No Batman, no problem: Detective Comics' February 2022 issues highlight Gotham's other heroes

Batman may be leaving Gotham City, but his (former) main title Detective Comics isn't slowing down from the looks of its February 2022 issues. Detective Comics, which will begin shipping weekly in late December, is diving into a three-month long 'Shadows of the Bat' event that follows the remaining Bat-Family with their first real challenge post-Batman - the hole the destroyed Arkham Asylum leaves in Gotham, and the attempt to replace it ( the Arkham Tower) that ends up going horribly wrong.

Detective Comics series writer Mariko Tamaki continues on the title in February 2022, writing the main story in Detective Comics #1051 through #1054, joined by artist Max Raynor on all four weekly issues. They will delve deeper into the mystery surrounding Arkham Tower, and the cruel and conniving experimenter Dr. Wear who is using it as means for his own ends.

And while Batman isn't in Detective Comics' main story, his shadow looms onto the backup serial story 'House of Gotham' by writer Matthew Rosenberg and Fernando Blanco, which continues in all four of the series' February 2022 issues. 

The serial, which is set to begin in January 4, 2022's Detective Comics #1047, follows the impact Batman and Arkham Asylum have had on the city - particularly on one young boy who was saved from the Joker by Batman early in his life - but carries trauma with him that leads him to be institutionalized at Arkham Asylum.

As far as covers go, February 2022's Detective Comics will all feature a main cover by Irvin Rodriguez, a variant cover by Lee Bermejo, and a hard-to-find variant cover by Jorge Fornes only available in a 1:25 ratio (for every 25 copies of the issue a retailer buys, they can buy one copy of Fornes' variant cover).

Here's a look at all of Irvin Rodriguez's covers for Detective Comics #1051 - #1054:

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Detective Comics #1051 - #1054 covers

Here's the February 2022 schedule for each 40-page issue of Detective Comics featuring the two serialized stories:

• February 1, 2022: Detective Comics #1051
• February 8, 2022: Detective Comics #1052
• February 15, 2022: Detective Comics #1053
• February 22, 2022: Detective Comics #1054

DC has been quietly showing how even without Batman, the remaining Bat-Family are ready to be Gotham's protectors.