Tom King’s acclaimed 85-issue run on Batman may have come to an end, but he’s continuing his planned 100-issue arc in the pages of limited series Batman/Catwoman. The relationship between Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle has been a tenet of King’s take on the Dark Knight’s mythos, with the couple’s engagement and aborted marriage garnering headlines. Now, King’s up to his old tricks by revealing another major development that’s on the way. Is that the pitter-patter of tiny mutant bat-cat paws we hear?
Yes, the comic book scribe took to Twitter today to reveal a piece of art that captures Batman and Catwoman sharing a romantic moment on the rooftops of Gotham City. And it’s very obvious that Selina has a pronounced baby bump which she and her superhero significant other are cradling. The artwork is drawn by Mikel Janin and colored by Jordie Bellaire, who are working with King on Catwoman 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular. As Clay Mann is on art duties for Batman/Catwoman, that could mean this piece comes from that special instead.
— Tom King (@TomKingTK) February 19, 2020
For this big change to the status quo, King is drawing from classic DC comics. The Golden Age Bruce and Selina, who hailed from Earth-2, had a daughter named Helena Wayne AKA the first Huntress. In the post-Crisis universe, Huntress was reimagined as Helena Bertinelli, who had no familial ties to the Wayne-Kyles and that’s the way it’s stayed ever since. But is Helena Wayne being brought back into continuity? Alternatively, what if the couple’s kid’s a boy this time? Could they name him Alfred, after Bruce’s butler, who was just murdered at the hands of Bane?
Batman/Catwoman was originally set to be released in January, but King and Mann pushed it back to give them extra time to perfect their work, which they have said could evoke Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns as another seminal re-definition of the Batman world. With the reveal that a Bat-baby is on the way, we’re starting to see how that could be possible.