First Look at the Upcoming Batman: Earth One Graphic Novel

It's been a while since we had heard about Geoff Johns and Gary Frank's Batman: Earth One graphic novel. A long while. It was originally announced back in December of 2009. DC Comics had revealed their massive plans to start a series of graphic novels that would provide creative teams with a fresh start in a new "Earth One" universe, free of continuity and restrictions. They could literally start from scratch, like Marvel's Ultimate universe. Johns and Frank were set to be the ones that would handle the Batman series and J. Michael Straczynski would helm the new Superman with artist Shane Davis.

A year after the announcement, Superman: Earth One would see release to tremendous sales and press coverage. Yet, there was still no word on Batman: Earth One.

Every once in while, Johns would suggest it was still coming, but up until now it always seemed like a pipe dream for fans. Today, DC has released some unlettered artwork and quotes from the creative team behind the book to remind us of its existence.

"Gary and I are tackling BATMAN from the beginning, before he knows what he’s doing and with a very different ultimate goal in mind. He’s never left Gotham. And our Gotham and the people in it are very gray. Our heroes unlikely. Our villains hidden. Our story is only beginning with volume one," Johns told The Source Blog.

“It’s essentially the first piece of the jigsaw,” said Frank. “He’s not the Batman people know, but he might be one day. He’s certainly not yet a superhero. The fun is to watch him piece the persona together drawing on his experiences and the influences of those around him and, at this stage, the idea of becoming a ‘superhero’ hasn’t even entered his head."

Can DC rebottle lightning with Batman: Earth One? Perhaps we'll find out later this year.