The Year of the Bat

If you walk into a comic book shop in July and see all Batman covers…don’t be fooled! DC is honoring Batman’s 75th anniversary in July by printing special edition covers on twenty one publications, Batman centric and otherwise. So far Jim Steranko, Kevin Nowlan, Klaus Janson, Walt Simonson, Graham Nolan, Cliff Chiang, Sean Murphy, Dave Johnson, Dan Jurgens, and Mike Kaluta have been announced, with more announcements on the way. Variant issues are nothing new, Marvel and DC have celebrated with line-wide special covers for various events (Lego versions, anniversaries, and breast cancer awareness).

The covers will appear on these titles:

ACTION COMICS #33
AQUAMAN #33
BATGIRL #33
BATMAN #33
BATMAN AND ROBIN #33
BATMAN/SUPERMAN #13
BATWOMAN #33
DETECTIVE COMICS #33
EARTH 2 #25
GRAYSON #1
GREEN LANTERN #33
GREEN LANTERN CORPS #33
HARLEY QUINN #8
JUSTICE LEAGUE #33
JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #33
JUSTICE LEAGUE UNITED #3
SUPERMAN #33
SUPERMAN/WONDER WOMAN #10
TEEN TITANS #1
THE FLASH #33
WONDER WOMAN #33

Comics legend Jim Steranko's cover art to Detective Comics #33 out in July(DC Comics)

The special comics can be found at comic book stores. Find the closest comic book shop near you at Comic Shop Locator!(US and Canada only, sorry!)



DC animation is also celebrating Batman’s 75th. Bruce Timm(creator of the beloved Batman: The Animated Series and spin off series, including Justice League) produced a short in celebration. The short sets batman in the 1930s atmosphere he was created in. Watch the “Batman: Strange Days” below featuring the original voice actor, Kevin Conroy.

Darwyn Cooke, best known for The New Frontier miniseries showing the age of heroes among Kennedy’s administration, got his start storyboarding for the Batman cartoons. He animated the opening title sequence for Batman Beyond. Cooke returned to animation to produce a special Batman Beyond film, seen below, Conroy plays a retired Bruce Wayne and Terry McGinnis, the Batman of the future, is played by Will Friedle. 

If you were looking to celebrate Batman’s 75th, Bleeding Cool News published a feature about the 8 best Batman stories, results may vary.

Batman first appeared in 1939's Detective Comics # 27, created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger.