Tom King and Clay Mann to take over Batman/Catwoman series in January

Rumors about Tom King leaving the main Batman series have turned out to be true, but not for the reasons people may have assumed.

Over the past couple of days, reports had spread that current Batman writer Tom King was going to leave the series after Batman No. 85, the conclusion of his “City of Bane” arc. Many assumed that King’s departure was because of negative backlash to his series or even flailing sales. Both seemed odd given that King has been nominated and won multiple Eisner’s, and the series is the second best-selling series for DC in April 2019 and fifth best-selling series in general.

Now, DC has announced the reasoning for King’s departure from the main Batman title, and that’s because he’s taking over a new series titled Batman/Catwoman with artist Clay Mann. The series will begin in January 2020 and, simultaneously, the main Batman title will transition back to being a monthly title. No new creative team has been announced as of this time.

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As a massive fan of King and the story that he’s been telling within the pages of Batman, it’s exciting to see the culmination of this story being given the opportunity it needs to be told in what looks to be in an even more comprehensive way than what may have been previously planned. The character-driven nature of the story has been so emotionally resonant that there is no way this series will be anything but emotionally resonant as well.

King is a master at taking beloved characters and putting them through the ringer, which is the basis for a lot of the criticism he gets. So it’s great to see these two beloved characters in Selina Kyle and Bruce Wayne coming back together and quite possibly obtaining a happy ending in some form.