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Deniz Camp Reveals Details Of Upcoming Batman: Shadow Of The Bat
Deniz Camp reveals details of the upcoming Batman: Shadow Of The Bat, drawn by Javier Rodriguez for DC Comics Next Level
Article Summary
- Batman: Shadow Of The Bat reunites Deniz Camp and Javier Rodriguez for a new in-continuity DC Next Level series.
- A blast at Gotham’s abandoned Ace Chemicals floods a neighborhood with unknown agents, triggering quarantine and martial law.
- Batman enters the danger zone to face new threats, with fresh villains, supporting cast, and deep cuts into Ace Chemicals lore.
- Camp says Batman: Shadow Of The Bat will complement Matt Fraction and Tom Taylor’s books while telling a self-contained story.
Bleeding Cool certainly suggested it as a strong possibility. Announced at the Gotham panel at San Diego Comic-Con, Deniz Camp and Javier Rodriguez, fresh from the award-winning Absolute Martian Manhunter, are reuniting on the new DC Next Level title announced last year, but without movement until now, Shadow Of The Bat.Part of the canon, it sees Bruce Wayne, Batman, dealing with a large factory explosion in an abandoned Ace Chemicals factory, the same one that created the Joker, and releasing psychogenic chemicals. Batman has to go in and “deal with the new threats” that come out of it… with a lot of new characters who are all, basically, living in the shadow of the bat… but intended to complement what Matt Fraction and Tom Taylor are doing in the regular Batman and Detective Comics series. And on X, Deniz Camp spelt it all out.
“So, a little about Shadow of the Bat: An abandoned ACE Chemical Factory mysteriously explodes, bathing a Gotham neighborhood in “highly potent and completely unknown neuropharmacological agents” (the sort that created the Joker). Fearing 50 thousand Jokers, an Arkham the size of a small city, a brutal quarantine is instituted, Martial Law is declared, and Batman enters…. This is an ongoing in continuity book, designed with Matt and Tom’s books in mind. They are each doing their thing, which is great; it was important to me that this didn’t feel replicative in any way, but complementary.
There have been a lot of Batman runs. But Javi and I are treating this the same way we treated Absolute Martian Manhunter; that is, like a creator-owned book. This is our vision of Batman and Gotham, and I hope that makes it unique. It’s very difficult to do new things with Batman, but that’s what we’re going to try to do here. New villains, or drastically revamped old ones; new supporting cast; a new neighborhood. New kinds of threats and dilemmas and questions for Batman.”
“Along the way, we’ll explore the nature of ACE Chemical, some under-explored parts of Batman’s past, and just generally, I’ll be trying to deliver our take on what Batman has meant and can mean. I’m really happy with it so far, it’s Javi’s best work ever, and I hope you’ll join us. I don’t want to say too much about it, but it’s the Joker Toxin that turns people into Joker-like beings (and kills them). The stuff that created the Joker is much wilder and more contingent. And, as far as I know, hasn’t been explored much.”
“It’ll be in continuity, so any new characters we create or old characters we revamp can appear in other books and have a greater impact, other characters can enter the quarantine zone, etc but our story is self contained; you won’t need to read anything else to understand it. Also: I’ll be sending out a more in depth version of this to retailers within the next week. If you’ve ever gotten an email from me before, you should get it. If you haven’t, send me your email and I’ll add you (reply or DM)”
There you go, folks, more to come in upcoming DC Comics solicits…
DC’s Gotham City Friday July 24, 2026 11:15am – 12:15pmPDT Room 6DE
Top DC creators examine the heroes, villains, and the bad seeds shaping Gotham City’s future. The panel includes an early look at what is coming this fall, including a major reveal. Featuring G. Willow Wilson (Poison Ivy), Matt Fraction (Batman), Tom Taylor (Detective Comics), Tate Brombal (Batgirl), Christopher Cantwell (Batman: Bad Seeds – Gotham Central), Scott Snyder (Absolute Batman), and others. Moderated by Rob Levin (group editor, DC).
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