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Damian Wayne appears to be striking out on his own in a solo back-up story running in March's core Batman titles, Batman and Detective Comics, that seems to put him on the search for a new path – and on the run from someone, possibly even Batman.
The two-part story is a continuation of DC's newly-emphasized format of back-up stories in some of their most prominent monthly titles but also introduces a new wrinkle - serializing the story across two different series.
While serial storylines across multiple books is not new and in past years whole families of titles like the core Superman books coordinated as one weekly series. having a back-up story serialized in multiple series is a bit rarer.
It will be interesting to watch how DC readers react to needing to purchase both Batman and Detective Comics to read the full back-up story.
The story, revealed in the just-released DC March 2021 solicitations, is titled 'Demon or Detective,' and will be written by Joshua Williamson with art from Gleb Melnikov. Though the specific details of what sets Damian on his quest are somewhat mysterious (more on that in a moment), it may tie-in to Damian Wayne's new non-Robin costume, as seen on Jorge Jimenez's variant cover for Batman #106, shown above.
"'Demon or Detective' begins as Damian Wayne is on the run!" reads the solicitation for the first part of the back-up, in Batman #106. "After everything Damian has gone through, can he escape Gotham and find his way back to where his journey started—to his mother, Talia al Ghul?"
The mystery deepens from there, with the back-up solicitation for Detective Comics #1034 namechecking a seemingly new offshoot of the League of Assassins called the League of Lazarus.
"In the second and concluding chapter of 'Demon or Detective,' Damian Wayne meets a startling new faction from his family's checkered past," it reads. "But what is the League of Lazarus?"
As for why Damian is on the run. The main solicit text for Batman #106 may provide some clues.
"Following the tragic events of Infinite Frontier #1, Batman and his new ally, Ghost-Maker, must reckon with a new gang operating in Gotham City—but are they connected to the reemergence of the Scarecrow?"
While we don't know what the "tragic events of Infinite Frontier #1" are yet, we know from the solicitation of that March one-shot, which sets the stage for DC's post-Future State publishing line, that it involves the Joker doing something that spins into the Clown Prince of Crime's upcoming title from Batman writer James Tynion IV, in which Joker is the most wanted criminal in the world.
All of that spells trouble for Batman and his crew, so it makes sense Damian may turn to the other part of his heritage for answers.
Batman #106 is due out March 2, the same day as Infinite Frontier #1, followed by Detective Comics #1034 on March 23.
Keep up with the Caped Crusader with our list of all the new Batman comics, graphic novels, and collections in 2020 and beyond.
