Batman RIP

Grant Morrison is a polarizing creator, with some people writing off entire swaths of his career for being "too confusing," while others proselytize about its virtues, so long as you understand these very specific references and cult theories he's alluding to. It can be tough to decide where you stand on him, so if you're struggling to find a way into Morrison's impressive career and body of work, we've assembled a Reading List of the ten top stories that could turn you into a die-hard Morrison devotee.

Q: Batman RIP: What's going on in this book? I like Morrison, but I do not follow the plot. -- @daingercomics A: My friend, you have come to the right place. I generally think Grant Morrison gets a bad rap for writing superhero stories that are too complex --- a complaint that you see about almost everything he writes going all the way back to "Rock of Ages" in JLA, and probably back to Animal Man if you go looking for it --- but R.I.P. is a story with a whole lot of moving parts that can be pretty hard to keep track of unless you're the kind of person who has been obsessing over the details of 75 years of Batman comics for their entire life. Fortunately for you, that's exactly what I am, which is one of the reasons that Batman R.I.P. is probably my favorite Batman story of all time.

Many of comics’ most popular heroes have been around for decades, and in the case of the big names from the publisher now known as DC Comics, some have been around for a sizable chunk of a century. As these characters passed through the different historical eras known in comics as the Golden Age (the late 1930s through the early 1950s), the Silver Age (the mid 1950s through the late 1960s), the Bronze Age (the early 1970s through the mid 1980s) and on into modern times, they have experienced considerable changes in tone and portrayal that reflect the zeitgeist of the time. With this new feature we’ll help you navigate the very best stories of DC Comics’ most beloved characters decade by decade. This week, we’re taking a look at Batman.

Back in March, DC Comics Co-Publisher Dan DiDio made a list of his ten favorite titles published during his tenure with the company. This week on ComicsAlliance, Chris Sims, Matt Wilson and Andy Khouri sit down for the second half of their discussion of DiDio's list, featuring Superman: Earth One, Batman R...