The all-new anthology series continues with new tales of mystery, mayhem and madness from all levels of Gotham City by some of the finest talents in comics. In this auspicious issue: • Eisner Award-winning collaborators Tom King and Mitch Gerads (Mister Miracle, Strange Adventures) tell a tale of Batman administering a form of last rites to a dying priest. Or is it the other way around? • Eisner-nominated storytellers Gabriel Hardman and Corinna Bechko (Green Lantern: Earth One) find the Dark Knight facing certain death-with The Joker his last lifeline. • Multiple award-winner for his innovative work on Hawkeye, David Aja writes and draws his first DC story, in which Batman is set on the trail of a deadly cult preying on Gotham City-and it’s one you’ll be talking about all year! • The brilliant Sophie Campbell (Jem and the Holograms, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Wet Moon) returns to DC after a 10-year absence to follow Batman and Catwoman on one of their greatest chases ever. • Celebrated artist of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Avengers and the creator of Paklis, Dustin Weaver makes his DC debut as Batman takes to the sky in a stunning aerial battle against one of the most unsettling foes he’s ever faced.The all-new anthology series continues with new tales of mystery, mayhem and madness from all levels of Gotham City by some of the finest talents in comics. In this auspicious issue: • Eisner Award-winning collaborators Tom King and Mitch Gerads (Mister Miracle, Strange Adventures) tell a tale of Batman administering a form of last rites to a dying priest. Or is it the other way around? • Eisner-nominated storytellers Gabriel Hardman and Corinna Bechko (Green Lantern: Earth One) find the Dark Knight facing certain death-with The Joker his last lifeline. • Multiple award-winner for his innovative work on Hawkeye, David Aja writes and draws his first DC story, in which Batman is set on the trail of a deadly cult preying on Gotham City-and it’s one you’ll be talking about all year! • The brilliant Sophie Campbell (Jem and the Holograms, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Wet Moon) returns to DC after a 10-year absence to follow Batman and Catwoman on one of their greatest chases ever. • Celebrated artist of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Avengers and the creator of Paklis, Dustin Weaver makes his DC debut as Batman takes to the sky in a stunning aerial battle against one of the most unsettling foes he’s ever faced.

The first comic dedicated exclusively to The Dark Knight! This 1940 issue pitted the Dynamic Duo against classic menaces including Professor Hugo Strange. Plus, the first appearances of The Joker and Catwoman (referred to as "the Cat")! Also includes a 2-page retelling of Batman's origin.

A showdown in Burnside leaves both Batman and the Gotham borough reeling. As the community rallies together behind Harvey Dent, can Bruce find a way forward for both Batman and the city?

Originally published in single magazine form in Detective Comics and Batman.

The story of how Batman's career started, told in graphic novel form.

Why would the JOKER, PENGUIN, CATWOMAN, MAD-HATTER, amd JOHNNY WITTS team up to save the life of their arch-foe Batman? The starling reason for their becoming "Batman's Gangland Guardians" is revealed in the May issue of the COWLED CRUSADERS mag, No. 201.

With contributions from Will Brooker, Jeffrey A. Brown, Scott Bukatman, John G. Cawelti, Peter Coogan, Jules Feiffer, Charles Hatfield, Henry Jenkins, Robert Jewett and John Shelton Lawrence, Gerard Jones, Geoff Klock, Karin Kukkonen, Andy Medhurst, Adilifu Nama, Walter Ong, Lorrie Palmer, Richard Reynolds, Trina Robbins, Lillian Robinson, Roger B. Rollin, Gloria Steinem, Jennifer Stuller, Fredric Wertham, and Philip Wylie Despite their commercial appeal and cross-media reach, superheroes are only recently starting to attract sustained scholarly attention. This groundbreaking collection brings together essays and book excerpts by major writers on comics and popular culture. While superhero comics are a distinct and sometimes disdained branch of comics creation, they are integral to the development of the North American comic book and the history of the medium. For the past half-century, they have also been the one overwhelmingly dominant market genre. The sheer volume of superhero comics that have been published over the years is staggering. Major superhero universes constitute one of the most expansive storytelling canvases ever fashioned. Moreover, characters inhabiting these fictional universes are immensely influential, having achieved iconic recognition around the globe. Their images and adventures have shaped many other media, such as film, videogames, and even prose fiction. The primary aim of this reader is twofold: first, to collect in a single volume a sampling of the most sophisticated commentary on superheroes, and second, to bring into sharper focus the ways in which superheroes connect with larger social, cultural, literary, aesthetic, and historical themes that are of interest to a great many readers both in the academy and beyond.

First published in 1991, The Many Lives of the Batman is a serious academic exploration of the cultural phenomenon called Batman. Marketing savvy alone did not build the Batman’s extraordinary success; it encompasses a variety of audiences who have embraced the hero through a collage of different media manifestations during his long history. Batman’s overlapping lives are illuminated in this critical anthology, which analyses the contexts of the character’s production and reception across a wide spectrum of time and media forms. This volume includes interviews with the character’s original creators. The other essays consider such questions as the political economy of comic book and film production processes; the cult status of the sixty’s television series in various fan communities; and the postmodernism of past and present Batman films. Using the tools of cultural studies, the book unmasks the Caped Crusader’s mysterious attraction.

Over eight decades, Batman’s crime-fighting partner has become nearly as recognizable a pop culture icon as the Dark Knight himself-and this collection celebrates the many incarnations of comics’ greatest sidekick! From Dick Grayson’s debut to the dark side of Jason Todd, the dawn of Tim Drake, and the debut of Damian Wayne, experience pivotal Robin moments throughout history! Collects stories from Batman #368, #410, #411, and #466; Detective Comics #38, #165, #394-395, #535, and #796; Robin #25-26; The Batman Chronicles: The Gauntlet #1; Star Spangled Comics #65 and #124; Teen Titans #14; and Batman and Robin #0.