The Reliance On Others To Guide Your Journey.

So You Want To Read Batman Comics But Have No Idea Where To Start

So: you’re new to the DC Comics fandom and are interested in Batman and his family. Maybe you already know a bit about them and are just looking to figure out where to start reading actual comics. Maybe you know nothing. Maybe you know a whole lot about one character but want to start reading more about another one.

Whichever it is, I’m here to help! There’s a wide range of Batman/Batfamily comics (for all ages, moods, and types of people), and I’m happy to meet people where they are and help people dive into comics. On that note, brace yourselves, because this is going to be a long post. Recs start under the cut.

—IMPORTANT NOTES ABOUT READING COMICS—

Superhero comics are traditionally written in what’s known as runs; an author gets to have an extended period on an ongoing (or limited) title where they (traditionally) write in 4-8 issue story arcs; think of these arcs as chapters in a potentially never-ending book. These individual issues are colloquially known as floppies. So when I talk about “Tom Taylor’s run” on the Nightwing title, for example, I’m talking about the (as of now) current writer, who’s been the main author on the Nightwing title since March 2021 and whose story arcs begin with Nightwing #78. Every so often, titles end, the principal author on the titles switch up, or they’ll have “guest/interim authors” come in to do single issues or a single story arc.

These story arcs are then collected in hardcovers or ‘trade paperbacks’ (generally referred to as trades, occasionally TPBs); both collect the entire story arc (plus bonus/behind the scenes material, in some cases) in a single paperback/hardback book. Trades are super useful if you want to read an entire story at one time, want to be economical about your comics spending, and/or want to read things in order. Occasionally, if a writer has a particularly long run on a title or a big company event happens, you get published omnibuses that collect an entire event or run (or part of it, if the event is big enough); omnis are very expensive up-front, but ultimately they tend to be good deals and are often curated well. These collections are all generally also released digitally. Frankly, unless you’re into comics collecting, want individual issues for their pretty covers, or are supporting a currently ongoing run, I would default to buying trades/omnibuses where possible. It’s simply cheaper and easier for reading.

List Notes: Each character list is sorted vaguely chronologically according to a combination of IRL publication dates and the character’s personal timeline. Big caveat that these are not all-inclusive reading lists nor are the inclusions inherently indicators of quality; I’m just trying to hit major character highlights. You should also note that many comics contain multiple Batfam members due to the ridiculous number of crossover events and the solid integration of the Batfamily as a whole into each others’ books in the post-90s era. Comic rec tl;drs are given at the end of each character’s list. Most of the links will take you to Amazon/Comixology, but I also talk about various ways to access and read comics at the bottom of this post.

Secondary Note: DC Comics works in three universes: the pre-Crisis universe (everything published from the beginning of DC Comics until the Crisis on Infinite Earths event in 1986), the post-Crisis universe (everything published between 1986 and 2011), and the post-Flashpoint universe (2011-now). 

In 2011, DC completely rebooted their universe following the ‘Flashpoint’ event. This new universe (interchangably called the New 52 universe, post-Flashpoint universe, or Prime Earth) drastically changed many characters’ histories, personalities, and relationships with each other (sometimes for the better, most of the time for the worse). The early years of the post-Flashpoint universe are an absolute incoherent mess continuity-wise; DC’s been trying to sort it all out over the past few years with the Rebirth and Infinite Frontier events (with varying degrees of success), and there are definitely some bright bits and pieces, but it is not my favored universe (though I will certainly recommend it where needed or when it’s good). 

Now: let’s get started, shall we? Lists below the cut (please click here to view the most updated version of this post on desktop via my blog instead of on mobile/the dashboard, for easy readability and formatting purposes):

Keep reading

okay, so. i have loved pjo since i was 12 and this can definitely be explained also by the fact percy is so freaking hot. this days i was thinking about our boy and just have to share some of the stuff i thought about him in all this years. here we go with some headcanons of bf percy and percy in general;;

• i have a thing for silver chain necklaces. you know, one of this things every hot guy has? yeah. percy does wears one. his mother give it to him probably. and he never takes it off. it reflects the sun when he's surfing, stands out on his tanned skin, touches your face when he's on top of you kissing you or whatever else

• percy IS an nba obsessed. he will invite you to watch the games with him and will give you his personal opinion about the players, the moves, even the uniforms if you want to know.

• he secretly is zodiac guy. like, in front of his friends or any public conversation he will deny it. but if you're into it, and just says something like "our zodiact signs are compatible!" he'll be happy about it and feel like he's part of something magical, you know? like he's known all along that you're supposed to be together.

• talking about interests: he definitely will listen with heart eyes whatever you talk about. books? shows? basketball or another sport? celebrities drama? taylor swift folklore's love triangle? he's here for it. laying on his bed with you sitting by his side telling him about it, and he's just staring at your beautiful eyes and playing with your hair

• he also love movies. he has an letterboxd account which he is religiously active on. also, he give extra stars to the movies you watch togheter just because he is on a good mood.

• btw, when he's calling you to watch a movie, it is to watch a movie. boy take the movies thing really serious.

• he will be watching barbie AND oppenheimer. and he will take you to both.

• percy can't sleep without being tangled with you. he's an huge touchy guy, bear hugs, forehead kisses, hands on your waist, head laying down on your chest. he just loves the feeling of your body with him

• bro is an biology princess. is the only thing he really found interesting. he loves nature, the sea, the animals.... everybody knows he's going to do marine biology. he's not an working-on-office-all-day type of person so 99% of chance of him working saving marine animals on an research group.

• his instagram profile would totally be about animals he saved. him just doing ✌️🤘👉👍with some type of turtle or an aquarium of clown fishes

• you gave him different marine stuffed animals and he keeps it on his shelf, right on the side of a picture of you and him on a beach day.

• as soon as he gets money, he will take you to a summer on greece.

• he is so fucking loyal. he CAN'T like anyone else. he just thinks about you. in a way that is almoust obsessive.

• also, kind jealous. okay, im trying to be nice with him, he's very very jealousy guy. not because he doesn't trust you or your love for him, but because he doesn't trust other people. at least, thats what he says everytime he sees this one friend of yours

• percy is a tattoo guy. he will have symbols, greek words, abstract stuff, strong animals.... and your initials on his chest once he knows for sure you're here to stay.

• i saw that jeremy allen white keeps a letter of his wife with him to read when he's missing home and i just can't get it out of my mind. percy will totaly take a small peace of paper with something you wrote to him when he's traveling to research or smth and read it before going to sleep 😫😫😫

humm alright. i think that's it for today. i love percy he's so fucking sweet. also, english is not my first language and i had never write for tumblr before soooooo sorry for anything.

hope you enjoyed and stuff 💪

HEY! we have a part. 2 :)

how to make shifting process more entertaining & not loose motivation

make dr playlists: this is genuinely so much fun. it helps a lot with setting the mood & you could listen to it when unmotivated.

spice up your affirmations: for example, instead of saying basic affs ("i am in my dr") you could be more deilusional & rant like if you were actually there, or highlight things about your dr to motivate you. e.g: "i am in my harry potter dr and omg why did i thought this was a good idea my butt is BURNING from all the walking... hogwarts is TOO fkn big, yesterday fred almost casually blew up a hallway n i had to run for my life. this is a call 4 help..." (directly copied and pasted from my friend's notion ☝️☝️). you can even create stories and use them as affirmations

create a shifting journal: TOP TIER TIPS. there you can write entries as if you were in your dr - not only it helps with visualizing and manifesting but also you can write down everytime you try, things you liked and disliked & symptoms you had to help you understand what works for you

pinterest wardrobe boards: self explanatory. this can also be made with your dr aesthetic in general

change methods weekly/monthly & try fun methods: in my opinion, the most fun methods are the lucid dream method, adhd method, and void state method, but that's up to you

bonus: try to shift during full moon. not because it increases your posibilities to shift (it does NOT, the moon phase has nothing to do with shifting unless you assume it does ofc) but because it's super cool as a concept, like "today's full moon so i can go to a paralel reality"?? IDK it just gives main character energy. i love shifting when it's full moon

if you know other methods or tips, reblog/leave a comment 🫶🏾

diasomnia's "ARBITRARY NATURAL DISASTER" vocals only!! okay first of all, this is just as clean as savanaclaw's diadem, second it's like i didn't even remove the background music because tf you mean it's a whole acapella???? they're so good when you got literal LEGENDS singing (KAZUKI KATO I BEG YOUR FINEST PARDON WITH THOSE VOCALS) and you can hear them much better this time!! IT REALLY FEELS LIKE A MUSICAL HNNNNNNNNNNGH

deadlines are dead

here’s something i found out recently! making deadlines for myself is holding me back; and it could be doing the same for you.

now, shifting has no time limit. you don’t have to shift within the next 3 days or before you get you masters degree in engineering.

you don’t need to manifest your ideal body type before meeting or talking to that one person you want to be with so badly.

there is no limit to anything you do. it is your world.

galatians 6:9 — Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

now i got caught up in deadlines since i was young. primarily because of school and my family. weekend visits with my dad, going out to eat w him on wednesdays and only being able to stay until 7/8 or else it would be a big deal.

your homework is due the next day? i scrambled to do it in class or on the way home so i could say “nope! i’m done with everything. can i play video games?”

there was always something that i had to do in order to do something else, or it always had to be done by a certain time or there was fighting, yelling and screaming.. the good news is — that isn’t the case with shifting or manifestation!

all you have to do is decide you want it, and you have it, and you’re going to get it.

it doesn’t matter when or how it just matters that it is.

i want you guys to take this into account. stop setting deadlines for yourself and start saying “i will get it.” don’t say when, i usually just say soon.

but the thing is, it will all happen and it will b great <3

i love u all!

from the beings of ares and abyss

i always love when people are surprised that not only is the danny phantom phandom still around, but we're extremely active and are ranked in the top 15 most popular fandoms on this site.

like yes while we haven't gotten any new content in the better part of two decades, we still have an active year-round events calendar, we highly encourage and engage in crossovers with other media, we have phandom accepted non-canon characters with backstories, we've developed various opposite-of-canon AU's and HC's like the corpse au or the dual obsession au and have created almost entire ecosystems of content in these niches, we've delved into the physics and science of many of the canon materials, we value writing just as much as we value art, we're open to debate and friendly banter about different canon/phanon ideas, we've fully fleshed out various "hinted at" canon ideas like cores and given them "rules" that are widely accepted among phanon, etc etc.

at this point we've just fully embraced death of the author. like cool, thank you nickelodeon for giving us this world, we're just gonna take it and do our own thing with it for the next, say, 17 or so years. we'll get back to you in a few decades with some notes. u can take it or leave it, we don't really care. you know where to find us ✌️

If Gojo, Shoko and Geto had adopted Tsumiki and Megumi

ᶜᵃᵇⁱⁿ ²²⁰

ᶜʰⁱˡᵈʳᵉⁿ ᵒᶠ ˢᵉˡᵉⁿᵉ

ˢᵐᵃʳᵗ, ᶜʰᵃʳⁱˢᵐᵃᵗⁱᶜ, ᴵⁿᵗʳᵒᵛᵉʳᵗᵉᵈ

Danny Phantom color backgrounds illustrated by Kaz Aizawa (Part 5 of 5).