He was created in 1939, on the brink of World War II, at a volatile time when the world needed a hero most. Who better to come to the rescue than the Caped Crusader? The poor, little, rich boy. orphaned in a late-night robbery grew up to be one of the greatest super-heroes in the DC Universe. From that inspirational moment when a bat flies through the window and inspired an adult Bruce Wayne with a name and a motif, the world changed for the better. All of these are wonderful elements in a timeless tale. By early 1940, both Batman and Robin were up and running in no less than two hit comic books. Bob Kane hired a teenager that he happened to meet—Jerry Robinson—to help him churn out what looked like a nice long run of Batman stories.  A run that has continued, uninterrupted, to today.  As the Second World War loomed ever larger on the horizon, Batman was about to become big business, comic-book style.  These original stories show Batman and Robin in all of their original glory and allow the reader to relive the Golden Age of Comics.  Follow their pilot plots such as the following:The Strange Case of the Diabolical Puppet MasterThe Strange Case of Professor RadiumThe Case of the Laughing DeathHarlequin HoaxScarecrow ReturnsThe Man with the Camera EyesCrime ClinicBatman Bond AdvertisementsAtlantis Goes to WarBlitzkrieg Banditsand more!Roy Thomas has been a comics writer since 1965, mostly for Marvel or DC. Among the thousands of comic books he has written are Conan the Barbarian, The Avengers, The X-Men, Fantastic Four, All-Star Squadron, Sub-Mariner, The Invaders, Dr. Strange, Red Sonja, Wonder Woman, and The Savage Sword of Conan.   Brush up on the history of the world's favorite billionaire vigilante, Batman, with Batman the War Years.  Part of The DC Comics War Years trilogy that celebrates the Golden Age of heroes.

    Batman. Wonder Woman. Aquaman. The Flash. Cyborg. Green Lantern. Hawkgirl. Martian Manhunter. Nine heroes with powers as different as their personalities, but one thing in common: a dedication to defending the Earth.And they have never seen anything like this. They call it the Totality: the concentrated essence of the secret source of all things. When it crash-lands in the Nevada desert, everyone and everything that comes into contact with it comes out...changed. And power like that attracts the power-hungry. The mad, the merciless, the monstrous.Lex Luthor. The Joker. The Cheetah. Black Manta. Gorilla Grodd. Sinestro. THEY ARE THE LEGION OF DOOM.And unless someone stops them, they'll seize the Totality for themselves and use it to tear down the world as we know it...Spinning out of the cataclysmic events of Dark Nights: Metal and Justice League: No Justice, Scott Snyder's Justice League reunites the World's Greatest Heroes for an epic adventure! Together with artists Jorge Jimenez (Super Sons) and Francis Manapul (The Flash), visionary writer Scott Snyder takes the new League into uncharted territory-- from the Source Wall at the edges of the cosmos to the bottom of the ocean to a miniaturized adventure inside of Superman's body.And through it all, Lex Luthor is quietly building a team of his own-- the Legion of Doom! From Black Manta to Sinestro to the Joker, Lex has engineered an alliance between the Justice League's greatest enemies--but a new partnership with the monster known as the Batman Who Laughs could throw both the League and the Legion into untold chaos!This first deluxe hardcover collects Justice League #1-13, Justice League/Aquaman: Drowned Earth #1, and Aquaman/Justice League: Drowned Earth #1.

    To the media, he's a menace. To the Torino crime family, he's a possible million dollar payday. To Gwen Stacy, he's the subject of her latest school paper, and a way to become a reporter for the Daily Bugle. He's Peter Parker, the amazing Spider-Man.

    There’s a new hero in Batman’s world, whether the Dark Knight likes it or not! Jean-Paul Valley has just been told by his dying father that his family is part of an ancient secret society known as The Order of St. Dumas—and that he is the latest in a long line of deadly assassins! Now with his psychological conditioning complete, Valley has been transformed from a computer science major into the unstoppable weapon known as Azrael. But when he is forced to target the heroic Batman, he starts to question his life and duty. Legendary creators Dennis O’Neil and Joe Quesada are joined by comic industry superstars Barry Kitson, James Pascoe, and Kevin Nowlan. AZRAEL VOL.1 FALLEN ANGEL collects BATMAN: SWORD OF AZRAEL #1-4, SHOWCASE ’94 #10, and AZRAEL #1-7.

    But while serving the sentence of his personal banishment in the vastness of space, the Man of Steel learns that he cannot run from himself. In this introspective tale of remorse and rebirth, Superman faces off against the evil of the Eradicator for the first time, learns new secrets about the history of Krypton and takes on the alien behemoth Mongul on his gladiator planet Warworld.

    Which incarnation of Deadpool will be eliminated in this issue? And will the tragedy prove too much for Wade Wilson?

    There is also a new creature of the night people are calling The Batman. One night someone sees the Batman near a wagon of kids, and surmises that he is stealing the children. This peaks the interest of visiting escape artist and showman Harry Houdini. So he makes a promise to help the police track down the Batman. Yet when he finally meets the mysterious figure, Harry knows that he is the hero and not the villain of the story. The two team up, and discover that the children have been kidnapped by an albino, but al evidence points to a puppetmaster for the albino, so they continue to work together to stop the heinous crime.

    Virtually every founding member of the (yet-to-debut) original JSA lineup minus Superman and Batman was represented in these individual adventures, and most of the stories are written and drawn by their original creators. ALL STAR ARCHIVES Vol. 0 is the perfect preface to the 11-volume complete reprinting of every JSA adventure from the Golden Age.Now the entire body of these "All Star" exploits is in print and available to all those who were there when they were published the first time around or wish they had been!

    A mysterious deity called Rama Kushna gives Boston Brand the chance to revisit the land of the living as Deadman, with the mission of finding his murderer.DEADMAN features spectacular, bravura artwork by Neal Adams, then leading the field with an amazing, hyper-realistic style and trompe-l’oeil unlike anything seen in comics before or since.

    Family issues, alien beings, miniature time machines, and a struggle against the deadly and enigmatic being known as Oblivion all play a part in this story that illustrates just how powerful a force of nature Iceman can be on his own!COLLECTING: ICEMAN (1984) 1-4, material from BIZARRE ADVENTURES 27

    He knows how to take a simple phobia and turn it into a life-threatening syndrome. Since his introduction in 1941, the Scarecrow has been one of the Dark Knights most difficult foes to defeat. And soon, he will be one of the foes featured in the upcoming Batman Begins feature film! In this collection of eight stories spanning more than 60 years, some of the best known Batman writers and artists take their turn at creating chilling escapades.

    But now, Eric is the only one who knows about a secret AIM plot to steal Pym's greatest invention! Can the two men get along long enough to save the day?Collects Ant-Man & Wasp #1-3.

    The origin of The Flash! The loss of his mother put Barry Allen on the road to becoming a hero, but only when he gains his powers will he understand the most important lesson his must learn.

    IRREDEEMABLE dares to ask the question: what if the world's greatest hero decided to become the world's greatest villain? A "twilight of the superheroes"- style story that examines super-villains from the writer of KINGDOM COME and EMPIRE!

    As the events of DARK NIGHTS: METAL rock the DC Universe, the creatures of the Dark Multiverse stand ready to invade our world! How can even the World’s Greatest Heroes stop a horde of deadly beings that appear to be powerful, nightmare versions of familiar figures?