Back in 2020, superstar comic artist Dan Mora posted a random idea. Mashing up the Batman characters with the style of Japanese tokusatsu, the genre which we in the states know best for Ultraman and Power Rangers.

People were very into it, and it’s hard to blame them.

And some of those people? Pretty well known for comics of their own – Radiant Black’s writer, Kyle Higgins, and Inferno Girl Red artist Erica D’Urso.

They have some history with writing and illustrating toku inspired comics, with Radiant Black borrowing key elements from the genre, and Inferno Girl Red being a spin-off in the same universe, called the Massive-Verse.

It’s taken five years, but DC Comics listened, as revealed this past weekend at the C2E2 Convention…

AIPT:

During the “Kyle Higgins Presents: Radiant Black, The Massive-Verse and More!” panel, Kyle will announce a new DC Elseworlds limited series, Immortal Legend Batman. It features co-writer Mat Groom (Radiant Black, Inferno Girl Red) and art by Dan Mora (Superman, Justice League Unlimited, Batman/Superman: World’s Finest).

“In Immortal Legend Batman, Dan, Mat, Erica, and I are using elements of ‘superhero tokusatsu,’ so readers can expect to see cool and recognizable elements like mech/armor-style transformations, specifically named combat moves, a gradually expanding team, and more,” said writer Higgins.

That’s right, Immortal Legend Batman is the title, and the first issue hits shelves in August 2025. It’s awesome to see a company like DC not be afraid to embrace alternative versions of their characters, and put name creators on the book as well.

Sadly, Mora will be working more on the covers than the interiors, but I know D’Urso is up for the gig.

Massive kudos to whichever editor approved this…more of this, big two, more of this.

ESPN:

Back inside the Diamond Lounge, Ho pointed out something Silver would never forget.

“If you notice,” he told Silver, “the restaurants in Chinatown are empty.”

Silver paused.

“The Chinese community in the U.S. are quite aware of what’s going on in China – much more than the general public,” Ho said. “And the Chinatown restaurants are a reflection of that. People are scared.”

The two talked for 15 minutes. Silver had already been concerned about the possibility of filling NBA arenas with nearly 20,000 fans, but the unemotional, matter-of-fact tone from Ho was striking. The next morning, on the same day the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a global public health emergency, Silver called Ho and asked whether he would serve as a consultant for the NBA on COVID-19. Ho agreed.

The first, goosebump inducing moment of this amazing oral history of the day the NBA shutdown due to COVID, which was – believe it or not – five years ago today.

Definitely going to be hanging with me today the five years that have passed, what happened in them, and who we are now versus who we were then.