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Batman All In Reading Order

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During the Absolute Power event, Amanda Waller tried and ultimately failed to neutralize the superhero community and the wider metahuman population. In fact, this prompted the formation of a new and improved Justice League, featuring the largest roster ever. The heroes are All In the JL, while the Absolute Universe, a parallel reality shaped by Darkseid that redefines familiar characters and power structures across the DC multiverse, is created. 

With the Batman titles, the transition from the Dawn of DC era to All In is not marked by a big break. With delays in the publication of Hush 2, the direct sequel to the classic Hush story, written by Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee, Chip Zdarsky’s run on Batman was slightly extended, and, eventually, Matt Fraction took over Batman (Jorge Jiménez is still the artist on the book). Detective Comics is now written by Tom Taylor with art by Pete Woods. And while Batman is not dominating the DC Universe as he once did, Superman has been pushed forward recently, there are still a lot of Bat-Family adventures to read.

Of course, there is also the popular Absolute Batman by Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta, which reinvented Bruce Wayne’s life, creating a working-class version of the character who confronts crime with limited resources. This universe has a dedicated reading guide.

Previously on Batman…

Since 1939, Batman has been fighting crime in the streets of Gotham City and even all around the world (and occasionally in space). That’s a lot to read. So, before going all in with the new Batman stories, you can still explore the past eras of DC Comics. And you can find all of our Batman-related guides in our Batman Comics Guide.

Batman All In Reading Order

In the not-too-distant past… 

As we keep moving forward, DC Comics’ writers still like to explore the Caped Crusader’s past, primarily Mark Waid. But writer Dan Watters and artist Hayden Sherman also followed this road with the 12-issue maxi series Batman: Dark Patterns (4 cases, each told in three issues), in which Batman has only been active in the streets of Gotham for three years.

Mark Waid and Chris Samnee teamed up to explore the first year of Batman and Robin’s collaboration. It starts with the first time they officially go out as a team meeting Gordon. 

Batman and Superman continue their classic team-up under writer Mark Waid and artist Adrian Gutierrez. Batman/Superman: World’s Finest tells stories set in a not-too-distant past that are sometimes referenced in the present day. The Batman and Superman of the past will also soon be part of a crossover with Justice League Unlimited (see below!). Previous stories are listed in our Batman Dawn of DC guide.

Batman is now All In…

Amanda Waller’s failed coup opened the door for Darkseid’s return! Superman gathers every hero on Earth to hold the line in a fight that shakes the nature of DC reality to its core, with the creation of the Absolute Universe. 

Due to Jim Lee being slow at drawing “H2SH,” Chip Zdarsky was asked to continue writing Batman for a few more issues. This is the conclusion of his run, and he sets up some changes to a few characters’ status quo before Matt Fraction takes over the main Batman Comics. 

Fresh off his Nightwing run, Tom Taylor is now writing Detective Comics with artist Mikel Janín. As for Batman and Robin, Kennedy Johnson has taken over the writing duties, with Javier Fernandez (and others) doing the art.

Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee reunited to produce a sequel to their 2002 “Hush” story. It was supposed to be canon, but with the multiple publication delays, it’s unclear now whether this will have the promised impact. 

  • Batman: HUSH 2 [2026]
    Collects Batman #158-163 and the “H2SH” prelude from Justice League Unlimited #1.

Following the events of Absolute Powers, Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman introduced a new Justice League (in DC All In Special #1), and they decided to make it bigger than ever by opening the doors of their Watchtower headquarters to heroes from across the DC Universe! It’s Justice League Unlimited by Mark Waid and Dan Mora.

Batman is obviously a character in the series, but he only plays a small part, as there are so many heroes available. Still, in the “We Are Yesterday” storyline, he is at the center of the story with Superman and Robin. 

With the conclusion of Hush 2 delayed, DC Comics relaunched Batman with a new #1. This new volume, written by Matt Fraction with art by Jorge Jiménez, picks up right where the Zdarsky/Jiménez run ended. It’s from that point on that Batman has his new costume.

DC K.O. is the first crossover event of the All In/Absolute era, supervised by writers Scott Snyder and Joshua Williamson. We have a reading guide dedicated to it, but here is what you need to know. It’s not a Batman-centric event, and you don’t even have to read the main miniseries for him, but he has a part to play in the event, notably in the Knightfight miniseries. The prelude to the story is in the Justice League Unlimited series, and none of the Batman titles tie into the event. For Batman only, read DC K.O. #1, DC K.O.: Knightfight #1-4, DC K.O. #4.

The story follows the emergence of a massive, five-tier gladiatorial arena that rises from the Earth, drawing the DC Universe’s most powerful champions into a series of escalating battles. 

Batman Dawn of DC: The Out of Continuity Stories

As always, Batman’s universe expands beyond the limits of the DC regular ongoing comics. The following books are stories published during the All In era that are not considered part of the main continuity.

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