July 18th is almost here! That’s right, The Dark Knight—the highly-anticipated sequel to Batman Begins—is almost upon us. “The night is darkest just before the dawn,” and like Harvey Dent goes on to say, “the dawn is coming!”

Many of you are like me and have whipped out your copy of Batman Begins to pump yourself up, re-watched trailers for the new movie, and have taken in the viral glee over the months … but what better way to psyche yourself up for the ultimate Batman experience than by reading (or re-reading) some truly awesome Batman stories?

Hold on to something and find out about eight of my favorite Batman classics—essential to any Bat-fan’s arsenal and coincidentally are all tied to the new movie—right after the jump!

1. The Dark Knight Returns

This masterpiece of modern comics storytelling brings to vivid life a dark world and an even darker man. Together with inker Klaus Janson and colorist Lynn Varley, writer/artist Frank Miller completely reinvents the legend of Batman in his saga of a near-future Gotham City gone to rot, ten years after the Dark Knight’s retirement.

Crime runs rampant in the streets, and the man who was Batman is still tortured by the memories of his parents’ murders. As civil society crumbles around him, Bruce Wayne’s long-suppressed vigilante side finally breaks free of its self-imposed shackles.

The Dark Knight returns in a blaze of fury, taking on a whole new generation of criminals and matching their level of violence. He is soon joined by this generation’s Robin — a girl named Carrie Kelley, who proves to be just as invaluable as her predecessors,

But can Batman and Robin deal with the threat posed by their deadliest enemies, after years of incarceration have made them into perfect psychopaths? And more important, can anyone survive the coming fallout of an undeclared war between the superpowers — or a clash of what were once the world’s greatest superheroes?

This comic is inarguably a classic. Not only is the concept itself interesting because it explores a future that has fallen into chaos and has come to view Batman as a distant myth—until he returns—but it tackles an issue addressed in The Dark Knight: escalation. Does Batman, despite all the good he does, act like a magnet for the worst criminals in Gotham (the Joker, Two-Face, etc.)?

And near the end of the book, Batman rallies a once-rebellious street gang together to clean up the city—a gang that suspiciously resembles the Citizens for Batman of the viral hype.

If that doesn’t hook you, the clash between Batman and Superman will. Yup, they go head-to-head. Who wins? Oh, just guess.

2. Arkham Asylum

In this painted graphic novel, the inmates of Arkham Asylum have taken over Gotham’s mental illness detention center on April Fool’s Day and demand Batman in exchange for their prisoners. Accepting their demented challenge, Batman is forced to live and endure the personal hells of the Joker, Scarecrow, Poison Ivy, Two Face and many other of his sworn enemies in order to save the innocents and retake the prison. During his run through this absurd gauntlet, the Darknight Detective’s own sanity is in jeopardy.

While Frank Miller is known for his “tough ass” routine, writer Grant Morrison has a reputation for being one crazy yet brilliant mother%$#&!@ who isn’t afraid to give his all and try something bold. Batman: Arkham Asylum is just that. It’s insane but it’s genius—and probably for that very reason. I was actually creeped out by this comic. It was really gripping and just nuts. The art is definitely different but it works in a Silent Hill-esque kind of way. Meanwhile, the story really delves into the Batman psychology.

So what does this have to do with TDK? Everything. The Dark Knight is darker (as someone whose name is eluding me at the moment accurately said, “They don’t call him the Dark Knight for nothing”) and Bats’s relationship with the Joker is all about the anarchist Clown Prince of Crime messing around with Batman’s head—making him doubt his choices and trying to push him over the edge, proving that he’s no less of a freak than him and the rest of the psychopaths he puts away in Arkham.

This is definitely a must-read!

3. Knightfall (Parts One and Two)

Broken Bat:

This riveting book sets Batman on a path that will change his life forever. A mass escape from Arkham Asylum and the emergence of Batman’s most threatening foe, Bane, sends Gotham City spinning into chaos and takes Batman to the limits of human endurance! These volume is required reading for every Batman fan. Graphic novel format.

Every Man Has a Breaking Point…

EVEN THE BATMAN!

The Dark Knight’s deadliest enemies have escaped Arkham Asylum! The Joker, Amygdala, the Mad Hatter, Poison Ivy, Zsasz, Killer Croc, the Firefly, the Riddler, the Ventriloquist and Scarecrow — one by one, he must face them all in mortal combat! But lurking at the end of this seemingly endless gauntlet is the deadliest menace of all — a mysterious man-mountain known only as…

BANE!

Who Rules the Knight:

This riveting book sets Batman on a path that will change his life forever. A mass escape from Arkham Asylum and the emergence of Batman’s most threatening for, Bane, sends Gotham City spinning into chaos and takes Batman to the limits of human endurance. Graphic novel format.

BANE HAS WON.

THE BATMAN IS BROKEN.

But for forces of justice will not go quietly into the night. Instead, a successor to the mantle of the Bat must be chosen to carry on Bruce Wayne’s war against crime. Who will be the new Dark Knight? Can he succeed where his predecessor failed? Or will Bane’s campaign of terror continue unabated, laying waste to Gotham City? The second volume of the epic Knightfall story, this edition contains Batman 498-500, Detective Comics 664-666, Showcase ‘93 7-8 and Batman: Shadow of the Bat 16-18.

Knightfall is a two-volume, early-nineties storyline about Bane—the villain infamously known as the one who Broke the Bat. That is, he snapped Batman’s spine and declared Gotham his.

Yeah, I know.

Bane has always freaked me out. Sure, he’s a coward. I mean, he let all of Arkham’s baddies run loose through Gotham City, forcing Batman to take them all down (when he was already worn out) and send them back—only to attack Batman when he’s finished and can barely stand up. Besides, Bane is only that intimidating because of the “venom” he uses to enhance his physicality—basically, they’re steroids.

But the fact that Bane could figure out that Bruce Wayne was Batman with such ease, just by seeing him, the way he moves and acts, and the mask that he puts on for the public as Bruce—it’s creepy. Bane has studied him; when he broke Batman’s back and threw him off a building to the streets of Gotham below in a bloody heap … ouch.

I really enjoyed Knightfall (which is the first part of Knightsaga, a collection made up of Knightfall, KnightQuest, and KnightsEnd)—and how can you ignore such a big event like that? The story arc not only explores Batman’s psychology through Bane’s insight, but it also shows just how hard Batman pushes himself and how much responsibility he takes for the well-being of Gotham—his city. We’ll very much see that in The Dark Knight, which promises to test Bruce’s limits (we have Alfred’s warning, “Know your limits, Master Wayne” with Bruce’s reply of, “Batman has no limits,” and Alfred’s rebuttle, “But you do, sir. And what happens the day you find out?”) and show the Joker getting inside Batman’s head and trying to push him over the edge, to get him to break his “one rule.”

4. Hush (Volumes One and Two)

Volume One:

From Jeph Loeb, the author of Batman: Dark Victory and Jim Lee, the founder of Wildstorm Comics. Old friends and enemies find themselves thrown together in a murderous plot hatched by Poison Ivy. What is she plotting? No one quite knows, but by manipulating both Batman and his enemies Killer Croc and Catwoman tensions are high and no one is to be trusted in Gotham City tonight!

Volume Two:

Using the Joker, Harley Quinn, and Ra’s al Ghul as his own private pawns, the enigmatic man known only as Hush makes Batman, Robin and Nightwing endure a series of torturous mental and physical attacks. But it is not until Batman learns his mysterious assailant’s true identity that he suffers his greatest defeat and betrayal.

Batman: Hush is one of the best comic book stories I’ve ever read—of anything. This comic grabbed me and wouldn’t let me go until the very end. Its twists and turns are great—and the art (with pencils by Jim Lee) is unbelievable. There are Batman characters everywhere! Some might say that that can only lead to chaos, and that the author probably would only dig himself into a hole. If that’s true, then this is the exception. This story arc is brilliant, and nothing is left unresolved when it comes to plot points. A great story—beginning to end.

How does this connect back to The Dark Knight? This comic deals with Bruce’s childhood a lot through memories; how things can change forever in a single night. TDK is going to be like that. The Joker brings a whole new world of criminality—not to mention anarchy—to Gotham City, changing it forever. I mean, where would the Batman mythos be without the Joker?

There’s also romance in this series. Sure, maybe not between Bruce and Rachel Dawes, who only exists in the Batman movie world—but romance nonetheless. And on that level, it’s very similar to the conflicted relationship between Bruce and Rachel in The Dark Knight.

Plus, this comic explores the psychology of Batman very well—which is similar to what the Joker is going to try to achieve in TDK.

5. Year One

A young Bruce Wayne has spent his adolescence and early adulthood, traveling the world so he could hone his body and mind into the perfect fighting and investigative machine. But now as he returns to Gotham City, he must find a way to focus his passion and bring justice to his city. Retracing Batman’s first attempts to fight injustice as a costumed vigilante, we watch as he chooses a guise of a giant bat, creates an early bond with a young Lieutenant James Gordon, inadvertently plays a role in the birth of Catwoman, and helps to bring down a corrupt political system that infests Gotham.

Okay, so maybe this comic has a little more to do with Batman Begins than it does with The Dark Knight … All right, a lot more. But it’s a classic. Moreover, the unique relationship between Batman and Jim Gordon is formed in this comic, and in TDK that will deepen.

And the “corrupt political system that infests Gotham”? Yeah, that’s definitely a big part of The Dark Knight. Hello? Harvey Dent for District Attorney, anyone?

6. A Death in the Family

Batman readers were allowed to vote on the outcome of the story and they decided that Robin should die! As the second person to assume the role of Batman’s sidekick, Jason Todd had a completely different personality than the original Robin. Rash and prone to ignore Batman’s instructions, Jason was always quick to act without regard to consequences. In this fatal instance, Robin ignores his mentor’s warnings when he attempts to take on the Joker by himself and pays the ultimate price. Driven by anger with Superman by his side, Batman seeks his vengeance as he looks to end the Joker’s threat forever. Reprints Batman #426-429.

Yeah, that’s right. We Batman fans are apparently cruel sadists. I can only imagine DC’s reaction. “Uh … whoops?”

Spanning only four issues, this isn’t a long storyline—although older comics do tend to feel (and sometimes be) longer. But whether or not you like Robin, you can’t ignore something this central to the Batman mythos. Jason Todd’s death—something Batman knows wasn’t his fault but he still blames himself for anyway—really messed Bruce up for awhile.

I included this story arc because it really shows the Joker’s insanity and how much Batman despises him but can never resort to murdering him. The Joker continuously endeavors to push Batman closer and closer to that line just because he wants to destroy everything Batman stands for; at the same time he knows Batman will never intentionally be the end of him. And that’s something that’s going to play very strongly in The Dark Knight.

Also, there’s rumored to be a major death in TDK …

7. The Long Halloween

Taking place during Batman’s early days of crime fighting, this trade paperback tells the story of a mysterious killer who murders his prey only on holidays. Working with District Attorney Harvey Dent and Lieutenant James Gordon, Batman races against the calendar as he tries to discover who Holiday is before he claims his next victim each month. A mystery that has the reader continually guessing the identity of the killer, this story also ties into the events that transform Harvey Dent into Batman’s deadly enemy, Two-Face.

This is a classic: One of the best murder mysteries to appear in comic book form—not to mention a Batman story. It tells the progression of Harvey Dent to Two-Face, just like in The Dark Knight, and is about doubts, suspicions, desires … and justice—and its cost. Similarly, it deals with escalation, something explored in TDK. That is, the change from mobs to “freaks”—the big villains Batman continuously has to stop in the comics. While Batman Begins fits Year One, The Long Halloween follows just like the sequel to BB.

And much like the Joker in TDK, the villain Holiday seems to come out of nowhere.

I won’t say anything because I don’t want to spoil it, but The Long Halloween is still debated over today. This story arc—comprised of thirteen comics—will make your head spin, and has an ending you’ll never see coming.

8. The Killing Joke

For the first time the Joker’s origin is revealed in this tale of insanity and human perseverance. Looking to prove that any man can be pushed past his breaking point and go mad, the Joker attempts to drive Commissioner Gordon insane. After shooting and permanently paralyzing his daughter Barbara (a.k.a. Batgirl), the Joker kidnaps the commissioner and attacks his mind in hopes of breaking the man. But refusing to give up, Gordon maintains his sanity with the help of Batman in an effort to best the madman.

Recommended for mature audiences, this is a fantastic Joker story. Not only does it cover the Joker’s origin from his perspective (making it suspicious in itself—fitting the character, who is a liar and homicidal maniac, and his insanity perfectly), but it really delves into the Joker’s madness and his view of society and people while simultaneously drawing a strange, and not to mention creepy, artistic and written parallel between him and Batman.

For something like a forty-six-page story, it communicates a hell of a lot and is one amazing graphic novel. In it, the Joker endeavors to prove that all that separates the sane from the insane like himself is “a bad day.” He uses Jim Gordon and his daughter, Barbara (aka Batgirl), to carry out his experiment.

In The Dark Knight, the Joker is going to try to push Batman over the limit, showing all of Gotham that he’s no different than the people he locks away. So we’ll definitely being seeing a parallel similar to the subtle one drawn in The Killing Joke. What is more, we get the sense from a certain scene in the second trailer that the Joker (or someone, at least) is going to mess with Gordon and his family like he does in this book. And while TDK leaves the Joker’s origin—or a possible origin, for that matter—out of the picture, making him just exist like when he was introduced way back in the first Batman comic, there’s no question that we’ll be getting a thorough tour into the cracked and twisted mind of Batman’s ultimate foe.

I actually just got the new hardcover, deluxe edition of this graphic novel, so if you’re already a fan (or you’re interested in picking it up for your collection), you HAVE to get this version. The coloring is updated—completely redone by the great Brian Bolland—and suits the comic much better, and there’s some cool extras stuffed in with the comic itself.

* * *

Well, that concludes this list of Eight Awesome Batman Stories You Can’t Miss. So start readin’, and don’t forget to see The Dark Knight this Friday!

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