DC Comics has announced a new three-issue Black Label series called Batman: The Imposter, which launches in October from the creative team of screenwriter Mattson Tomlin and artist Andrea Sorrentino.

The first issue of the book is set to hit on October 12, with the hardcover of the entire series already set for February 22, 2022. Along with the announcement for this book came a robust set of international publication plans, specifically localized print versions launching day and date in Spain, Germany, Brazil, Mexico, Italy, France, Russia, the Czech Republic, Poland, Japan, South Korea, Turkey, and Argentina.

The publisher has released the following description for the new Batman: The Imposter series:

Bruce Wayne’s mission as the Batman has only been under way for a year or so, but he can tell he’s making a difference. Unfortunately, he’s made some powerful enemies. All the traditional power brokers of Gotham resent the disruption the Batman has brought to town…and it seems one of them has a plan to neutralize him. There’s a second Batman haunting Gotham’s rooftops and alleys—and this one has no qualms about murdering criminals, live and on tape.

With the entire might of the Gotham City Police Department and Gotham’s rich and powerful coming down on his head, Batman must find this imposter and somehow clear his name…but how can you prove your innocence from behind a mask?

The creative team here is an interesting one. Sorrentino has done previous work for DC Comics within the Black Label imprint, including teaming-up with his frequent collaborator Jeff Lemire on Joker: Killer Smile and Batman: The Smile Killer. The writer, Tomlin, is primarily a screenwriter, with credits on Project Power (2020) and Little Fish (2021). Perhaps most relevantly here, in 2019 Tomlin was brought in to co-write the forthcoming The Batman film with Matt Reeves and Peter Craig.

Will this book give us some kind of glimpse into the tone, interests, or sensibility of the movie? Who knows! But you can check out the first preview of pages from the comic below…

Batman: The Imposter Preview

You can find several interior pages from Batman: The Imposter below, along with the variant cover for the book by Lee Bermejo. Enjoy!

Batman: The Imposter #1 (of 3)
Written by MATTSON TOMLIN
Art and main cover by ANDREA SORRENTINO
Colors by JORDIE BELLAIRE
Variant cover by LEE BERMEJO
1-in-25 “ratio” variant cover by KAARE ANDREWS

Batman: The Imposter

Batman: The Imposter
Variant cover by Lee Bermejo.