This incarnation of Batman has loomed especially large for DC in recent years, with Sam Hamm and Joe Quinones’ Batman ‘89 comic book miniseries continuing the story beyond the events of Batman Returns while Keaton returns to the role with The Flash this summer. The first universe that Batman finds himself in while chasing the Red Mask is the world of the Tim Burton Batman movies, noticing billboards of Jack Nicholson’s Joker and Michael Keaton’s fan-favorite depiction of Bruce Wayne. However, though Batman is able to follow Halliday’s unique energy signature with a special tracker, he is unprepared for the different universes that he stumbles across as he pursues Halliday on his impromptu cosmic odyssey.

The Dark Knight follows his nemesis, determined to defeat and contain the danger that Halliday possesses before returning to the DCU. Loaded with raw multiversal energy, Halliday uses a portal to flee into the DC Omniverse (which encompasses all forms of DC’s multimedia depictions) with the energy he carries potentially harmful to all of reality.

As Batman confronts the Red Mask, he discovers that Halliday’s corporate experiments gives him a window into the multiverse, along with the realization that he is this universe’s version of the Joker. Instead, Batman is transported to an alternate reality where Gotham is ruled by villainous corporate mogul Darwin Halliday, with Halliday striking fear under his costumed alter ego as the Red Mask. Zdarsky and Jimenez’s first arc on Batman, “ Failsafe,” ends on a cliffhanger with the rogue artificial intelligence Failsafe apparently vaporizing Batman as it seeks to subjugate the DCU to its twisted vision of justice. Here’s how “The Bat-Man of Gotham” quietly set the stage for its surprise journey through the DC Multiverse, some of the more prominent Batmen to appear in the landmark issue, and how DC has steadily been embracing the infinite possibilities of its restored multiverse across a variety of media. Packed with cameos and supporting appearances of classic iterations of Batman and the Joker throughout the characters’ history in comics, film, and television, the issue sees the main DC Universe’s Caped Crusader try to return to his own reality. To mark the milestone occasion, Zdarsky is not only joined by artists Mike Hawthorne, Jorge Jimenez, and Mikel Janin but also takes full advantage of the oversized issue to celebrate the entire history of the Dark Knight. Chip Zdarsky closes out the latest arc of his Batman run, “The Bat-Man of Gotham,” with Batman #135, which also carries the legacy numbering as Batman #900.

Shazam! by Geoff Johns