Fear State is a major Bat-family crossover event and James Tynion IV’s final storyline in his Batman run. The storyline debuted in August 2021 and finished in December 2021. It is a fairly decent storyline which was well received and a good send off for Tynion.
The synopsis involves the Scarecrow taking over Gotham with fear (nothing new) at the same time as The Magistrate initiative trying to rule Gotham like a police state.
Fear State gas 28 issues in total with Future State and Infinite Frontier as highly recommended pre-reading.
Batman Fear State Trade Reading Order
Contents
As usual, buying the trades is the easiest and cheapest way to read Fear State, but it might not be in the perfect order as outlined in the issue by issue reading order. Nevertheless, with the trades you will still get the full storyline or the main series, if you wish.
What this omnibus is missing is the Detective Comics, Catwoman, Harley Quinn, Nightwing and Urban Legends tie ins – this is quite a few issues but not important for you to not get the essential story beats.
Batman The Fear State Saga
Just like with The Joker War, DC have released an omnibus which covers the core issues. This omnibus collects Batman #112-#117, Batman: Secret Files: The Gardener #1, Batman: Secret Files: Peacekeeper #1, Batman: Secret Files: Miracle Molly #1, Batman: Fear State Alpha #1, Batman: Fear State: Omega #1
Batman, Volume 5: Fear State
If you get the above omnibus, skip this as it contains Batman #112-#117 which is present in the Saga book.Catwoman, Volume 6: Fear State
Catwoman, Volume 6: Fear State
Not essential reading bit will completely the set. Ram V and Nina Vakueva have come up with the goods here. Collects Catwoman #34-#38 go which #35-#37 are Fear State tie ins.
- V., Ram (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 160 Pages - 07/05/2022 (Publication Date) - Dc Comics (Publisher)
Nightwing: Fear State
Tom Taylor’s writers the Nightwing Tie ins. This collection collects Nightwing #84-#88 and Nightwing Annual 2021. Issues #84-#86 are Fear State tie ins.
Batman Detective Comics: Fear State
Detective comics are always a part of a Bat-family crossover. This trade collects Mark Tamaki’s Detective Comics #1040-#1046. #1043-#1045 are the actual tie ins but they are so irrelevant it could be easily skipped despite Fear State branding appearing all over the cover. Very odd.
- Hardcover Book
- Tamaki, Mariko (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
Harley Quinn, Volume 2 – Keepsake
Collects Harley Quinn #7-#12.
- Phillips, Stephanie Nicole (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 168 Pages - 10/10/2023 (Publication Date) - Dc Comics (Publisher)
Owning all of the above leaves you with just these issues to get:
- Harley Quinn #6, 2021 Annual
- Batman Urban Legends #8 and #9
Batman Fear State Issue by Issue Reading Order
- Detective Comics #1043
- Detective Comics #1044
- Detective Comics #1045
- Catwoman #34
- Harley Quinn #6
- Harley Quinn 2021 Annual
- Harley Quinn #7
- Batman Secret Files: The Gardener #1
- Batman Secret Files: Miracle Molly #1
- Batman Fear State – Alpha #1
- Batman #112
- Batman: Urban Legends #8 – Batwoman’s story
- Batman Secret Files: Peacekeeper #1
- Batman #113
- Catwoman #35
- Nightwing #84
- Batman #114
- Batman #115
- Catwoman #36
- Nightwing #85
- Harley Quinn #8
- Batman #116
- Batman: Urban Legends #9 – Batwoman’s story
- Nightwing #86
- Catwoman #37
- Harley Quinn #9
- Batman #117
- Batman: Fear State: Omega #1
Last update on 2023-06-03 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API