#esp for the batfam bc I kept it very short since I was focussing more on Batman himself since taht's who the anon mentioned in the ask

[hashtagonlyingotham]

Can you suggest a great place to start for a new Batman comics fan?

Hi! Ooooh this is a tough one. It kinda depends on what kind of Batman stories and which characters from the batfamily you like. 

 A great place to start is Batman: Year One by Frank Miller because it’s basically a modern retelling of the origin story. 

I can also recommend some classic/pre-n52 Batman stories that you can read as standalones (in other words, they don’t require catching up with a year of comics before reading):  

- Batman: Two-Face and Scarecrow Year One. Introduction to well-known villains. Basically, everything with “Year One” behind it is designed to be a starting point.

- The Long Halloween, by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale. Very well-known and acclaimed. It has a sequel, Dark Victory. 

 - The Killing Joke, by Alan Moore. This one is a bit controversial in the fandom, some hail it as a classic, others don’t care for it much or downright hate it. In any case, it’s famous, maybe even famous enough for your library to have a copy. 

- Hush, followed up by Hush Returns, and Heart of Hush. Hush isn’t a very well-known villain outside of the comics, but I feel like he’s brought up pretty often in the comics after his introduction, so it might be a good idea to read “Hush” just so you know who he is. "Hush” also has lots of appearances by other Batman characters, villains and heroes alike. 

- Batman: The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller. This is an AU story (which of course makes it a perfect standalone) but it’s a very famous one. Its success kinda started the “darker and grittier” trend that most movies follow. 

There are many more but it has been a while since I’ve read them. No doubt some of my followers will be able to add to this. 

If you’re interested in the Batfamily, here are some pre-n52 books for them: 

- Robin Year One (Dick Grayson) 

- Batgirl Year One (Barbara Gordon) 

- A Death in the Family (the death of Jason Todd) 

- “Robin” is a solo title for Tim Drake’s Robin, the collections are called Robin: Flying Solo, Robin: Teenage Wasteland, and Robin: The Big Leagues.

- Battle for the Cowl: this story takes place after Bruce Wayne/Batman has “died”, leaving Gotham in disarray. It introduces Dick Grayson as Batman with Damian Wayne as Robin. 

- Tim Drake becomes Red Robin and has another solo title. Collections are: Red Robin: The Grail, Council of Spiders, Collision, Hit List, and Rabbithole.

- Gates of Gotham: a solid story that features Dick Grayson as Batman. 

If you do want to read an actual run, I can recommend the Batman n52 run. The n52 was a reboot in 2011, which had a lot of issues as a whole because it erased fan favourite characters and storylines, so you’ll find a lot of people complaining about n52 online (usually for good reasons).  However, the “Batman” title was actually pretty good. (Although I’ve only read the first 5 TPs, I couldn’t keep up with comics anymore when I started working full-time so if they became terrible after Zero Year, do let me know in the comments lol.) Here are the collections of that run: Batman: The Court of Owls (2012), Batman: The City of Owls (2013), Batman: Death of the Family (2013), Batman: Zero Year - Secret City (2014), Batman: Zero Year - Dark City (2014), Batman: Graveyard Shift (2015), Batman: Endgame (2015), Batman: Superheavy (2016), Batman: Bloom (2016), and Batman: Epilogue (2016).

(I personally wasn’t a big fan of what the n52 did with the other members of the batfamily, so I focussed mostly on Batman stories during this time. I heard the n52 “Detective Comics” run, which is Batman’s other title, was decent as well but I wasn’t keeping up with that one so I can’t be sure.) 

I can’t recommend anything more recent (after 2016) because I actually wasn’t able to keep up with comics anymore. (I know the n52 ended, but idk anything about what followed it.) But I’m sure some of my followers will be able to give even more recommendations! 

In the end, this is very personal. When it comes to comics, there’s just so much out there, you can’t possibly read it all and there really isn’t such a thing as “required reading”. There will be writers whose interpretation of the characters you like, and ones you hate. ^^; You’ll have to discover what your taste is, and have fun along the way. :)