If you thought that DC Comics could not become more of the home of Batman comics you have not seen their September 2021 solicitations. The Batman Family is all over DC Comics September 2021 solicitations. From solo series to team books you sure got your fill with Batman coming up this fall. That said, there are still big things going on for other characters as a new Aquaman is crowd in September along with major events across the DC Universe that our heroes will be dealing with. Let’s take a closer look at DC Comics September 2021 solicitations
JACE FOX IS NOT THE DARK KNIGHT OF FUTURE BUT OF THE NOW
DC Comics kicked off their September 2021 solicitations by putting the John Ridley and Olivier Coipel-led I Am Batman #1 at the very beginning. Like with Yara Flor’s start as Wonder Girl, Jon Kent becoming Superman, and Jo Mullein leading what remains of the Green Lantern Corps, we are seeing how Future State has become the present for the DC Universe. Now Jace Fox suiting up as Batman is part of that present.
What makes this all the more interesting is that it doesn’t look as though Jace’s time as Batman will be kept a secret. Instead he will be in action as the Dark Knight will be taking place much sooner than it did in The Next Batman. This speaks to how current events going across the DC Universe are causing things to happen much sooner than originally laid out in all the Future State comics. We saw that with John Kent and Jo Mullein’s individual stories in particular. Now with Jace becoming the Dark Knight while Bruce Wayne is still active we could see Gotham City take a whole new direction that was not seen in Future State.
ANTI-ORACLE BRINGS OUT BATMAN FAMILY FEAR STATE
Speaking of Bruce Wayne, things will not be getting any easier for him as he and the rest of the Batman Family are going to be all hands on deck with the Fear State event. Things are going to get even more complicated as someone will be able to hack into Barbara Gordon’s Oracle database to use the Batman Family’s own information network against them. This unknown Anti-Oracle looks to be quickly elevated to one of the biggest villains in Batman’s current Rogues Gallery.
On top of that Bruce as Batman is not waiting for the Magistrate and Peacekeeper-01 to come to him as he will continue to take the fight to them during Fear State. This further puts into question of how we are seeing things completely change from what we know took place in Future State. The actions of Batman, Nightwing, Oracle, and the rest of the Batman Family seem to be altering when things are happening. Which further pushes how we are going to be seeing the introduction of Peacekeeper-X and Task Force Z along with a focus on Miracle Molly, Clownhunter, and Scarecrow during the Fear State crossover event.
DEATHSTROKE GOES CORPORATE
Deathstroke is a character that has been noticeably absent in the DC Universe in the Infinite Frontier era. He didn’t get his own series out of the gate and isn’t shown as a presence in the current Teen Titans Academy series. Now we know why as Joshua Williamson and Howard Porter will be the creative on a new series starring Slade Wilson titled Deathstroke Inc. Base on the solicitation this looks to continue how we are seeing more organizations across the DC Universe appearing in the shadows.
What makes Deathstroke Inc. #1 solicitation truly stand out is the fact that Black Canary will not only be part of the series but acting as Deathstroke’s partner. We know that Deathstroke has an antagonistic past with Green Arrow but we haven’t seen much when it comes to how Black Canary interacts with him beyond the typical superhero and supervillain battles. So having Black Canary and Deathstroke partner up creates a lot of questions as to why this is happening and how long the partnership can last.
And on the more long-term side of things it’ll be interesting to see if Deathstroke Inc. #1 will factor in to some of the future we saw in Future State. In particular, will we see Nightwing appear at some point since the Future State: Teen Titans series did establish a connection between him and Deathstroke?
JACKSON HYDE BECOMES NEXT AQUAMAN
With Arthur Curry and Mera both married and becoming parents it was only a matter of time DC Comics addressed the state of Aquaman. Would we see Arthur continue on as Aquaman and place his family in the typical superhero danger because of it? Or will he give up the title and pass it on to one of his proteges?
Well now we know what decision is made as Jackson Hyde, who Young Justice animated series fans will know as Kaldur’ahm, will be taking up the mantle of Aquaman. This is not too surprising since Future State showed us that Jackson Hyde did assume the Aquaman title well before Andy Curry, Arthur and Mera’s daughter, started her training as a kid.
What’ll be interesting about Jackson assuming the role of Aquaman is how Brandon Thomas and DC Comics presents this. Because while the solicitation for Aquaman: The Becoming #1 makes you believe this has been in the makings for a long time that is just a façade. Unlike the Young Justice animated series where it made sense that after the time jump we saw Kaldur’ahm as Aquaman, the comic books never came close to making that a future you saw for Jackson Hyde. DC Comics never truly spent the time to develop who Jackson Hyde was within the comics as his time in the Aquaman and Teen Titans comics was random and very minor in the grand scheme of things. This puts much more weight on Brandon Thomas and Diego Olortegui shoulders to make Jackson becoming Aquaman be the logical next step.
URBAN LEGENDS EXPLORES THE BATMAN LEGACY
While the Batman Family is dealing with the chaos of Fear State in the present the Dark Knight’s legacy is something that carries on throughout the history of the DC Universe. That is something that Batman: Urban Legends #7 will be exploring. Taking a break from telling present day stories of the Batman Family members who don’t have solo series, Batman: Urban Legends #7 will focus on the different futures where others pick up the mantle of the Dark Knight.
As we see with the solicitation for Batman: Urban Legends #7 we will get stories with Terry McGinnis as Batman Beyond, Cassandra Cain dealing with situation in the Future State continuity, Batman One Million, and an unknown future Batman. Each of these stories look to be exploring what the Batman legacy means in the different futures of the DC Universe we have seen over time. It is a good way to continue Batman: Urban Legends being where we are seeing Batman’s legacy explored. Going to these different futures will further dive into the impact the Bat-symbol has across the DC Universe’s history.
TITANS UNITE AWAY FROM TEEN TITANS ACADEMY
With Teen Titans Academy attempting to place a focus on the next generation of heroes that has left very little page space for the veteran Titans to be presented as superheroes. Which is where the new Titans Unite series by Cavan Scott and Jose Luis may fill in some of those gaps. Or at least you would think but this Titans Unite series looks to be more of a tie-in comic book series to the live-action Titans show. We see that since the roster of Nightwing, Donna Troy, Superboy, Starfire, Raven, Beast Boy, Red Hood, Hawk, and Dove is the same line-up as the roster on the live-action show.
To be fair to Titans Unite it is not unusual to see comics try to use the roster from mainstream shows or movies as the team in the comic books. The only thing odd about this roster is Superboy being part of it. Given that Connor Kent’s whole history is chaotically confusing, made even more so with the current Suicide Squad ongoing series, this just adds to that. He also just has never been connected with this Nightwing, Donna Troy, and that generation of Titans since he is part of Young Justice. How they explain this in the comics and if Titans Unite is more of a tie-in to the live-action show is something to watch for.
SUPERMAN VS THE JUSTICES LEAGUE
With Jonathan Kent assuming the mantle of Superman that creates a lot of questions for what is next for Clark Kent/Kal-El. Based on the solicitations for both Action Comics #1035 and Superman: Son Of Kal-El #3 its clear he has ideas that go beyond Earth. Including that he is doing more with Warworld, similar to what we saw in Future State: Superman – Worlds of War #1, the actions Kal-El takes is something that will have a lot of attention to it. That includes within the superhero community as the Justice League will be confronting Clark over his decisions with Warworld.
All of this sets up the question if we will be seeing an eventual fight between Clark and the rest of the Justice League. We know from Future State: Justice League that there was a traitor on the team that caused not only the break-up of the team but shattering of the current superhero community. What if Clark’s decisions as Superman with Warworld and the United Planets is what leads to whatever caused the future seen in Future State? We’ll have to wait to find out.
JO MULLEIN VS SINESTRO LEADING TO NEW WAR
The further we get into Geoffrey Thorne’s Green Lantern run the more we are starting to see how the Green Lantern Corps being around is impacting the DC Universe. Especially with Far Sector’s Jo Mullein currently being the only active Green Lantern due to something special with her ring its been tough time for many. Things won’t get any easier as Jo Mullein will be getting what could be her toughest test to date as she takes on Sinestro for the first time. Without having Hal Jordan and the others around to help her out this will definitely be a tough fight against the leader of the Sinestro Corps.
Making things even more complicated will be Jessica Cruz now becoming a Yellow Lantern and being part of the Sinestro Corps. Based on the solicitation for Green Lantern #6 we will be quickly seeing Jessica’s previous Green Lantern Corps partner, Simon Baz, reacting to this news. How this changes their friendship and what it means for Simon’s own future since he is currently powerless will be interesting to see play out.
INFINITE FRONTIER END LEADS TO DARKSEID
September 2021 marks the end of the first phase of the Infinite Frontier direction. To mark that occasion we will be seeing the Infinite Frontier event series by Joshua Williamson and Xermanico come to an end. As the solicitation teases Infinite Frontier #6 will end with establishing a new status quo for the DC Multiverse that all centers around whatever Darkseid is planning. The event itself seems to be redefining what Darkseid represents within the DC Universe as a whole as being the ruler of Apokolips is to small of a scope for the villain.
The other big tease in Infinite Frontier #6 is Barry Allen discovering something that puts him on a whole new direction. With Wally West as the current Flash the end of Infinite Frontier #6 could establish what is next for Barry’s character. We could see him dive deeper into being a protector of the new Omniverse. Or it could be something unexpected by both Barry and the reader. With Williamson involved it could be anything.
BATMAN FABLES CROSSOVER
It may not be the mid-2000s or even 2015 but hey it is never too late for a crossover between two universes. That is what we as Batman vs Bigby! A Wolf In Gotham brings the DC Universe and Fables Universe together. Bill Willingham, the creator of Fables, on board to write this Batman vs Bigby mini-series is at least a big selling point for this series. Having the creator of Fables as the lead writer will give this more of a chance to show us how that universe meshes with the DC Universe. Similar to how Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles worked in the last several years.
This is also a chance to present a Batman story that does not involve all the dark future stuff we see going on in almost all the current Batman comics. In the process we can see how two well-known top-level detectives interact with each other as Batman vs Bigby will likely be more of an intellect battle than physical. That creates a much different dynamic to how Batman interacted with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Power Rangers, and Fortnite in previous crossovers.
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