This week's Shazam! #12 will have surprise unsolicited story with Batman

(Image credit: DC)

This week's Shazam! #12 will feature a surprise new story by a new creative team, - but don't worry, that originally-planned story will see the light of day later this year.

June 2's Shazam #12 will be a surprise team-up with Batman, in what DC calls an "interlude issue" by the incoming creative team of writer Jeff Loveness and artist Brandon Peterson.

"In pursuit of new villains to thwart, Shazam heads-where else?-to Gotham City, landing him face-to-creepy face with the Scarecrow!," reads DC's new solicitation text for #12. "Can Batman help Billy overcome his greatest fears?"

Shazam! #12 was originally scheduled to be writer Geoff Johns and artist Dale Eaglesham's penultimate issue of their run, but their final two issues have been pushed back by DC. Those final stories will now publish in July 29's Shazam! #13 and then August 25's Shazam #14.

On the plus side, Johns and Eaglesham's finale has been expanded to 40 pages, with DC upping the price to $4.99.

This new creative team - Loveness and Peterson - were originally scheduled to begin with Shazam #14, but that story has been pushed back to Shazam #15 in September - with this week's Shazam! #12 acting as their debut on the title.

Due to the changes to Shazam! #12, DC has informed retailers that the issue will be returnable.

(Image credit: DC)
Chris Arrant

Chris Arrant covered comic book news for Newsarama from 2003 to 2022 (and as editor/senior editor from 2015 to 2022) and has also written for USA Today, Life, Entertainment Weekly, Publisher's Weekly, Marvel Entertainment, TOKYOPOP, AdHouse Books, Cartoon Brew, Bleeding Cool, Comic Shop News, and CBR. He is the author of the book Modern: Masters Cliff Chiang, co-authored Art of Spider-Man Classic, and contributed to Dark Horse/Bedside Press' anthology Pros and (Comic) Cons. He has acted as a judge for the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, the Harvey Awards, and the Stan Lee Awards. Chris is a member of the American Library Association's Graphic Novel & Comics Round Table. (He/him)