BURBANK, CA–It’s a big week for DC Comics. They’ve just released the first issue of Batman: The Long Wait between Movies, a new collaboration from legendary creative team Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale. Creators say the 12-issue comic maxiseries was inspired by the recent controversial announcement that The Batman–Part II has been delayed until late 2027, over five years after the first film’s release.

Based on promo material for the series, the story will follow Batman tracking a mysterious new serial killer who targets film producers and other studio executives. The killer will allegedly be motivated by anger at having to wait so long for the sequel to his favorite movie. Knowing Jeph Loeb’s previous work on the Batman mythos, longtime fans feel confident that the killer will be Mario Falcone, the last child of Carmine Falcone not to become a costumed criminal yet.

While fan response to the film’s delay has been mixed, director and scriptwriter Matt Reeves has defended the decision. “Hey, I’ve been busy,” Reeves told Marvelous Movies in an interview. “First I had to make a spin-off show about the villain. And then I had to make a separate cartoon about the same superhero to rehash all of his villains again. Making the Penguin a woman took a lot of creative energy!”

“Besides, I’ve got to figure out how to work in all these different villains into one movie,” Reeves continued. “Fans are expecting us to include Joker, Mr. Freeze, Hush, the Court of Owls, the Hangman, Poison Ivy, Calendar Man, Condiment King, and more!” Reeves confirmed that the runtime for The Batman–Part II will be over five hours.

“The decision actually makes perfect sense from a financial perspective,” commented James Gunn, head of DC films. “This way, if Superman flops, we’ll have plenty of time to reboot the DCU again before The Batman–Part II.”

At publishing time, Reeves had picked up the first issue of Loeb and Sale’s Long Wait series. “Hey, this is actually really good stuff,” he remarked. “Let’s see if we can work this plotline into the movie too!”

New issues of Batman: The Long Wait between Movies are available monthly at your local comic book store. The Batman–Part II hits theaters in October of 2027. Or maybe 2029. We’ll see.