Batman The Dark Knight: Mad Hatter Returns And He’s Creepy

DC Entertainment sent Comicbook.com some preview pages for the Batman: The Dark Knight #16, and we wanted to share them. Issue #16 is significant for two reasons, as it both introduces Ethan Van Sciver as the new ongoing series artist and is the premiere of the New 52 version of The Mad Hatter. "With this first issue, I think I really just found a Mad Hatter that makes me happy and I think a lot of other people are going to like him too. He's creepy and cooky and silly and fun and mean all at once," said artist Van Sciver. "Part of keeping a readership on their toes, part of keeping them scared, part of keeping Batman heroic is constantly reinventing them, rethinking the villains that have become maybe too familiar." "For me, the Hatter is a character who I was always interested in. He was always running around. He was obsessed with reclaiming his Alice or finding his Alice. He has this incredible fixation. He's interesting. He's a household name, in comic book households. I never felt he was granted an overall narrative that really explains and defines him and shows who he is. One that shows why he's a force to be reckoned with. I think that's one of the things that Ethan and I are really trying to do," added series writer Gregg Hurwitz. "If people are going to have a New 52 brand new version, brand new reinvention of the Hatter, we hope it will be the definitive one. They understand where he came from, they understand his past. And they understand why he's such a huge threat. This guy, all 4'6" of him is going to put a plan into motion that's going to rattle Gotham to its cornerstones in our arc." Below are pages 13, 14, and 18 from Batman: The Dark Knight #16, which is set to arrive in comic book stores on January 30, 2013.