In the October 2023 DC Comics solicitations, they’ve announced a one-shot prequel comic book for the upcoming Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom — you know, the sequel to the highest grossing DC movie ever — and I’m excited to say I’ve written a full-length BLACK MANTA story, drawn by the incredible Ray-Anthony Height.
Black Manta is unquestionably the baddest badass in the DCU (he could chump Deathstroke, no question — fight me!), so it was really fun to dig into him a little bit.
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom Special #1 Cover by Ivan Reis
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom Special #1 Variant Cover by Jim Cheung
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom Special #1 Variant Cover by Belen Ortega
The book hits on Oct. 31, featuring awesome covers from iconic Aquaman artist Ivan Reis, and variants by the amazing Jim Cheung and Belen Ortega. It’ll also have a photo variant featuring Aquaman himself, Jason Momoa.
Plus, there’s an Aquaman tale by Tim Seeley and Miguel Mendonca, as well as an Ocean Master story by Ethan Sacks and Scot Eaton. It’s gonna be good!
To paraphrase Vince Gilligan who is probably paraphrasing someone else, “I don’t enjoy writing so much as I enjoy having written.”
Part of that is because I can see how the finished product came out versus my grand plans at the conceptual stage, figure out where I could have improved, and make the next thing that much better.
To that end, since it’s now available for reading on DC Universe Infinite, I thought it’d be fun to do some quick notes on my Batman/Plastic Man story from Batman: Urban Legends #15, “Bending the Rules.”
This is both for readers who may want insight into the comic-making process and my intentions, and also for myself to take a more critical look at the final product.
Batman: Urban Legends #15 variant cover by Riley Rossmo
Page 1
Two things immediately jump out to me here — Pat Brosseau’s used his own font instead of something you typically see in a Batman book, and I love it. Also, artist Jason Howard keeping Batman in shadow for the whole first page is a great choice.
Some Easter eggs here: the first is obvious, which is that “Dixon Shipyard” is obviously a reference to longtime Batman scribe Chuck Dixon. I believe originally it was in the script as “The Gotham City Docks” or something and at the request of Editorial I gave it a real name.
The second is the character upon which this story centers: Brad Sampey. Brad is based on a very real friend of mine. He’s got the build of a bouncer, very tall, very imposing. He’s a huge Batman and DC fan, and a very long time ago he told me it was his dream to be a bodyguard to the Penguin.
Nearly twelve (!) years ago, while I was promoting my first-ever published comic book, Footprints, my hometown paper did a story about me and my work.
I was 26 and didn’t know shit about shit (as it stands at nearly 38, I only know a little bit of shit about shit), but it’s always nice when your hometown gives you some recognition. Anyway, in that story I’m quoted as saying “I don’t need to write Batman—I just love comics as a storytelling medium.”
Reading between the lines, of course I didn’t ~*need*~ to write Batman… but I wanted to. Desperately. Of course I did! Who wouldn’t?
Batman: Urban Legends #20 art by Vasco Georgiev and Alex Guimarães
Even though I was green and just starting to embark on a career in making comics, I knew enough to know that one key element to surviving in this industry, from a mental health perspective, is having your expectations in the right place.
Nobody is going to show up at your doorstep because you’ve decided to make a comic book and be like, “Hey kid! We heard you put together one book that ~100 people read! Wanna write Batman?!” So I was just being realistic, tempering expectations. But inside? Of course that was always one of the goal posts I wanted to reach.
Cut to this month, and my biggest DC Comics story to date is finally out in the world. It’s a four-part arc kicking off in Batman: Urban Legends #20 called “The Murder Club,” a story that will see the wonderful Urban Legends series through to its conclusion with issue #23.
In the latest round of solicitations from DC Comics, they’ve revealed the covers to Batman: Urban Legends #23 (on sale 1/10), which will not only be the conclusion to “Batman: The Murder Club” written by me with art by Vasco Georgiev, but the conclusion to Urban Legends as a whole.
I am, of course, bummed to say goodbye to Urban Legends. Anthology books like these are huge opportunities for creators trying to break into a place like DC — they give us a chance to play in the sandboxes we love, often doing evergreen stories that don’t need to worry too much about current events and continuity.
Batman: Urban Legends #23 wrap-around cover by Nikola Čižmešija
More importantly, they mean a lot to me as a reader—the late-’80s to mid-aughts series Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight was a book I read religiously as long as I’ve been reading comics, giving one-off arcs to a variety of creators to tell some truly wild (and mostly evergreen!) Batman tales. It’s fun to pick up a story where you don’t quite know what you’re going to get, and if you don’t like it, something new will be coming your way before you know it. At least, it’s fun for me.
But #23 will wrap up Urban Legends along with our arc, and I hope you’ll stick around for the conclusion.
A week later, Batman: Urban Legends Vol. 4 will hit shops on 1/17, collecting—I believe—my stories from issues 15, 17, and 19 (featuring Plastic Man, Aquaman, and Two-Face, respectively).
They unveiled some most excellent covers for Batman: Urban Legends #21 (on sale 11/8) and Batman: Urban Legends #22 (on sale 12/13), Parts 2 and 3 of our 4-part tale respectively.
I’m really excited about this story—as I’ve mentioned previously, this is one that I honestly can’t believe our editors (the excellent Dave Wielgosz and Jess Berbey) were on board for letting us tell.
Plus, these chapters bring in some Bat-family faves like Robin, Nightwing, and Alfred, so needless to say, I’m very stoked.
Batman: Urban Legends #21 Variant Cover by Jorge Fornés
It’s an honor to share these issues with some truly all-star talent, including karaoke pal Dennis Culver and artist Hayden Sherman, who are doing a very cool arc called “Arkham Academy.”
Be warned: the solicit text has some mild spoilers for our story, so maybe just don’t read that and trust me when I say, it’s gonna be awesome.
Batman:Urban Legends #22 Variant Cover by Travis Mercer
