Batman villains crash a Batman villains party in Batman #118 preview

(Image credit: DC)

It looks like post-'Fear State,' Gotham City will be in a partying mood. At least judging by the multiple versions of Batman villains in movie-quality cosplay (see above), it appears to be a costume party for the wealthy.

That is until it's crashed by seemingly genuine Batman villains.

That's what we can gather by these first look preview pages of December 7's Batman #118, the debut of the post-Tynion-Jimenez creative team of writer Joshua Williamson and artist Jorge Molina. Their four-part story arc 'Abyss' features the debut of a new villain by that same name.

According to DC, after the events of 'Fear State,' Gotham survives the plans of The Scarecrow and The Magistrate, and Batman and the citizens of Gotham City "need some time to celebrate, heal and process."

For Batman, that takes him away from his hometown and into a new international mystery full of "full of thrills, chills, and intrigue" involving Batman, Incorporated.

In other words, a swing in tone from 'Fear State.'

For the citizens of Gotham, well, we'll see what kind of mood they're in when their party is crashed. And we'll also have to wait and see why the seemingly genuine Batman rogues' articles are fighting one another. And who that Batman figure is if it isn't Bruce?

Or maybe that's his last order of business for taking a commercial flight outta Gotham. Remember, he isn't uber-wealthy anymore.

(How Bruce gets the Bat-suit and Batarangs through airport X-ray machines is a dilemma for another day).

Batman #118 features a main cover by Molina, a "primary" variant cover by Francesco Mattina, well-discussed "ratio" variant covers by Viktor Bogdanovic, and an even more rare "monofoil" variant by Jock.

Check out the preview pages, Abyss characters designs, and covers in our gallery below.

Image 1 of 11

Batman #118 is one of many (and we mean many) new Batman comics, graphic novels, collections from DC arriving in 2021 and beyond.

I'm not just the Newsarama founder and editor-in-chief, I'm also a reader. And that reference is just a little bit older than the beginning of my Newsarama journey. I founded what would become the comic book news site in 1996, and except for a brief sojourn at Marvel Comics as its marketing and communications manager in 2003, I've been writing about new comic book titles, creative changes, and occasionally offering my perspective on important industry events and developments for the 25 years since. Despite many changes to Newsarama, my passion for the medium of comic books and the characters makes the last quarter-century (it's crazy to see that in writing) time spent doing what I love most.