Updated: January 22, 2025

Batman is an ongoing American comic book series featuring the DC Comics hero of the same name. The character first appeared in Detective Comics #27 ( Cover dated May 1939 ). Batman proved to be so popular that a self-titled ongoing comic book series began publication with a cover date of Spring 1940. It was first advertised in early April 1940, one month after the first appearance of his new sidekick, Robin, The Boy Wonder. Though the Batman comic book was initially launched as a quarterly publication, it later became a bi-monthly series through the late 1950s, after which it became a monthly publication and has remained so since. The original series ended in 2011 and was relaunched with a new first issue. Using the end of the New 52 initiative as a launching point, DC Comics began a second relaunch of its entire line of titles called DC Rebirth in 2016. Batman ( Vol. 3 ) #1 ( August 2016 ) was the debut bi-monthly relaunch of the comic book series.