Batman (comic book)

Batman
Cover of Batman #1 (spring 1940)
art by Bob Kane and Jerry Robinson
Publication information
PublisherDC Comics
Schedule
List
  • Quarterly: #1–5
    Bimonthly: #6–80; #254–259
    Eight times a year: #81–168
    Nine times a year: #169–177; #238–246
    10 times a year: #178–237
    Seven times a year: #247–253
    11 times a year: #260–270
    Monthly: #271–715 except for biweekly status for #436–439, 448–453, 464–469, 477–482, 492–497, 627–628, 643–644, 660–661, 682–683, and 691–692
FormatOngoing series
GenreSuperhero
Publication date
List
  • (vol. 1)
    Spring 1940 – August 2011
    (vol. 2)
    November 2011 – July 2016
    (vol. 3)
    August 2016 – present
No. of issues
List
  • (vol. 1): 715[1] (#1–713 plus issues #0 and #1,000,000), one Special and 28 Annuals
    (vol. 2): 57 (#1–52 plus issues #0 and #23.1–23.4), one Special and four Annuals
    (vol. 3): 152 plus a DC Rebirth one-shot, nine Special and seven Annuals (as of November 2024 cover date)
Main character(s)Batman
Batman Family
Creative team
Written by
List
Penciller(s)
List
Inker(s)
List
Colorist(s)
List
  • (vol. 1)
    Adrienne Roy
    (vol. 2)
    FCO Plascencia
    (vol. 3)
    Jordie Bellaire
    June Chung
Collected editions
Dark Knight Archive Volume 1ISBN 1-56389-050-X

Batman is an ongoing American comic book series featuring the DC Comics superhero Batman as its protagonist. The character, created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane,[2] first appeared in Detective Comics #27 (cover dated May 1939). Batman proved to be so popular that a self-titled ongoing comic book series began publication with a cover date of spring 1940.[3][4] It was first advertised in early April 1940, one month after the first appearance of his new sidekick, Robin the Boy Wonder. Batman comics have proven to be popular since the 1940s.

Though the Batman comic book was launched as a quarterly publication, it later became a bimonthly series through the late 1950s, after which it became a monthly publication.

In September 2011, The New 52 rebooted DC's continuity. In this new timeline, the original Batman series ended at issue #713 and was relaunched with a new first issue (cover dated November 2011). Batman (vol. 2) ran until issue #52.

In 2016, DC Comics began a new relaunch of its entire line of titles called DC Rebirth, which continued continuity from the New 52. The Batman comic book was relaunched again with a new #1 issue (August 2016) and placed on a twice-monthly release schedule. The series continued through the next major relaunch by DC Comics, called Infinite Frontier, reverting to a monthly schedule with issue #106 (May 2021).[5]

  1. ^ Batman at the Grand Comics Database
  2. ^ Anders, Charlie Jane. "Who Really Created Batman? It Depends What Batman Means to You". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved November 30, 2021.
  3. ^ The Catalog of Copyright Entries 1940 Periodicals Jan-Dec New Series Vol 35 Pt 2. Washington, D.C.: United States Copyright Office. 1940. p. 142.
  4. ^ "Batman #1 (Spring 1940)". Grand Comics Database.
  5. ^ Batman vol. 3 #106 (2021)