Batman, Grifter, Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, more lead new DC title launching in March

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Batman: Urban Legends expands the Bat-Family

Batman: Urban Legends #1 variant cover
(Image credit: Kael Ngu (DC))

Batman, Grifter, and the Outsiders serials will lead a new ongoing DC anthology launching this March titled Batman: Urban Legends.

(Image credit: Hicham Habchi (DC))

Picking up the 'Future State' anthology format (along with some of its serials and creators), the 64-page monthly Batman: Urban Legends anthology will be the third major Batman title, standing alongside Batman and Detective Comics.

Writer Chip Zdarsky and artist Eddy Barrows will lead the anthology, with a six-part Batman/Red Hood story that finds Jason Todd investigating a new lethal drug that is sweeping Gotham City.

"In the course of one night, this investigation will change his life forever – and put him in Batman's crosshairs," reads DC's announcement.

Batman: Urban Legends #1 cover

(Image credit: Kael Ngu (DC))

And Future State: Grifters writer Matthew Rosenberg will continue his dalliance with the WildStorm hero with an artist who's drawn more Grifter solo stories than anyone: Ryan Benjamin.

"[Continuing] from the pages of Batman #101, gun-for-hire Cole Cash is still in Gotham, on the trail of the true motives of the Halo Corporation…and yes, Batman and Grifter go head-to-head again!"

Benjamin drew much of the 1995 Grifter solo series, as well as the 2007 Grifter and Midnighter limited series.

And speaking of history, the friendship/romance of Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy will be tackled head-on in a story by upcoming Harley Quinn writer Stephanie Phillips and Future State: The next Batman artist Laura Braga. Set before the launch of Phillips' new Harley Quinn ongoing with artist Riley Rossmo, this Batman: Urban Legends story will "help Harley sort out her complicated history with Poison Ivy – but first she'll have to find her!"

(Image credit: David Finch (DC))

Rounding out the anthology's first issue will be the first in a three-part Outsiders serial that reunites Black Lightning, Katana, and Metamorpho after the team's breakup earlier this year in the Batman and the Outsiders finale. The highs of the reunion will be short-lived, as DC teases the return of "a figure from Katana's past!"

In what's becoming a familiar trend, the story is written by Future State: Outsiders writer Brandon Thomas - with Max Dunbar stepping in on art.

Batman: Urban Legends #1 goes on sale on March 16. Look for DC's full March 2021 solicitations later this week on Newsarama.

Keep up to speed on all the new Batman comics, graphic novels, and collections in 2020 and beyond.

Chris Arrant
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)