DC Comics has announced the return of its "Elseworlds" line of comic books, including Gotham by Gaslight: The Kryptonian Age, Batman the Barbarian, Green Lantern: Dark, and more.
They'll be published starting in 2024 and, as a bonus, the range will include sequels to Dark Knights of Steel and DC vs. Vampires.
This imprint was first established in 1991 with Batman: Holy Terror and, in the years which followed, it became the home for new and innovative stories featuring DC's characters in settings outside regular comic book continuity. That includes Kingdom Come, Red Son, Justice League: The Nail, and more.
With DC Studios taking an active role in what we see on the page and screen, it's possible the plan is for these to serve as a basis for upcoming movies and TV shows. After all, we know The Batman franchise will fall under a new "Elseworlds" banner.
"Out-of-continuity stories have always been a pillar of DC publishing, granting creators the ability to explore all the wild corners of the DC Universe," DC Executive Editor Ben Abernathy says. "We’re excited to bring a whole new slate of titles under the Elseworlds banner in 2024, combining some all-new titles from top storytellers, as well as sequels from the current DC line that fit that same out-of-continuity aesthetic."
Here's what to expect when "Elseworlds" returns next year:
Gotham by Gaslight: The Kryptonian Age by Andy Diggle and Leandro Fernandez expands the mysterious and gothic world created by Brian Augustyn and Mike Mignola beyond the confines of Gotham City, introducing DC’s greatest heroes as they come together for the first time to form a 19th-century Justice League. As they unite against the greatest threat the world has ever known, they will learn their world’s secret Kryptonian history.
Batman the Barbarian is a brutal and remarkable retelling of Batman’s origin set against a rugged, medieval Earth, written, and drawn by Eisner Award-winner Greg Smallwood (The Human Target).
New York Times best-selling writer Jay Kristoff (Empire of the Vampire, The Aurora Cycle, The Nevernight Chronicle) and artist Tirso Cons make their DC series debut, in Dark Knights of Steel: Allwinter.
In this new series, the snows fall thick, blood runs black, and color itself is only a distant memory. The legendary assassin Deathstroke stalks a frozen wasteland, killing for coin among a nation of ever-warring jarls. But when our murderer for hire finds himself cast in the role of reluctant guardian, will he fight to end the icy curse destroying his land, or be consumed by the sins of his own dark past?
Inspired by Norse myth and set in Tom Taylor’s ground-breaking world of Dark Knights of Steel, Dark Knights of Steel: Allwinter continues the tradition of casting iconic DC characters in a thrilling epic fantasy setting.
Green Lantern Dark by Tate Brombal and Werther Dell’Edera reimagines the DC Universe as a dark fantasy wasteland where monsters overrun a post-apocalyptic earth. The battle between good and evil ended long ago.
Now, darkness prevails as humanity struggles to survive on a corrupted planet. Only one hero remains, the one who wields the green flame that can return light to a dark world—The Green Lantern. But she’s been missing for years, and, on the isolated island of New England, the horrors only get worse by the night.
What happens when twin brothers, Seth & Clay Mann, are turned loose in Gotham City?
They burn it all down.
Batman: Nightfire sees superstar Clay Mann unleashed in a mind-expanding mystery, beautifully counterbalanced with explosive action, in this unflinching reimagining that sees Bruce Wayne try to rectify a devastating tragedy by traveling to the past.
What secrets does this Batman hold so tight that he would watch Gotham be reduced to ashes? What truths are exposed when there is nowhere left to hide? Batman: Nightfire by Clay and Seth Mann is a story of obligation and the ultimate burden that promises to set the Batman world ablaze!
DC vs. Vampires was the brutal first chapter in a larger war for the fate of Earth! In this upcoming sequel by Matthew Rosenberg and Otto Schmidt, sunlight is restored to the Earth, but was it too late? As a new Ice Age dawns, humanity faces their most deadly threat yet—Barbara Gordon Queen of the Vampires!