Things are heating up again in Gotham City. After his trip across the multiverse in Chip Zdarsky’s recent Batman arc, the Dark Knight has returned with renewed purpose and faith in his mission — which is going to spell trouble for a lot of people, including his former fiancee. The result? This August, DC is launching a crossover event called Batman/Catwoman: The Gotham War.

Gotham War: Batman vs. Catwoman?

An eight-part crossover between the Batman and Catwoman titles — which also involves two special issues, and an additional two-part miniseries — The Gotham War sees the simmering tensions between the two iconic Gotham figures come to a head in a particularly explosive manner. Everyone that’s been following both titles, especially Tini Howard’s Catwoman, will know exactly what we’re talking about… but that doesn’t mean that the conflict is going to go the way that anyone expects, especially considering what’s about to happen to Batman in the upcoming Knight Terrors event.

(Unofficially, Knight Terrors: Batman #s 1 and 2 will act as preludes to what happens in The Gotham War. Consider yourself prepared.)

“From the moment Tini and I started working on these titles, we realized we had a huge opportunity to build toward something that would shake up the power structure of Gotham City,” Batman writer Chip Zdarsky said in a statement accompanying the announcement. “The Gotham War is just that: relationships explode, relationships are formed, and it all leads to massive changes! Being able to take these kinds of big swings together has been extremely exciting.”

“Comics thrive on team-ups. Whether it’s a team of creators or a heroic partnership, all of my favorite stories are about two strong personalities and the space between them,” added Catwoman writer Tini Howard. “On the page, we’ve got one of comics’ greatest love stories: the world’s greatest detective and the world’s greatest criminal. And they both love Gotham City. But the course of true love never did run smooth.”

Gotham War: And what about Jason Todd…?

The War is bigger than just Batman and Catwoman, of course, which explains the two-issue Batman/Catwoman: The Gotham War: Red Hood miniseries by writer Matthew Rosenberg and artist Nikola Čižmešija, which DC promises “will forever alter the destiny of the man who wears the Red Hood” — but how…? Well, we’ll have to wait until the fall for that answer.

Gotham War: When and where

Everything kicks off in August’s Batman/Catwoman: The Gotham War - Battle Lines #1 by Zdarsky, Howard, and artists Mike Hawthorne and Adriano Di Benedetto, before continuing into Batman #137 by Zdarsky and Jorge Jimenez, and Catwoman #57 by Howard and Nico Leon the following month. (The Red Hood series also begins in September.) You can look at the multiple covers for these issues in the gallery below — cover artists for the event include Jorge Jimenez, Joe Quesada, David Nakayama, and more.

The event continues in October with Batman #138 by Zdarsky and Jimenez, Catwoman #58 by Howard and Leon, Batman/Catwoman: The Gotham War: Red Hood #2 by Rosenberg and Čižmešija, before wrapping up in Batman/Catwoman: The Gotham War – Scorched Earth #1, by Zdarsky, Howard, Hawthorne and Di Benedetto on October 31.

Gotham War reading order

To catch it all, here is a checklist and read order for DC's Batman/Catwoman: The Gotham War event:

• July 4: Knight Terrors: Batman #1 (of 2)
• August 1: Knight Terrors: Batman #2 (of 2)
• August 29: Batman/Catwoman: The Gotham War - Battle Lines #1
• September 5: Batman #137
• September 19: Catwoman #57
• September 26: Batman/Catwoman: The Gotham War: Red Hood #1 (of 2)
• October 3: Batman #138
• October 17: Catwoman #58
• October 24: Batman/Catwoman: The Gotham War: Red Hood #2 (of 2)
• October 31: Batman/Catwoman: The Gotham War – Scorched Earth #1

If you've not been paying attention to Chip Zdarsky's Batman, it might be time to catch up.

DC's Knight Terrors: All the info, all the titles, behind DC's summer horror event.