Kevin Smith's "Fat Man on Batman" Trilogy Ending in 2013

This morning, filmmaker and comics writer Kevin Smith took to his Facebook page to announce details (and share some art) from the forthcoming Batman: Bellicosity, the third miniseries by Smith and his longtime friend and Comic Book Men co-star Walter Flanagan. Flanagan's art, which was widely criticized in the first miniseries (Batman: Cacophony) and much improved in time for the second (Batman: The Widening Gyre), has made another leap forward in this series, which Smith says rounds out their trilogy. The series stars Onomatopoeia, a character Smith introduced during his best-selling Green Arrow run who went on to become a Batman villain in Smith's trilogy. Rumor has it that Smith has a deal in place with DC that no other writer can use the character without his permission. The Batman costume is also looking pretty old-school in this shot, which makes sense--not only is it the third in a series of stories that started before The New 52, but Smith's Batman books have always taken a lot of time to produce and generally have been considered non-canonical anyway. The series will reportedly kick off in the summer. Check out Smith's comments below, and the preview art at right.

"FAT MAN ON BATMAN! "SPOILERS: This Walt Flanagan splash page showcases the Dark Knight and the unnerving Onomatopoeia from ish 1 of the forthcoming conclusion to our New York Times Best-Selling Batman cycle! "A few years back, DC Comics made my dream come true when they let me do a BATMAN comic book mini-series with one of my best friends - COMIC BOOK MEN Stash manager, Walt Flanagan. "It started with BATMAN: CACOPHONY... "It continued with BATMAN: THE WIDENING GYRE... "And in 2013, the blood will run in the final chapter of the battle between Batman and Onomatopoeia ... "BATMAN: BELLICOSITY Summer, 2013"