Zatanna by Paul Dini Omnibus

The animated-continuity Batman comics, collected as a pack of 2 oversized omnibus volumes and cheaper than buying them one by one. The Batman Adventures was the comic spun off from Batman: The Animated Series, written for the same audience and, as it turned out, for everyone else too. Mad Love alone justifies the volume: Paul Dini and Bruce Timm's Harley Quinn origin, which won an Eisner and became the version DC has used ever since. The rest is the animated house style at its best, clean, self-contained stories that work for a child and hold up for an adult, which is rarer than it sounds. The Batman & Robin Adventures followed The Batman Adventures, continuing the animated-series comic after Robin joined the cast and the show's design changed. The Lost Years is the reason collectors chase this: it fills the gap between the original series and The New Batman Adventures, explaining where Dick Grayson went and how Tim Drake arrived. The rest is the same discipline as the first omnibus, short, complete stories with no continuity homework, aimed at any age.

Batman by Paul Dini Omnibus is Batman as detective first and superhero second. Dini brings compact Gotham mysteries where the case matters as much as the costume, and where villains such as Hush, Riddler and Harley Quinn stay personal rather than decorative.

Hush was the 2002 storyline that put Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee on Batman together, and it remains one of the best-selling Batman books ever published. The structure is a tour of the rogues' gallery with a hidden hand behind it, and Jim Lee draws every one of them at full scale, which is why the book sells to people who own nothing else. Collecting the Gotham Knights and Detective follow-ups is what makes this the complete saga rather than just the original twelve issues.

The Batman & Robin Adventures followed The Batman Adventures, continuing the animated-series comic after Robin joined the cast and the show's design changed. The Lost Years is the reason collectors chase this: it fills the gap between the original series and The New Batman Adventures, explaining where Dick Grayson went and how Tim Drake arrived. The rest is the same discipline as the first omnibus, short, complete stories with no continuity homework, aimed at any age.

Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy make a habit of turning a plan into a Gotham-wide problem. Paul Dini and Bruce Timm bring the humour and character interplay of Batman: The Animated Series to the duo’s heists, escapes and ill-advised schemes, with their friendship holding together what their plans cannot.

Batman: The Arkham Saga Omnibus collects the comics surrounding the Arkham games, where Gotham is filtered through the continuity, villains and brutal atmosphere of Rocksteady's universe. The appeal is not a standard Batman run but a game-continuity shelf piece: Joker, Harley, the rogues and Arkham's institutional nightmare expanding around the versions many readers met through the games. It belongs with Batman, but its identity is specifically Arkham-world storytelling.

Batman: Gotham Adventures is the comic spun off from The New Batman Adventures, continuing the animated series in print with the same design language. The animated house style forces discipline: every issue is a complete story with a beginning and an end, no continuity to catch up on, and villains written to be understood in twenty-two pages. It is the most reliable Batman comic to hand to someone who has never read one.

Harley Quinn & the Gotham City Sirens Omnibus collects the complete Gotham City Sirens run, putting Harley Quinn, Catwoman and Poison Ivy at the centre of their own Gotham team book. Across Gotham City Sirens #1-26 and Catwoman #83, the volume follows a trio built on friendship, secrets and bad decisions rather than another Batman-led storyline.