Matt Fraction takes the reins on DC’s Batman, with a redesign and renumbering
Writer Matt Fraction will pick up the Batman baton this September, DC Comics announced at the annual ComicsPRO industry conference today, joining current Batman artist Jorge Jimenez for a new Batman #1 hitting shelves in September.
Picking up after Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee’s Hush sequel, H2SH, concludes with August’s Batman #163, the new Batman era will come with a redesigned Batman costume — a fresh take on his classic blue and gray color scheme, a new Batmobile, and a new pop-influenced look for Gotham City, according to Jimenez.
As for Fraction, he most recently wrote Batman in his last book for DC Comics, the rollicking comedy Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen, but it’s safe to assume that the character will be a little different than his appearances there.
“Jorge and I have a very superhero-forward kind of take on Batman,” Fraction said in DC’s news release. “We’ve got a new Batmobile, we’ve got a new costume, we’ve got new characters, and we’ve got a lot of old ones too —good and bad; all the stuff that makes Batman the coolest character in comics. We want to celebrate it all.”
Fraction and Jimenez’s Batman will begin with a fresh structure, too: A series of connected stories that offer one self-contained chapter in each issue.
DC didn’t just come to show off Batman news, not in their own “Summer of Superman” initiative. The publisher also announced a new Supergirl series launching May 14, featuring her small town adventures, from writer and artist Sophie Campbell (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles):
As well as a new five-issue miniseries starting June 18, Krypto: The Last Dog of Krypton, a Krypto origin story comic from artist Mike Norton (Battlepug) and writer Ryan North (Fantastic Four, Squirrel Girl, Dinosaur Comics), another noted dog lover. “We don’t cheat by reading his thoughts in balloons,” North joked in DC’s news release, noting that Norton’s art does the talking for this super man’s best friend.
Rounding out the announcements was a new creative team and direction for Action Comics: Writer Mark Waid (Batman/Superman: World’s Finest) and artist Skylar Patridge, a veteran of DC’s anthology specials, will refocus the book on Clark Kent’s early years as Superboy in Smallville, starting with June’s Action Comics #1087.
