Head Canon- Choosing Your Own Batman Continuity

[thecolorsblend]

With comics, especially with characters who have been in constant publication for over 70 years, continuity and canon can be tricky proposition. The plethora of material out there means not very many people have read everything. And of those who have, fewer still retain everything.

So when it comes to a given character's history and his canon, a lot of comes down to individual preference. What do YOU consider to be essential?

I've begun putting together my canon for Batman. For many reasons this "canon" is entirely imaginary because these stories weren't necessarily intended to go together, there are internal problems with timelines and whatnot and probably other conflicts too.

But I don't care. This is MY head canon. Fine details be damned, this is a selection of stuff that I believe is and should be canonical.

Now, the below isn't necessarily comprehensive. Yes, the stuff listed happened... but I'm not saying nothing else happened. Indeed, other stuff could've. It probably did. But the idea isn't necessarily to be comprehensive. The idea is to nail down essentials (which I think I've mostly done) as well as a few optional stories.

The other idea is to present this stuff in a semi-chronological story. So the final story listed in the tenth year section is the "last" Batman story. It's not the end of Batman, as such. It's just the end of his story. That is Batman's series finale. Other stuff may have happened but the essential part of his story has been concluded.

I find that appealing considering how much I hate from what came after 2003 and more recently today.

Finally, you'll notice the Killing Joke is absent from the list below. The reason for that is because in my head canon, the Joker somehow crippled Barbara but the details aren't really known... even if the issues below include flashbacks to the Killing Joke. The Killing Joke does not exist in my head canon. It explicitly never happened. The Joker somehow crippled Babs. That's what we know. That's all we know.

And now for my head canon:

-- Year 01- Urban Commando
Batman Year One- Batman #404-#407
The Case of the Chemical Syndicate- Detective #27
Images- LOTDK #50
Detective #28-#30
Batman Annual #19
Batman vs the Vampire- Detective #31-#32
Shadow of the Bat Annual #03
LOTDK Annual #05
Detective #32-33
Detective Annual #08
Detective #36-37
Prey- LOTDK #11-#15
Storm- LOTDK #58
Criminals- LOTDK #69-#70
The Long Halloween
Going Sane- LOTDK #65-#68

-- Year 02- Enter Dick Grayson
Hugo Strange and the Mutant Monsters- Batman #1
Robin Annual #04
Batman Chronicles- The Gauntlet
Robin- Year One
The Joker Returns- Batman #1
The Crime Master- Batman #2
The Crime School for Boys- Batman #3
One of the Most Perfect Frame-Ups- Detective #58
Case of the Joker's Crime Circus- Batman #4
The King of the Jungle- Detective #59
Knights of Knavery- Batman #25
1,001 Umbrellas of the Penguin
The Fowls of Fate- Batman #48
The Origin of Batman- Batman #48

-- Year 03- Batman's Best Year
A Greater Detective Than Batman- Detective #168
The Man Behind the Red Hood- Detective #168
The Riddle of the Seven Birds- Batman #56
Joker's Millions- Detective #180
Joker's Crime Costumes- Batman #63
Joker's Utility Belt- Batman #73
The Crazy Crime Clown- Batman #74
The Penguin's Fabulous Fowls- Batman #76
The Menace of False Face- Batman #113
Operation: Escape- Star-Spangled Comics #124
The Jungle Cat-Queen- Detective #211
The Batwoman- Detective #233
The First Batman- Detective #235
Two Face Strikes Again- Batman #81
Ace the Bat-House- Batman #92
The Second Boy Wonder- Batman #105
The Great Clayface-Joker Feud- Batman #159

-- Year 04- Enter Barbara Gordon
Partners In Plunder- Batman #169
The Blockbuster Invasion of Gotham City- Detective #345
The Strange Death of Batman- Detective #347
The Joker's Happy Victims- Kellogg's Special
Batgirl- Year One
The Night Batman Destroyed Gotham City- Detective #362
The True False Face of Batman- Detective #363
The House the Joker Built- Detective #365
Batgirl Breaks Up the Dynamic Duo- Detective #369
Catwoman Sets Her Claws for Batman- Batman #197

-- Year 05- Dick At College
The Batman Adventures #18
Paint a Picture of Peril- Detective #397
The Hollow Man- Detective #397
The Batman Adventures #26
Half an Evil- Batman #234
The Batman Adventures #12
Man-Bat Over Vegas- Detective #429
The Batman Adventures #14
The Joker's Five-Way Revenge- Batman #251
Death Has the Last Laugh- Brave & the Bold #111
Hail Emperor Penguin- Batman #257
Strange Apparitions- Detective Comics #470-#476
A Caper A Day Keeps Batman At Bay- Batman #312

-- Year 06- Enter Jason Todd
Nightwing Year One- Nightwing #101-#106
A New Boy Wonder- Batman #408-#411
Ten Nights of the Beast- Batman #417-#420
Fever- Detective #583
Batgirl (1997 One-Shot)
The Diplomat's Son- Batman #424
Consequences- Batman #425
A Death in the Family- Batman #426-#429

-- Year 07- Batman's Year of Vengeance
Fatal Wish- Batman #430
The Wall- Batman #431
Dead Letter Office- Batman #432
Many Deaths of Batman- Batman #433-#435
Year Three- Batman #436-#439
The Mud Pack- Detective #604-#607
A Lonely Place of Dying
Crimesmith- Batman #443-#444
Rite of Passage- Detective #618-#621
Return of the Joker- Batman #450-#451

-- Year 08- Tim Drake Becomes Robin
Identity Crisis- Batman #455-#457
Debut- Batman #465
The Last Arkham- Shadow of the Bat #1-#4
Knightfall/Knightquest/KnightsEnd
Zero Hour- Batman #511, #0
Zero Hour- Detective #678, #0
Zero Hour- Shadow of the Bat #31, #0
Zero Hour- Robin #10, #0
Prodigal
Troika
The Joker- Shadow of the Bat #37-#38
The Penguin Returns- Detective #683-#684
Sleeper- Batman #516-#517

-- Year 09- No Man's Land
Cataclysm
Aftershocks
No Man's Land

-- Year 10- The End
He Who Lurks- Batman #578
Happy Birthday Two You- Detective #747
Urban Renewal- Detective #748-#749
The Dark Knight Project- Batman #584
The Janus Double-Down- Detective #753
Penguin Dreams- Batman #586
Officer Down
Bruce Wayne- Murderer/Fugitive
Hush

[The Dark Knight]

Give me some time, colorful one. I'll get something together.

[thecolorsblend]

I've been rereading some of the above Head Canon stories I listed, especially the ones from the 90's. That 90's Batman will probably always be my Batman. I don't really care for too much of anything published in the last 15 years or so.

I freely admit that I might be biased. But I think Batman's run of comics in the 1990's is as strong a run as any character has ever had... and probably stronger than 99% of characters. There were big stories driven by big ideas created by people with big talent. And they were bigly successful against some really big competition. It's one thing to be near the top of the heap in the 70's, when comics were all over the place. But in an insane era like the 90's, being the best is a whole new level of bragging rights.

[The Dark Knight]

Give me some time, colorful one. I'll get something together.

Give me some more time. I'll get something together.