The DC Comics Gotham City panel has officially bataranged into New York Comic Con, with more news about the future of the publisher’s Bat books than you can shake a… Bat at? I don’t know, it’s day two and I’m already tired.
In any case, here’s the official synopsis of the panel, followed by a recap of the big headlines:
Walk the dark and gritty streets of the DC Universe with top DC comic book creators for news and surprises involving Batman and the other protectors of Gotham City. Moderated by DC Group Editor Rob Levin.
Kicking off the panel, Levin welcomed Scott Snyder, Nick Dragotta, Jorge Jiménez, Babs Tarr, Erica Henderson, Che Grayson, and Tini Howard.
First announcement? Tini Howard and Babs Tarr are working on a new DC Black Label book, a four-issue series titled Sirens: Love Hurts. It stars Catwoman, Harley, Poison Ivy, and Black Canary, and kicks off with the engagement of Black Canary and Oliver Queen. Not only will this be “the hot girl Gotham book we’ve been craving,” according to Tarr, and they’ll be giving new costumes every issue because “we love cosplayers,” but it will also take place over one season in every issue. “This is Long Halloween for the girlies,” teases Howard.
There will be plenty of relationship drama in the book, thanks to Catwoman being torn between two guys, and as Harley has just gotten out of a breakup. Harley wants to go out and have fun, but Ivy just wants to stay home and watch TV. They start clashing, but teases Howard, “Sometimes the person you’ve been looking for… Wears weird spandex with you.” Sirens: Love Hurts will be out in February of 2026.
Next up was Jiménez, who is two issues into a brand-new Batman series with writer Matt Fraction. When asked about how he feels about the success of the book, after a long pause Jiménez said, “Crazy.”
Jiménez then talked about how important — and underrated colorists are on books, then about reinventing his style for three different Batman runs. Mainly for the artist, his goal was to tackle the looks in different ways. More “difficult” is the done-in-one stories each issue in the new Batman run, which challenges with new characters and situations. And not only that, Matt Fraction writes the issues differently each time, which is “the point” but part of the challenge.
Talking about The Minotaur, a character in December’s Batman #4 who has a lot of fingers, Jiménez teased, “If Matt was here, he would tell me, ‘be careful’.” He’s part of a new organization called The Taurus, and there are temporary tattoos being given out after the panel.
Moving on to Absolute Batman, Levin teed up Snyder to talk about the “emotional trauma” coming out of the “Abomination” arc. “I only gets worse,” joked Snyder, to laughs from the crowd.
Taking a step back, Snyder explains that he didn’t want to do Absolute Batman, despite having a fully fleshed out example pitch. What convinced him to do it was a call from James Tynion IV, who said, “I have someone to do Absolute Batman. I said ‘who?’ and he said, ‘you, idiot.'”
“The Joker has always existed as The Joker card in a deck,” Snyder continued, explaining that a Joker in a deck can be anything. “He transforms himself as Batman’s greatest fear, Batman’s greatest challenge.” So in the Absolute Universe, Joker is a force of order. “He has a manor, and a cave, and all these things,” while Batman is friends with all the villains. And Joker has a secret, which will be revealed in Absolute Batman #15.
Moving to Dragotta, he explained that after a two hour conversation with Snyder, he demanded to draw the book, and has since found it very relevant to the real world — using the example of Ark M, a black site where monstrosities occur.
“Every issue I wait for Jim Lee to call and say ‘you can’t do that,'” Snyder said laughing. “And the call never comes! It’s great!”
Continuing, Snyder explained that, “The horror in it needs to be extreme, because if you push against these systems in the world, it’s going to push back,” and that the “30 issue arc” is all about Batman making small moves forward, but trying to figure out how to make societal change when the world doesn’t want that to happen.
Next up, another big announcement: Che Grayson is going to be writing Absolute Catwoman with Scott Snyder, and artist Bengal. Six issues, coming in 2026.
Grayson talked about the book about how since she’s on the rooftops, she’s literally “high above the system.” She goes from being a girl on the street to becoming a high-tech thief. “For her, she climbs up the social ladder… She’s a thief who is trying to buy something money can’t buy. And she is trying to buy freedom… How much does that cost?” In the process, she’s going to remember her humble beginnings.
“She is Batman. She has the gadgets. She has vaults,” Grayson continued. Added Snyder, “There was no choice but to bring her on, her ideas were so amazing. I’m lucky to work with her.”
Snyder did explain that Selina plays an important role throughout Absolute Batman, but there was “so much story” they had to do a miniseries. The miniseries “brings in some surprising characters… That you have not seen in the Absolute Universe yet.” On the gadgets for Catwoman, Dragotta explained them as “what if Apple made weapons?”
When thinking about how to “break” Catwoman in the Absolute Universe, Grayson said, “What happens when it’s her mind that she’s constantly using to overpower around her?” Catwoman will have friends in the community, and she “finds secrets” — not just a cat burglar.
Last but not least, Henderson talked Harley & Ivy: Lief & Crimes, a six-issue series on sale on November 5. The genesis of the book is that nobody has ever written how the duo got together. Nobody has ever written the Joker break-up. Reacting to the Absolute Universe breaking all the rules, Henderson says, “I am enjoying having so many rules.” Henderson continued that “on paper” the two of them shouldn’t be together… So why are they together?
One thing Henderson is enjoying as well is because of the timeline, they have to use the faceless version of The Joker; so she has Harley breaking up with an actual monster.
Asked whether the writer Henderson ever causes problems with for the artist, she recalled setting a scene in a hall of mirrors in issue two. “I’m drawing this, and I’m like, why did I do this?” Henderson said. “This could have been a black room. This could have been a desert.” But ultimately it comes down to what is the most fun.
And that was it for the panel! We’ll see you back here, same bat time, same bat place!
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Ho soon until we have the crossover that never happened before. There was never a team up between Batman of Earth 1 and Earth 2. How soon will we have a crossover team up between Batman and Absolute Batman?