Many of us are under some form of quarantine or Stay at Home/Shelter in Place order to help stop the spread of Covid-19. It wasn't so bad at first. There was plenty of cleaning to do around the house, Tiger King just premiered on Netflix, and, most importantly, we were still able to fill our need for new comics. Local comic shops would either mail copies to us, or we could turn to Comixology if our LCS was mandated to close… But then the unthinkable happened. Diamond announced that they would temporarily suspend receiving new shipments.  The comic book industry is at a standstill. (Insert shriek of terror here.)

Well, we here at Batman News decided we weren’t going to take this lying down! We love comics and we want to discuss them. If we’re not going to have access to new comics, then we will happily revisit and discuss some incredible stories that are already stocked on shelves or readily available on DC Universe or the Comixology back catalog.

And we would like for you to join us!

Yes, we are launching our Quarantine Book Club! Each week we will pick a book to read, then the following Friday, we’ll post a round-table discussion with all of our Batman News writers and we will be interacting with all of you in the Disqus chat at the bottom of the page as well!

The first book, which we'll talk about on 4/3/20 is...

Batman: Prey

Set in the same time as Frank Miller's seminal BATMAN: YEAR ONE storyline, a rookie Dark Knight must confront the sinister Dr Hugo Strange, a man with a deadly secret, out to stop and, if necessary, kill the Batman. Who is the bloodthirsty Night Scourge, how does he link in with the police department, and where exactly does the mysterious Catwoman fit into all this? Legendary Bat-scribe Doug Moench and artist Paul Gulacy unleash one of the most popular Batman tales of all time in BATMAN: PREY. This volume collects LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT #11-15

Why Batman: Prey? Why not something more iconic like Batman: Year One, The Killing Joke, The Dark Knight Returns, etc. While these titles are more-well known – and books that I’m certain we will get to eventually – we wanted to accomplish two things with our Quarantine Book Club:

1. We wanted to pick some slightly more obscure books that you may not have on your shelf already. Comic book shops that are still open need help. Without new releases hitting their shelves, they’re banking on people to come in and stock up on trades, and we’re hoping this will help.
2. Many of the readers we interact with here are new(er) to comics, and haven’t had the opportunity to explore the history of the Bat-family, so this could allow for that opportunity. You look at any Must-Read list of Batman stories and it's the same stuff again and again. Let's dive a little deeper!

So, if you don’t have Batman: Prey, go get it so you can read with us! If possible, try to source the book from your local comic book shop, but if that’s not possible, then you can easily find the book on Amazon, Comixology, or possibly DC Universe! It's also totally free to rent on the Hoopla app if you sign in with your library card.

Also, if your LCS is open, please show this to them so they can share as well! We really are looking for ways to help comic shops, and we hope that this will drive a little business their way.

Oh, and if you want to go ahead and get a few more books for the next few weeks, here's the upcoming schedule for the Quarantine Book Club:

• 4/03: Batman: Prey
• 4/10: Batman: Ego
• 4/17: Batman: The Cult
• 4/24: Batman: Dark Knight, Dark City

And finally... Be smart. Stay safe. Practice social distancing. And please… wash your hands!

*Note: We will only cover Batman: Prey. We will not cover Batman: Terror, which is included in the updated TPB. However, we may cover Batman: Terror at a later date.