Since his debut in Detective Comics #27 way back in March of 1939, Batman has grabbed the public like few other comic characters have, even overshadowing at times the first superhero, Superman. He's moved beyond comics to movies, TV, video games, and more and has become a cultural icon. Everyone knows who Batman is and how he came to be and most people can name a lot of his most iconic villains.

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This list is going to take a look at Batman's comics over years and rank the decades of his 80-year existence. How does each decade rank up against the other? Read on to find out.

8 The 50s

Batman in the 50s Cropped

The 50s were a dark time for the comic industry. Frederic Wertham's book Seduction Of The Innocent was published in 1954 and blamed comics for all manner of perceived ills, saying they corrupted children and promoted homosexuality. While EC Comics and its horror and true crime books were hardest hit, Batman wasn't immune to the book's slander.

The 50s were the beginning of the gonzo Batman story, taking the character away from his roots as a crimefighter and putting him into sillier, sometimes more sci-fi influenced situations. Eventually, Grant Morrison would find ways to canonize a lot of these stories, but that doesn't mean they fit the character.

7 The 40s

The first full decade of Batman's existence saw a lot of the groundwork laid by creators Bob Kane and Bill Finger. Classic villains like the Joker, Catwoman, Hugo Strange, the Penguin, the Riddler, Scarecrow, Two Face, and many others were introduced. Robin, the Boy Wonder also burst onto the scene at this time.

These early Batman stories were a lot more violent, as Batman not only carried a gun at times, but also killed his enemies, showing a marked contrast to the character in the years to come. The stories were mostly simplistic and wouldn't really stand up to what would come in terms of content. The best of them were written by Bill Finger, who was able to take Bob Kane's very rough ideas and make them into something special.

6 The 60s

Batman was riding high in the 60s. Due to the success of the hit TV show, the character was being reintroduced to a whole new generation of children who may not have bought comics and got them out to the newsstands. Silver Age DC was in full swing and Batman benefited from the publisher's popularity.

The zaniness of 50s Batman comics started to even out in the 60s, as editor Julius Schwartz made a concerted effort to bring the character closer to its pulpy roots without breaking the Comic Code. Villains like Poison Ivy, Catman, Kite Man, Cluemaster, and others would bedevil the Dark Knight and creators would put the character on the road to being who he is today.

5 The 90s

The 90s were a time of great flux for the comics industry in general and DC was going out of their way to modernize their characters. After making headlines with The Death Of Superman story, DC decided to do something similar with Batman and started the Knightfall story. It would end with Batman getting his spine snapped and a new character, Azrael, taking over the mantle. Fan reaction to this change was mixed at best and Bruce Wayne eventually reclaimed the mantle.

From there, the Batman books got better, with stories like Contagion and Cataclysm building into the year-long story No Man's Land. Bane is the biggest villain introduced in this decade, but another character that would get a bit of spotlight was also introduced- Harley Quinn. Quinn started life in Batman: The Animated Series and would go on to debut in the comics before becoming one of the biggest characters in DC Comics today.

4 The 2010s

DC made a big change to their comic line in the 2010s, beginning the controversial New 52 initiative, rebooting their continuity once again in an effort to gain new readers. It worked in the short term, but eventually, in 2016, DC would end the New 52 with DC Rebirth, a much softer reboot that would take into account what fans didn't like about the New 52 and what they liked about the previous continuity and combine them.

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Batman's comics would stay pretty consistent throughout the decade, regardless of the shifting fortunes of DC Comics and a lot of that would be due to the sheer star power and quality of the creators on the book. Grant Morrison, Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, and Tom King are a murderer's writers and between them, kept Batman flying high in both quality and the sales charts.

3 The 70s

DC started to grow up in the 70s, leaving behind the whimsy of the Silver Age and entering what would be called the Bronze Age. Batman would get one of the best creative teams that DC had at the beginning of the decade, with writer Denny O'Neil and artist Neil Adams taking over Batman. The two would go on to revitalize Two-Face, bring Joker back to his homicidal roots, and introduce one of the most important villains in the Batman mythos - Ra's Al Ghul.

Later in the decade, Steve Englehart and Marshall Rodgers would take over the book for 8 issues and would turn in what is widely considered one of the most essential Batman runs of all time. "The Laughing Fish" would adapted into an episode of Batman: The Animated Series and it and another issue the two put out, "The Sign Of The Joker" (Batman #475 and #476) would also go on to influence the 1989 Batman movie.

2 The 2000s

One of the biggest Batman stories ever came out in 2003, when Jeph Loeb, who had written Batman: The Long Halloween in the 90s, teamed with superstar artist Jim Lee for "Hush", a twelve-issue story featuring every major Batman villain and introducing a new one, the titular Hush. The story highlights everything readers loved about Batman and is a bona fide classic. After "Hush" ended, Judd Winick took over the book for a criminally underrated run that brought back Jason Todd as the Red Hood.

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Post-Infinite Crisis, Grant Morrison took over Batman and Paul Dini took over Detective Comics. These two superstars turned in very different flavors of Batman, with Dini concentrating more on the urban crimefighter and Morrison focusing on taking the weirdness of Batman's long career and incorporating it into the character's present-day in a way it had never been before. Morrison would introduce Damian Wayne, the son of Batman and Talia Al Ghul, a character beloved by fans today and would "kill" Bruce Wayne in Final Crisis,  replacing him as Batman with Dick Grayson, a move fans loved. This time would also bring Scott Snyder to the Dark Knight, as he took over Detective Comics.

1 The 80s

DC started the decade in a bad place, with the DC Implosion of the late 70s still being felt throughout the company. In 1985, the publisher released Crisis On Infinite Earths, a year-long story that set out to clean up the company's tangled continuity and get new fans. It would be a great success and would bring about a renaissance for the company,

The 1980s are the best time for Batman comics because of four stories- Batman: Year One, The Dark Knight Returns, The Killing Joke, and Arkham Asylum: A Serious House On Serious House. These four books are easily the best four Batman stories ever told, zeroing in on different aspects of the character and his world. Frank Miller's Batman: Year One (with art by David Mazuchelli) and Dark Knight Returns would highlight the beginning and possible end of Batman's careers, while Alan Moore and Brian Bolland's The Killing Joke and Grant Morrison and Dave McKean's Arkham Asylum would focus on Batman's villains and be more psychological stories. These four books encapsulate everything that makes Batman great.

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