The approaching final financial quarter of the year means major comics announcements for October through December, and DC Comics has spent the last two weeks unleashing a steady flow of news. With the new Gotham TV series set to air this fall, DC is doubling down on Gotham-related titles, announcing two new ongoing series for October: Gotham Academy, a high school teen drama by writers Becky Cloonan and Brenden Fletcher with artist Karl Kerschl; and Arkham Manor, a series by writer Gerry Duggan and artist Shawn Crystal that sees Wayne Manor becoming Gotham’s new asylum. Here’s a preview image courtesy of Entertainment Weekly.
Two of Gotham’s most prominent females will also be receiving new creative teams in October, and The A.V. Club is proud to announce that contributor Genevieve Valentine will be writing Catwoman, teaming with artist Garry Brown to take the book in a new direction that features Selina Kyle taking a much bigger role in the city’s future. (Departing Catwoman writer Ann Nocenti will be launching a new Klarion series with artist Trevor McCarthy.)
Perhaps the biggest surprise of DC’s announcements is the new creative team on Batgirl, replacing Gail Simone with writers Cameron Stewart and Brenden Fletcher, who are bringing a female art team to the book in Babs Tarr and colorist Jordie Bellaire. Stewart, who provided the art for a good chunk of Ed Brubaker’s phenomenal Catwoman, will also be handling layouts and covers for the series, and the preview art—seen below courtesy of MTV News—definitely looks like a step in the right direction.
Other creative team shifts include the husband-and-wife team of writer Meredith Finch and artist David Finch taking over Wonder Woman, after Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang end their outstanding run—an announcement that has garnered some controversy over Finch’s reluctance to refer to the character as a “feminist.” Artist Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino will depart Green Arrow to make way for Arrow producers Andrew Kreisberg and Ben Sokolowski, who will be writing with Daniel Sampere on art. And Marguerite Bennett will be co-writing Earth 2 with Tom Taylor, while Andy Smith takes over as the book’s artist.
Despite the failure of his previous New 52 ongoing series, Slade “Deathstroke” Wilson is getting another solo title courtesy of writer/artist Tony Daniel, who previously helmed the Detective Comics run where Joker got his face cut off and nailed to a wall. Deathstroke is joined by Lobo, a new ongoing by artist Reilly Brown and writer Cullen Bunn—who’s become the go-to writer for villains, thanks to his work on Magneto and Sinestro—that will pit the sexy Nu-Lobo against his traditional space biker incarnation. Here’s a preview courtesy of Comic Book Resources.
Trinity Of Sin will also be debuting in October with writer J.M. DeMatteis and artists Yvel Guichet and Jason Gordon, bringing Phantom Stranger and Pandora together after the cancellation of their solo ongoing series. And finally, over at Vertigo, newcomer Ollie Masters will be writing The Kitchen, an eight-issue miniseries with art by Ming Doyle that follows a group of mob wives who take up their husbands’ business when the men end up in jail.