This December, Santa and Damian Wayne will star in a sequel to the holiday Silent Knight.
Batman- Santa Claus: Silent Knight Returns is a five issue series. The comic will be published every week in December leading up to Christmas Day!
Silent Knight writer Jeff Parker and artists Lukas Ketner and Michele Bandini return to work on the next chapter in the Batman/ Santa Claus saga. Parker opened up about the surprise fan response to the first mini-series.
“I was blown away at how well last year’s SILENT KNIGHT series was received, readers really responded to us going full tilt with Norse-mythos Santa in the DCU. We followed the old tradition of telling ghost stories at Christmas (remember the line from ‘It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year’?). Then to be asked if I wanted to do another one AND have an extra issue? That was the Happy New Year. Once Lukas started on SILENT KNIGHT RETURNS our inboxes were blowing apart with visuals better than anyone imagined. The Bat Office started us good and early so we’ve had that rare planning time to really build out the story and craft an ominous and creepy villain. Cool monsters, exotic locales—you’ll love the smart details Lukas works in, it will reward multiple readings.”
Similarly, artist Ketner had some surprise for how well-received the original series was.
“The first SILENT KNIGHT series wasn’t quite what I expected, and I loved it for that. Jeff has an amazing ability to take an idea like a Batman & Santa team-up and play it straight with a great story, new DC lore, and a real threat. There’s humor of course, but it’s so much more effective when the stakes are real. “I come from a cartoony horror comics background But when Jeff first brought up the possibility of a next installment of SILENT KNIGHT, I had a real ‘put me in, Coach!’ moment. The story leans into some great fantasy horror vibes, and I love that it could just as easily have been a DC Halloween series.”
Santa and Robin Team-Up in ‘Silent Knight Returns’
The sequel series will focus on a strange series of murders. Unfortunately, the Batman and the rest of the Justice League are indisposed. This leaves only Robin to seek help from Zantana and- who else- Santa Claus. However, there is some evil afoot. The team will have to face the new foe- The Silent Knight!
While the creative team could not get into the plot beyond that, they did give a lot of teases of what to expect. There will be a real horror fantasy vibe to the series. Somewhere along the way, the Demon Etrigan will also figure into the story.
Additionally, it seems the Justice League will have their own parallel plot where they are trapped in an alternate dimension called the Hollow Kingdom of the Knight. Naturally, the Hollow Kingdom is filled with monsters the League will have to battle their way out.
“We also get to welcome back maestro Michele Bandini who is drawing the scenes of the Justice League lost in The Hollow Kingdom of the Knight,” said Parker. “You’ll see many of the creatures he designed return so there’s another direct connection to the first series. You might want to reread that before SILENT KNIGHT RETURNS kicks off in November (visualize me doing the Superman wink here).”
Bernard Chang provides the main cover. Dan Mora, Kevin Wada, and Erica Henderson also contribute to the variant covers for issue one. Hilariously, there is also a special gift-wrapped (polybagged), evergreen-scented variant cover by Dan Hipp. Yes. Another scented comic cover in the vein of DC’s Ape-ril Special last year. We truly live in a blessed age of comic book cover gimmicks.
Batman – Santa Claus: Silent Knight Returns will publish every week between November 27 and December 25th.
Source: DC.com
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