BATMAN: EARTH ONE To Be Released This Year
After almost three years of teasing, Geoff Johns & Gary Frank's Batman comics reboot will finally hit shelves in 2012.
In 2009, DC comics announced Earth One, a series of original graphic novels that would update the origins of the company's best known characters and placing them in a modern day setting, a move very similar to Marvel Comics Ultimate Universe. The first two to get this treatment would be Superman, written by J. Michael Straczynski and drawn by Shane Davis, and Batman, from Geoff Johns and Gary Frank. Since the big announcement in 2009, only Superman: Earth One has seen the light of day, released to fairly mixed reviews a year ago, but to very high sales. For Batman: Earth One, the release date has been tba since 2009 (same goes for the Superman: Earth One sequel for the past year) but now new art from the OGN has debuted on DC's blog The Source, and an assurance by the company that the book will be released this year. No release date has been given but we would be shocked if they didn't try and capatalise on The Dark Knight film release in July. The Earth One banner lets the creative team cut loose with the characters, unrestrained by decades and decades of continuity. This was shown in Superman: Earth One, with the destruction of Krypton shown to be deliberate and not the result of a natural disaster, and the changing of the usually art deco Metropolis to a more realistic looking city. This is set to continue with the new book going back to the beginnings of the character, presenting a drastically version of the Dark Knight than we are used to, one who is starting out on his mission and isn't entirely confident in his abilities. Yes like but Batman: Year One but Johns says his Batman has a very different ultimate goal in mind. Hes never left Gotham. And our Gotham and the people in it are very gray. Our heroes unlikely. Our villains hidden. Our story is only beginning with volume one. The series is envisioned as a slow burn, with the story spanning a number of volumes. The original plan, as of 2009, was to have two volumes a year, but there is no word on whether that plan is still in place. I, for one, am glad that the series is still going ahead. John's has done some great work in the past, and I am looking forward to seeing his interpretation of the Dark Knight. DC have released three new images from the book which you can see below;