Can’t get enough of Batman? Well DC Comics has the answer for that as they fill their upcoming October 2021 calendar with comic books starring Batman or someone from the Batman Family. In the middle of all of the Batman comics that are being published DC Comics is also celebrating the 80th anniversary of Wonder Woman in a big way with several comic books dedicated to the character and her world. What other notable comic books will DC Comics publish this coming October 2021? Let’s take a look at DC Comics October 2021.
IT’S BATMAN’S UNIVERSE. THE DC UNIVERSE JUST LIVES IN IT.
Before getting into the solicitations for this month it has to be said how notable it is that there are 29 Batman Family titles being published in October 2021. That is not even taking into account the 6 other team books that Batman or Nightwing are also appearing in. Even in a month that DC Comics is celebrating Wonder Woman’s 80th anniversary she is “only” getting 11 comic books compared to Batman’s 29.
That number is even more notable when you consider that not counting all the Batman and Wonder Woman comic books being published in October DC Comics line-up reaches 24. That is still not equal to the number of Batman comic books there will be in October. I don’t blame DC Comics for going so all in with Batman but when looking at he sheer number of Batman comics that are scrolled through in the October 2021 solicitations you can’t help but notice the numbers.
FEAR STATE CREATING NEW WORLD FOR BATMAN FAMILY
The closer we get to the start of Fear State and learning more of what will happen its become clear that the events seen in Future State are happening much sooner than that timeline outlined. There seems to be something that will trigger a change from the direction seen in Future State and that could very well be whatever happens in the massive Fear State crossover event. That is at least the feeling that I get coming out of all the solicitations for the Batman Family comic books.
The big ones that stand out from this is the Batman #114 and Batman #115 along with Detective Comics #. These three look to be setting the groundwork for the greater status quo for Gotham City that will be coming out of Fear State. With Batman we see that there will be a continued focus on the Peacekeepers that will bleed over to the one-shot dedicated to Sean Mahoney, a.k.a. Peacekeeper-01. Then there is Detective Comics #1044 where we will see the establishment of Arkham Tower, which does give off the feeling that we are heading in an Arkham City type direction for Gotham City.
All of this is on top of the other things going on in comics like Nightwing and I Am Batman where we are seeing more new villains like Anti-Oracle and Arkadine rising up. All in all, the Infinite Frontier direction for the Batman Family looks to be filled with new characters becoming power players in Gotham City and Bludhaven. Which does give the whole Fear State event and what the Magistrate are doing a fresh feel compared to what we’ve had before.
WONDER WOMAN 80TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION
DC Comics is going to make sure to make Wonder Woman’s 80th anniversary as big as possible in comic book form as they will be releasing 11 different comic books starring Wonder Woman characters. 8 of these comics are specifically with Diana Prince. The biggest of which is the Wonder Woman 80th Anniversary Super Spectacular that will feature stories from the major comic book creators. That includes Becky Cloonan, Michael W. Conrad, Jordie Bellaire, Mark Waid, Tom King, Steve Orlando, G. Willow Wilson, Amy Reeder, Jim Cheung, Paulina Ganucheau, José Luis García-López, Amy Reeder, Evan “Doc” Shaner, Isaac Goodheart, and Gabriel Picolo. That is a strong collection of writers and artists working together for this 100-page special comic.
Along with this one show we are also getting a Wonder Woman Historia, several Young Diana comics, and other Wonder Woman related comic books. This is the spotlight that Wonder Woman has long deserved. Hopefully it does not end in October because we see how expansive Batman and Superman’s catalogue of comic books are. Wonder Woman has always been behind with no more than two comic books dedicated to the character. October should be the start of something bigger not just a one month celebration.
RED HOOD LEADS TASK FORCE Z
While most of the Batman Family are busy with the Fear State crossover event Jason Todd as Red Hood has his own situation going on as the leader of the new Task Force Z. This new version of Task Force won’t be just any normal supervillain team. Red Hood’s Task Force Z will be made up zombie versions of Bane, Man-Bat, Arkham Knight, Sundowner, and Mister Bloom. This is a very random looking team that is all tied to Batman villains who have died over the years.
What makes Task Force Z even more notable beyond its roster is that this new series will continue to deal with the fallout of A-Day. But this time around we are dealing with those events from the villain side of things. Specifically, Bane being part of the team does make me wonder if this will be the way the character returns and eventually becomes part of the Joker story.
BATMAN FORTNITE REUNION
Didn’t get enough of the crossover between Batman and Fortnite? Well DC Comics has you covered as they will be releasing a special one-shot issue. What is different about this one-shot is that instead of Batman characters entering the world of Fortnite it will actually be the Fortnite characters invading the DC Universe. Specifically, the Fortnite characters will be coming to Gotham City to deliver their own brand of madness to Batman’s city.
Making the Batman/Fortnite One-Shot even more notable is the fact that Scott Snyder is going to be writing this comic book alongside Christos Gage and Donald Mustard. Snyder has been the top writer at DC Comics for the last decade so seeing his name attached to this comic is a big deal. It shows the power of the Batman/Fortnite crossover. It would not be surprising if this one-shot just sets up more Fortnite crossovers, possibly bringing in the rest of the DC Universe to both the comics and video game.
JEPH LOEB & TIM SALE RETURN FOR BATMAN: THE LONG HALLOWEEN FOLLOW-UP
Batman: The Long Halloween is one of the most iconic Batman stories. Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy was heavily inspired by that storyline. Most recently, DC Comics released part one of the animated movie adaption of Batman: The Long Halloween. Given the story’s popularity it is not surprising at all that DC Comics would want to return to that story for a special one-shot in October.
For this special Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale will be reuniting to tell the story. To be honest what I am looking forward to with this Batman: The Long Halloween Special is Tim Sale’s artwork. Sale’s artwork is enough to make me buy this comic book. Which helps because I have not been a big fan of Jeph Loeb’s comic book work with DC Comics outside of Batman: Hush.
CATWOMAN LAST BATMAN FAMILY MEMBER STANDING
Catwoman has been getting elevated over the last few years thanks to being a major part of Tom King’s run on Batman. Selina Kyle’s image will become even greater as she is going to be part of Matt Reeves’ The Batman movie releasing in 2022. Now starting in October Selina Kyle is getting her own “Old Man Logan” story with Catwoman: Lonely City.
Making this mini-series stand out more is the fact that it will be set in a future where at least Batman, The Joker, Nightwing, and Commissioner Jim Gordon are all dead during an event called Fools’ Night. Taking out four of the biggest Batman characters out of the equation right away does create a lot of questions for what Gotham City will look like and how Selina Kyle as Catwoman will factor into things in the past and present of Lonely City.
This series will be written and drawn by Cliff Chiang. I am not familiar with Chiang as a writer but his artwork has always been stellar, delivering some of the best art from the New 52 era with his work on Wonder Woman.
DC UNIVERSE VERSUS VAMPIRES
Following up on the success of the DCeased Universe by Tom Taylor and Trevor Hairsine DC Comics is having the Justice League take on vampires. This new mini-series co-written by James Tynion and Matthew Rosenberg and artwork by Otto Schmidt will be called DC vs Vampires. Based on the cover alone it looks like Batman and Green Arrow will be taking center stage of at least the first issue.
What will be interesting from DC vs Vampires if it will involve some other big threat behind what the Justice League are taking on. Because the big thing abut DCeased was that it delved into the Anti-Life Equation being released and the Justice League having to deal with the consequences. What kind of thing launches the vampires to be such a massive threat that the Justice League struggle against could make or break DC vs Vampires from a story perspective.
NUBIA LEADS AMAZONS TO THE FUTURE
Of all the Wonder Woman comic books that are releasing in October 2022 one of the ones that stood out immediately was the Nubia & The Amazons mini-series. Recent Wonder Woman comic books established Nubia as the leader of the Amazons on Themyscira with Hippolyta filling in the Wonder Woman role in the Justice League while Diana Prince is busy somewhere in the Multiverse. Its about time we see Nubia’s role as Queen of Themyscira actually explored.
This new series should add more layers to how we have been seen the concept of Amazons in the DC Universe expanded in both Diana’s Wonder Woman and Yara Flor’s Wonder Girl series. Both those comics have shown that the Amazons are more than just part of Greek Mythology. Nubia & The Amazons can dive more into that while establishing Nubia’s character on the same level of Diana and Hippolyta.
DAMIAN WAYNE GETTING HIS FIRST GIRLFRIEND
While the Batman Family are busy with Fear State Damian Wayne is still on an island where he is taking part in a Mortal Kombat-style fighting tournament. During the tournament Damian has been meeting all sorts of characters. One of the characters that has left her mark on Damian in a big way is Flatline. Afterall Flatline is the person who gave Damian his first defeat of the Lazarus Tournament by ripping out his heart, a fight that also opened up the entire fighting tournament.
Now it looks like Damian and Flatline will be connecting on more of a personal level as Damian is going to be getting his first kiss. Everything points to Flatline being Damian’s first kiss and girlfriend. Maybe Flatline will be the one to finally get Damian to stop being on edge all the time. Anything is possible.
AQUAMAN & GREEN ARROW TEAM-UP FOR 80TH ANNIVERSARY
Wonder Woman is the only character celebrating her 80th anniversary in 2021. Both Aquaman and Green Arrow have gotten special one-shots in 2021 to celebrate their respective 80th anniversaries. Now to continue those two characters anniversary we are getting a Aquaman/Green Arrow: Deep Target mini-series. Both Aquaman and Green Arrow have been notable for not getting solo comics during Infinite Frontier, though they are part of Justice League and other titles. Having a mini-series with these two characters is something different. It’ll be at least interesting to see how Aquaman and Green Arrow play off one another in a buddy cop setting.
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