DC Comics editor Ben Abernathy called DC's Future State "essential reading."
"Some of this has been announced here and there, and it will become pretty obvious in March, but Future State is not a throwaway event," Abernathey recently told CBR. "It's not time wasted in any way. It's all part of a plan we've been working on for a while." He added, "This is not What If..., it's all connected. We've been planning this since Detective #1027."
Abernathy also revealed that the Batman-centered stories within Future State arise from Dark Nights: Death Metal. Specifically, "the rise of Tim Fox as The Next Batman" and exploring what happened to Bruce Wayne and Gotham City pre-Magistrate and afterward.
"Gotham is as much of a character in this series as Bruce Wayne is," Abernathy continued. "Gotham now has a privatized police force that has declared martial law on the city, and they are hunting heroes and villains alike. Masks have been outlawed in a dark dystopian future, but it's a future not far from our own."
While Abernathy didn't give away much about Batman-centered tales in Future State, he spoke about their varying styles and approaches. "Each book has a different flavor and a different adventure and are not all set in the exact same moment," he added. "There's not a checklist of books you need to read. Each series has self-contained stories, and Batman and Dark Detective are oversized with backup stories featuring characters that might not be expected, like Gotham City Sirens, Arkham Knights, the Outsiders and Batgirl. There have been hints of what's coming that eagle-eyed fans may have spotted."
DC Future State is a two-month, line-wide event beginning in January 2021. February will feature a combination of monthly and twice-monthly oversize anthologies, as well as a monthly schedule of miniseries and one-shots starring current and future DC heroes.
John Ridley and Nick Derington will introduce the new Batman to the world in Future State: The Next Batman #1, on sale on Jan. 5, 2021, from DC. Ridley is also currently writing DC's Black Label series, The Other History Of The DC Universe.