The current DC Future State event has followed a Gotham City in the grip of the Magistrate and a policy that makes anyone wearing a mask an outlaw. Future State may be ending at the end of this month, but the Gotham of the event will continue on in a new ongoing series launching in May. Future State: Gotham will be written by Joshua Williamson & Dennis Culver, and illustrated by Giannis Milonogiannis, and will continue the narrative of the Red Hood back-up stories (also by Williamson & Milonogiannis) that have run in the Future State: Dark Detective miniseries. No colorist or letterer for the series were named in the announcement, though interestingly the series will be presented in what the publisher calls “stark black and white tones,” so it sounds like there may be no colorist at all on the series. Yasmine Putri and James Stokoe will provide covers for the series’s first issue.
Here’s how DC describes “Hunt the Next Batman,” the first six-issue storyline for Future State: Gotham:
Disaster strikes Gotham City and all evidence points to Tim Fox, The Next Batman! Jason Todd chooses justice over his family and allies when The Magistrate enlists him to bring in the new Batman, dead or alive! Featuring the entire cast from the popular DC Future State Batman titles, Future State Gotham begins the next chapter in this inevitable world of tomorrow and does so with this dynamic, noirish format.
There’s a lot to be surprised about in this announcement. The addition of another new Batman title to DC’s lineup is not one of those things – DC’s April solicits already included more than a dozen Bat-related series. That the series is set in the Future State timeline is a bit surprising, though considering DC has devoted two months and their entire main line in getting readers invested in that world it makes sense that they wouldn’t abandon it entirely going forward. The fact that the series is set in a possible future should also allow the creators more freedom to make big moves and do interesting things with the characters. And placing Jason Todd, a fan-favorite character whose ongoing series ended in December, as the lead of the series is an equally interesting and smart choice.
The most surprising thing is the black-and-white format, though. DC has had success with recent anthology series like Batman: Black & White and Harley Quinn: Black, White, & Red, but an ongoing series in black-and-white is a first for the publisher. It’ll be interesting to see how the fan reception is to that choice.
Check out some design artwork for Red Hood and the new series by Milonogiannis below. Future State: Gotham #1 is set to arrive in stores on Tuesday, May 11th.
