There are the softcover “Chronicle” collections that aim to collect every Batman appearance in order, but the “Archive” editions confine themselves to one book at a time. So that’s a lot of Batman related books in the “Archive” publishing line – perhaps reflecting the fact that he is at least as iconic as Superman, who anchors a similar volume of “Archive” collections. Disregarding his appearances in team-up books, the character also has his own World’s Finest series and a later Silver Age Dynamic Duo line. The Dark Knight Archives, confusingly, feature his early adventures in Batman, the book launched slightly later as a quarterly title for the hero. The Batman Archives collect Detective Comics, the first series to feature the character and one of his two flagship books.

Indeed, as one might expect for a character as iconic and marketable as Batman, there are a whole range of DC “Archive” Editions collecting early stories with the character. This collection includes an introduction by Dennis O'Neil.To be fair, this collection doesn’t include every Batman story in chronological order.Detective Comics #119 ( The Case of the Famous Foes).Detective Comics #118 ( The Royal Flush Crimes).Detective Comics #117 ( Steeplejack's Showdown).Detective Comics #116 ( The Rescue of Robin Hood).Detective Comics #115 ( The Man Who Lived in a Glass House).Detective Comics #114 ( Acrostic of Crime).Detective Comics #113 ( Crime on the Half-Shell).

Detective Comics #112 ( The Case without a Crime).Detective Comics #111 ( Coaltown, U.S.A.).Detective Comics #110 ( Batman and Robin in Scotland Yard).Detective Comics #109 ( The House That Jokes Built).

Detective Comics #108 ( The Goat of Gotham City!).

Detective Comics #107 ( The Mountains of the Moon).

Detective Comics #106 ( The Phantom of the Library).

Detective Comics #105 ( The Batman Goes Broke).

Detective Comics #104 ( The Battle of the Billboards).

Detective Comics #103 ( Trouble, Incorporated).

This hardcover collects stories from the following comic books: This fifth collection reprints stories from September, 1945 to January, 1947. This hardcover is the fifth collection to reprint all Batman stories from the issues of Detective Comics, in chronological order.

Batman Archives, Vol. 1 by Bill Finger