Batman: Battle for the Cowl

DC Comics has released another great teaser for an upcoming event. This time we've got a teaser drawn by Tony Daniel for "Batman: Battle for the Cowl". Check out the teaser and then read the notes and hints I've gathered from this.

I'm going to start with the Joker card and try to work my way along the whole teaser.

1) The Joker card features a backwards "J" and is only half covered in a shadow. The big question here is what happens to the Joker if Batman is missing. Batman makes Joker complete. Without him would Joker have to invent another? Perhaps Joker could even develop a split personality to do battle with.

2) The Batman with the staff is Tim Drake. Tim is wearing the yellow oval suit which hearkens back to a brighter time in Batman's history. Batman is a darker character now and Tim is scared to become that. We've seen a future where Tim was Batman and used a gun. This image says to me that Tim is staying Robin, hence why he still has his staff, and he will continue to bring some light to the dark Batman character.

3) Harley Quin is right behind Tim. She's holding a gun that says "Bang" and she's looking right at Tim. If Joker is depressed with the disappearance of Batman, how would you cheer him up? Kill a Robin! It looks to me that Harley is out to make Mister J. happy by killing a little birdie.

4) Alfred is dressed up in his old spy outfit. This represents him doing work back in the field again as a solider. Some would even suggest that he will have some ties to the Outsiders.

5) Next we have Dick Grayson has Batman. Even the bat on his chest is designed similar to the Nightwing outfit. He's placed dead center in the teaser representing that Dick takes center stage in the upcoming mini series.

6) Behind Dick we see the memorial for Batman. In the memorial is the most recent Batman outfit. This would represent that the Batman we knew is now a fallen solider.

7) The Batman in the blue and red is Harvey Dent. You can even see the scars on his face. During 52 Harvey was left the keys to Gotham in Batman's absence. Harvey obviously feels he should continue as Gotham's protector again.

8) In front of Harvey is one of the three Batmans from Grant Morrison's stories. This was the third Batman that Bruce ran in to. All three of them were working for Dr.Hurt. Having him stand on top a "Wayne Enterprise" crate with the limp arm hanging out represents the death of Wayne Enterprise. Something that Dr.Hurt was working towards during the "Batman R.I.P." story.

9) Next we have Damien standing with a "Bruce Wayne". In Damien's hand we see a bandage that is wrapped around the "Bruce Wayne". The "Bruce Wayne" in question would be Hush. Damien holding the bandage represent that Damien is controlling Hush. If Batman has gone missing then so has Bruce Wayne. This could be a move for Damien and Hush to move right in to Wayne Manor. Remember Damien wants to be accepted as Bruce's son more than anything. Hush was also jealous of Bruce's life.

10) Batwoman is right behind Damien and Hush and is holding up a magnify glass. This shows us that she's investigating the appearance of "Bruce Wayne" and Damien.

11) The giant Penny is originally from a Two-Face story. We now see the penny is all scratched up like Harvey's lucky coin. The giant Penny represents the chaos side of the teaser. The teaser is split in to two halves. On the chaos side we have Harvey, the third Batman, Damien, and Hush. Batwoman is also on that side as she tries to make sense of the chaos.

12) The other side of the teaser has the T-Rex. The T-Rex comes from the innocent era of Batman during the 60's. On this side of the teaser we have Alfred, Tim Drake, and Dick Grayson. We also have Harley on this side of the teaser but just like Batwoman being on chaos side.