Batman: Full Moon is an R-rated "tale of pain and redemption" that sees Bruce Wayne battle a werewolf

The Eisner-nominated creator of Killadelphia, Rodney Barnes , is making his DC series debut with Batman: Full Moon - a new DC Black Label comic co-created with The Riddler: Year One artist Stevan Subic . The four-issue series, which is aimed at readers aged 17+, is timed to release just before Halloween and is described by DC as "a horrific tale of pain and redemption" that will see the Dark Knight take on a fearsome werewolf.

Every issue of Full Moon will include a glow-in-the-dark main cover by Stevan Subic, which, as a gimmick, may not exactly scream "pain and redemption," but it is still pretty cool. You can check out #1's cover, plus variants by Mike Perkins and Francesco Francavilla, in the gallery below. A further variant by Steve Beach is still to come.

In Full Moon, "an ancient and supernatural force stalks the streets of Gotham City – a werewolf so powerful it'll defy Batman's most trusted resources: his brilliant mind and extensive gadgetry. But are Batman's physical strength and resilience alone enough to put the creature down for good, or will this fight strip him down to his very bones? Even powerful magical allies like Zatanna caution the Dark Knight that he may not walk away from this encounter unscathed."

While the story sounds compelling, and Barnes is a terrific writer, perhaps the biggest draw for Full Moon is Stevan Subic's deeply atmospheric art. Below, we've got a first look at several stunning pages from the first issue. It looks absolutely gorgeous.

This is not the first time that Batman has battled a werewolf, of course. He tussled with the Mad Monk in 1939 - a villain who could transform into a wolf. He also fought the subtly named Anthony Lupus in 1974's Batman #255. More recently, Bruce Wayne revealed in Detective Comics #1068 that his Batsuit has been infused with nano-silver in order to fend off lycanthropes. He really does think of everything, doesn't he?

Batman: Full Moon #1 is published by DC on October 9.

Batman writer Chip Zdarsky recently talked with us about his story in Absolute Power: Ground Zero .