Around these parts you hear a lot about Batman being “the World’s Greatest Detective.” But take a look through his catalog and at some point you have to admit to yourself that while there’s plenty of action, drama and pathos to go around, not a lot of Batman comics are actually about solving a mystery. Sure, you’ve got your classic entry points like The Long Halloween or Hush. But after that, it can sometimes feel like Batman’s greatest detective story…is finding more Batman detective stories. Luckily for you, we’re on the case. Here are ten stories that may have escaped your notice where Batman puts his super sleuthing in action.
 

The Many Deaths of the Batman

Read It In: Batman #433-435

Writer/artist John Byrne’s post-Crisis tenure on Batman wasn’t long, but it did provide us with an early tone-setting mystery for the age. When bodies across the city begin piling up dressed as Batman, the definite article has no choice but to leap into action to solve the mystery of his repeated murder in effigy. Observant readers will pick up on some of the early, rarely traveled roots of Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight. One mystery we’ve already solved: he’s not wearing hockey pads.
 

Mask

Read It In: Legends of the Dark Knight #39-40

A uniquely mind-bending story where the mystery isn’t the identity of a killer or nature of a crime, but Batman solving a mystery of the self. Gaslit through elaborate means into believing his entire life of crimefighting has been a fabrication of his own diseased mind, it’s here in this story by writer/artist Bryan Talbot that a captured Batman must use his detective skills to prove what he believes of himself to be true and escape the ultimate prison of the mind.
 

Perpetual Mourning

Read It In: Batman: Black and White #1

One of the best introductory comics for someone just getting into Batman over the years has been the Black and White collections, a creative jam of short stories by some of comics’ most famed and interesting creators all trying their hand at showing off just what makes Batman and his world so compelling. Right in the first issue of the first volume, Ted McKeever tackles the detective side of Batman with this haunting comic that perfectly marries Gotham City to a neo noir aesthetic that feels right in step with Jim Gordon’s narration in Batman: Year One. “Perpetual Mourning” has proven such a standout that it was even adapted into an official motion comic, which you can watch free here.
 

Blink

Read It In: Legends of the Dark Knight #156-158; #164-167

A unique entry on this list in that it’s the only one which involves a superpower. A two-arc story by the late, great Dwayne McDuffie, Blink introduces us to Gotham citizen Lee Hyland, a blind metahuman with the ability to see through the eyes of the last living creature he touches. Initially using these powers for personal gain, Hyland finds himself allies with Batman on these two collected occasions, using his powers to solve mysteries that not even Batman could easily crack on his own. These are the kinds of stories that make you wish the writer had fifty more issues to play with. Blink, we hope you’ll be back someday.
 

Dead Reckoning

Read It In: Detective Comics #777-782

Perhaps the most underrated story on this list, Ed Brubaker’s Dead Reckoning fully deserves to be spoken about alongside the likes of The Long Halloween or Dark Victory. The mystery here begins with the body of a criminal wearing a Killer Moth costume. Like all the famous Batman mysteries, the trail the Dark Knight follows to find the killer takes him through the underbelly of how Gotham City really works as he winds his way through its coterie of costumed criminals to most unexpected ends. In his independent work, Ed Brubaker is widely considered one of the greatest crime comic writers of the modern age. Dead Reckoning is where he puts those skills to their best use in Gotham City.
 

E. Nigma, Consulting Detective

Read It In: Detective Comics #822

Ask a longtime Riddler fan for their favorite story and odds are high it’ll probably land somewhere in this post-Infinite Crisis period crafted by Paul Dini—wherein Batman’s brainiest villain professes to have abandoned his life of crime. In so doing, the Riddler finds a brand new way to vex his longtime nemesis: as a rival detective, solving the crimes of Gotham before Batman can. This particular issue is the high watermark of Riddler’s reform, pairing these unwilling allies to lean on each other and play to their respective strengths to solve a mysterious murder. You’ve never seen a duo so dynamic.
 

Work That's Never Done

Read It In: Batman Confidential #49

Say there’s no costumed supervillain threatening Gotham with some manner of thematically appropriate doomsday device on a given night in the city. What crimes does Batman usually deal with, night to night, that even we, the readers, typically don’t see? Work That’s Never Done is a rare snapshot into a “regular” Batman case, answering a 911 call about a murdered family that the police can’t solve. Doing everything he can to bring justice for the couple’s surviving daughter, Batman provides a crystal clear picture of what being Batman is all about: protecting the helpless child of the city who he himself had been long ago, and in some way, may always be.
 

Batman: Death By Design

The only full-length Batman story by Batman historian and graphic designer Chip Kidd, Death by Design draws on the stratified world of architecture to put the Dark Knight on the case of a dizzying mystery that defines the shape of the city itself. It’s a thriller of nearly Hitchcockian heights, which brings Batman to the very top of his world before plunging him into unexplored depths. Every city has its secrets, and none are stacked higher than Gotham’s in this stark black and white entry into the Batman canon.
 

Batman: The Man Who Laughs

Riddle me this, what is the most retold story in Batman history? Okay, after Thomas and Martha Wayne’s murder. The answer we were looking for was the story first told in 1940’s Batman #1, where Batman first encounters the Joker. The first meeting between the Dark Knight and his greatest nemesis is a well that many have drawn from, but none to such depths as Ed Brubaker and Doug Mahnke in this 2005 prestige one-shot that delves specifically into the mystery. Brubaker and Mahnke explore the beats between panels as Batman amasses clues and follows dark trails to meet his grim, grinning foe and understand his true nature. Everything you need to know about the Joker, and indeed, most of what Batman knows for certain even now, can be found right here, all won through hard sleuthing.
 

Batman: Dark Patterns

As fortune would have it, we happen to be in the middle of one of the greatest detective-focused comic runs in Batman history right the heck now. Sharing much DNA with the Legends of the Dark Knight comics of yore, the twelve-issue Batman: Dark Patterns series presents us with a new spine-tingling mystery every three issues from Dan Watters and Hayden Sherman, challenging an early Batman in new ways to think laterally as he comes face to face with Gotham’s most malevolent myths, exposing their truth to the harsh moonlight. We’re now embarking on the series’ final arc, so it’s a great time to catch up and mark yourself for the last dance.
 

DC’s annual celebration of the Dark Knight is back! Batman Day is Saturday, September 20^th. Click here for the round up of what’s happening and drop by our Batman Day hub for more news, comics and features on Gotham City’s greatest hero.

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.