Batman: Cover to Cover

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Everyone goes insane eventually. And then they belong to the terrifying Red Mask! But Gotham City has a new savior. He strikes from the shadows, exhumes the dead, and is known only as…the Batman. UNCOVER THE DCU’S GREATEST CONSPIRACY! Who are the Vigil? Meet a mysterious new South Asian superteam operating in the shadows. Given powers they didn’t want, Arclight, Saya, Dodge, and Castle are determined to shut down metahuman research and weaponized illegal technology created for military applications at any cost. Along the way they’ll encounter strange individuals that could be allies or enemies—not a surprise for a group that exists to shut down state-sponsored superhumans—and clean up the mess before any hero or villain arrives, as if both the crime and the Vigil were never there. Written by Ram V (the acclaimed writer of Detective Comics, Catwoman, The Many Deaths of Laila Starr) and powerfully illustrated by Lalit Kumar Sharma (Daredevil, Firefly) and Devmalya Pramanik (Paradiso, Vampire: The Masquerade – Winter’s Teeth)! Uncover a top-secret metahuman conspiracy in this enigmatic, reality-altering new adventure! You’ve seen the Gotham of the past and present as it is ravaged by the Golden Iris Virus, menaced by villains across time, and protected by its respective heroes. Now, in this final pulse-pounding issue, see this story that has spanned centuries come to a close, and bear witness to the events that lead to the hit game! Each issue will also offer a code for readers to redeem in the Gotham Knights game for an exclusive item. For issue #6, readers will receive a code for an exclusive Signal Colorway! (Red Hood Signal Colorway shown, also available for Batgirl, Nightwing, and Robin). Readers who redeem the codes for all six issues will receive a special seventh item! *Terms apply. See the FAQs on dc.com for details.

In this historic 400 th issue of the Batman comic line, the Dark Knight faces (surprise, surprise) his greatest challenge yet, as Ra’s al Ghul has set nearly every criminal in Arkham Asylum and Gotham State Penitentiary free. To make matters worse, these villains have kidnapped nearly everyone that Batman has ever relied upon and have even captured the Gotham City Police Headquarters. They are running the city, and only Batman can hope to save the day. Apes alive! When Solovar, leader of Gorilla City, is apparently assassinated by pro-human extremists, Gorilla City’s new government declares war on humanity. Part of their plot involves turning the JLA into human-hating gorillas to help carry out their bidding.Art by HAYDEN SHERMAN, PAULINA GANUCHEAU, STEPHEN SADOWSKI, SKYLAR PATRDIGE, MILDRED LOUIS, and others!

Detective Comics #854 (2009), the thrilling beginning of Batwoman’s first solo series, which would launch her into stardom Before the Suicide Squad sets their sights on the corrupted Justice League in the upcoming videogame Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, join us for this thrilling prequel and witness them kill Arkham Asylum! Amanda Waller has taken control of the recently rebuilt Arkham, and her brutal tactics and merciless methods have led to the most secure asylum Gotham has ever known. But when the cell doors open, and the inmates are left in a freefor-all deathmatch, Waller’s true intentions reveal themselves: identify the strongest, smartest, and most brutal to serve her on Task Force X.

Nightwing is a great leader, not just because Batman trained him, or because of how Alfred raised him, or even because he has a heart of gold—it’s because of his friends, and now that the Titans are in Blüdhaven with him, they can leap into the light together…which is perfect timing for the demon of darkness Neron to do something about it. Spirit World follows the adventures of Xanthe Zhou, a non-binary Chinese hero with the ability to travel between the land of the living and that of the Spirit World—the realm of the dead! Xanthe possesses the ability to burn items folded from ceremonial joss paper and turn them into real objects. They can make anything they can fold, but their weapon of choice? A magical broadsword—because who doesn’t love a big sword when you can choose to wield a big sword?! At the time of A Death in the Family’s original run, a contest was run that allowed fans to call into a special hotline and vote whether they wanted Jason Todd to die or not. As the story goes, the results of the call-in poll were alarmingly close - but nonetheless in favor of killing Todd. So, writer Jim Starlin and his team had no choice but to conclude the following issue with the reveal that The Joker had not only beaten Robin bloody with a crowbar, but succeeding in blowing him to bits. Batman was first named "Bat-Man" by Kane. [3] Batman made its first appearance in 1939 in Detective Comics No. 27. [3] He was the second DC superhero to be created. The first was Superman. [1] Batman's origin story is that as a young child, Bruce Wayne saw a robber named Joe Chill murder his mother and father after the family left a theatre. Bruce decided that he did not want that kind of violence to happen to anyone else and wanted to avenge his parents' death. He then dedicated his life to protect his city, Gotham City. Wayne learned many different ways to fight as he grew up. As an adult, Wayne used a costume to scare criminals so that there would be less crime in Gotham City. He called himself Batman. Stormwatch race to find an ancient sword that has long been buried in the darkest depths of the ocean. A sword of unspeakable horrors, capable of wiping out entire civilizations. But they may already be too late: a group of exiled Xebels have found the blade and are hell-bent on bringing humanity to its knees. For one member of Stormwatch, this may be the end.

The Joker’s enjoying the sunny, warm weather of Los Angeles so much that he’s decided to stay…and get involved in local politics! Kate Spencer’s fists might have something to say about that, though! Elsewhere, but still related to Batman, I'm excited to see a new Red Hood solo series. Poor old Jason Todd has been put through the wringer these last few months, but Red Hood: The Hill sounds like it will give him the chance to grow now that he's apart from his former mentor. The last age of magic is upon us! Wonder Woman has gathered the DC Universe’s greatest and strangest to form a new Justice League Dark to protect the world at any cost. But is it too late? There’s always been a classic vibe to the battles between Ra’s al Ghul and Batman, despite the fact that one is a grown man who dresses as a bat and the other is a repeatedly resurrected master of assassins. With few exceptions, their clashes often come down to sword duels or straight-up fistfights. It’s a proud tradition of timeless conflicts that continues in this issue, where Batman travels to the desert to claim vengeance against Ra’s via a sword duel. The Metropolis of the future is here today, but can it survive a terrorist who’s out for revenge against its builder—John Henry Irons, a.k.a. Steel—and his company, Steelworks…and who possesses secrets that could undo everything John has worked so hard to build?

Just in time for the release of Warner Bros. Pictures’ The Batman, from visionary filmmaker Matt Reeves, DC is releasing a series of variant covers to comics on sale in March featuring art inspired by the highly anticipated feature film. A host of fan-favorite comic book artists have contributed art that perfectly captures the intense and moody feel consistent with Reeves’ vision of Bruce Wayne’s first foray as Gotham City’s Dark Knight: The Batgirls fall down a rabbit hole of mischief and wonder in their journey to find out who sent Cluemaster to kidnap his own daughter, Steph. But first, there’s a bottle that says “Drink me,” and it should be perfectly safe to drink, right? Even if it looks like it’s been laced with Langstrom serum? Batman 251’s story is about what you’d expect a Batman comic from the ‘70s to be about. In it, The Joker has escaped yet again and has devised an elaborate plan to capture and kill Batman as well as some former gang members that he believes have betrayed him. It does include a surprisingly poignant moment where the Joker refuses to kill Batman because he ultimately captured him by chance, not because of the brilliance of his elaborate scheme, but for the most part, this is your standard Batman vs. Joker fare.