I try to look at every comic book movie as an opportunity to get more people interested in comics, and “The Dark Knight Rises” is no exception.

As I’ve done with superhero movies in the past, I put together a Batman-friendly reading list for “The Dark Knight Rises” that suggests five comics that will supplement the experience of watching the new film without spoiling anything in it. You can read these comics before seeing the film in order to go into it with a better understanding of the characters’ origins, or you can read the books after watching the film to learn more about the characters’ stories that didn’t make it to the big screen.

Here’s an excerpt from the list, featuring one of my all-time favorite Batman comic arcs:

Batman: No Man’s Land

This 1999 story arc followed Batman and a supporting cast of (occasionally reluctant) heroes as they tried to protect the inhabitants of Gotham after the city is cut off from the rest of the world due to a catastrophic earthquake. Written by a long list of award-winning authors, “No Man’s Land” chronicles the city’s initial fall into chaos in the aftermath of the earthquake, and the subsequent carving-up of Gotham by its heroes and villains. The isolation of Gotham provides a major plot point in “The Dark Knight Rises,” and you’ll find a lot of similarities in the tone of “No Man’s Land” and the new film. In many ways, “No Man’s Land” tells the story that lies just underneath the surface of “The Dark Knight Rises.”

You can read the rest of the list at IFC.com, and I highly recommend you do, as there are some great stories there for anyone who wants a more immersive Batman experience.