Batman Reading Order

[scooter13]

Can anyone point me in the right direction of a possible reading order of Batman trades? I have "The Dark Knight Returns" and am very interested in other Batman stories (Dark Victory, Haunted Knight, Hush, The Killing Joke, The Long Halloween, The Man Who Laughs, Year One, Year One Hundred, etc.), but would like to avoid any confusion or spoilers by reading them out of order. Also, where do the Arkham Asylum books fall into the order?

 

[Libra6Poe]

I would just read them in order of the publication date. You can find out each just by looking at the copyright page or by looking 'em up on Wikipedia.

 

[fluffy bunny]

Can anyone point me in the right direction of a possible reading order of Batman trades?

It can be a bit of a tricky subject. To start with stating the obvious, Batman's one of DC's most lucrative properties. There's plenty of spinoffs and variants on the batman theme, and he makes regular cameos in most of DC's less popular costumed hero lines. Add to that the duration of time Batman's been running for and you can get swamped. Rather than going for everything Batman, go for some of the better stories then fill in the gaps later. If you've started with The Dark Knight Returns, you're near the end anyway (though technically it's an elseworlds and doesnt fall into Batman continuity whatever that means).

For the current batman and major events: List of Batman comics - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia and scroll down to 'Modern Batman,' Be warned though there are a few stinkers in there.