The first look at DC Comics’ Gotham War event previews Batman and Catwoman’s upcoming battle.
Per AIPT, DC Comics released the first look at Batman/Catwoman: The Gotham War — Battle Lines #1, an opening one-shot that kicks off the Gotham War crossover. The unlettered pages see Bruce Wayne (whose hand was recently cut off by Ghost-Breaker, a version of Ghost-Maker from a different corner of the multiverse) and the Bat-Family confront Selina Kyle in a tense stand-off.
View the pages and cover art from Batman/Catwoman: The Gotham War — Battle Lines #1 below.
Why are Batman and Catwoman going to war?
Prior to DC’s Knight Terrors event, tension has ramped up between Bruce and Selina in the pages of Catwoman and Batman. In Catwoman #50, Selina killed her latest love interest, Valmont, in order to save Bruce’s life. Selina was sent to prison, but later broke out. This led to a heartbreaking conversation in Batman #136, where the two masked vigilantes laid out their grievances with one another.
Batman/Catwoman: The Gotham War — Battle Lines #1 comes from Chip Zdarsky, Tina Howard, Mike Hawthorne, Adriano Di Benedetto, and Romulo Fajardo Jr. The one-shot features main cover art by Jorge Jiménez and variants by Joe Quesada, Kael Ngu, Otto Schmidt, and Jonboy Meyers.
“Crime is down in Gotham City… Could that be a bad thing?” the solicitation reads. “A coordinated effort in Gotham has led to a reduction in violent crime, but at what cost? Villains scatter as their lives begin to crumble under a new regime. And as Batman recovers from his epic battle through the Multiverse and the horrors of Knight Terrors, one name runs through his mind. One name at the heart of this new, safer Gotham…Catwoman. A conflict that’s been brewing for well over a year finally hits the streets, and it will fracture the Bat-Family as war erupts! From bestselling writers Chip Zdarsky and Tini Howard and artists Mike Hawthorne and Adriano Di Benedetto comes the opening shot in the Gotham War!”
Batman/Catwoman: The Gotham War — Battle Lines #1 releases on August 29, 2023. The event will continue to play out in issues of Batman and Catwoman, along with a Batman/Catwoman: The Gotham War: Red Hood miniseries. It all concludes concluding in October with a final one-shot, Batman/Catwoman: The Gotham War — Scorched Earth #1.
