The upcoming Batman #28, the issue that finds things skipping forward to the future in Gotham City, had a cover revealed at Newsarama from the absolutely, completely fantastic Dustin Nguyen, and you guys, this is a beauty. It’s simple, devastating and completely unlike anything we see from DC, who really holds onto cover design from yesteryear like it’s the Arc of the Covenant. But this one, which is extremely subtle (while being obvious) and engaging, provides a look at one of Gotham’s prisons in the future, or at least the door of one of the cells.
It’s a beautiful piece of work that makes me want to pick up the issue, and also raises the question as to what the Bat symbol as lock means. To me, it’s pretty obvious. In the future that Scott Snyder and Nguyen are going to take us to, Batman effectively becomes Judge Dredd (hat tip to Walt Richardson on that one), with less guns and certainly less killing. Could he be privatizing the prison system and taking crime completely under his wing? Very curious, but ultimately this post is about one thing: Dustin Nguyen kicking ass. One of the best artists around flooring us yet again, with little mention in the source article. For shame.
The solicit for this issue is below, and we’ll find the answer to that big question when it arrives in February. May I suggest buying the Nguyen cover instead of the Steampunk one, though? Please do.
BATMAN #28
Written by SCOTT SNYDER
Art & cover by DUSTIN NGUYEN
1:25 Steampunk variant cover by HOWARD CHAYKIN
On sale FEBRUARY 12 • 32 pg, FC, $3.99 US • RATED T
Combo pack edition: $4.99 US
This special issue, written by Scott Snyder and James Tynion with art and cover by Dustin Nguyen, will provide a peek at what’s to come in the weekly Batman Eternal series, with glimpses at some key characters in the series.
This issue is also offered as a combo pack edition with a redemption code for a digital download of this issue.
