Batman Comics UK

 

 A brief look at the history of Batman comics in the UK. The Batman magazine from London Editions which ran through the 80s ended in 1993 after 56 issues. This was followed by Fleetway Editions Batman volume 2 which began by printing the Batman Year One and Two story lines. The comic also printed the under rated Dark Knight, Dark City story line which is in my opinion the best Riddler story the comics have seen. This comic ran a mere 11 issues only to be replaced with the Batman & Superman comic which was marketed as the fall of the superheroes. Reprinting the now classic Knightfall and Doomsday story lines showing the breaking of the Batman and the Death of Superman. Batman & Superman ran 11 issues before being cancelled. It would be almost ten years before the UK saw a proper Batman comic again.

 In the early 00s, almost ten years after the last Batman comic ended in the UK, Panini picked up the license and gave us Batman Legends. The comic was styled like the popular Marvel collectors edition comics Panaini have published in the UK since the mid 90s, collecting three issues of the American comics in each issue. It started with the popular Hush story line. The comic lasted 41 issues till Panini lost the license to Titan Magazines. Titan relaunched the title as Batman Legends volume 2, keeping the same format as Panini had used. 57 issues later the title was relaunched yet again as volume 3. Simply called ‘Batman’ the comic was relaunched to tie in with the release of Dark Knight Rises in cinemas. It primarily reprints the US Batman and Batman and Robin comics.

At the same time as this, another Batman title was added to the Titan UK range. Batman: Dark Knight was a larger format comic to differentiate it from the main Batman comic. This comic reprinted the US Dark Knight and Detective Comics. After 19 issues it was transformed into Batman Arkham to tie in with the popular game. This new volume was reduced to the same size format as the main Batman title which pleased collectors. After issue 26 the title was relaunched a third time as Batman: Gotham Central to tie in with the popular Gotham TV show.
During Batman Arkhams run, a third Batman title was released called Batman Superman featuring cross over stories between the two characters as well as individual stories. This replaced the Superman comic which was unable to hold enough sales on it’s own without Batmans inclusion.

 Titan UKs larger format DC titles. The Dark Knight reprints the UK Dark Knight and Detective Comics and ran 19 issues before being replaced with Batman Arkham in the smaller US comic size. Superman came out to tie in with the Man of Steel film but ran a mere 5 issues before being cancelled and replaced with the Batman/Superman comic. Arrow did not last long either though a new collectors edition style Green Arrow comic has recently begun to cash in on the TV show along with Flash, Supergirl and Wonder Woman.