You can never satisfy the world’s appetite for new Batman comics, and the folks at DC Comics understand this better than anyone. So despite the Caped Crusader appearing in close to a dozen comic books per month from the company, it shouldn’t come as a shock that the publisher just announced that more are on the way. According to a reveal over at Entertainment Weekly, DC has announced that two new Bat-centric titles will launch this October: “Arkham Manor” and “Gotham Academy.”
“Arkham Manor” will dive headfirst into the twisted world of the Dark Knight and his psychotic villains. In the book, Wayne Manor gets converted into a “psycho dungeon,” where violent inmates are housed. Obviously not all of the inmates survive their stay at Arkham Manor, and the bodies begin to pile up. It’s a short synopsis that doesn’t clarify Batman’s role in the story, but with “Deadpool” writer and artist Gerry Duggan and Shawn Crystal in charge of the book, you can expect top-notch horror and dark humor to be soaked into every page.
The publisher promises that things will lighten up in “Gotham Academy,” which re-imagines Bruce Wayne as a student attending one of the most reputable prep schools in the city. The book will be written by the team of Becky Cloonan and Brendan Fletcher, with Karl Kerschl on the art duties. The premise promises to inject a little levity into Batman’s otherwise dour world, and at the very least, it sounds like no other Bat book currently being printed.
Batman is already the star of multiple comics at the company, such as “Batman,” “Detective Comics,” “Batman and Robin,” “Justice League,” “Batman ’66,” “Batman Eternal” and “Batman/Superman.” Somehow all of these titles still sell well for DC, and whenever a new book is released, that one also manages to perform. Like Spider-Man or Wolverine over at Marvel, Batman is that rare type of character that can be overexposed, without losing his edge.
It hasn’t been confirmed whether or not these books will be ongoing series or self-contained miniseries, but fans can take solace in the fact that they will likely never face a week without a Batman book being put out by DC.
Both “Arkham Manor” and “Gotham Academy” will hit comic book store shelves on Oct. 1.
