Titan All Star Batman

 Titan Comics UK have launched a new Batman title, Rebirth All Star Batman. This is one of two ongoing Batman comics in the UK. The other being Batman Rebirth. All Star Batman is volume 4 in a series that began in 2012 with Batman The Dark Knight to tie in with the then current Nolan Dark Knight Rises movie. This then became Batman Arkham to tie in with the popular game.Volume 3 was retitled Batman Gotham Central to accompany the TV series. Now in it's forth incarnation as All Star Batman it coincides with the Rebirth DC titles hitting the UK.

Titans other Batman series is also in it's forth volume. Starting with the initial Batman Legends published by Panini back in 2003. This was the first Batman comic in the UK for ten years. In 2007 Titan gained the rights to publish DC comic in the UK and continued the Legends series with volume 2. In 2012 as the New 52 hit the UK the title was changed to simply Batman for volume 3. With the recent DC event of Rebirth, the series has entered it's 4th volume with Batman Rebirth.

Batman Rebirth

Titan UK has relaunched their Batman title as Batman Rebirth. This serves as a volume 4 to the Batman Legends title that began back in 2003 under Panini publishing, taken over by Titan in 2007 and then re-titled simply Batman in 2012 to tie in with the New 52.

Batman UK 50th Issue

This week see's the 50th issue of the current Titan UK Batman comic hit store shelves. The title is in essence, volume 3 of the Batman Legends comic that began back in 2003 under Panini publishing. Volume 1 lasted 41 issues before Titan took the license and began volume 2 which ended with issue 57. Volume 3 was re-titled to simply 'Batman' to coincide with the release of Dark Knight Rises at the cinema. So you could class the latest issue as 148 which is quite impressive for a UK comic in this day and age.

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.