Last year, DC announced that they were going to be producing exclusive stories for giant issues for Walmart. The question from a lot of fans at the time was when would these stories eventually make their way to comic shops as tracking down the first major Batman story from Brian Michael Bendis could prove to be difficult if only available at the massive retailer. DC had mentioned a couple of months back at a retailer summit that the story would be collected in some form in the summer and now they have released details of when exactly fans can expect it.
Debuting in July, Batman Universe #1 will quick off a six-issue miniseries that will collect two of the chapters from the Walmart giants per issue. This means that the story will still wrap up in the Walmart giant prior to releasing in comic stores and keep the exclusivity of the deal with Walmart intact. This means that the new miniseries will wrap in December and likely be collected in early 2020 in trade. Here is the solicit for the first issue:
Following the theft of a priceless Fabergé egg, the Riddler leads The Dark Knight on a wild hunt after its true owner: Jinny Hex, a descendant of the haunted Western hero Jonah Hex. Deathstroke, Green Arrow and some of the brightest stars in the DC Universe will join The Dark Knight on the chase to find this treasure!
The first issue of Batman Universe will hit stores on July 10 with a new cover from Nick Derington. If you haven’t picked up the story at Walmart, are you looking forward to Bendis’ first major Batman story coming to the comic market?
