Acceptance of Lex Luthor’s “Dark Gifts” Places the DC Universe’s Heroes Under Attack from Their Most Lethal Foes

DC continues to show fans that it’s good to be bad as the “YEAR OF THE VILLAIN” rolls on this summer! “Dark Gifts” is the featured theme for August, as the vilest villains in the DC Universe take up Lex Luthor’s offer to be the ultimate versions of themselves, destroying their arch-foes—DC’s greatest heroes—in the process. 


Fans will see immediate evidence of just how much trouble DC’s heroes are in with a series of covers featuring “battle-damaged” versions of their logos. From ACTION COMICS to WONDER WOMAN, these covers, combined with the distinctive “Year of the Villain” cover banner, provide a significant visual cue to the epic struggles within each issue, struggles that the heroes may not be able to overcome. As the Year of the Villain continues to escalate throughout September and beyond, the cover logos will sustain increased damage, leading to a line-wide villain takeover in November. Fans should be sure to check out the following titles when they hit shelves in August: 

The Comics:

  • ACTION COMICS #1014 – Cover by Brandon Peterson (on sale August 28)
  • AQUAMAN #51 – Cover by Robson Rocha and Jason Paz (on sale August 21)
  • BATGIRL #38 – Cover by Carmine Di Giandomenico (on sale August 28)
  • BATMAN #76 – Cover by Tony S. Daniel (on sale August 7)
  • BATMAN AND THE OUTSIDERS #4 – Cover by Tyler Kirkham (on sale August 14)
  • CATWOMAN #14 – Cover by Joëlle Jones (on sale August 14)
  • DEATHSTROKE #46 – Cover by Carlo Pagulayan and Norm Rapmund (on sale August 7)
  • DETECTIVE COMICS #1009 – Cover by Doug Mahnke (on sale August 14)
  • THE FLASH #76 – Cover by Rafa Sandoval and Jordi Tarragona (on sale August 14)
  • HARLEY QUINN #64 – Cover by Guillem March (on sale August 7)
  • HAWKMAN #15 – Cover by Pat Olliffe and Tom Palmer (on sale August 14)
  • JUSTICE LEAGUE #29 – Cover by Francis Manapul (on sale August 7)
  • JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #14 – Cover by Guillem March (on sale August 28) 
  • JUSTICE LEAGUE ODYSSEY #12 – Cover by Will Conrad (on sale August 14)
  • NIGHTWING #63 – Cover by Bruno Redondo (on sale August 21)
  • RED HOOD: OUTLAW #37 – Cover by Kenneth Rocafort (on sale August 28)
  • SUPERGIRL #33 – Cover by Eduardo Pansica (on sale August 14)
  • SUPERMAN #14 – Cover by Ivan Reis and Joe Prado (on sale August 14)
  • TEEN TITANS #33 – Cover by Bernard Chang (on sale August 21)
  • THE TERRIFICS #19 – Cover by Dan Mora (on sale August 28)
  • WONDER WOMAN #76 – Cover by Jesus Merino (on sale August 14) 

Continuing from July, August will also feature more of the card stock variant covers. These variants are priced at one dollar more than their battle-damaged standard counterparts and feature artwork by some of comics’ top cover artists, including Stanley “Artgerm” Lau, Joshua Middleton, Gabriele Dell’Otto, Yasmine Putri, and others. 

Make sure to check your local comic book shop or online retailer for DC’S YEAR OF THE VILLAIN #1. This $0.25 32-page one-shot features preludes and previews to some of the major story arcs that make up “Year of the Villain,” with stories by Scott Snyder and James Tynion IV (JUSTICE LEAGUE), Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev (EVENT LEVIATHAN), plus details on Snyder’s THE BATMAN WHO LAUGHS, Tom King’s “City of Bane” story arc in BATMAN and the recently announced BATMAN/SUPERMAN by Joshua Williamson and David Marquez.