For the fourth time in DC history, we have a new Batman #1. Four may seem like a surprisingly low number when compared to other superhero titles, but then consider that there have been even fewer issue #1s for the Dark Knight’s other ongoing mainstay, Detective Comics. It’s had only two. And there have been fewer still for noteworthy, impactful comics like Batman: Shadow of the Bat, Batman: Gotham Knights and Batman: Urban Legends. Each of those have only had a single issue #1…at least, so far!
But that’s not to say there haven’t been plenty of ongoing comics centered around the Dark Knight. So, in tribute to our latest Batman series, we’ve collected all of his previous ongoing comics to date. (Note that we’ve decided to focus on books in which Batman is the central character—so we’ve left off shared titles like World’s Finest and Batman/Superman, as well as group books like Justice League.)
The Dark Knight’s story began over eight decades ago, and at this point, it’s hard to imagine that it will ever end. These are the titles which started that story, in some cases continue it today and will drive it forward long after we’re all gone.
1937
Detective Comics
(1937-Present)
Detective Comics is undeniably a Batman title, though that hasn’t always been the case. Batman made his debut in this detective-themed anthology title with issue #27 in 1939, and has been the star more or less ever since, barring some momentary concessions to the likes of Batwoman. The title was canceled in 2011 for a renumbered Detective Comics series, but resumed in 2016 with the second volume’s numbering subsumed into its own. It continues apace to this day, currently helmed by Tom Taylor and Mikel Janín.
1940
Batman
(1940-2011)
715 Issues
Batman’s nearly unprecedented success in Detective Comics (if you can momentarily forget the guy in the red cape) immediately warranted his own self-titled series, which continued uninterrupted for over seven decades. Issue #1 introduced both the Joker and Catwoman to Batman’s rogues gallery, and it maintained its status as Batman’s flagship title from then on. Dick Grayson would briefly take over the role for a time, but the overwhelming majority of issues feature Bruce Wayne in the Batmobile’s driver seat.
1955
The Brave and the Bold
(1955-1983)
200 Issues
This Silver Age anthology title may have begun as a showcase for obscure heroes like the Golden Gladiator, the Viking Prince and the Silent Knight, but like many early long-running books, The Brave and the Bold underwent a number of radical shakeups until settling on its final form: a team-up title featuring Batman and another guest hero. By 1966’s The Brave and the Bold #67, the series which once gave the likes of the Justice League and the Teen Titans their start was inarguably an ongoing Batman title.
1966
Battoman
(1966-1967)
53 Chapters
Off the back of the global popularity of the ’60s Batman TV show, Japanese manga publisher Shōnen Gahōsha acquired the rights to publish their own original Batman stories, partially based off some contemporary Silver Age Batman comics at the time, written and drawn by Jiro Kuwata. The series ran weekly for 53 installments, and would only be officially localized for Western audiences nearly fifteen years later.
1983
Batman and the Outsiders
(1983-1987)
46 Issues
A new sort of Batman family, Batman and the Outsiders gave Batman a super-team of his own to take on the kind of missions that the Justice League couldn’t take. This first iteration featured the likes of Metamorpho, Black Lightning and Katana, all under Batman’s command.
1989
Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight
(1989-2007)
215 Issues
Riding the “Batmania” of the Tim Burton Batman film, Legends of the Dark Knight was a long-running ongoing series with a rotating team of creators that depicted Batman’s earliest years fighting crime for a new era.
1992
Batman: Shadow of the Bat
(1992-2000)
96 Issues
The release of another smash hit Batman movie with Batman Returns warranted space for an additional ongoing Batman title to facilitate the rising demand for all things Bat. To accommodate, Detective Comics and Batman writer Alan Grant was moved to his own ongoing Batman series that would run concurrently to the established ongoing titles of Batman, Detective Comics and Legends of the Dark Knight. Batman: Shadow of the Bat gave Batman four concurrent ongoing solo titles—one for every week in a standard month—for the very first time.
The Batman Adventures
(1992-1995)
36 Issues
The first of many tie-in comics based directly on Bruce Timm and Paul Dini’s Animated Universe. To this day, The Batman Adventures is one of the first runs we would recommend to new readers, immediately presenting Batman and the characters of Gotham at their most essential.
1995
The Batman and Robin Adventures
(1995-1997)
25 Issues
Picking up right after The Batman Adventures, The Batman and Robin Adventures added a young adult Robin to the billing to reflect the adapted dynamic of Batman: The Animated Series’ second season.
The Batman Chronicles
(1995-2001)
23 Issues
The Batman Chronicles was an extra-length quarterly Batman anthology established to keep the Batmobile running every week of the year, including those months with five Wednesdays.
1998
Batman: Gotham Adventures
(1998-2003)
60 Issues
The third ongoing series set in Bruce Timm and Paul Dini’s animated Gotham, Batman: Gotham Adventures takes into account the status quo of The New Batman Adventures, with updated character designs and an expanded Bat-Family, including both Nightwing and Tim Drake.
2000
Batman: Gotham Knights
(2000-2006)
74 Issues
Following the wider events of the epic “No Man’s Land” crossover, Batman: Gotham Knights furthered the new focus on the extended wings of the Bat-Family under Bruce’s direct supervision. For the last 25 issues, the title would shift focus from Batman’s family to deepening the inner lives of Batman’s rogues gallery.
2003
Batman Adventures
(2003-2004)
17 Issues
2003’s Batman Adventures offered one last volume of DCAU-inspired adventures before a shakeup in the animated landscape would shift focus to 2004’s new animated Batman series.
2004
The Batman Strikes!
(2004-2008)
50 Issues
The new Jeff Matsuda-produced The Batman animated series with a greater focus on action and a younger Bruce Wayne necessitated a new animated tie-in series, The Batman Strikes!, which showcased the Batman’s battles with his gallery of radically reinvented rogues.
2005
All-Star Batman and Robin, The Boy Wonder
(2005-2008)
10 Issues
Originally billed as an ongoing series, Frank Miller and Jim Lee’s satirical send-up of the Dark Knight and his propensity for child endangerment, All-Star Batman and Robin, the Boy Wonder, ended after ten issues.
2007
Batman and the Outsiders
(2007-2009; 2011)
14 Issues
Following a number of Outsiders runs outside the Shadow of the Bat, Batman stepped in to take charge of the team once more in 2007’s Batman and the Outsiders, set in the period between Infinite Crisis and Final Crisis. He’d show up again for one more issue following his apparent death and return before the series’ cancellation.
Batman Confidential
(2007-2011)
54 Issues
Like Legends of the Dark Knight before it, Batman Confidential explored unseen chapters from Batman’s past before the modern era—such as Batman’s first encounter with Lex Luthor and his initial impressions of the superhero community.
2009
Batman: Streets of Gotham
(2009-2011)
21 Issues
For most of this series focused on the particulars of life in Gotham City, the titular Batman was Dick Grayson, filling in for his mentor following Final Crisis. Bruce would return for “House of Hush,” Batman: Streets of Gotham’s final arc that continued the “Hush” storyline from the main Batman title.
Batman: The Brave and the Bold
(2009-2010)
22 Issues
With a new animated Batman series comes a new ongoing series. This Batman: The Brave and the Bold takes its cues from a more bombastic iteration of the Caped Crusader, teaming him up with lesser-known heroes to introduce new audiences to a wider universe beyond Batman.
2011
Batman: The Dark Knight
(2011)
5 Issues
Following the presumed death and return of Bruce Wayne from Final Crisis, Bruce and Dick Grayson would share the Batman role for a brief period before the reset of the New 52. While Dick Grayson would continue to be Batman in the established titles, the very short-lived (but soon to return) Batman: The Dark Knight featured the new adventures of Bruce Wayne in the cowl again.
The All-New Batman: The Brave and the Bold
(2011-2012)
16 Issues
A second Batman: The Brave and the Bold tie-in series, renumbered right after the previous one. This second volume coincides with the show’s third season, which featured bigger guest stars as it approached the end of its run.
Batman
(2011-2016)
65 Issues
The New 52 brand-wide refresh gave us an all-new Batman title, and the book’s second issue #1. 2011’s Batman featured some of the most beloved work from Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo including The Court of Owls and Zero Year.
Batman and Robin
(2011-2015)
44 Issues
Technically the second Batman and Robin volume, but the first to make our list since the 2009 book featured Dick Grayson stepping into the cowl with Batman’s biological son Damian Wayne in the Robin role. The New 52’s Batman and Robin gave us the first team-ups between Bruce Wayne proper and the heir to his name.
Detective Comics
(2011-2016)
57 Issues
Even the mighty Detective Comics was not spared from the New 52’s renumbering, though these issues would be later reincorporated into the running tally with the 2016 “Rebirth” era reunification. Still, numeric retcons aside, this gave us Detective Comics’ second issue #1.
Batman: The Dark Knight
(2011-2014)
34 Issues
There are at least four weeks in a month, so why not have four monthly Batman titles? With the New 52 transitioning Dick Grayson back to the Nightwing role, this second Batman: The Dark Knight series might feel a little superfluous when Bruce Wayne is also Batman in the other titles. But consider this: more Batman.
2012
Batman: Arkham Unhinged
(2012-2014)
20 Issues
Another exported highlight of DC’s digital line of the 2010s, Batman: Arkham Unhinged was an early tie-in to the Batman: Arkham video game series, further exploring that iteration of Batman’s world.
Legends of the Dark Knight
(2012-2015)
88 Issues
DC’s second Legends of the Dark Knight is an often-overlooked digital anthology that secretly featured some of the best standalone Batman stories of the decade, all continuity-free.
Batman: Earth One
(2012-2021)
3 Volumes
A bit of an interesting one here, as Batman: Earth One was technically intended as an ongoing series of graphic novels. Like other Earth One titles, these books by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank reenvisioned their hero anew for the 21st century.
2013
Batman ‘66
(2013-2016)
30 Issues
Initially part of DC’s weekly digital comics line of the 2010s, Batman ’66 is set in the continuity of the 1960s Batman TV show, even adapting newer characters like Bane and Harley Quinn in the original series’ signature style.
Beware the Batman
(2013-2014)
6 Issues
Another Batman cartoon, another digital first comic tie-in. Featuring Katana as Batman’s crimefighting partner, the Beware the Batman comic had a staying power commensurate with the animated series with which it shared a name.
2014
Arkham Manor
(2014-2015)
6 Issues
An experimental series following the destruction of Arkham Asylum in Batman Eternal, Arkham Manor was a short-lived book that saw Wayne Manor accommodating Arkham’s surviving patients and inmates, with Batman himself checked in.
2016
Batman
(2016-2025)
163 Issues
And then there were three. 2016’s Rebirth event gave us our third Batman #1 in what had been our ongoing Batman title up until this year. Featuring the epic Tom King saga for its initial half, including a near-wedding to Catwoman and the death of Alfred Pennyworth, the back half has also featured a Joker War, a City of Fear, and the rise of what may be Batman’s greatest enemy: a self-implanted mind virus in his own subconscious. It all recently came to a close with a six-issue sequel to Batman: Hush from the first Batman volume’s creative team of Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee.
All-Star Batman
(2016-2017)
14 Issues
Scott Snyder wasn’t done with Batman quite yet when the DCU went through its Rebirth and found himself teaming with artist John Romita Jr. on All-Star Batman, a high-octane book that further developed Batman’s relationships with Two-Face, Duke Thomas and Alfred.
2018
Batman Giant
(2018-2019)
14 Issues
These 100-page collections sold exclusively at Walmart were mainly reprint anthologies, but also included some new original titles in both one-shot and serial form, such as Brian Michael Bendis and Nick Derington’s Batman Universe.
2019
Batman Giant
(2019-2020)
5 Issues
The renumbered second volume of the Batman Giant line featured slightly more original content than its predecessor, but was still mainly a greatest hits collection. (Two super similar Batman Giants in a row? This isn’t confusing at all!)
Batman and the Outsiders
(2019-2020)
17 Issues
This latest incarnation of Batman and the Outsiders featured Bruce enlisting the services of his old allies Black Lightning and Katana to help him further the training of Duke Thomas and Cassandra Cain while they worked together to take on a revitalized League of Assassins. Some good Lady Shiva stuff here.
2020
Batman: Gotham Nights
(2020)
22 Issues
During the COVID-19 pandemic supply chain shortages, DC experimented with keeping its line going with more digital comics, including many which were initially printed in the Walmart Batman Giants. Batman: Gotham Nights (not to be confused with 2000’s similarly titled Batman: Gotham Knights) was one of those series.
2021
Legends of the Dark Knight
(2021)
12 Issues
As the pandemic shortages persisted, this volume of Legends of the Dark Knight continued as a digital repository for standalone Batman stories until normal operations could resume.
Batman: Urban Legends
(2021-2023)
23 Issues
The excellent Batman: Urban Legends anthology title typically featured a Batman team-up in the lead, along with some backup stories focused on other lesser-served characters that typically also featured Batman.
Batman: Wayne Family Adventures
(2021-Present)
This smash-hit vertical scrolling webseries puts the Bat-Family dynamics front and center, showcasing their slice-of-life relationships with each other both on duty and off. Like millions of others, you can read Batman: Wayne Family Adventures free on both WEBTOON and DC UNIVERSE INFINITE’s DC GO! line.
2023
Batman: The Brave and the Bold
(2023-2024)
20 Issues
The most recent Batman anthology title, 2023’s Batman: The Brave and the Bold features a variety of Batman team-ups and supporting stories from a wide array of characters from across the DC Universe.
Batman and Robin
(2023-Present)
The latest ongoing series co-starring Bruce and Damian. Batman and Robin is currently under the stewardship of writer Phillip Kennedy Johnson.
2024
Absolute Batman
(2024-Present)
Batman, Absolutely. This ongoing runaway success from Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta reimagines Batman in a darker world, deprived of his money and resources, and driven to new extremes. The Bruce Wayne of Absolute Batman is a true brick of a Batman.
2025
Batman
(2025-Present)
What’s in store for this fourth eponymous Batman title, we can’t say for certain. But Matt Fraction and Jorge Jiménez have already given us a brand new Batsuit, the return of Alfred (in some yet-to-be defined way) and Tim Drake once again operating as Batman’s partner in crimefighting. You’ll have to pick up the most recent issue to explore his latest chapter for yourself.
Batman #1 by Matt Fraction, Jorge Jiménez and Tomeu Morey is now available in print and as a digital comic book.
Alex Jaffe is the author of our monthly "Ask the Question" column and writes about TV, movies, comics and superhero history for DC.com. Follow him on Bluesky at @AlexJaffe and find him in the DC Official Discord server as HubCityQuestion.
NOTE: The views and opinions expressed in this feature are solely those of Alex Jaffe and do not necessarily reflect those of DC or Warner Bros. Discovery, nor should they be read as confirmation or denial of future DC plans.
