[parkmania]

BATNEWS!!!

DC Comics has announced two new ongoing Batman-related titles launching this October: Gotham Academy arrives October 1, and Arkham Manor streets on October 22. The new monthly teen drama series Gotham Academy is written by Becky Cloonan (American Virgin, Demo) and Brenden Fletcher (Wednesday Comics), with art by Karl Kerschl (Adventures of Superman). Set at Gotham City’s prestigious prep school, where weird things keep happening and rich benefactors like Bruce Wayne are always dropping by, the series promises new characters and old, and a secret tie to Gotham’s past. Arkham Manor is written by Gerry Duggan (Deadpool, Nova), with art by Shawn Crystal (Deadpool, Wolverine and Deadpool). When a catastrophe causes the shutdown of Arkham Asylum, where will Gotham City house its most dangerous inmates? Apparently in Wayne Manor. Cover images are from EW.

DC Entertainment will release the 1960s Japanese series Batman: The Jiro Kuwata Batmanga in a series of three paperbacks in late 2014, after a digital weekly run, according to the LA Times. The manga series was created in 1966, during the height of the first Batman craze, spurred by the import of the American Batman TV show. Weekly manga magazine Shonen King licensed the right to commission its own original Batman and Robin stories, which were drawn by manga-ka Jiro Kuwata. Chip Kidd collected much of the series in 2008’s Bat-Manga! The Secret History of Batman in Japan, which was released by Pantheon, which also includes a comprehensive photo collection of vintage Japanese Batman toys and an interview with Kuwata (see “Bat Manga! The Secret History of Batman in Japan”). This release will include the entire 1,000-plus page run, presented in the original manga right-to-left reading order. MSRP and release dates on the planned paperback release were not provided.