DC Comics Announces the "Year of the Villain," and a Star-Studded 25-Cent Special to Celebrate

02/13/2019 10:00 am EST

DC's Free Comic Book Day plans are taking shape, as the publisher today announced plans today to release an exclusive original comic, DC'S Year of the Villain, on Wednesday, May 1, as comic book retailers nationwide prepare for Free Comic Book Day, Saturday, May 4. Available for only 25 cents, DC'S Year of the Villain spotlights several of DC's most infamous super-villains, in stories written by celebrated authors Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, and Brian Michael Bendis.

This exclusive 32-page comic will feature breathtaking art from Eisner Award-winning illustrator Alex Maleev, Jim Cheung and Francis Manapul, with an original cover by acclaimed artist Greg Capullo.

Hardcore fans will also want to contact their local comics retailer right away to check availability of any one of three variant covers by Maleev (Lex Luthor) and Cheung (the Batman Who Laughs), as well as popular cover artist Stanley "Artgerm" Lau (the Cheetah).

You can check the covers out in the attached image gallery.

Following the events of Snyder and Tynion's Justice League, Lex Luthor takes a major step forward, assembling his Legion of Doom for the final push to replace Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and the rest of the League as the rightful leaders of not only mankind, but the universe itself, hoping to harness the power of Perpetua, the first being to be imprisoned within the Source Wall, now newly freed in the events of Justice League Annual #1. Perpetua's storyline and Luthor's plans to rid the universe of heroes will continue to escalate throughout the rest of 2019.

"Originally, we did have this as No Justice 2, essentially. But we realized as we were getting closer to it, that this was more of a single punch. We didn't need four or five issues to tell this story," Snyder recently told ComicBook.com about the events contained in the Annual. "We needed a single big powerful moment, because the rise of Perpetua and what happens to the Source Wall in this issue, it is the end of the first act of everything we've been building and the start launch of the terrifying second act. It's the huge turn, and we wanted an issue that would really be able to deliver that. And because we had the Justice League Annual #1 in our back pocket to use when we needed, that felt like, "this is the moment." This is the moment to sort of launch that, and it was perfect because January's a five week month. And we just knew this is the moment to put that annual into the world and really shake things up for the entire year."

In that same interview, Snyder alluded to building a "summer blockbuster," something that this 25-cent kickoff issue certainly sounds like a key part of.

Snyder continues this plague of villainy through his fan-favorite character the Batman Who Laughs. Fans should pay close attention to the current six-issue miniseries, as the events of the final issue will continue to play out in this pre-FCBD issue, leading into a master plan revealed in a to-be-announced new series debuting this summer.

Fans of Superman and Action Comics will also have plenty to look forward to in this issue, particularly those following the "Leviathan Rising" story arc beginning with issue #1007. Bendis and Maleev will kick off a new status quo in DC's dark world of espionage and terrorism; the repercussions of this new order will be will have major ramifications for the Man of Steel this Summer.

And in case you thought the Dark Knight would be getting off easy, guess again: DC's Year of the Villain will also contain clues to Batman's upcoming battle with the villains of Gotham in "City of Bane," also slated to begin this summer.

On Free Comic Book Day, Saturday, May 4, DC will showcase its upcoming young reader imprints—DC Ink (young adult) and DC Zoom (middle grade). At no cost, fans can get their hands on exclusive early looks at UNDER THE MOON: A CATWOMAN TALE (DC Ink) and DEAR JUSTICE LEAGUE (DC Zoom).

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