DC Comics to Relaunch Batman With New #1 Issue and New Costume

2025 is shaping up to be a monumental year for DC's Batman. Chip Zdarsky's run concludes with Batman #157, making way for Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee's Hush 2 in March. Following Hush 2, a relaunched Batman #1 will debut with a new writer, Matt Fraction (known for Uncanny X-Men and The Invincible Iron Man), and a fresh costume design by current artist Jorge Jimenez. This new iteration sees Batman ditching his classic black and gray for a vintage-inspired blue and gray suit. A new Batmobile is also in the works. Fraction states, “I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for Batman. It was the first comic I ever read… Jorge and I have a very superhero-forward kind of take on Batman. We’ve got a new Batmobile, we’ve got a new costume, we’ve got new characters, and we’ve got a lot of old ones too—good and bad; all the stuff that makes Batman the coolest character in comics. We want to celebrate it all.” Batman #1 arrives in September 2025.

DC also unveiled plans for its Superman titles at ComicsPro, continuing its "Summer of Superman" event. Supergirl receives a new series and costume (designed by Stanley "Artgerm" Lau), written and drawn by Sophie Campbell (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), returning Kara to Midvale. Campbell comments, “I came up in the comics industry doing mostly graphic novels that I wrote and drew myself, so doing the same with Supergirl feels like I’m returning to my storytelling roots… In creating this version of Supergirl, I’ll be drawing on some of those influences as the series unfolds.” Supergirl #1 releases May 14th.

Action Comics gets a new creative team: Mark Waid (Justice League Unlimited) and artist Skylar Patridge, focusing on Clark Kent's teenage years in Smallville. Waid explains, "I start the book with Clark as a 15-year-old boy, learning to be a superhero for the first time… Skylar and I are also bringing Smallville a little more up to date—it still has that rustic feel to it, but farms don’t look like that anymore." Their run begins with Action Comics #1087 in June.

Finally, Krypto gets his own five-issue miniseries, Krypto: The Last Dog of Krypton, as part of the DC All In initiative. Written by Ryan North (Fantastic Four) and drawn by Mike Norton (Revival), it delves deeper into Krypto's origin story. North says, “Krypto's origin has always been done at kind of a high level… The chance to really define Krypto—to show what a little lost dog would go through if he landed all alone on a strange alien world named Earth—was really enticing… Mike Norton’s art captures exactly what needs to be ‘said’ in every scene.” Krypto: The Last Dog of Krypton #1 launches June 18th.