Jun 86)
[probably now an Elseworlds story]
[2 - Carrie Kelly becomes Robin, 3 - Joker dies, 4 - Alfred dies]

Graphic Novels: Several Batman-related graphic novels have been printed that may fit into the current continuity.

Batman: The Killing Joke (1988) -- the Joker cripples Batgirl
Batman: Son of The Demon (1987) -- Ra's al Ghul & Talia has Bruce's baby
(** now out of continuity **)
Batman: Arkham Asylum (1989) -- Batman must reclaim Arkham
Batman: Bride of The Demon (1990) -- Ra's al Ghul
(** now probably out of continuity **)
Batman: Digital Justice (1990) Computer generated art
Batman: 3D (1990) -- 3-D novel /w 3-D glasses
Batman: Full Circle (1991) -- Follow up to Year Two
(** now possibly out of continuity **)
Batman: Birth of The Demon (1992) -- Ra's al Ghul origin
Batman: Night Cries (1992) -- child abuse
Batman/Green Arrow: The Poison Tomorrow (1992) -- Poison Ivy storyline
Batman: Seduction of the Gun (1993) -- anti-gun storyline
Batman: Vengeance of Bane (1993) -- intro and origin of Bane
Batman: Sword Of Azrael (1993) -- reprint of miniseries introducing Azrael

Prestige Format Mini-Series: Several prestige format mini-series fit into the current continuity. The two "World's Finest" stories feature a team-up of Batman and Superman, each of the which was a three-issue limited series. Though the stories themselves have not specified exactly where they fit with the regular series, various story elements reveal the possible location (see also Superman Comic List by David Chappell).

World's Finest (1990): Luthor & Joker manipulate orphanages

after "Dark Night Over Metropolis" (Action #654, Jun 90)

before death of Luthor, Sr. (Action #660, Dec 90)
Batman: Sword Of Azrael (1992): first appearance of Azrael.

after "A Lonely Place of Dying"

before "Knightfall" (BATMAN #492, May 93)
Legends Of The World's Finest (1994): Silver Banshee tries to conquer Earth.

after WORLD'S FINEST

before Knightfall (BATMAN #492, May 93)

Trade Paperbacks: The trade paperbacks listed below reprint existing comics into collected form. They contain no new material. This is by no means an exhaustive list.

Batman: Year One
Reprinting Year One
Batman: Year Two
Reprinting Year Two
Batman: Gothic
Reprinting Gothic story from Legends
Batman: Prey
Prey story from Legends
Batman: Venom
Reprinting Venom story from Legends
Batman: Faces
Reprinting Legends 28-30
Batman: Ten Nights Of The Beast
Reprinting Ten Nights of the Beast
Batman: A Death In The Family
Reprinting Death in the Family
World's Finest
Reprinting World's Finest mini-series
Batman: A Lonely Place Of Dying
Reprinting A Lonely Place of Dying
Batman: Sword Of Azrael
Reprinting Sword of Azrael mini-series
Batman: Knightfall Pt.1--Broken Bat
Reprinting first half of Knightfall
Batman: Knightfall Pt.2--Who Rules The Night
Reprinting second half of Knightfall
Batman: Knightsend
Reprinting KnightsEnd storyline
Zero Hour: Crisis In Time
Reprinting Zero Hour
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
Reprinting Dark Knight Mini-series

A special note should be made for the Secret Origins trade paperback. This contains an origin of the Batman specially written for it by Denny O'Neil, called "The man who falls". This is an excellent origin, which ties in the Legends story Shaman as well as other sources into continuity. One difference in it is that it puts Bruce at age 8 at his parents death, instead of the age of 6 indicated in "Year One".

Novels: Only one novel has been published thus far that is part of the modern continuity. It incorporates the Knightfall, Knightquest, and Knightsend storylines.

Batman: Knightfall (1994) Dennis O'Neil

HTML Presentation by Tim Allen - June 1996

This file was last modified on January 28, 1998

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