Recently at the ComicsPro convention in Glendale, CA, DC reps took to the podium to lay out their plans for the summer and fall of 2026. Basically, DC plans to spend this year expanding on what they introduced last year, which seems to be working.
The Absolute line is bringing in the numbers, Absolute Batman especially, so this summer two new books will show up: Absolute Green Arrow by Pornsak Pichetshote and Rafael Albuquerque, launching May 20, and Absolute Catwoman by Che Grayson, Scott Snyder, and Bengal, launching June 10. Then, all the established Absolute characters will come together in their first crossover event, to arrive in Q4 2026. More details on that event will be revealed later this year.
More books under the Vertigo banner are on the way including 100 Bullets: The US of ANGER and Fanatic in the summer, Necretatious and Black Tower: The Raven Conspiracy in the fall, and The Crying Doll and A Walking Shadow wrapping up the year in the holiday season.
A new round of #1 issues are arriving in the spring under the banner Next Level…this line begins as soon as next month with Lobo #1, Batwoman #1, and Deathstroke: The Terminator #1 on March 18 and then The Fury of Firestorm #1 on April 8 and Zatanna #1 on April 29. After that, look for Barbara Gordon: Breakout by Mariko Tamaki and Amancay Nahuelpan in May and The Deadman by W. Maxwell Prince and Martín Morazzo in June. Planned titles for Fall 2026 include Legion of Super-Heroes, Doom Patrol, Jonah Hex, The Demon, and Batman: Shadow of the Bat, but creative teams and street dates have yet to be finalized.
Finally, DC’s mega event for this fall is called “Bad Seeds.” Gotham’s main problem is that it can’t stop putting the wrong people in charge. Vandal Savage is the police commissioner somehow and he’s going to take the opposite approach to Gordon regarding Batman and related company. Maybe the mayor can save everyone…no, that’s Poison Ivy. DC says the main storyline of “Bad Seeds” will be focused around “a long, dark night in Gotham that threatens to turn the entire city into a primeval world of hostile plant life unlike anything on Earth for millennia.” Given the kind of phenomena this world endures on a regular basis I find that hard to believe.
