Ahead of the new creative team takeover on DC Comics’ Batman series, the first details about what to expect from writer James Tynion IV‘s run on the comic have started to arrive online thanks to advanced solicits. Tynion will take over on the title with Batman #86 along with artist Tony S. Daniel and they’re wasting no time going into the Batman archives as the first issues on their run will feature Deathstroke trying to kill Riddler and a visit to Arkham Asylym where Batman meets The Penguin. Another advanced solicit has arrived online teasing a new sidekick for the Dark Knight, and it’s no laughing matter.
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The first solicit for Batman #91 has revealed who will be fighting alongside Batman is none other than Harley Quinn. These two are actually no stranger to working together on occasion, having done it a number of times in Batman: The Animated Series. A 2017 animated feature film titled Batman and Harley Quinn picked up those pieces and featured the pair together in a series of team ups. In the pages of DC Comics though they fought side by side in the ever popular Injustice 2 series and in Harley Quinn‘s solo series.
As part of their team-up, and Tynion’s run on the series, a new villain will emerge in Gotham City known as The Designer. A mysterious master criminal, the new villain will take on the task of assembling Batman’s rogues to commit “the perfect crime.” Ahead of Batman #91, the Designer will enact his plan in Batman #90 putting Batman at odds with his beloved Catwoman.
“I loved writing stories for [Batman] Eternal, Detective Comics, and even Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but my desire to tell a Batman story, one focusing solely on Bruce Wayne instead of an ensemble, is what drove me back to the Batcave,” Tynion said in a statement when his appointment to Batman was announced. “I want to dig deep into the Bat himself and tell an epic story that pushes him to his absolute limits. I want to tell a Batman story like the kinds I grew up loving, one that embraces the horror and gothic elegance of Gotham and dives deep into Batman’s greatest villains.”
BATMAN #91
Written by James Tynion IV
Art and cover by Jorge Jimenez
o save Gotham City, Catwoman will have to commit the greatest heist in the city’s history! But hot on her trail are the Penguin, the Riddler, a horde of assassins, and the master criminal called the Designer! And the most dangerous person standing in her way is the man she’s trying to save: Batman. And what complications will his arise from his new sidekick, Harley Quinn??
On sale 03.18.20
$3.99 US | 32 pages