Grant Morrison’s Batman Reading Order Guide

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There are a lot of fantastic Batman creative runs out there. However, none of them are like Grant Morrison’s. The 2006-2013 run ambitiously balances mining Batman lore with introducing fresh ideas. Morrison seemingly plucks obscure ideas and recontextualises them for a modern readership. From this, we get Damian Wayne (Batman’s son) as Robin and see several forgotten characters return. At the same time, we see things that had never been done before, like Dick Grayson taking up the mantle of Batman and the introduction of Batman Incorporated.

This Batman run can seem intimidating, shifting into different series as it changes gears. This reading order makes reading easy. It breaks down what you need to read into different formats while offering annotations, background reading and much more. With this, you can dive head-first into this pioneering creative run.

Batman and Robin (2009 series) #1 cover by Frank Quitely.

How is this run structured?

Grant Morrison’s run is not as straightforward as other Batman runs. Much of this is due to its transition to different Bat-titles, shifting storytelling modes in the process. While it begins in the pages of Batman (1940 series), the story continues in Batman and Robin, and eventually Batman Incorporated – along with several supplemental issues.

These series shifts demark the different acts of the run. They move the focus elsewhere but build upon what came before in new and exciting ways. From the outside looking in, they appear to be disparate parts. However, looking at it holistically, there’s a much larger mega-story at play.

Roughly speaking, these acts are:

Act one: The Batman (1940 series) stories up and Final Crisis
Act two: Dick Grayson’s time as Batman in the pages of Batman and Robin. This act also covers Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne miniseries
Act three: Batman Incorporated

Matt Draper has a great series on YouTube that dives into each of these acts.

A Serious House on Serious Earth cover by Dave McKean.

Background reading

Grant Morrison mines Batman lore to bring back forgotten ideas and recontextualise them in new ways. While understanding these references is not essential to understanding their run, you might want to dig into them for your interest. The below list will point you in the right direction.

Batman: Son of the Demon
Written by Mike W. Barr. Art by Jerry Bingham.

This 1987 graphic novel was not considered canonical, with the reveal of Batman’s secret son being retconned a few years later. However, Morrison made it canon with the introduction of Damian Wayne.

Batman: The Killing Joke
Written by Alan Moore. Art by Brian Bolland.

Morrison references The Killing Joke heavily in the Clown at Midnight story (Batman #663).

Batman: The Black Casebook
Written and art by various.

Batman: The Black Casebook is a collection that DC Comics published that collated a bunch of Batman stories from Golden and Silver Ages. Morrison references or takes concepts from these stories in their run. Not essential reading but perfect for those who love to mine the character’s publication history.

The stories included are:

A Partner For Batman! (Batman (1940 series) #65)
Batman – Indian Chief (Batman (1940 series) #86)
The Batmen of All Nations (Detective Comics #215)
The Club of Heroes (World’s Finest #89)
The First Batman (Detective Comics #235)
The Man Who Ended Batman’s Career (Detective Comics #247)
Am I Really Batman? (Batman (1940 series) #112)
Batman – The Superman of Planet X (Batman (1940 series) #113)
Batman Meets Bat-Mite (Detective Comics #267)
The Rainbow Creature (Batman (1940 series) #134)
Robin Dies at Dawn (Batman (1940 series) #156)
The Batman Creature (Batman (1940 series) #162)

Jiro Kuwata’s Bat-Manga
Written and art by Jiro Kuwata.

Lord Death Man was a villain in the 1960s Batman manga. Morrison brings the villain back in their run.

Batman (1940 series) #655 cover by Andy Kubert.

Reading order

Find out how to read Grant Morrison’s (and collaborators) Batman run below. It has been broken down by format, with issues and the different collected editions to cater for different readers and includes annotations where necessary.

Issue breakdown

Below is the breakdown of this Batman run by issue. I’ve added annotation where I thought helpful along the way.

Batman #655

Note: this issue features the first appearance of Damian Wayne.

Batman #656

Batman #657

Batman #658

Note: Batman #659-662 are not written by Grant Morrison. These issues feature a story called “Grotesk” by John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake.

Batman #663

Batman #664

Batman #665

Batman #666

Batman #667

Batman #668

Batman #669

Note: Batman #670-671 are part of The Resurrection of Ra’s al Ghul crossover. The story weaves through other Batman-centric titles to tell a larger story. Only the Batman issues are written by Grant Morrison. However, you’ll want to read the relevant issues of Robin, Nightwing, and Detective Comics if you want to get the full story. The reading order is below.

Batman Annual #26

Robin Annual #7

Batman #670 (Prelude)

Robin #168 (Part 1)

Nightwing (1996 series) #138 (Part 2)

Detective Comics #838 (Part 3)

Batman #671 (Part 4)

Robin #169 (Part 5)

Nightwing (1996 series) #139 (Part 7)

Detective Comics #839 (Part 8)

Detective Comics #840 (Epilogue)

Batman #672

Batman #673

Batman #674

Batman #675

Batman #676

Batman #677

Batman #678

Batman #679

Batman #680

Batman #681

Final Crisis #1

Final Crisis #2

Final Crisis #3

Final Crisis #4

Batman #682 (Final Crisis tie-in)

Batman #683 (Final Crisis tie-in)

Final Crisis #5

Final Crisis #6

Final Crisis #7

Batman #700

Note: Batman #700 is a flashback story.

Batman #701

Batman #702

Note: Batman #701-702 features a missing chapter of Batman R.I.P.:

DC Universe #0

Batman and Robin (2009 series) #1

Batman and Robin (2009 series) #2

Batman and Robin (2009 series) #3

Batman and Robin (2009 series) #4

Batman and Robin (2009 series) #5

Batman and Robin (2009 series) #6

Batman and Robin (2009 series) #7

Batman and Robin (2009 series) #8

Batman and Robin (2009 series) #9

Batman and Robin (2009 series) #10

Batman and Robin (2009 series) #11

Batman and Robin (2009 series) #12

Batman and Robin (2009 series) #13

Batman and Robin (2009 series) #14

Batman and Robin (2009 series) #15

Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #1

Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #2

Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #3

Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #4

Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #5

Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #6

Note: Batman by Grant Morrison Omnibus Volume 2 collects Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne interspersed with Batman and Robin to due to these comics being running similatiously when originally published. However, to make it cleaner, I have blocked them together. You will be fine to read them this way as long as you read Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne before Batman and Robin #16.

Batman and Robin (2009 series) #16

Batman: The Return

Batman Incorporated (2010 series) #1

Batman Incorporated (2010 series) #2

Batman Incorporated (2010 series) #3

Batman Incorporated (2010 series) #4

Batman Incorporated (2010 series) #5

Batman Incorporated (2010 series) #6

Batman Incorporated (2010 series) #7

Batman Incorporated (2010 series) #8

Batman Incorporated: Leviathan Strikes #1

Batman Incorporated (2012 series) #1

Batman Incorporated (2012 series) #2

Batman Incorporated (2012 series) #3

Batman Incorporated (2012 series) #0

Batman Incorporated (2012 series) #4

Batman Incorporated (2012 series) #5

Batman Incorporated (2012 series) #6

Batman Incorporated (2012 series) #7

Batman Incorporated (2012 series) #8

Batman Incorporated (2012 series) #9

Batman Incorporated (2012 series) #10

Batman Incorporated (2012 series) #11

Batman Incorporated (2012 series) #12

Batman Incorporated (2012 series) #13

Batman Incorporated Special #1

Note: Batman Incorporated Special is a one-shot anthology featuring several creators. Grant Morrison only write one of these stories.

Buy Batman comics on…

Batman R.I.P. trade paperback cover by Alex Ross.

Trade paperback breakdown

Prefer to read this run in a collected format? Below are trade paperbacks you’ll want to track down.

Batman and Son
Collects: #655-658 and #663-666

Batman: The Black Glove
Collects: Batman #667-669 and #672-675

Batman: The Resurrection of Ra’s al Ghul
Collects: Batman Annual #26, Robin Annual #7, Batman #670-671, Robin #168-169, Nightwing (1996 series) #138-139, and Detective Comics #838-839

Batman R.I.P.
Collects: Batman #676-681

Final Crisis
Collects: Final Crisis #1-7, Final Crisis: Submit #1, Final Crisis: Superman Beyond #1-2, DC Universe Zero, Batman #682-683

Batman and Robin: Batman Reborn
Collects: Batman and Robin (2009 series) #1-3

Batman and Robin: Revenge of the Red Hood
Collects: Batman and Robin (2009 series) #4-6

Batman and Robin: Blackest Knight
Collects: Batman and Robin (2009 series) #7-9

Batman: Time and the Batman
Collects: Batman #700-703

Batman and Robin: Batman vs. Robin
Collects: Batman and Robin (2009 series) #10-12

Batman and Robin: Batman and Robin Must Die
Collects: Batman and Robin (2009 series) #13-15

Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne
Collects: Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #1-5

Batman Incorporated
Collects: Batman Incorporated (2010 series) #1-8 and Batman Incorporated: Leviathan Strikes! #1

Batman Incorporated Volume 1: Demon Star
Collects: Batman Incorporated (2012 series) #0-6

Batman Incorporated Volume 2: Gotham’s Most Wanted
Collects: Batman Incorporated (2012 series) #7-13 and Batman Incorporated Special #1

Buy Batman trade paperbacks on…

Batman by Grant Morrison Omnibus Volume 1 cover by J.H. Williams III.

Omnibus breakdown

Omnibus editions are another way to read Grant Morrison’s Batman run.

Batman by Grant Morrison Omnibus Volume 1
Collects: Batman #655-658 and #663-683; DC Universe #0; and 52 #30 and #47

Batman by Grant Morrison Omnibus Volume 2
Collects: Batman and Robin (2009 series) #1-16, Batman #700-702, and Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #1-6

Batman by Grant Morrison Omnibus Volume 3
Collects: Batman Incorporated (2010 series) #1-8, Batman Incorporated: Leviathan Strikes! #1, Batman Incorporated (2012 series) #1-12, and Batman Incorporated Special #1

Buy Batman by Grant Morrison omnibus editions on…

Born to Kill cover by Patrick Gleason and Mick Gray.

After Grant Morrison’s run

Have you finished reading Grant Morrison’s Batman run and wonder what to read next? While there are very few creators that can match Morrison’s wavelength, there are plenty of different directions you can go with Batman.

Peter J. Tomasi and Patrick Gleason’s Batman and Robin run

There was a new Batman and Robin series launched in 2011 as part of the New 52 soft-reboot. The series explored Bruce Wayne and Damian Wayne’s relationship as father and son and crime-fighting partners. Check out Batman and Robin (2011 series) #1-40 and Batman and Robin Annual #1-3.

Paul Dini’s Detective Comics run

Detective Comics is the other big Batman series. Paul Dini was the primary writer on it during Morrison’s run on the character, cranking out some great stories. Check out Detective Comics #821-828, #831, #833-834, #837-841, #843-850, and #852.

Chip Zdarsky’s Batman run

While the previous two suggestions were contemporaneous to Morrison’s run, this suggestion came much later. I’m recommending this one to anyone who’s interested in see more stories featuring Zur-En-Arrh. He plays a pivotal role in the run. Check out our reading order to find out how to read it.

Batman: The Black Mirror
Written by Scott Snyder. Art by Jock and Francisco Francavilla.

Need more Dick Grayson as Batman? The Black Mirror is one of the best stories of the character during this time. Read Detective Comics #871-881 to get the full story.