New Batman Comic Cover Has Surprise Shonen Jump Hit Easter Egg

DC Comics is about to relaunch its ongoing Batman comics with a new number one, written by Matt Fraction and drawn by Jorge Jimenez. The issue is scheduled to be released on September 3rd at your available comic book shops and is advertised as a fresh era of Batman comics. Like all new number one issues, DC is commemorating the relaunch with a plethora of variant covers. Some covers are retail exclusives, while others are standard alternate covers. However, the FanExpo Shop received an exclusive Batman #1 cover that pays homage to one of Shonen Jump’s current manga hits.

DC artist superstar Dan Mora was commissioned to draw an exclusive artwork for Batman #1 for FanExpo. Mora is a known anime and manga fan, putting anime easter eggs in his artwork. For his cover of Fraction’s and Jimenez’s Batman #1, Mora paid direct homage to Kagurabachi, the action-fantasy manga series being published on Weekly Shonen Jump. Mora’s cover is a replica of the first volume cover of Kagurabachi, with Batman and his rogues gallery taking the place of Chihiro Rokuhira and the many suited men he’s fighting. Mora confirms it is a direct homage to Kagurabachi on his social media channels.

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The Batman comics and Kagurabachi share plenty of similarities. Both series star men driven by revenge for the loss of their parents. Batman and Chihiro, the main protagonist of Kagurabachi, are stoic guys, clad in black, who also show compassion when the situation requires it. Chihiro in Kagurabachi holds the seventh Enchanted Blade forged by his late father. His goal is to track the remaining six blades and get revenge on an evil syndicate of sorcerers who murdered his father. Kagurabachi began publishing on September 19, 2023, becoming one of Shonen Jump’s most recent hits. With several high-profile manga series ending within the last several years, fans gravitated towards Kagurabachi as a potential successor.

Fans and readers can purchase the Kagurabachi-homaged cover of Batman #1 on the official Shop FanExpo website for $20 USD. Fans can get a virgin foil version of the cover for $25, a signed copy of the virgin foil by Dan Mora for #35, or a sealed graded version of the comic for over $100. There are other Batman variant covers fans can purchase. The online store is home to many convention memorabilia and exclusives. Fraction and Jimenez’s Batman #1 is viewed as being the biggest new comic release of September, and possibly all of 2025. Batman comics, specifically the main Batman and Detective Comics, are constantly among the best-selling comics every month. Fraction and Jimenez are considered to be top talent, meaning the Batman #1 will get plenty of attention when it hits stands.

Meanwhile, Kagurabachi has 8 volumes in circulation in Japan and is currently being translated and published in North America by Viz Media. An anime adaptation for the series has been announced, but no major news has been unveiled at the time of this writing. The original manga author, Takeru Hokazono, attended Anime NYC in August.

Love the new Batman #1 cover by Dan Mora? Enjoy it when anime and manga are referenced in American comic books? Comment below to give us your answers!