DC Announces Two New Batman Middle Grade Graphic Novels

DC’s Dark Knight has become a unique part of our popular culture, inspiring countless stories in live-action, animation, and on the page. As DC announced on Wednesday, that will now include two upcoming middle-grade graphic novels, both of which are set to be released in the spring of 2023. These include Bruce Wayne: Not Super, which is written by Spy School‘s Stuart Gibbs with art from Flash‘s Berat Peckmezci, as well as Fann Club: The Batman Squad created by Dear Dumb Diary‘s Jim Benton. Both will provide family-friendly stories that take the Batman mythos to new heights.

Bruce Wayne: Not Super follows a 13-year-old Bruce Wayne as he attends an exclusive prep school for the gifted. But this school is for the super-gifted. Bruce doesn’t stand a chance of winning a race against the future Flash, or a swim meet against the future Aquaman, and he always gets picked last for dodgeball. It’s hard enough being in middle school, but it’s even worse when you’re the only kid at your school who doesn’t have super-powers. Bruce does have a goal though: he wants to make a difference in the world. But how can he do that when he doesn’t have any powers? While the Future-Supers are currently content to simply use their gifts to glide through school and court popularity, Bruce struggles to figure out if he has any gifts at all – and if so, how to use them. His challenge comes when he discovers fellow student Jack Napier and his hired bully Bane shaking down lesser-powered students for money, including that hapless kid Dick Grayson. Someone must stand up to them and somehow, it’s going to be Bruce!

Fann Club: The Batman Squad will follow the adventures and misadventures of Ernest Fann, a boy who idolizes Batman. With no particular training or superpowers, Ernest decides to set up a crimefighting unit consisting of his immediate friends and his dog. Ernest takes on the name of Gerbilwing, his best friend Jack becomes Nightstand, his sitter Harriet is dubbed Nightshadow, and his dog Westy takes on the crime-fighting alias of Night Terrier.

Their very important training exercises—all designed by Ernest, of course, consist of Scowling, Standing Mysteriously on A Roof, and going on neighborhood patrol. But things get complicated when Ernest and Jack—a.k.a Gerbilwing and Nightstand—visit a bank that happens to be in the middle of a robbery. And not just any robbery, but one that’s being committed by a werewolf! What’s his connection to a number of “disasters” that have been going on in Ernest’s neighborhood? Will The Batman Squad taste defeat on their very first day of crime-fighting?

These are the latest young reader graphic novels that DC has announced for the spring of 2023, including the young adult entries Girl Taking Over: A Lois Lane Story, The Strange Case of Harleen and Harley, and Static: Up All Night.

Bruce Wayne: Not Super will be released on February 7, 2023, while Fann Club: The Batman Squad will be released on June 6, 2023.