Another month has come and gone and despite the rumors out on the internet that DC Comics could be slicing their output numbers from fifty plus books per month to just over twenty, there is absolutely no sign of that given May’s solicitations. New series are starting up or finally resolicited and there aren’t any unexpected cancellations, as far as what we cover her at TBU. So what can fans expect in May? Let’s dive in and analyze everything that was announced.
April’s showers (or lack of new titles to cover) just very well be bringing May flowers in terms of new titles for TBU to cover. Starting off with maybe one of the most anticipated titles since December when it was first pulled from the release schedule just weeks before its release, Batman and the Outsiders will finally kick off. Staying true to the original solicitation for the series, Bryan Hill will write the series with art by Dexter Soy. While we may never know exactly why or how things changed from December, the series coming should bring some joy to fans.
May will also bring the beginning of a few new miniseries’. These include the third volume of James Tynion’s Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle crossover, as well as a project that had been first revealed well over a year ago with Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s Batman: Last Knight on Earth. The latter of the two will release as part of DC Black Label and be oversized in comparison costing $5.99 per issue with a planned three issues. There will also be a new miniseries coming from writer Tom Taylor as he explores an alternate reality that deals with a virus infecting ten percent of the world’s population and causing death and destruction across the globe. The series promises to focus on the horror side of things and will release horror movie variants as well with the first issue featuring Joker and Robin in a scene from the film, It.
May also happens to have five Wednesdays and that generally means that you can find annuals added for the month or a special group of releases added to the extra week typically not there every other month. This time around, Detective Comics and Catwoman will be getting annuals, both featuring the normal creative teams attached to the series’. There will also be a seasonally themed title released called Dog Days of Summer featuring stories regarding some of the animals found in the DC Universe. All of these titles will release on the last Wednesday of May.
Some other brief mentions worth noting, the next DC Zoom title that we will be covering here at TBU, Dear Justice League, is advanced solicited for release in July. The special $0.25 issue DC’s Year of the Villain releases at the beginning of the month. Batman: Damned’s final issue has been resolicited for release and Heroes in Crisis will wrap up in May as well. Finally, the crossover between Deathstroke and Teen Titans also wraps up in May.
Be sure to check out the full details for everything hitting stores in May below as well as a gallery of some of the covers coming. Let us know which books you are the most excited for this month.
BATMAN BOOKS
BATMAN #70-71 [05/01, 05/15] Written by TOM KING, art by MIKEL JANIN; #70: “The Fall and the Fallen” begins! This is the one you’ve been waiting for! Now that Batman has escaped the “Knightmares,” he’s starting to see the forces rallying against him—and that his father from another universe has joined the other side. The Caped Crusader finally digs into the mystery of how Thomas Wayne, a.k.a. the Flashpoint Batman, escaped the collapse of his dimension and ended up in this part of the Multiverse. Get all the answers in this new five-part story paving the way for the next big BATMAN event! #71: “The Fall and the Fallen” continues! Will it be father and son working together, or tearing each other apart? When it comes to the Waynes, expect a little of both. In the quest to get Bruce Wayne to hang up the cape and cowl, Thomas Wayne is going to have to use a little tough love. Only, not all the muscle behind it will be his own. $3.99, 32 Pages
DETECTIVE COMICS #1003-1004 [05/08, 05/22] Written by PETER J. TOMASI, art by BRAD WALKER and ANDREW HENNESSY; #1003: Damian was so certain he could succeed against the Arkham Knight where his father failed—and not only was he wrong, but as it turns out, the Knight has a surprising plan for the son of Batman! #1004: The face behind the mask is revealed! Who’s taken up the mantle of the Arkham Knight? What’s their endgame? And what’s the shocking secret that Batman never knew about a part of his life he’d taken for granted? $3.99, 32 Pages
DETECTIVE COMICS ANNUAL #2 [05/29] Written by PETER J. TOMASI, art by TRAVIS MOORE; After years on the shelf, Batman returns to the Black Casebook! Throughout his career, Batman has compiled his most disturbing cases into one volume, its every page filled with bizarre horror and crimes he never quite managed to solve. Now a case from the past has re-opened itself in the here and now…and Batman will find himself face-to-face again with one of the deadliest villains he fought in his early years: the Reaper! $4.99, 48 Pages
THE BATMAN WHO LAUGHS #5 [05/08] Written by SCOTT SNYDER, art by JOCK; It’s a battle to the death as Batman goes head-to-head with the Grim Knight! The Caped Crusader is forced to not only fight off the most evil version of himself, but the growing desire to turn his back on his moral code and commit cold-blooded murder. Any other time, Batman would be able to stay on the straight and narrow, but as the Joker serum finally takes over his body, Bruce Wayne may just succumb to pure evil, and kill the Grim Knight. All of this is foreseen by the Batman Who Laughs, who has been planning for the corruption of Bruce Wayne, banking on him activating the “Last Laugh” protocol and turning Gotham City into an incubator for evil. All the Batman Who Laughs needs is one last “Happy Bruce” from another dimension to make his serum work…but only Batman knows where the last Bruce is going to show up. $4.99, 32 Pages, 5 of 6
BATMAN: DAMNED #3 [05/22] Written by BRIAN AZZARELLO, art by LEE BERMEJO; The stunning conclusion to the groundbreaking miniseries by the critically acclaimed team of writer Brian Azzarello and artist Lee Bermejo is here! Batman’s most baffling case brings him face to face with his worst nightmare in this highly anticipated finale! $6.99, 48 Pages, 3 of 3, DC Black Label Title
BATMAN: LAST KNIGHT ON EARTH #1 [05/29] Written by SCOTT SNYDER, art by GREG CAPULLO and JONATHAN GLAPION; Bruce Wayne wakes up in Arkham Asylum. Young. Sane. And…he was never Batman. So begins this sprawling tale of the Dark Knight as he embarks on a quest through a devastated DC landscape featuring a massive cast of familiar faces from the DC Universe. As he tries to piece together the mystery of his past, he must unravel the cause of this terrible future and track down the unspeakable force that destroyed the world as he knew it… From the powerhouse creative team of writer Scott Snyder and artist Greg Capullo, the team that reinvented Batman from the emotional depths of “Court of Owls” to the bombastic power of DARK NIGHTS: METAL, DC Black Label is proud to present the bimonthly, three-issue miniseries BATMAN: LAST KNIGHT ON EARTH, published at DC’s standard comic trim size. This could be the last Batman story ever told… $5.99, 56 Pages, 1 of 3, DC Black Label Title
BATMAN/TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES III #1 [05/01] Written by JAMES TYNION IV, art by FREDDIE E. WILLIAMS II; The 80th anniversary of Batman collides with the 35th anniversary of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in this stunning concluding miniseries to the BATMAN/TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES trilogy. Our heroes have battled the evil of the Foot Clan in Gotham City and Bane in New York, but now Krang has gotten his hands on the most dangerous technologies in the DC Universe—and no universe is safe from his wrath! Co-published with IDW. $3.99, 32 Pages, 1 of 6
GREATER GOTHAM
BATGIRL #35 [05/22] Written by MAIRGHREAD SCOTT, art by PAUL PELLETIER and NORM RAPMUND; After Batgirl’s discovery of the Terrible Trio’s bid to control the Gotham underworld, she’s immediately off to investigate—starting with the group’s muscle…the Shark! Can Babs use her wits to survive a showdown with this bro turned bruiser? Or is he just a warm-up for the battle to come against this band of wild criminals? $3.99, 32 Pages
BATMAN AND THE OUTSIDERS #1 [05/08] Written by BRYAN HILL, art by DEXTER SOY; When the quest for justice drives Batman into some morally ambiguous areas, he calls in the most moral man he knows: Jefferson Pierce, a.k.a. Black Lightning, and his team of operatives known as the Outsiders! Several years ago Batman personally put the Barrera family into hiding after they suffered through terrible experiments at the hands of an organization called the Ark. Now all but one of them have turned up dead…and Batman needs to locate Sofia Barrera before the wrong people get their hands on her—and her surprising power! But it wouldn’t be Batman without a hidden agenda, would it? And when Black Lightning, Katana, the Signal and Orphan find out what Batman is really up to, their every loyalty will be called into question. $3.99, 32 Pages
BATMAN BEYOND #32 [05/22] Written by DAN JURGENS, art by RICK LEONARDI and ANDE PARKS; “Lost Daze” continues as Batman’s battle with the Splitt reaches a fever pitch, but the Dark Knight isn’t getting any support from the Batcave. The normally reclusive Bruce Wayne is too busy lavishing cash all over Neo-Gotham to care that his protégé is in trouble. Does this out-of-character behavior have something to do with the strange goings-on at Arkham Asylum? $3.99, 32 Pages
CATWOMAN #11 [05/08] Written by JOELLE JONES, art by FERNANDO BLANCO; Asking the question, “Who is Selina Kyle?” has gotten folks hurt in the past…but this time it’s Selina asking about herself. Meanwhile, the disgraced Creel family are marshalling their resources to make a return to Villa Hermosa and claw their way back to the top. $3.99, 32 Pages
CATWOMAN ANNUAL #1 [05/29] Written by JOELLE JONES, art by ELENA CASAGRANDE; Selina Kyle walks a fine line in the criminal underworld. A thief herself, she’s regularly on the wrong side of the law, while her personal life gives her crooked colleagues plenty of reason to distrust her. When Catwoman finds herself at the center of a dark plot full of violence and intrigue, she’ll have to decide which side she is on…and who she can trust. If a leopard can’t change its spots, and a leopard is a cat…can Catwoman ever escape her own destiny? $4.99, 48 Pages
HARLEY QUINN #61 [05/01] Written by SAM HUMPHRIES, art by OTTO SCHMIDT; Harley Quinn welcomes new series artist Otto Schmidt! Harley travels to Gotham City to blow off some steam with her friend Catwoman in the best way she knows how—no, not a bank robbery—game night! But the good, clean fun soon turns into a nightmare when they discover that the game is cursed, and that they’ve inadvertently turned Gotham City into something straight out of a fantasy RPG! Now, with the entire city gone insane, Harley Quinn is the only one who remembers reality…but will anyone believe her? $3.99, 32 Pages
NIGHTWING #60 [05/15] Written by DAN JURGENS, art by CHRIS MOONEYHAM; Detective Alphonse Sapienza may be a natural-born leader, forged through his many years with the GCPD, but does that give him what it takes to lead the Night-wings when their lives are endangered as never before? As fires that seem to have a mind of their own rage through Blüdhaven targeting cops, the team is up against its greatest test yet. Joined by Ric Grayson, how will the Nightwings save the city’s finest from a red-hot vendetta and the city’s newest villain, Burnback? $3.99, 32 Pages
RED HOOD: OUTLAW #34 [05/08] Written by SCOTT LOBDELL, art by PETE WOODS; Jason Todd heads to France to expand the Iceberg Lounge’s sphere of influence—or are his motives more ambitious? Meanwhile, the Penguin gains an unexpected ally in his bid to topple the Red Hood, but the DCU’s greatest Outlaw is busy battling a threat from his past who feels like his recent aspirations might threaten more than just Gotham City. Brace yourselves for the shocking return of Essence! $3.99, 32 Pages
GREATER DC UNIVERSE
ADVENTURES OF THE SUPER SONS #10 [05/01] Written by PETER J. TOMASI, art by CARLO BARBERI and MATT SANTORELLI; It’s the runaway train from hell! Superboy and Robin better hold on for dear life as they ride a 20-megaton cosmic engine of mass combustion (that’s a pun!) into their final battle with Rex Luthor! But Rex has got a brand-new army of shiny young super-villains ready to conquer all they survey…will the son of Batman and the son of Superman be enough to stop him? $3.99, 32 Pages, 10 of 12
DCEASED #1 [05/01] Written by TOM TAYLOR, art by TREVOR HAIRSINE, STEFANO GAUDIANO and JAMES HARREN; “I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was Death, and Hades was following close behind him.”—Revelation 6:8 A mysterious techno-virus has been released on Earth, infecting 600 million people and turning them instantly into violent, monstrous engines of destruction. The heroes of the DCU are caught completely unprepared for a pandemic of this magnitude and struggle to save their loved ones first…but what happens to the World’s Greatest Heroes if the world ends? New York Times best-selling writer Tom Taylor (INJUSTICE) returns with a terrifying new tale and is joined by artists Trevor Hairsine (LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT) and Stefano Gaudiano (The Walking Dead). $3.99, 32 Pages, 1 of 6
DC’S YEAR OF THE VILLAIN #1 [05/01] Written by BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS, SCOTT SNYDER and JAMES TYNION IV, art by JIM CHEUNG, ALEX MALEEV and FRANCIS MANAPUL; Evil is winning! Lex Luthor and The Legion of Doom conspire with Cosmic Gods, bending mankind toward a dark destiny. Elsewhere, the scourge of Leviathan spreads unchecked, seizing power in every corner of the world. And all the while the Batman Who Laughs busies himself in the shadows, aligned with no one—yet with sinister plans for all. The carnage starts here as the badguys take center stage in “The Year of the Villain,” the most treacherous event in DC Comics history. Some act with united goals, others with plans selfish and secret, every one of them on a monstrous collision course against Batman, Superman and the heroes of the DC Universe. And our heroes will fail us. Don’t miss the start of “The Year of the Villain,” featuring the talents of writers Brian Michael Bendis, Scott Snyder and James Tynion IV, artists Jim Cheung, Alex Maleev and Francis Manapul and cover artist Greg Capullo—all for just $0.25! $0.25, 32 Pages, One-Shot
DEATHSTROKE #43 [05/01] Written by CHRISTOPHER PRIEST and ADAM GLASS, art by CARLO PAGULAYAN and JASON PAZ; “The Terminus Agenda” finale! It’s code red for the Teen Titans as their plan to capture and imprison Deathstroke has backfired in the worst possible way. Mercy Hall is on lockdown, and all the super-villains have escaped their cells! As the villains team up to take down their captors, Deathstroke makes one final attempt at “fixing” Damian—will Damian finally abandon Batman’s code to save his friends from certain death? $3.99, 32 Pages
DOOMSDAY CLOCK #11 [05/22] Written by GEOFF JOHNS, art by GARY FRANK; The critically acclaimed series by the renowned team of writer Geoff Johns and artist Gary Frank marches toward its conclusion. In this penultimate issue, the truth behind “Rebirth” is revealed as Batman searches for the one person he believes can help him save the world…Rorschach! $4.99, 32 Pages, 10 of 12
HEROES IN CRISIS #9 [05/22] Written by TOM KING, art by CLAY MANN; The most-talked-about miniseries of the year reaches its stunning finale! The mystery behind the murders at Sanctuary is solved, but the mind behind it is one the heroes never expected. With their deepest secrets exposed, the Trinity has to consider how to carry on. Should the tragedy cause them to redouble their efforts to help their hurting comrades, or will they need to close up shop? The answers will be found in the ashes of this final showdown, and the fates of Booster Gold, Harley Quinn and the rest hang in the balance. $3.99, 32 Pages, 9 of 9
JUSTICE LEAGUE #23-24 [05/01, 05/15] Written by SCOTT SNYDER, art by JORGE JIMENEZ; #23: “The Sixth Dimension” chapter four! Our heroes have been banished to the prison planet of villains by the World Forger. Stuck with no way of escape, the team hatches a plan to defeat the World Forger and get back to their dimension with the help of a new ally, but where is Superman?! #24: “The Sixth Dimension” chapter five! The League’s plan is in full swing, but one member of the team isn’t on board with their message and sides with the World Forger! Betrayed, there’s only one person who can turn the tide of this battle. Can Superman find the strength to escape his prison planet and save the Justice League, or is the League doomed to live out their days trapped in the Sixth Dimension?! $3.99, 32 Pages
TEEN TITANS #30 [05/15] Written by ADAM GLASS, art by BERNARD CHANG; “The Terminus Agenda” epilogue! Every decision has consequences, and after the shocking events of DEATHSTROKE #43 (trust us, you don’t want to miss it!) it’s time for Damian and the rest of the Teen Titans to take stock of what they’ve done. But the team barely has time to process before a new threat emerges in the form of Crush’s absentee father…Lobo! $3.99, 32 Pages
YOUNG JUSTICE #5 [05/01] Written by BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS, art by PATRICK GLEASON and KRIS ANKA; Gemworld rips in half as Dark Opal battles the teen heroes of Young Justice as this huge, in-continuity epic continues. While Robin, Amethyst, Impulse, Teen Lantern and Superboy fight for their freedom, the secrets of Jinny Hex, Jonah Hex’s great-great-granddaughter, are revealed—and it is a DC Universe doozy! $3.99, 32 Pages
SECONDARY DC BOOKS
DEAR JUSTICE LEAGUE TP [07/31] Written by MICHAEL NORTHROP, art by GUSTAVO DUARTE; The greatest heroes in the DC Universe, the Justice League of America, answer mail from their biggest fans—kids!—courtesy of Michael Northrop, New York Times bestselling author of TombQuest, and artist Gustavo Duarte (BIZARRO). Does Superman ever make mistakes? What was Wonder Woman’s 11th birthday like? Does Aquaman smell like fish? In this new middle grade graphic novel, iconic heroes are asked questions both big and small, and when they are not busy saving the world, the Justice League even finds time to respond. Their honest and humorous answers will surprise and delight readers of any age, as it turns out that being a superhero is not too different from being a kid. Full of feats, follies, and colorful illustrations, Dear Justice League gives readers the inside scoop on everyday heroics, no matter who wears the cape! $9.99, 160 Pages, DC Zoom Title
DOG DAYS OF SUMMER #1 [05/29] Written by G. WILLOW WILSON, JOSHUA WILLIAMSON, MARIKO TAMAKI, DAN DiDIO, COLLIN KELLY, JACKSON LANZING and others, art by STJEPAN SEJIC, TOMY RANEY, CULLY HAMNER, KYLE HOTZ, CIAN TORMEY and others; “Who let the dogs out?” DC does this summer as we unleash the beast within and join Krypto and Superman, Bat-Cow and Batman, Wonder Woman and Ferdinand and many more for eight sun-kissed stories in this can’t-miss animal-sized spectacular! $9.99, 80 PAges, One-Shot
TEEN TITANS GO! #34 [05/15] Written by SHOLLY FISCH and IVAN COHEN, art by ERICH OWEN and SARAH LEUVER; The Titans get swept up in a 73-hour dystopian teen movie marathon, then reenact “The Hungry Games” when they realize there’s only one slice of pizza left! And when a meatball-making contest sponsored by a local Jump City joint (first prize: free heroes for life!) provokes an intense Beast Boy/Cyborg rivalry, it spells certain disaster…for our “Meatball Heroes” and the poor restaurant. $2.99, 32 Pages
