5 Best Ongoing DC Comics That Everyone Should Read In 2026

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DC's Absolute Superman and Absolute Batman looking terrifying

Published Aug 22, 2026, 9:00 PM EDT

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DC Comics is on a generational run with its 2026 lineup, and it is safe to say the publisher is currently outperforming Marvel on almost every front. The All In initiative gave the publisher a much-needed shake-up, with the Absolute Universe offering bold new takes on characters like Deniz Camp and Javier Rodríguez's psychedelic take on Absolute Martian Manhunter. Meanwhile, the "DC Next Level" rollout kicked off in March 2026, making the main DC Universe far easier for new readers to jump into without needing to know decades of backstory first.

That is not even the only reason DC's current lineup is worth checking out. The resurrection of the Vertigo imprint has brought back the publisher's more mature, creator-driven side, with projects such as the next cycle of The Nice House by the Sea, new horror stories like Bleeding Hearts, and sequels to classics like 100 Bullets. Between the main DC Universe, the Absolute titles, and Vertigo's stranger ideas, DC is currently offering a top-tier ongoing series for every single type of comic fan.

Lobo

Just in time for Lobo's highly anticipated live-action debut in June's Supergirl movie, DC brought the Main Man back in March 2026 as a flagship title for the DC Next Level initiative. Written by Skottie Young with kinetic artwork from Jorge Corona, the new Lobo series wastes no time showing why the character works so well when a creative team is willing to let him be completely ridiculous. This feels less like a standard superhero book and more like a blood-soaked galactic disaster starring one of DC's biggest loose cannons.

The story also leans hard into Lobo's love for chaos and meta humor. After discovering that a massive entertainment corporation has taken over the bounty-hunting business, Lobo ends up starring in his own reality TV show just to make some money. It is a pretty perfect setup for the character, letting the series poke fun at corporate control while still giving Lobo plenty of excuses to blow things up and beat people senseless. The joke never gets in the way of the action, either, which keeps the book moving.

The best example comes when Lobo finally gets his bounty-hunting license recertified, only to immediately pick a fight with Supergirl. That pretty much sums up what this series is going for. There is no need for a giant crossover or some grim new status quo here. Lobo is back, he is causing problems, and the creative team is clearly having a blast with it. For readers wanting an ongoing DC comic built around wild humor, ridiculous violence, and a character who has never cared much about following the rules, Lobo is an easy pick for 2026.

Absolute Wonder Woman

When DC launched the Absolute Universe, the whole idea was to reimagine its biggest heroes from the ground up, but no one got a wilder overhaul than Diana Prince. Absolute Wonder Woman throws out the familiar Themyscira origin and sends Diana in a completely different direction.

Instead of growing up on a peaceful island with the Amazons, this version of Wonder Woman was abandoned in Hell as a baby by the god Apollo. Raised in the Underworld by Circe, Diana grows into a hardened warrior shaped by dark magic, tragedy, and a life that is nothing like the one fans know.

Writer Kelly Thompson and artist Hayden Sherman have made that change feel like much more than a simple darker version of Wonder Woman. Stripped of her usual role as an ambassador of peace, this Diana is a mythic warrior-queen who swings a massive, anime-style sword and rides a skeletal Pegasus. The current 2026 storyline also starts pushing her beyond that isolated life, bringing her into the wider Absolute Universe without losing what makes this version so different.

That leads to one of the book's most fun matchups yet. Diana arrives in Gotham and teams up with Absolute Batman to investigate a series of gruesome occult murders connected to the magical mark of Hecate. A Hell-raised Amazon with years of combat behind her being thrown into Gotham alongside this universe's very different Dark Knight is exactly the kind of pairing the Absolute Universe was made for. Absolute Wonder Woman is not just changing Diana's origin; it is finding new ways to show what the character can be when almost everything familiar has been stripped away.

Batman

When DC relaunched Batman with a new #1 in September 2025 as part of the All In initiative, there was plenty of curiosity about what the new creative team would do with the character. Turns out, putting Eisner-winning writer Matt Fraction together with superstar artist Jorge Jiménez resulted in an absolute masterclass.

Rather than throwing Bruce into another exhausting, universe-ending crossover event, Fraction has leaned into connected, mostly self-contained stories, bringing some of the feel of his Hawkeye run to Gotham. Jiménez matches that approach with a slick neon-noir look, a blue-and-gray suit for Bruce, and a stronger focus on Batman actually working as a detective and superhero.

From the Caped Crusader to The Batman · Eight Questions How Well Do You Know Batman? “I’m Batman.”

🦌Bob & BillDetective Comics #27, 1939

🥘The Camp EraAdam West, 1966

🎣Burton & SchumacherKeaton to Clooney, 1989–97

💉The Dark KnightBale & Ledger, 2005–12

🕵The BatmanPattinson & Reeves, 2022–

LIGHT THE BAT-SIGNAL →

Batman debuted in Detective Comics #27 in May 1939. Cartoonist Bob Kane received sole credit for creating the character for the next 76 years — on every comic, every TV series, every film — despite being only half of the real partnership. His uncredited collaborator wrote much of the original story, designed the cowl and cape, invented the name “Bruce Wayne,” named Gotham City, and helped create the Joker, the Penguin, the Riddler and Catwoman. DC finally added his name to all Batman credits in 2015. Who?

AJerry Robinson BBill Finger CJoe Shuster DOtto Binder

✓ Correct! Bill Finger (1914–1974). Kane’s original 1939 pitch was a Superman-style figure in a red leotard with a domino mask and bat-wings; Finger talked him into the cowl, scalloped cape, gauntlets and grey-and-black colour scheme that have defined the character ever since. Finger also wrote Detective Comics #27 itself, named Bruce Wayne (after Robert the Bruce and Anthony Wayne), created Gotham as a stand-in for New York, and co-created most of the rogues’ gallery — while signing a 1939 contract that gave Kane exclusive byline credit. Kane received millions in royalties; Finger died poor and uncredited. After a 2014 documentary and a 2015 family campaign, Warner Bros. and DC added “Batman created by Bob Kane with Bill Finger” to every credit starting with Gotham (Fox), Batman v Superman (2016) and forward.

✗ Wrong. The answer is Bill Finger. Jerry Robinson (option A) really did co-create the Joker and Robin alongside Finger and Kane — he was the third member of the early studio — but the cowl, cape, “Bruce Wayne,” Gotham City and the actual script of Detective Comics #27 were Finger’s. Joe Shuster co-created Superman, not Batman. Otto Binder created Supergirl and Mary Marvel. Finger signed away his byline in 1939 and didn’t receive on-screen credit until 2015.

Batman: The Movie — released in July 1966 between the first and second seasons of the ABC TV series, featuring the “Holy Whatever, Batman!” tone, the four super-villain team-up (Joker, Penguin, Riddler, Catwoman), the shark-repellent Bat-spray, and the Batmobile/Batboat/Batcopter — is generally considered the first theatrical Batman feature film. Two earlier 1940s movie serials don’t qualify as standalone features. Which actor played Batman in this first theatrical feature?

AAdam West BLewis Wilson CRobert Lowery DMichael Keaton

✓ Correct! Adam West (1928–2017), with Burt Ward as Robin and Cesar Romero as the Joker. West played the role across 120 ABC episodes (1966–1968) and the 1966 theatrical feature, hammed up the camp tone to perfection, and then spent decades typecast before reclaiming the role in animated form (Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders, 2016) and as Mayor West on Family Guy. The two traps are real: Lewis Wilson played Batman in Columbia’s 15-chapter 1943 serial Batman, and Robert Lowery played him in the 1949 sequel serial Batman and Robin — but those were Saturday-morning chapter plays, not standalone theatrical features. Michael Keaton’s Batman doesn’t arrive until Tim Burton’s 1989 film.

✗ Wrong. The answer is Adam West. The trap is real but technical: Lewis Wilson (1943) and Robert Lowery (1949) both played Batman in Columbia movie serials, but those were 15-chapter Saturday-morning serials, not theatrical features. Adam West’s 1966 Batman: The Movie — with the four-villain team-up and the shark-repellent Bat-spray — is the first standalone Batman feature film. Michael Keaton doesn’t arrive until 1989.

Batman: The Animated Series (Fox Kids, 1992–1995) — the Bruce Timm/Eric Radomski production with the deco-noir “Dark Deco” backgrounds painted on black paper — is consistently ranked by fans and creators as the definitive screen Batman. Its central performance is so iconic that the actor reprised it across 30 years, every DC Animated Universe series, and a dozen Arkham-series video games. He died on November 10, 2022, and DC essentially treated his passing as the death of Batman’s voice. Name him.

ATim Daly BKevin Conroy CMark Hamill DWill Friedle

✓ Correct! Kevin Conroy (1955–2022). Conroy’s key innovation, on his first audition for BTAS in 1991, was to give Bruce Wayne and Batman two distinct voices — Bruce as the lighter, charming playboy and Batman as the deeper, harder-edged growl — a take that became the industry default and was openly copied by Christian Bale, Ben Affleck and Robert Pattinson on screen. He played the role for 31 years, across BTAS, Superman: TAS, Justice League, Justice League Unlimited, Batman Beyond (as the elderly Bruce), and every Rocksteady Arkham game. The trap is genuine: Mark Hamill voiced the Joker opposite Conroy on BTAS and is just as legendary in that role. Tim Daly voiced Superman; Will Friedle voiced Terry McGinnis in Batman Beyond. Conroy died in November 2022 at 66.

✗ Wrong. The answer is Kevin Conroy. Mark Hamill (option C) is the giant trap — he voiced the Joker opposite Conroy on BTAS for 30 years and is widely considered the definitive screen Joker — but Batman was Conroy. Tim Daly voiced Superman in the DCAU; Will Friedle voiced Terry McGinnis in Batman Beyond, with Conroy still playing the elderly Bruce. Conroy died November 10, 2022.

Jack Nicholson’s Joker in Tim Burton’s Batman (1989) earned him an estimated $60–$90 million from a film for which his actual on-screen salary was a fairly modest $6 million — making it, dollar-for-dollar, one of the most famously lucrative single roles in Hollywood history. He achieved this by negotiating an unusual deal structure that other actors immediately tried (and largely failed) to copy. What was it?

AA flat $50 million bonus on opening weekend success BA no-cut equity stake in Warner Bros. itself CA percentage of box-office gross AND merchandise royalties DA fixed-rate-per-ticket micro-royalty on every theatrical screening

✓ Correct! Nicholson took a $6 million base, a piece of the box-office gross (so-called “first-dollar gross” rather than net profits, which Hollywood accounting has a habit of vapourising) AND a percentage of Batman merchandising — the toys, posters, t-shirts, lunch boxes, video games and ride tickets. Batman (1989) grossed $411 million theatrically and unleashed the largest superhero merchandising wave in history, and Nicholson’s royalties on it have reportedly continued accruing for decades. His agent Sue Mengers, and his attorney’s “back-end participation” structure, became the gold standard talent-deal template that A-listers like Tom Cruise and Robert Downey Jr. would later use. Nicholson also negotiated top billing over Michael Keaton (despite Batman being the title character) and limited shoot days. It’s the most-copied bad-guy deal in Hollywood.

✗ Wrong. The answer is C — a percentage of box-office gross plus merchandising royalties. The $6 million base salary was relatively modest by 1989 star standards; the magic was the back-end participation in both ticket sales and the unprecedented Batman toy/poster/lunchbox merchandise wave, which has reportedly continued paying out for decades. Tom Cruise and RDJ later borrowed the same gross-points-plus-merch template. There was no $50M opening-weekend trigger, no equity stake in Warners, and no per-screening micro-royalty.

After Ben Affleck stepped down from his planned solo Batman film, Warner Bros. handed the project to a new director who reconceived it as a noir-detective serial-killer story modelled on Se7en and Zodiac, runs 2h 56min, casts Robert Pattinson as a brooding second-year Bruce Wayne, and gives Paul Dano’s Riddler a Zodiac-style cipher gimmick. The Batman (2022) grossed $772 million worldwide. Who directed it?

AZack Snyder BChristopher Nolan CTim Burton DMatt Reeves

✓ Correct! Matt Reeves — the Cloverfield (2008), Let Me In (2010), and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014) / War for the Planet of the Apes (2017) director. Reeves co-wrote The Batman with Peter Craig, leaned hard into a Fincher-noir detective tone (the Riddler is essentially Zodiac), and got Pattinson, Zoë Kravitz (Catwoman), Colin Farrell (an unrecognisable Penguin), Paul Dano (Riddler) and Jeffrey Wright (Gordon). The film established its own continuity separate from the DCEU/James Gunn DCU. The Penguin (HBO/Max, 2024) followed as a Reeves-produced spin-off, and The Batman: Part II is currently scheduled for 2026.

✗ Wrong. The answer is Matt Reeves — the Cloverfield, Let Me In and Planet of the Apes-reboot director. Nolan made the Dark Knight trilogy (2005–2012); Snyder made Batman v Superman (2016) and Justice League (2017/2021) with Affleck’s Batman; Burton made the 1989/1992 Keaton films. The Batman (2022) is Reeves’s, in its own continuity, with The Penguin (2024) as the spin-off and Part II in 2026.

Joel Schumacher’s Batman & Robin (1997) — with Bat-nipples on the suit, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Mr. Freeze spitting ice puns (“Let’s kick some ice!”), Uma Thurman’s Poison Ivy, Alicia Silverstone’s Batgirl, and an estimated $238 million box-office failure on a $125 million budget — is widely regarded as one of the worst superhero films ever made. It killed the live-action Batman franchise for eight years until Batman Begins (2005). Who played Batman in it?

AGeorge Clooney BVal Kilmer CMichael Keaton DChristian Bale

✓ Correct! George Clooney — in his only outing as Bruce Wayne, between his ER fame and Out of Sight. Clooney has publicly apologised for the film for nearly thirty years; he told Entertainment Weekly he “destroyed the franchise” and routinely thanks fans for their hostility. The trap is Val Kilmer, who played Batman in the previous Schumacher film, Batman Forever (1995) — he was originally signed for two but exited due to scheduling and reported disputes with Schumacher. Keaton played Batman in Burton’s 1989 and 1992 films (and returned in The Flash, 2023). Bale arrived eight years later in Nolan’s Batman Begins (2005). The Bat-nipples were Schumacher’s, the ice puns Schwarzenegger’s, the apology Clooney’s.

✗ Wrong. The answer is George Clooney. Val Kilmer (option B) was Batman in the previous Schumacher film, Batman Forever (1995) — he then exited and Clooney took over for Batman & Robin. Keaton was Batman in Burton’s 1989/1992 films (and returned in The Flash, 2023). Bale arrived in Nolan’s Batman Begins (2005), eight years after Batman & Robin killed the franchise.

Cesar Romero’s Joker on the 1966–1968 ABC Batman series — white grease-paint, green wig, red lipstick, manic giggle — remains one of the most-cited comedic TV villains in American history. Romero, a leading-man matinée idol since the 1930s, agreed to the role on one condition: he refused to do a specific thing for the makeup. You can still see what he refused if you look closely. What did Romero refuse?

ATo wear the green wig (he wanted his own hair dyed) BTo speak in a falsetto voice CTo shave his moustache DTo wear purple gloves

✓ Correct! Romero refused to shave his trademark moustache — reportedly a vanity rule he’d had since the 1930s — so the makeup department simply caked white grease-paint over it. If you watch the 1966 episodes or Batman: The Movie (1966) on Blu-ray, you can clearly see the moustache bristles poking through the white paint above his lip. It’s one of TV’s most-cited “visible-prosthetic” quirks — later parodied by Burt Ward and explicitly nodded to in the 2016 animated Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders (Romero was already dead, having passed in 1994, but the animation reproduces the moustache underneath the makeup). Romero played the role for all three TV seasons and the 1966 feature.

✗ Wrong. The answer is shaving his moustache. Romero had had his trademark Latin-lover moustache since the 1930s, refused to lose it for any role, and the makeup department simply painted white grease-paint over it — if you look closely on Blu-ray you can see the bristles poking through under his lip. The wig, the high-pitched giggle and the purple gloves were all things he gladly did.

Todd Phillips’s Joker (2019) — the standalone, R-rated, $1.07-billion-grossing Joaquin Phoenix vehicle that exists outside any DC continuity — was nominated for 11 Academy Awards, the most of any comic-book-derived film at the time. It won Best Actor for Phoenix. It also won exactly one other Oscar that night. Which?

ABest Director (Todd Phillips) BBest Original Score (Hildur Guðnadóttir) CBest Adapted Screenplay (Phillips & Silver) DBest Picture

✓ Correct! Best Original Score, Hildur Guðnadóttir — the Icelandic cellist and composer who, in the same awards cycle, won the Emmy and Grammy for Chernobyl (HBO, 2019). Joker’s score (anchored by the haunting cello motif during Arthur Fleck’s bathroom dance) was her breakthrough; she became the first solo woman to win Best Original Score since Marilyn Bergman in 1984 (and the fourth ever). Phillips lost Best Director to Bong Joon-ho for Parasite, which also won Best Picture, beating Joker’s nomination. The film’s screenplay nomination was Adapted (because it’s based on existing DC IP), not Original — option C names the right category but it lost to Jojo Rabbit.

✗ Wrong. The answer is Best Original Score — Hildur Guðnadóttir (also the Chernobyl composer that year). She became the fourth solo woman ever to win the category. Phillips lost Best Director to Bong Joon-ho (Parasite); Best Picture also went to Parasite; the screenplay nomination was Adapted (not Original) and lost to Jojo Rabbit. Phoenix’s Best Actor + Guðnadóttir’s Best Original Score are Joker’s two 2020 Oscar wins.

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The Bat-Signal Has Faded · Final Scorecard Your Gotham Standing

🦌

/ 8

World’s Greatest Detective — or a Gotham red herring?

⤴ ROUND TWO

The run really showed what it could do with Batman #7 in March 2026, when the Joker finally returned with one of the strangest setups the character has had in years. The Clown Prince is not running around Gotham causing chaos this time. He is Patient 10 inside Arkham Tower, completely paralyzed and kept inside a stasis tank with a breathing mask, while Dr. Zeller medically regulates his so-called "super sanity." It is a very different way to bring Joker back, and that is exactly why the issue works.

Instead of another giant Batman-Joker fight, the encounter becomes a tense conversation that feels closer to Silence of the Lambs. Batman has to follow the doctor's rules just to sit across from his oldest enemy, leaving the Joker's usual tricks and physicality almost completely out of the equation. It is a surprisingly simple setup, but Fraction gets a lot out of it, turning Batman #7 into one of the run's strongest issues and a reminder that Batman does not need another world-ending crisis to make for a great story.

Absolute Superman

Just like the rest of the Absolute Universe, Absolute Superman takes the Man of Steel's classic origin and tears it apart. Kal-El does not leave Krypton as an infant in this version. He actually lives through the planet's final days, growing up in a Kryptonian society built around a harsh caste system. Jason Aaron and Rafa Sandoval also completely change Jor-El and Lara's place in that society, stripping them of their elite scientific status and forcing them into the working class. Even the famous "S" has a different meaning here, serving as the branded mark of Krypton's Guild of Labor rather than a symbol of hope.

That change carries straight over to Superman's life on Earth. Kal-El arrives as an older teenager with no Fortress of Solitude, no Kansas farm, and no Jonathan and Martha Kent to guide him. Instead, he becomes a rougher kind of Superman, fighting for workers and people being crushed by the powerful. The series opens with him working in a Brazilian diamond mine while secretly taking apart the Lazarus Corporation from within and battling its army of Peacemakers. It is a very different starting point for Superman, but it fits the Absolute Universe's entire idea of rebuilding these heroes from scratch.

The book has only gotten bigger through 2026. After the Son of the Demon arc put this Superman against a radically different Ra's al Ghul, the current story has brought Brainiac into the Absolute timeline. What makes the run stand out is that Aaron has taken away nearly every safety net usually surrounding Superman and asked what kind of hero would emerge from that life. The answer is a Superman who feels rougher, angrier, and much closer to the people he is fighting for, making Absolute Superman one of the strongest ongoing books in DC's current lineup.

Absolute Batman

If there is one comic that keeps dominating monthly sales and getting people talking every month, it's Absolute Batman. Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta have taken Bruce Wayne in a completely different direction, stripping away the wealth and privilege that have always been such a huge part of Batman's identity.

This Bruce grew up poor in Crime Alley, where his father, Thomas Wayne, worked as an elementary school teacher before dying while protecting his students during a mass shooting at the Gotham City Zoo. Martha, meanwhile, is still alive and works as a city social worker, leaving Bruce with another problem most versions of Batman never have to deal with: keeping his mother from discovering who he really is.

Without Wayne money behind him, Bruce has had to build everything himself. He works as a blue-collar civil engineer by day and has trained his body into a 6-foot-5 wall of muscle, while his brutalist armor is built for function rather than looking like another expensive Bat-suit. Even the chest emblem has a practical use, detaching from the armor to become a massive battle axe. It is the kind of ridiculous but strangely fitting detail that tells readers exactly what this version of Batman is about.

The supporting cast might be even more surprising. Oswald Cobblepot, Edward Nygma, Harvey Dent, and Waylon Jones are not strangers waiting to become Gotham's next villains. They are Bruce's childhood friends from Crime Alley. Alfred is also nothing like the familiar butler, instead showing up as a cynical MI6 agent who originally hunted Batman before becoming one of his allies. Those changes give Snyder and Dragotta plenty of room to explore relationships that feel completely different from the usual Batman formula.