Batman: Why New 52 is a great starting point for new readers

Image Source: DC Digital Comics, Batman

New 52 Batman shows why he is one of the best characters in comic book history.

Batman is known as one of the best fighters and the world’s greatest detective and has proven this to be true time and time again. He’s also one of the most well known characters in pop-culture. You don’t need to read comics or watch his movies to know who he is or his origin story. Despite his popularity, not every story is a good starting point for new readers. Stories need to be a good representation of the character if people are going start a series and continue.

Batman made his appearance in 1939. It would be ideal to start from the first appearance and then work your way to his current comics, but not every story is great and his original arcs may be dated.

As someone who wasn’t always a Batman fan, while I loved the classics like Year One and Long Halloween, I didn’t know what was a good starting point without reading decades of material. A friend suggested The New 52 Batman and that series made me fall in love with Batman and Bruce Wayne. Allow me to explain why this is a great jumping in point for new readers.

Classic villains with a new twist

New 52 maintained the idea that Batman is one of the smartest people in the world. He also learned to work smarter and not harder. He found a way to see multiple places since he couldn’t be everywhere at once. He also used a set of contact lenses that could make certain people were who they said they were. This was due to a smarter and more devious set of classic villains.

Batman was brought to the brink more than people are used to seeing. Let’s take Zero Year for example. The Riddler actually won. He took Gotham and sent them back to the stone age. On top of that, it was impossible to get help in because Riddler threatened to kill people if anyone tried. A threat he made good on. Bruce lost so bad he almost quit his tenure as Batman before it really got started.

There was also Death of the Family. Joker kidnapped all of the Bat-Family (including Alfred). This was when Joker captured them all and moved them to the Batcave. When it looked like the fight was over, Joker gassed them and almost made them kill each other. Because of villains like this, Batman had to be more aggressive. In Death of the Family, he almost killed Joker because he was tired of the games. A rule he’s sworn to never break.