Six corrupt versions of DC’s Super Heroes are coming to terrorize Earth this November and December, as DC Comics has teased early details of a series of six comics running parallel to the story unfolding in Batman/Superman by writer Joshua Williamson and artist David Marquez. Each one-shot or tie-in special spotlights a corrupt version of Shazam!, Supergirl, Hawkman and more, known within the DC Universe as The Infected. These six issues star DC’s beloved heroes, revealed to be secretly infected by The Batman Who Laughs with a toxin that violently transforms them into the worst versions of themselves. Their buried frustrations and pent-up anger will boil to the surface, unleashing dangerous results.
Kicking off these spotlight, one-shot issues is The Infected: King Shazam! #1 on November 6th by writer Sina Grace and artist Joe Bennett, to be followed by The Infected: Scarab #1 on November 20th, written by Dennis “Hopeless” Hallum with art by Freddie E. Williams II. Both issues will feature covers by David Marquez and Dean White. One is a story of a hero whose soul has been turned black and who has something to prove to the old guard, the other a tale of a hero fighting the evil inside him, with his friends and family about to pay the price…and then some.
While fans got hints of The Infected in The Batman Who Laughs by Scott Snyder and Jock and have seen the brutality of a jacked-up, Dark Multiverse-infected Shazam! in previews of Batman/Superman, the scope of the deadly pathogen unleashed by The Batman Who Laughs, himself a twisted Dark Multiverse version of Bruce Wayne, has yet to be realized.
Rounding out November are The Infected tie-in issues Hawkman #18 on November 13th, written by Robert Venditti with art by Pat Olliffe and Tom Palmer, and Supergirl #36 on November 13th, written by Marc Andreyko with art by Eduardo Pansica and Julio Ferreira. Hawkman #18 cover art is by Tyler Kirkham while Supergirl #36 cover art is by Dan Mora.
Through all this, neither Superman nor Batman know who’s been infected, they don’t know who has turned, and they don’t know who’s a sleeper agent for The Batman Who Laughs. Can they even trust each other? All six of The Infected will be revealed when Batman/Superman #4 by Joshua Williamson and David Marquez, with an acetate cover by Emanuela Lupacchino, hits shelves on November 27th!
The final two victims of The Batman Who Laughs’ toxins, no spoilers here, will hit shelves with spotlight one-shot issues of their own in December 2019. Pick up The Batman Who Laughs (HC) by Scott Snyder and Jock along with Batman/Superman#1 by Joshua Williamson and David Marquez on August 28th at your local comic shop for clues to who the other two heroes turned by The Batman Who Laughs’ influence might be!
