Since 2010, Scott Snyder has continually amazed readers with various stories featuring the Dark Knight that have since been deemed modern classics, a few of which were The Black Mirror, The Court of Owls, Death of the Family and Endgame. Not only did each prove to be incredible reads, but they also generously added something significant to Batman’s enduring mythology.
So, when Snyder’s much lauded run on Batman with Greg Capullo ended, fans understandably panicked. Thankfully, the superstar scribe has continued on, only with various other top tier artists in tow in the pages of All-Star Batman. And like many of you out there, we can’t help but give the series top marks whether it be in periodicals or trade paperback.
But, as you know, all good things must come to an end at some point, and the plug is being pulled on this particular title with issue #14 this fall. The good thing, though, is that the promised story arc illustrated by Sean Murphy is yet to come, but it’ll mark the launch of a different series as Snyder recently told CBR the following:
“That’s right. It’s hard because it’s not actually the end for me in a lot of ways. Essentially, I have started working on the arc with Sean [Murphy] already, and DC has been really excited about some new formats that they’re creating. Part of it is tied a lot of exciting editorial changes that they announced about a month ago. They’re creating bold, new initiatives – new lanes to drive in creatively – for creators to tell the kinds of stories like I was telling in All Star. They are artist-centric and a little bit left of center in ways that put the artist first, with a new artist format and with a new level of sophistication in terms of allowing for content that’s a bit more, how do I say this without spoiling stuff — adult, I guess.”
As he continued, it began to sound like whatever’s on the way won’t be shipping on a monthly basis. Hey, as long as it’s not churned out quarterly, we promise not to fret too much. Perhaps we’re looking at the possibility of oversized one-shots, but only time will tell.
“DC approached me and said, how would you like to take some of the stuff that you are working on with Sean and do it a new, prestige format? Instead of doing it monthly, why not do it in this format that would allow for it to be a bigger stage, both for Sean artistically, and to package the story in a new way and then allow every subsequent story that I was going to do with Paul Pope, with Afua [Richardson], with Lee Bermejo, be done in this format that really foregrounds the art – different paper size, different cut, the whole thing? In that way, it seemed obvious and a perfect solution instead of having them work month-to-month on a normal-sized, conventional comic, we could be some of the first people to try driving in this new lane for DC. I’m really, really thrilled about it.”
Getting back to All-Star Batman itself, the solicitation and cover for the final issue can be found below (also via CBR):
- Written by SCOTT SNYDER
- Art by RAFAEL ALBUQUERQUE
- Backup story art by SEBASTIAN FIUMARA
- Cover by RAFAEL ALBUQUERQUE
- Variant covers by RAFAEL ALBUQUERQUE and SEBASTIAN FIUMARA
- “The First Ally” finale! In the final issue of Scott Snyder’s high-octane run on ALL STAR BATMAN, he and superstar artist Rafael Albuquerque put Batman to the ultimate test! Faced with either losing his future as Batman or the person he loves most, the Dark Knight must decide which ultimate price he is willing to pay.
- On sale SEPTEMBER 13 • 40 pg, FC, $4.99 US • RATED T • FINAL ISSUE
