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Before John Layman and Jason Fabok move from the monthly Detective Comics series to the new Batman: Eternal weekly, they have one last trick up their sleeves — transforming Batman’s grim hometown into a much brighter place in a new storyline that’ll continue throughout other Batman-related series. What happens when Gotham City gets a happy ending?
Launching in the special anniversary issue Detective Comics #27, the “Gothtopia” storyline remakes Gotham as “a bright, shiny, happy place where dreams come true … as long as you don’t look at things too closely,” according to DC Comics. Exactly what’s behind that transformation remains a mystery, but it’ll involve Batgirl, Batwing, Catwoman and the Birds of Prey, with each of those characters’ own series tying into the arc throughout the month.
STORY: Batman Becomes ‘Eternal’ in 2014
The solicitations for the tie-in issues offer some clarification about what’s to come. The world of “Gothtopia” isn’t one where crime and evil don’t exist — the descriptions of both Batwing and Catwoman reveal that there are still crime fighters in Gotham, while Birds of Prey #27 will see the team attempt “to take down one of the ancient evils of the DC Universe: Ra’s al Ghul.”
“Gothtopia” might even turn out to be an alternate world — Selina Kyle apparently will become “Catbird,” partner of Batman — and almost certainly won’t last, not only because the subsequent Batman: Eternal is also supposed to remake Gotham City when it debuts, but also because a happy Batman is a rare thing indeed these days. But there’s a proud tradition of alternate-world stories revealing more about DC’s superheroes for “Gothtopia” to live up to, should that turn out to be what’s in store.
Detective Comics #27 — which also features work by Frank Miller, Paul Dini and Scott Snyder, among many others — will be released January 8, 2014.
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