DC cancels Batman/Superman

Gene Lueng Yang's well-received Batman/Superman run is being cut short, as DC has announced his run - and the series - will be ending with September's Batman/Superman #22.

"Mr. Mxyzptlk resurrecting Calendar Man from his death during A-Day is causing some reality-rattling consequences," reads DC's description of Batman/Superman #22. "If Superman and Batman are going to prevent a fifth-dimensional god-being from compartmentalizing all of existence, they’re going to need to turn to some unlikely allies."

A-Day is a recent event that occurred in Infinite Frontier #0 where the Joker seemingly launched a deadly chemical attack on Arkham Asylum, killing many people - prisoner and worker - alike. Calendar Man, a bit of a regular inmate there, was among those dead.

It's unclear how Calendar Man returning could have "reality-rattling consequences" given he has no metahuman powers that we know of, but with Mr. Mxyzptik involved - who has "reality-rattling" metahuman powers and then some - everything is up for grabs.

Paul Pelletier is drawing Batman/Superman #22, stepping in for regular series artists Ivan Reis and Danny Miki. Pelletier is also slated to draw August's Batman/Superman 2021 Annual #1, also written by Yang.

Ivan Reis and Danny Miki's last word on Batman/Superman will be the primary cover to Batman/Superman #22. DC also plans for Gary Frank to draw a variant cover.

The decision for the Batman/Superman series appears rather sudden, since Yang's run on the title just began back with March's Batman/Superman #16. August's Batman/Superman #21 is the finale of the current 'The Archive of Worlds' arc (and is being collected into a titular volume this December), with #22 working as a one-off finale. It's not clear if and how DC would collect this one-off story down the road for Yang's sizeable booktrade audience.

The current Batman/Superman series is the second volume under that title, after the original Batman/Superman ran for 32 issues from 2014 to 2016. That being said, Superman and Batman have teamed up numerous times in other titles going by different names.

Batman/Superman #22 goes on sale on September 28.

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