DC Announces Batman Weekly Event Shadows of the Bat

Spearheaded by Mariko Tamaki and a host of artists, “Shadows of the Bat” will unfold in 12 weekly issues of Detective Comics, beginning this January.

A weekly event entitled Shadows of the Bat will kick off in January, encompassing 12 issues of Detective Comics.

Penned by current Detective Comics scribe Mariko Tamaki and illustrated by artists Ivan Reis (Action Comics), Danny Miki (Batman), Max Raynor (Challenge of the Super Sons), Amancay Nahuelpan (Crush & Lobo) and Jordie Bellaire (Batman), Shadows of the Bat focuses on Arkham Tower, a new facility in downtown Gotham designed to hold Batman’s villains.

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Aside from its main story, the Shadows of the Bat event also features backup tales that delve in Arkham’s history, written by Matthew Rosenberg (Task Force Z) with artwork by Fernando Blanco (Catwoman).

Arkham Asylum, the traditional home of Gotham’s rogues gallery, was destroyed in a chemical attack in the pages of Infinite Frontier #0 that left multiple inmates dead with rictus smiles on their faces — typically the Joker’s modus operandi. Arkham Tower will be greenlit as a replacement by current Gotham Mayor Christopher Nakano in “Arkham Rising,” a backup story running in October’s Detective Comics #1044.

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The saga of the tower continues in November’s Detective Comics 2021 Annual, which serves as a prelude for the Shadows of the Bat event. In the annual, Batman and Nightwing grapple with their conflicting ideas on Arkham’s place within Gotham City and face off against the Maeger Man, a new enemy. The event properly begins with Detective Comics #1047, and future issues hint that Arkham Tower will suffer the same problems as its predecessor, with inmates taking over and the Bat Family becoming embroiled in the machinations of a mysterious figure known as Dr. Wear.

Shadows of the Bat spins out of Fear State, the current event in the Batman books that sees the city manipulated by Scarecrow and placed under the control of Simon Saint, a technology billionaire who seeks to control Gotham with his deadly army of Peacekeepers.

Detective Comics #1047 goes on sale Jan. 4, with the following issue releasing one week later on Jan. 11.

DETECTIVE COMICS #1047

• Written by Mariko Tamaki
• Art by Ivan Reis and Danny Miki
• Backup written by Matthew Rosenberg
• Backup art by Fernando Blanco
• Cover by Irvin Rodriguez
• Variant by Lee Bermejo
• 1:25 variant by Jorge Fornés
• 1:50 variant by Simone Di Meo
• $4.99 US | 40 pages | Variant $5.99 US (Card stock)
• ON SALE 1/4/22

DETECTIVE COMICS #1048

• Written by Mariko Tamaki
• Art by Ivan Reis and Danny Miki
• Backup written by Matthew Rosenberg
• Backup art by Fernando Blanco
• Cover by Irvin Rodriguez
• Variant by Lee Bermejo
• 1:25 variant by Jorge Fornés
• $4.99 US | 40 pages | Variant $5.99 US (Card stock)
• ON SALE 1/11/22

KEEP READING: Batman Is About to Leave Gotham, Setting Up His Next Major Event

Source: DC

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About The Author

Jeremy Blum (130 Articles Published)

Jeremy Blum is an Associate News Writer at CBR. An avid fan of comic books since the age of three (back when he could only look at the pictures and imagine what was happening in the word balloons), Jeremy is the admin behind @classic_batman_panels, one of the most detailed Batman fan accounts on Instagram. He has worked as a journalist in both the United States and Hong Kong and writes about video and tabletop games on his blog Pixel Grotto in his free time. Find him on Twitter at @blummer102 or @PixelGrotto.

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