DC’s Next Level initiative has been a big success for the company over the past year, and they’re looking to continue that momentum into 2027. The publisher revealed a new wave of Next Level titles at Comic-Con, including a very intriguing new Batman comic from the minds behind the Eisner-winning series Absolute Martian Manhunter.
The Batman series in question is a new volume of Shadow of the Bat, written by Deniz Camp and drawn by Javier Rodríguez. Camp teased at SDCC that the series is very much about confronting the failure of Gotham’s institutions and reinventing Batman for the current moment. Fans of Camp’s The Ultimates run (which won IGN’s Best Comic Book Series of 2024 award) should be in for a treat.
Also on the Batman front, DC is releasing a star-studded one-shot special as part of Batman Day in September. Batman of Two Worlds features two interconnected tales, one focused on the classic Dark Knight by Batman writer Matt Fraction and DC K.O. artist Javi Fernández, and the other on Absolute Batman from writer Scott Snyder and Doom Patrol artist Nick Derington.
“You have two different looks at Batman,” said Fraction in a statement. “The moral structures, the ethical structures, the political structures. A chance to put them side by side and see the similarities and differences.”
Outside of Batman, Exquisite Corpses creator Michael Walsh is writing and drawing a new six-issue series called Jonah Hex and the Shadow of Death. DC’s official description teases:
Welcome to the end of the Wild West. Welcome to the quiet life of a broken-down bounty hunter whose own story, one of bloodshed, pain, and guilt, ended long ago—or so he thought.
In a small town called Ashecott, something evil has arrived. Something more dangerous than a gunslinger, more sinister than an outlaw, and older than the town it seeks to infect. Something from a world beyond the only one its victims have ever known. Something darker.
Unfortunately for that evil, Jonah Hex has taken notice. Not just of the otherworldly entities surrounding his home, or the child with mysterious abilities they seek to capture—but also of the chance to finally redeem himself.
Join master of horror Michael Walsh as he begins a terrifying new era of DC’s haunted bounty hunter!
Then, Ultramega creator James Harren is tackling a new take on an old favorite with The Demon. DC’s description teases:
The world is infested with a darkness its people cannot see. Beasts from Hell feast on humanity’s soul, sucking it dry and leaving nothing but a shell behind.
Only one person can see these monsters and cast them back to Hell: Jason Blood! But he is a shadow of the man he once was, wandering the world following the face of a wizard long gone and hearing a voice in his head demanding to be let out.
How can Jason Blood help protect the world from demons when he himself is not sure how to work with the one bound to his soul? Will the Demon Etrigan ever rise again?
Superstar writer/artist James Harren (Ultramega) creates a brand-new epic starring the mightiest demon of them all!
Finally, fans can also look forward to a new Static series by Cody Ziglar and Diego Olortegui and a new Vixen series by Stephanie Williams and Khary Randolph.
In other DC-related Comic-Con news, we think we know the real villain of the Lanterns TV series, and Amazon has revealed an exclusive Batman: Caped Crusader video game.
Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on BlueSky.
