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Damian Wayne Reading Order, Fifth Robin and Son of Batman

Damain Wayne Reading Order, son of Batman and Fifth Robin

Everybody knows that Batman’s sidekick is Robin. Of course, readers are familiar with the fact that there’s more than one Robin. That said, there’s only one son of Bruce Wayne, the best Robin of all (if you ask him), Damian.

So, Damian Wayne is the son of Bruce Wayne and Talia al Ghul, and thus the grandson of Ra’s al Ghul. Grown in a laboratory, Damian was raised by his mother and the League of Assassins to make him a great warrior. It also makes him arrogant and violent.

Batman ignores his existence until Talia left his pre-adolescent son in the care of his father. Talia hasn’t grown a conscience but just uses Damian in an effort to disrupt Batman’s work. For Damian, two choices are offered to him: follow his grandfather and mother’s footsteps to become the future head of the League or embrace his father’s lifestyle and choose to be a superhero.

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Final Crisis Reading Order, a DC Comics Event by Grant Morrison

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Final Crisis Reading Order

Coming from Grant Morrison, Final Crisis is a crossover event published by DC Comics in 2008, during the post-Crisis era. If you are familiar with most of Grant Morrison’s work in the DC Universe, you know how much he loves to explore the past and, in his own way, to try to make sense of most of it, even if it often ends up hard to follow. That said, Final Crisis is a mostly self-contained story.

Final Crisis deals with alien villain Darkseid’s plot to overthrow reality, and the subsequent death and corruption of various DC characters and their universe. Here is the official synopsis: Using the soul-destroying Anti-Life Equation, Darkseid is remaking the heroes, villains, and everyday people of Earth in his dark image … and destroying the very fabric of reality itself in the process. Now superheroes from around the world—and across the Multiverse—must make a last, desperate stand against the forces of Anti-Life. Will Earth endure? And when the Crisis reaches its climax, who will make the ultimate sacrifice?

What to read before Final Crisis?

A lot of mostly nothing—you can go with DC Universe #0 and then the main event. If you want to be more thorough there’s a lot to read. You can begin with Death of the New Gods, then go to 52 volume #1 (collects 52 #1-26), 52 volume #2 (collects 52 #27-52), Seven Soldiers by Grant Morrison.

To stay in what was published before the event, connecting directly to Final Crisis, here is a list:

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Batman: Night of the Owls Reading Order, a Batfamily crossover event during New 52

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New 52 was the beginning of a new era for Batman (see reading order), opening with the introduction of the Court of Owls, a mysterious group that run Gotham. Night of the Owls ia a direct following to that storyline.

Written by Scott Snyder, Night of The Owls pits the Batman and his allies against the Court of Owls organization as they attempt to cement their control over Gotham City, which they have been manipulating in secret for centuries.

As evil spreads across Gotham City, Batman’s allies, including Red Robin, Batwing, Robin, Batgirl, the Birds of Prey, Nightwing and even Catwoman find themselves in a battle coming from all sides. The Court of Owls have shown their hand, and it’s up to the collective effort of these heroes, some more unlikely than others, in this sprawling tale of corruption and violence.

What to read before Batman: Night of Owls?

  • Batman: Gates of Gotham (optional)
    Collects Batman: Gates of Gotham #1-5. Not necessary for comprehension, this is a sort of prequel to Court of Owls, where Snyder revisits Gotham history.
  • Batman: The Court of Owls
    Collects Batman Vol. 2 #1-7. The first arc in Snyder and Capullo’s run on Batman, and during which the Night of the Owls takes place, making it a necessary reading.

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DC Future State Reading Order, The DC Comics event that will define the future

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It’s a new year. It’s a new DC continuity. It’s a new future! It was supposed to be a massive reboot named G5, but things changed and it’s now Future State a two-month event spinning out of the finale of Dark Nights: Death Metal (Reading Order) that takes us on a journey from the near future to the end of time to witness the destinies of DC’s heroes.

It’s a future full of surprises for Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, the Justice League, the Teen Titans, and so many more. A future that will see new and younger heroes taking the place of the ones we know. A future that will lead them to hostile territories. A future that will help define a different present.

DC Future State is a collection of 25 miniseries. Most of them are two-issue tales (but some are four-issue stories).

What to read before DC Future State?

As the Dark Nights: Death Metal event (Reading Order) is ending, a new future take form. At the end of Dark Nights: Death Metal #7, there is not one, but two epilogues that are leading us into a new world, one of them is the DC Future State world.

The DC Future State event is—in theory—self contained (a bit like Age of Apocalypse). You’re not really required to read anything outside of it.

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Batman: Joker War Reading Order, a Batman event by James Tynion IV

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Batman: Joker War Reading Order

Written by James Tynion IV and illustrated by Jorge Jimenez, Batman: The Joker War is taking us to issue #100 of the series with a story in which The Clown Prince of Crime and the Dark Knight Detective go head-to-head for the last time.

So, here is the official synopsis: The Joker has never wanted to win before, he’s never wanted his battle with Batman to end, but now his motivation has shifted. As The Joker’s plan to assemble an army materializes, the only person who can save Batman from the brink of true madness is Harley Quinn. And while all this is happening, the villains of Gotham City are waiting out the carnage Joker has unleashed—and Catwoman assembles an army of her own!

What to read before Batman: Joker War?

  • Batman: Their Dark Designs
    Collects Batman #86-94. This is the previous storyline written by James Tynion IV, which took place before the Joker War. It’s a new day in Gotham City, but not the same old Batman. With Bane vanquished and one of his longtime allies gone, Batman has to start picking up the pieces and stepping up his game. Batman has a new plan for Gotham City, but he’s not the only one. Deathstroke has returned as well, under a mysterious new contract that could change everything.

You can also find a little bit of a prelude to the Joker War in the following issues, showing Joker preparing for the War. These storylines are optional:

  • Detective Comics #1022-1024
  • Nightwing #71-73

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Dark Nights: Metal Reading Order, a DC Comics event introducing the dark multiverse

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Published in 2017, Dark Nights: Metal is a Batman Event written by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo. The two collaborators are back with a new ambitious story about the mysterious Nth metal and the dark multiverse.

Investigating a strange metal, Batman discovers the existence of a dark multiverse and eventually releases seven evil versions of himself into his own universe. That event is led by Barbatos, the dark god who plans to unleash darkness across every Earth. Stopping him will change the DC Universe forever.

What to read before Dark Nights: Metal?

Like any big comic book event, you don’t really need to read anything as all the information necessary should be provide in the story! The event kicked off with a two-issue prelude titled Dark Days, collected in Dark Days: The Road to Metal as well as in the Dark Nights Metal Omnibus – which are the issues you shouldn’t miss before diving into the main event.

For those interested in exploring for more backstories, Dark Nights: Metal event builds on elements introduced during Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s run on Batman during the New 52 era. This run is collected in two omnibuses, but the most important issues for Metal are the last part of the run, collected in the second omnibus.

If you want to familiarize yourself a little with the myths of Barbatos, you can check out The Return of Bruce Wayne by Grant Morrison.

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Batman: Zero Year Reading Order (Batman New 52)

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Zero Year is a yearlong crossover event published between June 2013 and July 2014 and written by Scott Snyder and James Tynion IV.

This story takes us back six years in the past and redefines the origin of Batman in The New 52 version of the DC Universe (go to The Batman New 52 Reading Order for more details).

Everything begins with Bruce Wayne’s return to Gotham City. He starts fighting the Red Hood gang. Those events will lead to the birth of the Batman and to a flood in Gotham that will leave him for dead. When he comes back, he has to free the city that has fallen and is now under the control of one of his worst enemies.

What to read before Batman: Zero Year?

Zero Year is a prequel storyline that was published after the Death of the Family storyline (go to Death of the Family Reading Order for more). The story takes place a few years before The Court of Owls.

You can read it here or at another moment before. Some people recommend reading it before The Court of Owls, but I think that being familiar with the style and direction of Snyder’s Batman is better to appreciate this story.

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Batman New 52 Reading Order, from The Court of Owls to the end of the DC You

In 2011, a new era began in the DC Universe with the New 52 initiative–and if you are curious about it, we have a guide about reading all of the New 52 comics in order). For some heroes, it was a complete reboot. For others, this was not totally the case, as with the famous Dark Knight. When Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo took over creative duties on Batman’s main comics, they didn’t start over from scratch, picking up in a way where the post-crisis era ended. Yet, they offered Bruce Wayne a revised backstory as they built a new mythology around Gotham City.

Snyder and Capullo were not the only authors working on Batman comics. In fact, there are multiple comic book series: Batman, Detective Comics, Batman Incorporated by Grant Morrison, Batman and Robin by Tomasi and Gleason, Batman Eternal and Batman & Robin Eternal, and Batman: The Dark Knight.

What comics should you read before Batman New 52?

The DC Comics Universe rebooted as the New 52 after the Flashpoint event. Therefore, you could take a look at it before reading anything else. Also, even if New 52 was a new entry point, Batman’s story was not fully rebooted and a few comics were launched before Flashpoint. You’ll need to take a look at Grant Morrison’s Batman Incorporated volume 1 before jumping into volume 2 and Batman and Robin by Tomasi. Also, Batman: Gates of Gotham written by Scott Snyder leads into his Batman run. And if you want more, you can go through our guide to reading the Batman: The Modern Age comics in order.

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Batman: Death of the Family Reading Order: How to read the Batman’s event by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo ?

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Batman: Death of the Family is a cross-over event in the Batman universe, a 23-issue story arc published in 2012-2013 including the titles Batman, Batgirl, Batman and Robin, Catwoman, Detective Comics, Nightwing, Red Hood, and the Outlaws, Suicide Squad, and Teen Titans. The event takes place during the Scott Snyder/Greg Capullo run.

The story deals with the Joker’s return to Gotham with a plan to get revenge on all the people Batman has come to rely on over the years, and then destroy the family. The title is, obviously, a reference to the classic story arc A Death in the Family, published in 1988.

What to read before Batman: Death of the Family?

There is no reading requirement before going into the Batman: Death of the Family event. At best, Detective Comics #1, collected in Detective Comics: Faces of Death can serve as a prelude, but completely unnecessary to understand the story as everything you need to know will be mentioned in the main storyline.

All there is to know is that the Joker cut his face off then vanished for a long time – a piece of information mentioned in the story. The main story takes place in Batman.

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