-Detective Comics #411, #485, #489-#490, Batman #232, #235, #240, #242-#244

This is a collection of early stories that introduce Ra's Al Ghul, a Moriarty style foil to Batman's Sherlock Holmes, and his beautiful daughter Talia. Ra's first appearance comes after the sudden kidnap of Robin. Ra's reveals himself to Batman and explains that his daughter has also been taken, he suggests that they team up and Batman concurs. The two travel the world in their search, but all may not be how it seems. Ra's and Talia would become two very major characters in the Batman Mythos, with Ra's becoming one of Batman's most well loved villains, and Talia becoming a memorable and important love interest. The stories collected herein are some of the best examples of American comics of the 1970s available, with some excellent artwork from Neil Adams throughout.

-Detective Comics #457

A classic short story from Denny O'Neil and Dick Giordano, There is no Hope in Crime Alley introduced Batman's yearly patrol of Crime Alley on the anniversary of his parent's death. The story recounts Batman past, where he came from and how he got to where he is today. It introduces the character of Leslie Thompkins, an old lady who frequents crime alley who has a past with Bruce and would go on to becoming an important recurring character. Awesome artwork and storytelling as is usual for this team. A 1970s classic.

-Batman #1

The first issue of Batman's eponymous comic heralds the original appearance of a character that could easily be considered the greatest villain the comic book medium has ever produced, the Joker. The character here is actually surprisingly fully formed, he's introduced as a cunning, ruthless, and mysterious murderer who revels in outsmarting the police to kill his chosen victims. Joker would go on to become a very neutered villain in the coming years, but was thankfully brought back to his much more terrifying roots during the 1970s.

-Detective Comics #871-#881

To my mind far and away the best of Scott Snyder's stories, the Black Mirror is an intense thriller that sees the return of Commissioner Gordon's unstable son James. Dick Grayson fills in here as Batman, trying to ascertain whether James has truly turned over a new leaf whilst Bruce works outside of Gotham on his new Batman Incorporated project. An excellently plotted tale full of tense scenes that always keeps the reader in suspense.

-Batman #251

The Joker swears revenge on his gang after one of them rats him out, and after escaping he proceeds to systematically murder them in this classic 70s tale from Denny O'Neil. The Joker's Five Way Revenge is a seminal Batman comic that represented a return to roots for the Joker after a long period of decline that saw him become a camp one-note joke. Thankfully the issue would decide the direction the character would take from that point on. There's some phenominal Neal Adams artwork in the comic, the iconic first page alone is likely forever etched into the brain of anyone who has glanced upon it!

-Arkham Asylum GN

The late 80s were an ambitious time for superhero comics and here we had a younger Grant Morrison wanting to make a name for himself with this, his first major work on Batman. Arkham Asylum is a cerebral, arty graphic novel, it tries to psychoanalyze Batman and the world he lives in, exploring his own mental issues and those of many of his rogues in a more mature fashion. The book tells the story of the Asylum itself, covering the life of its founder in flashbacks that are interspersed with the main story of Batman trying to rescue hostages from the building. Its certainly not for everyone, but the evocative artwork from Dave McKean and ambitious writing makes it a footnote in Batman's history.

-Detective Comics #469-#476

Here we have an epic from the 1970s that really defined and cemented the new direction, and return to roots the comic had been taking. Strange Apparitions follows the apparent death and eerie later reappearance of Hugo Strange after he stumbles onto Batman's secret identity. The story has a fantastic pulp feel to it, it includes one of the most iconic Joker appearances ever in The Laughing Fish, and a memorable love interest in the character of Silver St Cloud. A classic of the era.

-Batman #404-#407

After defining the character for a generation with The Dark Knight Returns, Frank Miller was brought back again to give Bruce a new origin for the modern era, he hit the ball out of the park yet again! Miller goes more for gritty realism here, focusing on ordinary criminals like gangsters and corrupt cops for Batman's first outing. Few punches are pulled; vigilantism is dangerous and illegal, as such Bruce barely gets through his first encounters with his life and freedom intact. The story also needs to be praised for its treatment of James Gordon, his character is fully fleshed out here, with him being written as a Serpico-like man, an honest cop trying to stand by his principles and change things for the better in a dangerously corrupt police force.

-The Killing Joke GN

What happens when one of the most talented writers in the history of comics comes together with a master of visual storytelling to work on a beloved character? Why, The Killing Joke of course! The story has the Joker trying to prove that everybody is only one really bad day away from madness, he kidnaps Commissioner Gordon and starts to go to work on him, will he crack? The story tells the sad origin story of the Joker, and explores the nature of the Batman/Joker relationship. The work of two giants in the field of comics attempting to push the boundaries of how the media is seen.

-The Dark Knight Returns #1-#4

An obvious choice I'll admit, but The Dark Knight Returns will forever remain one of the best examples of mature superhero storytelling. The book follows a long retired, world-weary 55 year old Bruce Wayne as he decides to go for one last hurrah and try to set the dystopian, authoritarian world in which he now lives back on the right track. The story has him fighting against some new futuristic gangs, brings back some old foes looking to resume their vendetta's, and even has an exciting (and now often copied) battle between DC's two finest characters. As mentioned earlier, Batman had started to move away from camp and back to his roots in the 1970s under Denny O'Neil's pen, but Frank Miller goes much further, aiming to cleverly deconstruct the simple, classic characters of the series for an older audience. Miller portrays Batman as a deeply damaged character, an anti-social, distrusting, lonely, but obsessively driven man (why else would he dress as a bat and go to such extreme lengths?). He packs the book full of symbolism and political commentary, and succeeds in creating a work that epitomises the time in which it was written, a time where the shadow of nuclear bombs and cold war paranoia was always there creeping at the mind of the general public.