The Joker Goes for Broke in ‘Batman: Arkham City’ #1 [Preview]

In anticipation of Batman: Arkham City, the sequel to the hugely popular Batman: Arkham Asylum video game, DC Comics will release in May the first of a six-issue comic book miniseries that bridges the gap between the two games. Also called Batman: Arkham City, the miniseries is written by Paul Dini and illustrated by Carlos D'anda, both of whom worked on the games from Rocksteady Studio. Gamespot premiered the first pages from Batman: Arkham City #1, which establishes that in the world of Arkham City, the Joker is at death's door and going for broke. You can check those pages out after the jump.Set approximately one year after the Batman: Arkham Asylum game, Arkham City depicts the events that lead to Mayor Quincy Sharp closing down the asylum and establishing an entire district of Gotham in which criminals and psychopaths may roam free. In issue #1, Dini and D'anda set up the new status quo for the Joker, whose days are finally numbered.

DC Comics will release the Batman: Arkham City miniseries day-and-date digitally for $2.99 per issue, along with $0.99 digital shorts that expand upon the mythology of the game and focus on its villains. Those eight-page stories will be made available in the collected edition of Arkham City when it goes on sale sometime next year.

For more Batman art by Carlos D'anda, check out our gallery of his unreleased concepts from Arkham Asylum.

BATMAN: ARKHAM CITY #1

Written by PAUL DINI

Art and cover by CARLOS D'ANDA

It's been a year since The Joker took over Arkham, and Gotham is still trying to get back to normal in this all-new, 5-issue miniseries bridging the gap between the hit videogame Batman: Arkham Asylum and the exciting, upcoming sequel, Batman: Arkham City! And now, an attack by a pair of super-powered twins increases the threat level and triggers Gotham City's new mayor to call for drastic measures.

32pg. Color $2.99 US

On Sale May 11, 2011