DC Comics

The conclusion of Tom King's 85-issue Batman run: the failed wedding arc collapses the Batman-Catwoman relationship at its most vulnerable point. Cold Days puts Bruce Wayne on a jury debating Mister Freeze's guilt. Knightmares traps Batman in an alternate reality. City of Bane brings Thomas Wayne as an alternate Batman into collision with the original. Jorge Jiménez, Mikel Janín and Tony Daniel provide spectacular art. The emotional endpoint of the most literary Batman run in decades.

Tom King's acclaimed Batman run reimagines the Dark Knight as a figure defined by trauma rather than triumph. The opening arc, I Am Gotham, introduces two new heroes who force Bruce to question whether Batman is truly necessary. I Am Suicide takes the Bat-family into Santa Prisca for a Suicide Squad-style operation. I Am Bane is one of the most brutal confrontations in modern Batman history. War of Jokes and Riddles reimagines Gotham's most notorious criminals in a Golden Age-era conflict. Art by David Finch and Mikel Janín.