Just because DC Comics’ New 52 initiative rebooted an entire comic book universe and started fresh with a whole bunch of #1 issues certainly doesn’t mean the publisher won’t acknowledge one of its flagship titles reaching a 76-year milestone. This coming April, Detective Comics will be celebrating an astounding 900 issues chronicling the heroics of everyone’s favorite — no, really, how can anyone possibly hate on the guy? — brooding super sleuth: Batman! The caped crusader has been solving mysteries and busting the underworld’s teeth since his debut in Detective Comics #27, and DC Comics promises to do Batman justice with the second volume of the legendary series’ 19th issue.
DC Comics’ April 2013 solicitations teased that the issue will be over-sized at a whopping 80 pages to properly commemorate such an enduring pop culture icon. Naturally, details are scant at this time since, well, April’s a bit of a ways off and revealing everything now would just ruin the surprise, no? Despite DC Comics being sworn to secrecy, as all comic book publishers are wont to do, editors Bob Harras and Bobbi Chase — in an interview with Comic Book Resources — provided a bit of insight into the foe, or rather foes, Batman will be going up against come issue #19:
Harras: I don’t want to go into too many details of what John and Jason Faybook are planning there. The concept of the number 900 is important to the story. It’s something that I think will take people a little bit by surprise of what it is, but it is the theme of the issue. It’s what Batman has to face. It’s definitely part of the story in a big way.
Chase: You can say that there’s a group called the 900!
It’s only fitting that after 900 issues Batman contend with a group known as the 900 — if they even are a group that is. So until some more light is shed on Detective Comics #19 and the “mystery of the 900,” we’ll just have to tide ourselves over with the “Death of the Family” crossover going on in the Batman family of titles… which you’re reading, right?
(Comic Book Resources via Digital Spy, image courtesy of DC Comics)
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