dated Aug. 2016). The series is written by Tom King and drawn by David Finch and Mikel Janín. The series saw the introduction of two vigilantes, Gotham and Gotham Girl, and reintroduced the romance between Batman and Catwoman. During King's run, the series explored Batman's psychological aspects, made Bane its main antagonist, and celebrated Batman and Catwoman's relationship in a long-running story arc that involved many mini-arcs. These mini-arcs included "I Am Gotham", "Night of the Monster Men", "I Am Suicide", "I Am Bane", "The War of Jokes and Riddles", "The Rules of Engagement", "The Wedding", "Cold Days", "Knightmares", "The Fall and the Fallen", and "City of Bane". The series returned to being shipped monthly in January 2020, with Tom King leaving the book with issue #85 for a 12-issue maxiseries titled Batman/Catwoman, in order to conclude his Batman story. In issue #77, Bane killed Alfred,Bruce's long-time butler and father figure. Starting with Batman (vol. 3) #86, James Tynion IV became the main writer of the title. Infinite Frontier Following Tynion's departure from DC Comics, Joshua Williamson, who previously wrote the backup story in issue #106, briefly became the new head writer in December 2021 starting with issue #118. Chip Zdarsky then became the head writer with artist Jorge Jimenez returning after having previously illustrated parts of Tynion's run. Their run began with issue #125, which released on July 5, 2022 and started with "Failsafe", a six-issue story arc. Annuals The Batman series has had Annuals published beginning in 1961. Seven issues of Batman Annual were published from 1961–1964. An additional 17 issues were published from 1982 to 2000 and the numbering continued from the 1961 series. Writer Mike W. Barr and artist Trevor Von Eeden crafted Batman Annual #8 (1982) and Von Eeden has noted that it is "the book I’m most proud of, in my 25 year career at DC Comics. I was able to ink it myself, and also got my girlfriend at the time, Lynn Varley, to colour it - her first job in comics." Four more Annuals were published from 2006 to 2011, again with the numbering continued from the previous series. In 2012, a new Annual series was begun with a #1 issue. Content and themes The earliest stories appearing in the Batman comic book depicted a vengeful Batman, not hesitant to kill when he saw it as a necessary sacrifice. In one of