Has anyobody bought this book? I'm not a comic book guy at all, but I like the character of Batman. I was wondering what would be the ideal and affordable way to read all these stories, and this seems to be it. And as a non-comic person, all of these issues and crossovers seem extremely confusing. How can they release a definitive and complete chronological collection of every Batman story, from 1939 to today?

I have it and have been reading it over the past few weeks (I only read a single story here and there). It's great stuff and looks like plenty of color restoration was done. It's certainly not the Batman people are used to though.

There's supposed to be a new line of books coming out from DC that will be their answer to Marvel's "Essential" line, which makes me question what will happen to Chronicles. I would've thought Volume 2 would be announced by now, it's been three months since the first one.

I really enjoyed the Batman Chronicles. I haven't heard anything about whether they'll be doing more volumes.

The new line of books is called Showcase Presents, and they've said it will be sticking to Silver Age stuff. So I doubt DC is viewing it as a replacement for the Chronicles.

A loved Chronicles and hope they get on a regular publishing schedule.

If you are a new fan, I really wouldn't recommend going back to this just yet. The Batman you see in this is a much different batman then what everyone is used to. So it's going to be a bit odd in the reading of it.

I have to say I prefer the Silver Age ('50s, '60s) Batman which was so goofy and fun it's hard to believe to the Golden Age ('30s, '40s) stuff. There's some good moments but it definitely can seem primitive and poorly drawn compared to our modern expectations. Still, for $10 it's now a bad deal at all -- I particularly like the first appearance of The Joker printed in it. And Batman kills!

Amazon has Volume Two of Batman Chronicles up for preorder.

Superman Chronicles vol. 1 supposedly came out yesterday, though I haven't been to the comic shop this week yet. It's got the Superman stories from Action Comics #1-13, World's Fair #1, and Superman #1.

Yeah, I got my copy of Superman with my shipment yesterday.

I love the idea but I wish they would release several at once covering the first of each decade. That way I won't have to wait until I am 60 or 70 in age to get reprints of the 70's, 80's & 90's.

My big question is: is this going to start out strong & they do this for a few years & then it finally drop off and they never get to the Silver or Bronze age? I don't want to start collecting these and then DC just quits doing the series which I feel is likely.

I looked at one today at my local Books-a-million and it looked pretty nice for it's price. I wish there were more included, say 50 issues at once. i know that would be a little more but it wopuld still be half the price of the Archive series.

So what happens when Batman & Superman crossover in World's Finest or Justice League? Will they be reprinting the same books in both character's runs? What about cameos or minor sub-plots in various books?

Any other characters in the works for this?

The closest you'll get to 50 issues is the B&W reprints "Showcase":

Here's the JLA one:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/140...lance&n=283155

Is Chronicles the best way to get all Batman stories from both Detective Comics and Batman books? Is Archive worth it? I want to get most, if not all of Batman stories from Detective Comics #27 until present and was wondering what are the best options. I prefer to get whatever collections are available in hardcover.

It'll be slow going, no matter how you do it. There are 7 volumes of Batman Chronicles out which reprint Detective 27 through 74, Batman 1 through 13, and World's Finest 1 through 7.

Then there's Showcase Presents: Batman, which has 4 volumes released and reprints 500+ pages per volume in black & white. These have reprinted Detective Comics 327 through 390 and Batman 164 through 215.

If you want to go the expensive hardcover route, Batman Archives has 6 volumes which reprint Detective 27 through 135. 5 volumes of Batman: The Dark Knight Archives reprint Batman 1 through 20. Batman: The Dynamic Duo Archives has 2 volumes reprinting Detective 327 through 349 and Batman 164 to 171.

However you chose to go about it, lot's of luck.

Thanks for the info. I'm disappointed that the stuff from the 70's and 80's seems to missing in trade form. I love those years, since it was when Batman when back to the dark roots and out of the campy 60 stuff.

There is a lot of '70s and '80s Batman available in trade and hardcover. First, there are compilations called "Batman in the Seventies" and "Batman in the Eighties." There are also '70s and '80s comics in the "Greatest Stories Ever Told" series. Also check out:

Seventies: Strange Apparitions, Tales of the Demon, Batman Illustrated by Neal Adams HC, Showcase Brave and Bold

Eighties: Ten Nights of the Beast, Death in the Family, A Lonely Place of Dying, Batman Year Two

Really enjoying B&B! I also have Batman in the '70s as well as two Greatest Batman Stories and the Greatest Joker stories.