DC’s Next Level initiative added a new Batman ongoing title Batman: Shadow of the Bat.
The announcement was made at one of the DC Comics panels at San Diego Comic-Con. Shadow of the Bat is a part of a new wave of DC titles, including Vixen, Static, and Jonah Hex and the Shadow of Death. Absolute Martian Manhunter creative team Deniz Camp and Javier Rodríguez reunite for Shadow of the Bat.
The series will focus on Bruce Wayne confronting both personal and societal trauma. The series opens with a massive disaster in Gotham City that leaves both the citizens of the city and Batman scarred. Camp describes that Batman and the city will have parallel storylines of how they cope with the devastation.
“It’s Batman coming to terms with the failure of our institutions and the trauma of his own, paralleled with the trauma of the people of Gotham after a massive chemical plant explosion, along with every other traumatic event they’ve experienced.”
The Disaster of ‘Batman: Shadow of the Bat’
Later on social media, Camp revealed more about the disaster.
“So, a little about Shadow of the Bat: An abandoned ACE Chemical Factory mysteriously explodes, bathing a Gotham neighborhood in “highly potent and completely unknown neuropharmacological agents” (the sort that created the Joker). Fearing 50 thousand Jokers, an Arkham the size of a small city, a brutal quarantine is instituted, Martial Law is declared, and Batman enters….”
Camp also went on to assure that the book is a part of main DC continuity. However, Camp and Rodríguez are approaching the title like it is a creator-own work.
This is an ongoing in continuity book, designed with Matt and Tom’s books in mind. They are each doing their thing, which is great; it was important to me that this didn’t feel replicative in any way, but complementary. There have been a lot of Batman runs. But Javi and I are treating this the same way we treated Absolute Martian Manhunter; that is, like a creator-owned book. This is our vision of Batman and Gotham, and I hope that makes it unique. It’s very difficult to do new things with Batman, but that’s what we’re going to try to do here. New villains, or drastically revamped old ones; new supporting cast; a new neighborhood. New kinds of threats and dilemmas and questions for Batman.”
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There is no formal release date for Batman: Shadow of the Bat yet. Check in with Dark Knight News for updates as they occur!
Source: AIPT.com
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