Reddit reviews Batman and Robin Vol. 1: Born to Kill (The New 52)
We found 14 Reddit comments about Batman and Robin Vol. 1: Born to Kill (The New 52). Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
DC Comics
> It’s so confusing, why shouldn’t I just be able to follow his story from beginning to present?
> (I’m using Batman as an example but really I’d like help understanding how to follow comics in general as they’re all laid out this way, with overlapping arcs and timelines and such)
This isn't entirely how comics work. In general, it's not the only way other mediums work either. The REQUIREMENT that everything follows a strict, traditional/conventional 3-act structure (beginning, middle, end) is self-imposed and not necessary for good story-telling. The "beginning" of comics happened decades ago and the "end" is nowhere in sight; comics are perpetually stuck in the "middle".
You're already used to non-traditional narrative structure; it's used very often in other mediums. Why does Star Wars get a pass but not superhero comics? Did you see how Darth Vader "became" Darth Vader before he was introduced for the first time? Do you refuse to watch/read/play anything that will potentially have a prequel and ruin your "sense" of chronology? Did Memento or even Pulp Fiction melt your mind? When you go watch Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay, there aren't going to be in-depth introductions for every character.
It's OK to embrace your preferences. Most people like following stories from beginning to end. Now that there is 70+ years of comic history to explore, third parties have attempted ordering it all in some subjective, complicated chronology. It's not really possible, though. How do you handle flashbacks, especially when they're embedded in another story? Do you have to change the chronology to per-panel precision? What about simultaneous story releases? Alternate universes/timelines that are fully/partially "canon" and/or merged/retconned later? Varieties of characterization by multiple writers/artists?
Most of what made these superheroes "cool" in the first place was very topical. What powers do they have? What does their costume look like? Their backstories and character growth/development were fleshed out over the coming decades, more specifically in the "modern" age of comics when the demographic started transitioning to include adults.
There's no "perfect" or "definitive" sequence of events that Batman's story occurred in. That severely limits creators from writing new stories for the character without requiring hard continuity reboots. If you start solidifying that Batman grew up in X, met character Y, fought character Z, in a strict order that can't be changed, then you can't write stories that occur in between those moments. If you plan out Batman's entire chronology to fit a realistic calendar where Bane broke his back on Wednesday and the Court of Owls revealed themselves on Friday, then you (1) will find it won't make sense (because that's not how comics are made) and (2) are stripping all of the "magic" of comics away. Keep in mind: 70+ year old shared universes are an unprecedented achievement of storytelling. No other medium has accomplished something of this scale for this long. You should expect to think of something unique like that a little differently than you might be used to.
I think it's easier to get into comics when you drop the "need" to read EVERYTHING, IN ORDER. You should just read self-contained stories and treat them like separate stories. Think of it like a jigsaw picture puzzle that you're solving one piece at a time. You won't see the big picture (continuity) until you manually piece random pieces of it together over time. You even start to develop your own "methodology" (head-canon, community discussion, etc.) of putting those pieces together (reading comics) in a way that makes sense to you personally. Comics should feel more like self-discovery/exploration than procedure/work.
This is (roughly) how I got into Batman and what I suggest to new readers:
In 2011, DC launched "The New 52", a reboot that reset every title back to #1, and condensed/erased many portions of the old continuity, in order to make the new books more accessible to new readers. Generally, you can start with "trades", which are volumes of issues (generally around 5-8) collected in a novel form. Vol. 1 of any series is usually a good place to start.
 
For Batman and Batman-related books, I recommend starting with the following:
Batman, Vol. 1: The Court of Owls
Batman and Robin, Vol. 1: Born to Kill
Nightwing, Vol. 1: Traps and Trapezes
Batman: The Black Mirror - This is actually just before The New 52, but I recommend this mainly because it's a very well-loved modern story that made Scott Snyder (the current Batman writer) famous. It's also fairly accessible to new readers.
 
For other characters, I would recommend:
Green Arrow, Vol. 4: The Kill Machine - The first three volumes are heavily disliked by fans. Vol. 4 is when the next writer (Jeff Lemire) takes over, and he establishes a different status quo and tone, making it easy for new readers to jump in.
The Flash, Vol. 1: Move Forward
Wonder Woman, Vol. 1: Blood
Earth 2, Vol. 1: The Gathering
I also got into comics with Batman Rebirth, afterwards I found this list here on reddit and all of them are just great, few of them are even extraordinary and without any of them we wouldn't have the Batman we have right now.
If I had to pick some highlights, it were The Long Halloween, Dark Victory, No Man's Land, Black Mirror and Hush, especially Hush was fantastic.
Still love Batman Rebirth though.
Right, basically some of these rely on pre New-52 continuity until stated otherwise. All volumes referred to below will be New 52 unless otherwise stated. That being said...
11-7 years ago: The Zero Year storyline by Scott Snyder currently running throughout the Batman title had a series of backups detailing Bruce's training (in current continuity). This is covered in Batman Vol 4.
Also see Batman and Robin Vol 1 which I believe covers Bruce's Ninja training, though only in flashbacks.
6 Years Ago: You're in luck for this one. The current, in continuity take on Batman's first year is being told in the current Batman title. It's a 12 part story called Zero Year, dealing with Bruce crafting the persona, meeting the Red Hood, Riddler etc. It's in progress at the moment and well worth a look. The volume referred to above is the first part, and the entire storyline has great art by Greg Capullo.
6 Years Ago: Batman's first encounter with the Justice League is found, naturally enough in Justice League Vol 1.
However, Superman and Batman's first encounter was detailed in, again naturally enough, Batman/Superman Vol 1
Dick Grayson's time as Robin can be found in the zero issue of Nightwing.
4 Years Ago: Batgirl's zero issue.
3 Years ago: I'm actually kind of week on this one in current continuity. Jason's death and return are here.
2 Years Ago: Read Tim Drake's new, bad origin in Teen Titans #0 or the most recent issue of Secret Origin, I think it was #3. They both tell roughly the same story. That story is bad.
1 year ago: Going to have to go out of continuity, as I'm nearly sure the founding of Batman Inc. is only covered in the pre New-52, as part of Grant Morissons Bat saga. The first volume is here, but you really need to look up everything else that preceded it, see below. This also goes for dead Batman being replaced by Dick Grayson, which is recounted in Batman and Robin, first series, Vol 1.
The origin of Damien, however, is handily recounted in Batman and Robin #0. This is in New 52 continuity.
Now: Woo! Nearly there. Breathe. So the Court of Owls story basically starts in Batman #1 pretty much, and can be found here.
Batgirl's return to superheroics can be found here, in Batgirl Vol 1. Barbara is still only just reacclimating to life as Batgirl as the series begins.
Joker removes his face in, maybe one panel or so in Detective Comics #1.. Spoiler, issue's shit. Get Snyder Batman instead.
Joker returns, sans face in Batman Vol 3, Death of The Family.. That link contains only the main story told in Batman, but it tied into several Bat-Titles as well. The HC contains these, though the quality varies a bit, IMO.
Tim forms the Teen Titans in Teen Titans Vol 1.
Again, not sure, but I think the Anti-Fear stuff was in Dark Knight.
Happy Reading!
NANANANANANANANA BAT-EDIT: I am by no means a Batman authority, I read nearly all of these, but feel free to correct or append if you are more knowledgeable. Bonus sassy batman
Well, my current favorite ongoings are a couple of "experimental" books that have launched recently:
Grayson by Tim Seeley and Tom King is a fun 60s-James-Bond-meets-Archer-in-a-superhero world book. Dick Grayson (the former Robin/Nightwing/Batman) is believed to be dead, and goes undercover with a spy organization. The art is fantastic, and there's a great mix of humor, character development, and plot. Nightwing #30 provides some setup for the premise, but it differs in tone from the Grayson series.
Catwoman by Genevieve Valentine starts with #35 (don't read anything before, as that's from a different writer and has nothing to do with the current run). This new run has Selina Kyle attempting to unite various mob families to clean up the streets of Gotham. It's heavy on plot, and has plenty of mob politics, betrayals, conspiracies, etc. It's a very interesting read.
Other "experimental" books out of the Bat office include Gotham Academy, Gotham by Midnight, Batgirl (starting at #35), and Arkham Manor.
For some traditional superhero stuff, try Scott Snyder's Batman, starting with Vol. 1: The Court of Owls, and/or Peter J. Tomasi's Batman and Robin, starting with Vol. 1: Born to Kill. Snyder's Batman features Batman taking on supervillains in big epic story arcs. The latest jump-in point is #35. Tomasi's Batman and Robin is more character-driven, and focuses on the relationship between Batman and Robin, and the rest of the Bat family. The latest arc begins with a one-shot titled "Robin Rises: Omega", and continues with #33. Both are highly recommended.
Other recommended runs include Brian Azzarello's Wonder Woman (#1-35), Brian Buccellato and Francis Manapul's Flash (#1-29), Jeff Lemire's Green Arrow (#17-34), and Geoff Johns' Aquaman (#1-25).
You can find collected volumes for most of the longer runs on Amazon. For individual issues, you can try your local comic book store, or buy digitally on Comixology. On Comixology, you can search for any individual issue, and preview the first 3 pages.
>Also, I am interested in the Crisis on Infinite Earths event
Why not there? Comics are deceptively easy to get into. A good book will tell you what you need to know. Whatever seems interesting, just check it out. You can always go back to something you missed.
The sidebar has a load of recommendations. Batman and Robin Vol 1: Born to Kill is one of my favorites.
What this dude said but I also recommend [THIS] (http://www.amazon.com/Batman-Robin-Vol-Born-Kill/dp/1401238386/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1407980377&sr=8-1&keywords=batman+and+robin)
I personally think Bruce Wayne: Murderer? and Bruce Wayne: Fugitive are really fun stories that just dig into the meat of the character.
The Killing Joke has a lot of stuff in it that later stories built off of. Honestly I don't think it's all that enjoyable on its own merits though? Really more noteworthy for all the stuff it paved the way for.
All the New 52 stuff is going to be pretty current, with the earlier stories leading into the present stories, and Scott Snyder's the hot Batman writer of the hour. Can't go wrong by just grabbing Court of Owls and going forward from there.
Personally I enjoy Batman and Robin too but there are points where it gets caught up in the ongoing events of other titles. Like for example there's an issue where Damian has to take on a Talon and you won't know what that is unless you've been reading Scott Snyders stuff over on the main Batman title. It delves more deeply into Batman's relationship with the current Robin too if that interests you.
Morrison's run starts with Batman and Son(which is Damian's first appearance), and Peter Tomasi's run starts with Batman and Robin: Born to Kill
Battle for the Cowl to see Dick take up the mantle. I would check out Batman: Black Mirror.
I would also check out Issue #12 of Grayson to see both of them realize the other isn't dead. its an awesome issue features the entire bat family.
The New 52 run of Batman & Robin is really good but doesnt feature Dickbats, and Robin: Son of Batman follows directly after that. Also the New 52 runs Nightwing and Grayson are great.
Good choice! Luckily, someone online has already put together this handy infographic to understand Morrison's run. If you start with the Batman and Son New Edition it has the first two stories in one volume, Batman and Son, and Batman: The Black Glove. A few things though, before RIP, you can add Batman: The Resurrection of Ra's al Ghul (if you wanted to, not sure how many people do) and Batman: Heart of Hush (realy great, many people would recommend), and after RIP, you can add Final Crisis, Batman: Whatever happened to the caped Crusader and Batman: Battle for the Cowl, (these are a bit more "necessary" to complete that run).
So, in the subreddit's recommended reading section this is to start the Morrison run, after Hush in the post crisis era, and before Black Mirror. And after Morrison's series, the universe rebooted, but Tomasi's technically comes afterwards. The New 52 is it's own era, telling it's own stories separate to the ones you have read. I hope this helps!
Ok so I found V1: Batman and Robin Vol. 1: Born to Kill, http://www.amazon.ca/Batman-Robin-Vol-Born-Kill/dp/1401238386
How many issues in a V?
The entire Death of the Family run is amazing. I loved every single issue of it.
Going along with that,
Batman and Robin New 52 run was GLORIOUS!!
Part 2 of B&R
Part 3 of B&R. I loved this arc because of who Robin is and it just gives me all the feeeelssssss
Just so you have the info this is the first volume of Tomasi's Batman and Robin. There's 7 volumes out, and it is probably my favorite title to come out of the New 52.
Gonna give you a link to this recent discussion about B&R that might help with any confusion about reading order and stuff.