Posted in: Batman, Comics, DC Comics | Tagged: Batman Day, gotham, Gotham Sampler, Gretchen Fletcher-Martin, jeff spokes, red hood

What Will Red Hood's Cancellation Mean For DC's Batman Day 2025?

What will Red Hood’s cancellation mean for DC Comics' Batman Day 2025 next week? Will DC ask retailers to pull or even destroy the 2025 Gotham Sampler?

Published Fri, 12 Sep 2025 16:17:05 -0500

by Rich Johnston

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Article Summary

Red Hood #1 was cancelled by DC Comics after controversy involving writer Gretchen Fletcher-Martin.
Batman Day 2025 is now complicated by the inclusion of Red Hood content in promo Gotham Sampler comics.
Over a million Gotham Sampler issues featuring Red Hood were already printed and shipped to retailers.
DC faces tough choices for Batman Day: recall, reprint, or distribute the Gotham Sampler.

Batman Day is on the 20th of September this year. An annual celebration and promotional opportunity for DC Comics around its most popular character. They prepare special limited edition items and freebies, which arrived this past week, so that comic book retailers can prepare in time for Batman Day. But there are a couple of problems. First, some retailers have already started selling the Batman Day titles in-store or online, more than a week before Batman Day. This has seen DC Comics distributor Lunar Distribution send out a timely reminder, saying;

You will receive Batman Day items in your shipments for titles on sale on 9/10/2024. This is a reminder that all Batman Day titles and promo items must be held for Batman Day 2025, 9/20/2025.BATMAN DAY 2025 – BUNDLES OF 25 – ABSOLUTE BATMAN #1 CVR A NICK DRAGOTTA (NET)

BATMAN DAY 2025 – ABSOLUTE BATMAN #1 CVR B NICK DRAGOTTA FOIL VAR

BATMAN DAY 2025 – ABSOLUTE BATMAN #1 CVR C BLANK VAR

BATMAN DAY 2025 – BATMAN HUSH 20TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION HC VARIANT DUSTJACKET

BATMAN DAY 2025 – BUNDLES OF 25 – BATMAN YEAR TWO #1 CVR A ALAN DAVIS (NET)

BATMAN DAY 2025 – BATMAN YEAR TWO #1 CVR B ALAN DAVIS FOIL VAR

BATMAN DAY 2025 – BUNDLES OF 25 – BATMAN & ROBIN YEAR ONE #1 (NET)

BATMAN DAY 2025 – BUNDLES OF 25 – BATMAN GOTHAM SAMPLER (NET)

But the bigger problem involves that final item, the Gotham Sampler, of which around a million have been printed, to be given away free in comic book stores and at special Batman-related events to promote the Batman comic books in stores, which includes the new Batman #1 ongoing series by Matt Fraction and Jorge Jimenez that has been such a smash hit and…

: Gotham Sampler for Batman Day 2025

…and Red Hood #1 by Gretchen Fletcher-Martin and Jeff Spokes, which was cancelled this week by DC Comics, the day after it was published, as a result of certain social media posts on BlueSky made by Fletcher-Martin, that were seen as celebrating the death of Charlie Kirk. And some retailers announced they were burning copies and boycotting the rest of the series. DC responded to the clamour by cancelling the book, including the listings for the second and third issues, withdrawing the comic from Comixology and other digital services, and refunding retailers for the first issue they had paid for.

But no one has yet said what on earth will happen to the Gotham Sampler for Batman Day, which contains a good chunk of Red Hood #1. DC Comics could ask retailers not to hand them out, depriving Batman Day of its most popular and most promotional item, they could reprint the entire million print run with new content and somehow get them to retailers in time, they could delay Batman Day which has been promoted everywhere, or they could stick their fingers in their ears and pretend they can't hear anything. DC Comics has no good options right now, especially when Warner Bros' TV news channel CNN is running the original story.

I look forward to what the weekend brings…

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