It’s Batman vs. Robin in Mark Waid and Mahmud Asrar’s DC Event Series

Bruce Wayne is going to come to blows with his son, Damian Wayne, in a new limited series this fall. Batman vs. Robin is a five-issue series from writer Mark Waid, artist Mahmud Asrar, and colorist Nathan Fairbairn debuting in September. The event spins out of Waid’s current run on Batman/Superman: World’s Finest with artist Dan Mora, while also tying into the concluding “Shadow War” crossover between Joshua Williamson’s Batman, Robin, and Deathstroke series. Each part of Batman vs. Robin features five oversized issues, and also involves the Devil Nezha from World’s Finest.

“What I can say is that the first arc of World’s Finest is, was, and always has been, designed deliberately to lead into what is going to be Batman vs. Robin,” Mark Waid teased in the announcement by Popverse. “What I was trying to do with Batman versus Robin was try to take them into a realm that I’m not used to seeing them in, which is dark magic sorcery, rather than science, rather than logic and detective stuff. We’ve seen Batman and sort of peripheral magic, but I want to get into the down and dirty of it.”

Mahmud Asrar is a former Marvel Young Guns artist – now known as Marvel Stormbreakers – who is making his return to DC after nine years at Marvel. Waid and Asrar collaborated on 2015-2016’s All-New, All-Different Avengers.

Another interesting tidbit is September also marks the second story arc for Batman/Superman: World’s Finest. Waid alluded to another spinoff possibly joining Batman vs. Robin.

“They’re two separate things,” he says. “What the second arc is leading into is not on the radar yet… I can’t hardly say anything, but there’s something in that second arc that the payoff is, ‘Oh! I didn’t realize that the payoff is part of something that I’ve known for a long time’.”

Waid has had long runs at both DC and Marvel, and after making his DC return in World’s Finest, the Eisner-award winner is looking to give readers a taste of something new.

“There’s no point being subtractive to a superhero universe. Every time we limit someone’s powers or put on some new limitation to what they can do and how they can do it, that’s just counter to the whole spirit of comics and superhero comics,” he says. “Comics are not about rules. Comics are about flying, right?”

Are you excited to see Batman and Robin square off this fall? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!