As the toy and collectibles industry navigates evolving trends, the revival of DC Comics’ Elseworlds imprint in 2023 stands out as a significant development. This initiative has historically been associated with high-quality, innovative storytelling, presenting alternate versions of beloved characters. Collectors, however, find themselves in a holding pattern as some anticipated titles remain mired in uncertainty.
In 2023, DC Comics announced the revival of its Elseworlds imprint, the label that gave readers classics like Batman: Gotham By Gaslight and Superman: Red Son. At the time, the company unveiled six different titles that fans could expect within the year, but one of the most exciting is still stuck in limbo.
The Elseworlds imprint has been one of the surest signs of quality and creativity in DC’s history, with star creators like Mike Mignola, Mark Millar, and Norm Breyfogle working under it. In 2023, writer-artist Greg Smallwood unveiled one of the coolest ideas for Bruce Wayne seen in years, but the project’s future remains uncertain.
In 1989, DC officially began its Elseworlds initiative with Brian Augustyn, Mike Mignola, and P. Craig Russell’s Batman: Gotham By Gaslight. Telling the story of a Dark Knight living in 1889 Gotham, it reimagined the hero as a steampunk detective as he searched for Jack the Ripper, who continued his killings in America.
From the jump, the story told readers what the Elseworlds line was, an imprint that would completely reinvent iconic characters in different settings, genres, and periods of history. After the company ended the imprint in 2005, readers were understandably disappointed.
Not surprisingly, the publisher wound up toying with a series of alternatives, creating its Black Label imprint in 2018 and a What If?-inspired Tales From the Dark Multiverse line in 2019.
Inevitably, the company gave fans what they wanted when they announced the imprint’s official return in 2023, offering six new titles: Gotham by Gaslight: The Kryptonian Age, Green Lantern: Dark, Dark Knights of Steel: Allwinter, Batman: Nightfire, DC vs Vampires: World War V, and, finally, Batman the Barbarian.
In the case of both Batman the Barbarian and Batman: Nightfire, customers are still unsure of when or even if they’ll get to read the stories. That being said, extended delays to comic book publications are nothing new.
When DC teased the new slate of Elseworlds comics, fans were quick to highlight Greg Smallwood’s Batman the Barbarian. Seeming like a fun spin on the work of Robert E. Howard, the limited information given to fans teased The Dark Knight entering a world of high adventure, dark sorcery, and monsters.
Having worked on titles like Moon Knight and The Human Target, the artist has earned a reputation as one of the most talented illustrators in modern comics. The idea of a barbarian Batman has actually been lightly touched on in past multiversal adventures, including a cameo in the animated series Batman: The Brave and the Bold.
However, to date, the concept hasn’t been fleshed out in any meaningful way. In Smallwood’s story, readers were finally promised exactly that, a merging of the style of Conan the Barbarian and the foundations of the Caped Crusader’s story.
When it comes to reinventing a mythology for the past, Batman boasts one of the best supporting casts in comics. Past Elseworlds stories have made great use of villains like Joker, Two-Face, and Ra’s al Ghul, and it’s easy to see someone like the Demon’s Head fitting in incredibly well in a dark fantasy adventure.
Old-school adventure is something that’s been missing in DC, but stories like Daniel Warren Johnson’s Wonder Woman: Dead Earth and Johnson and Juan Gedeon’s Jurassic League show it still has a place.
One of the earliest “Batman the Barbarian” ideas can be traced back to Legends of the Dark Knight #35 (Mark Kneece and Bo Hampton). There, readers were introduced to a Norse warrior version of the hero, though even this doesn’t stack up against the idea of a six-issue epic by Smallwood.
Alongside the return of Elseworlds, creators like Jim Zub, Patrick Zircher, and Liam Sharp revived Savage Sword of Conan and Conan the Barbarian for Titan. Here, these writers and artists have been giving Robert E. Howard fans everything they could want.
Issue by issue, the saga has immersed readers in the land of sword-and-sorcery adventure in a way few recent runs have, embracing the older style that made the hero a comic book legend. With the success of this series speaking for itself, it’s hard to deny there’s a market for some great Conan-inspired stories.
DC has been no stranger to unexpected delays to releases. With over a year having passed since the delays to Greg Smallwood’s Batman the Barbarian, readers have yet to get another update on one of the most exciting DC projects in recent memory.
Based on reporting by Ashley Land. Read the full story at https://www.cbr.com/batman-dc-conan-elseworlds-batman-barbarian/.