The Super Powered Fancast

DC Comics today announced a new comic book series, Batman – Santa Claus: Silent Knight Returns by Jeff Parker and Lukas Ketner, coming to local comic book shops this winter, publishing Wednesdays in the five weeks leading up to Christmas! But this is comics, so there’s always a twist when DC’s Santa Claus and Batman are involved!

“I was blown away at how well last year’s SILENT KNIGHT series was received, readers really responded to us going full tilt with Norse-mythos Santa in the DCU,” said Parker when asked for his thoughts about writing the holiday sequel. “We followed the old tradition of telling ghost stories at Christmas (remember the line from ‘It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year’?). Then to be asked if I wanted to do another one AND have an extra issue? That was the Happy New Year.”

“The first SILENT KNIGHT series wasn’t quite what I expected, and I loved it for that,” said Ketner. “Jeff has an amazing ability to take an idea like a Batman & Santa team-up and play it straight with a great story, new DC lore, and a real threat. There’s humor of course, but it’s so much more effective when the stakes are real.”

In the five issues of Batman – Santa Claus: Silent Knight Returns, horrors haunt the Christmas season as life-drained bodies litter the countryside, each marked with a strange symbol. The Justice League responds—but it’s a trap! The heroes are pulled from our world, but not before Batman helps Robin escape. Now Damian Wayne must seek out Zatanna and the one and only Santa Claus if there’s any hope of saving their friends and family.

“The team is amazing, and I’m thrilled to be alternating scenes with Michele Bandini,” said Ketner. “I loved his work in the first series, and I couldn’t wait to draw some of the monsters he introduced there. Sharing the page with Marcelo Maiolo’s colors and Patrick Brosseau’s lettering is humbling to say the least.”

Batman – Santa Claus: Silent Knight Returns #1 will have a main cover by Bernard Chang and variant covers by Dan Mora, Kevin Wada, and Erica Henderson. Collectors can also kickstart the holidays with a special gift-wrapped (polybagged), evergreen-scented variant cover by Dan Hipp!

You can check out my review of Batman-Santa Claus Silent Knight here and let me know what you think in the comments below.