Where to start: Batman or Detective Comics?

[whitelanthawkeye]

I've never really read much batman prior to 400's and I've decided what I want to read the entire runs of both Detective Comics and Batman. I know it'll be complicated and possibly cost prohibitive to do it quickly so I was wondering if anyone had any opinions on which I should read first, or should I read them side by side?

 

Are they generally concurrent stories or separate?

 

Any insight is much appreciated, thanks.

[kinzebac]

Read the Batman Chronicles. They reprint all of the Batman and Detective Comics issues from the very beginning in chronological order.

[Brian48]

I've never really read much batman prior to 400's and I've decided what I want to read the entire runs of both Detective Comics and Batman. I know it'll be complicated and possibly cost prohibitive to do it quickly so I was wondering if anyone had any opinions on which I should read first, or should I read them side by side?

 

Are they generally concurrent stories or separate?

 

Any insight is much appreciated, thanks.

 

Besides the cost, it's also very taxing. Depending on your tolerance, this can make you lose interest as well. After a while, you'll find yourself plodding through sub-par issues before finally hitting a classic story.

 

I have Batman 1-713 and Detective Comics 1-867 in electronic form and tried doing this a couple of years ago. I finally gave up as fatigue set in.

[whitelanthawkeye]

Read the Batman Chronicles. They reprint all of the Batman and Detective Comics issues from the very beginning in chronological order.

 

They've started reprinting them in omnibus. But it sounds like you're saying read them concurrently.

[whitelanthawkeye]

I've never really read much batman prior to 400's and I've decided what I want to read the entire runs of both Detective Comics and Batman. I know it'll be complicated and possibly cost prohibitive to do it quickly so I was wondering if anyone had any opinions on which I should read first, or should I read them side by side?

 

Are they generally concurrent stories or separate?

 

Any insight is much appreciated, thanks.

 

Besides the cost, it's also very taxing. Depending on your tolerance, this can make you lose interest as well. After a while, you'll find yourself plodding through sub-par issues before finally hitting a classic story.

 

I have Batman 1-713 and Detective Comics 1-867 in electronic form and tried doing this a couple of years ago. I finally gave up as fatigue set in.

 

I figure it'll take me a long time, likely years, and I know it'll be exhausting at times. I just wish DC had an unlimited app like Marvel.

[kimik]

I've never really read much batman prior to 400's and I've decided what I want to read the entire runs of both Detective Comics and Batman. I know it'll be complicated and possibly cost prohibitive to do it quickly so I was wondering if anyone had any opinions on which I should read first, or should I read them side by side?

 

Are they generally concurrent stories or separate?

 

Any insight is much appreciated, thanks.

 

Batman would be the stronger read in the 300s, and especially the 220 - 251 range when O'Neil and Adams were at their best, IMHO.

[kinzebac]

Read the Batman Chronicles. They reprint all of the Batman and Detective Comics issues from the very beginning in chronological order.

 

They've started reprinting them in omnibus. But it sounds like you're saying read them concurrently.

 

I would read them concurrently because of occasional overlap or developments in storylines.

[shadroch]

Both books suck from the mid50s to about 1964.

A few years ago, I bought a coverless/ almost coverless group of about 60 books. Bat man in the 100-140 range and Detectives in the 250-300 range. I was looking forward to reading them, but they were bad. Really bad.

[Martin Sinescu]

Read the Batman Chronicles. They reprint all of the Batman and Detective Comics issues from the very beginning in chronological order.

 

They've started reprinting them in omnibus. But it sounds like you're saying read them concurrently.

 

I would read them concurrently because of occasional overlap or developments in storylines.

 

Definitely. There are plenty of arcs in the 300's for Bats/500's for 'Tecs (as well as later with Knightfall, etc.) that run through both titles so there will be several points where you'll need to have access to all those books to understand the story.

 

On CBR there's a guy named Shaxper that's done something similar, writing critiques of each issue (starting with issue 300) as he goes sequentially through the series.. So far he's worked his way up into the 400's I believe, incorporating Detective along the way. Unfortunately there's a ton of great Bronze stuff in the 70's that he's bypassed and that, to me, is the best era for Batman.

 

Also, if you begin at the beginning ('Tec 27), just know that stuff is very, very rudimentary and at times difficult to read. I'd jump into the Adams/O'Neil stuff as someone else recommended as it's a bit of a reboot era.

[Batman]

Some great advice here. Should you venture down the chronological route, you might find this link useful.

[thedude]

I've never really read much batman prior to 400's and I've decided what I want to read the entire runs of both Detective Comics and Batman. I know it'll be complicated and possibly cost prohibitive to do it quickly so I was wondering if anyone had any opinions on which I should read first, or should I read them side by side?

 

Are they generally concurrent stories or separate?

 

Any insight is much appreciated, thanks.

 

Batman would be the stronger read in the 300s, and especially the 220 - 251 range when O'Neil and Adams were at their best, IMHO.

 

LOVE that run.

[Brian48]

I've never really read much batman prior to 400's and I've decided what I want to read the entire runs of both Detective Comics and Batman. I know it'll be complicated and possibly cost prohibitive to do it quickly so I was wondering if anyone had any opinions on which I should read first, or should I read them side by side?

 

Are they generally concurrent stories or separate?

 

Any insight is much appreciated, thanks.

 

Batman would be the stronger read in the 300s, and especially the 220 - 255 range when O'Neil and Adams were at their best, IMHO.

 

LOVE that run.

 

Fixed. Bats 255 is one of the best books of the Adams run.

 

Unfortunately, it was also the last book of the Adams run.

[shadroch]

Just my personal opinion but when I started reading them back in 1974, I greatly preferred the Detective stories to the ones in Bat man. The only problem was the Detective stories were shorter as he often had a back up story. I hated the Elongated Man backups.

[Brian48]

Well, Detective did have better backup stories. The Manhunter series is classic. Here are some cheap readers I picked up just for that purpose. You just don't get the same experience reading it on your computer.

[kimik]

I've never really read much batman prior to 400's and I've decided what I want to read the entire runs of both Detective Comics and Batman. I know it'll be complicated and possibly cost prohibitive to do it quickly so I was wondering if anyone had any opinions on which I should read first, or should I read them side by side?

 

Are they generally concurrent stories or separate?

 

Any insight is much appreciated, thanks.

 

Batman would be the stronger read in the 300s, and especially the 220 - 255 range when O'Neil and Adams were at their best, IMHO.

 

LOVE that run.

 

Fixed. Bats 255 is one of the best books of the Adams run.

 

Unfortunately, it was also the last book of the Adams run.

 

I was never a fan of the story in #255 so I excluded it.

[dupont2005]

Read the Batman Chronicles. They reprint all of the Batman and Detective Comics issues from the very beginning in chronological order.

I have the first volume. Reading through it slowly, but enjoying it. I'll probably read through the Golden Age at the very least.

[Ken Aldred]

Well, Detective did have better backup stories. The Manhunter series is classic. Here are some cheap readers I picked up just for that purpose. You just don't get the same experience reading it on your computer.

 

My favourite run of 100 pagers. Some great new Batman material, classic Manhunter, and Goodwin, as editor, picked a nice selection of GA and SA reprints.

 

Apart from the Adams issue, the Batman 100 page run was much patchier, and poorly selected in comparison.

 

After this, though, Detective is quite mediocre for a few years until Englehart and Rogers make their appearance.

[whitelanthawkeye]

Thanks everyone, I'm gonna start with the Golden Age Omnibus, it had the first group of Golden Age books for both titles together.

[kinzebac]

Thanks everyone, I'm gonna start with the Golden Age Omnibus, it had the first group of Golden Age books for both titles together.

 

The Batman Chronicles do as well for much less money.