As you regular readers of
BOF know, I’ve been rather critical with the direction that DC Comics decided to take Batman with this new era -- or “BATMAN REBORN” as I believe this next chapter of The Dark Knight’s saga is being called.
Why so upset? Well, I’m one of those Batman fans who maintains that if it isn’t Bruce Wayne in the cape and cowl, then it’s not Batman. And since Dick Grayson is now inhabiting Batman’s threads, well….
With that said, I didn’t quit the Batman monthlies and I’m still reading. And truth be told, the inaugural issues of “BATMAN REBORN” were quite good and were given very positive reviews here on BOF.
Since I wanted to get the skinny on this “New Era,” I went straight to the keepers of The Caped Crusader -- DC Comics -- and chatted with Batman editor Mike Marts. Mike was very forthcoming about exactly what the heck is going on currently with Batman in comics and frankly has sorta got me to change my thinking about all of this -- though I'm still not thrilled about the Omega Sanction and Caveman Batman. Anyway...
As nuts as I once thought they all were over there at DC, maybe they really do have a plan and do know what the hell they are doing with my Batman!
Enjoy!
BOF: OK, let’s talk some Batman comics shall we? This “New Era” or I guess “Batman Reborn” it’s being called. I’ll be honest, I was highly critical of the decision to remove Batman -- Bruce Wayne actually -- from the comics. I’m like a lot of Batman fans that won’t accept or have a hard time accepting a Batman that isn’t Bruce Wayne. So what do you say to those fans who are still leery of all this and may have simply stopped reading the comics? And I’m not one of those who have stopped reading - even though I threatened it (laughs)!
MM: Well, there’s a few different ways to answer that question. For one thing, Bruce Wayne isn’t dead.
Also, Bruce has been Batman for so long time. So no matter who you put in the costume, the impact that Bruce has had on “Batman” is still there. Even with Dick Grayson who is in the suit right now, he certainly takes the spirit of Bruce Wayne with him. He was his father, his mentor, his teacher, as well as being his partner all this time. So no doubt, the spirit of Bruce Wayne is still there.
The other thing is that we went into this story knowing that Bruce Wayne’s still out there. We didn’t want to trick the readers into thinking he was really dead. Now, we wanted the characters to believe that he is dead, but to be upfront from the beginning to the readers that Bruce is alive and he’s out there somewhere. Now that’s a big piece of this puzzle -- Bruce is still out there and it’s going to be interesting to see how this plays out.
BOF: I particularly enjoyed RED ROBIN. Does this new title sort of represent the fans out there who are loyal to Bruce Wayne and want to see him return -- and return as Batman as well?
MM: Yeah, sure. A part of that series -- a major part of it actually -- is Tim’s search for Bruce. Tim Drake is probably one of the only people -- perhaps THE only person -- that believes that Bruce Wayne is still out there and still alive -- and there’s reason for that! Now, we won’t get to that right away but we will get to it eventually -- the reason Tim believes this.
RED ROBIN and Tim’s journey will very much be about his dedication to Bruce Wayne. And that goes back to what I was saying before you know? Bruce Wayne may be away from the Batman persona right now, he’s definitely NO away from the focus of the stories we’re telling.
BOF: What’s different about all of this (“THE NEW ERA“) from “KNIGHTFALL” and “PRODIGAL” back in the 90s? Honestly, a lot of fans are saying this reeks a bit of “been there, done that.”
MM: Well those two stories (“KNIGHTFALL” and “PRODIGAL”) took the approach of doing the multi-part storyline. In other words, “2 of 13, 3 of 13,” etc. And that’s certainly one way of doing it. But the way we approached it this time around was that we had several key benchmark events: The “death”/disappearance of Batman (“BATMAN, R.I.P.”) and then the fight for the rights to the cape and cowl (“BATTLE FOR THE COWL”). And we then used those events to alter the Bat-Universe in the global sense in that we started fresh coming out of them. However, we wanted for each book to maintain its own identity and move forward as its own thing. We wanted the creators on each of those books to tell their own stories.
BOF: Let me ask you this -- and it’s kind of a two-part question here. Do you think out of all the great DCU characters, does Batman have the greatest following by those who read Batman books only, you know what I mean? These folks are only reading Batman comics and not involving themselves with the events of the greater DCU.
MM: Well, I think that’s true for the most part. Batman is indeed a popular character and he’s very assessable. I think that the idea that this is a normal man who built himself into being a hero -- he didn’t come across cosmic rays, or was from another planet, or find some supernatural object, you know? Everything he is comes from training, education, and knowledge. And because of that, many readers just relate to Batman more than they can with other characters.
BOF: The reason I ask that is because -- and now I’m getting into the second part of the question -- “BATMAN, R.I.P.” came to an end very ambiguously in terms of Batman’s fate. Then there was FINAL CRISIS and what happened to Batman there. So these people who are “Batman only” if you will and the story stopped for them with “R.I.P.” and passed on FINAL CRISIS -- will they be left out when Bruce ultimately returns as all of this plays out? In other words, if you didn’t read FINAL CRISIS, will there be a sense of “What?” at the end of all of this?
MM: No. One of the nice things that what we’ve been doing with the DC Universe over the past year or so is that different titles and different [storylines] can be read independently and still be enjoyed as single units. However, at the same time if you are the type of reader who likes the bigger picture and see how all the dots are connected and choose to pick up several titles, you can do that as well.
We understand that people are on a budget and we certainly can’t and don’t expect for people to buy every single comic we produce, so we do intentionally plan for these to be self-contained titles. We do try to balance things out that way.
BOF: Is Grant Morrison -- his BATMAN AND ROBIN -- is that definitely a year-long run or will it go on beyond 12, 13 issues?
MM: Right now, Grant has plans for 13 issues of BATMAN AND ROBIN. Now we’ve talked about where things could go beyond that, but nothing’s settled. So right now we’re just focusing on those 13 issues.
BOF: Nightwing. That character -- meaning Dick Grayson/Nightwing -- has a huge following. There are many fans that miss him in that context. What do you so to those guys?
MM: You know, my feeling is that most of those fans are Nightwing fans because of Dick Grayson for a lot or reasons: who he is as a person, what his character has become, and it’s more about the person inside the suit rather than the costume itself. If that’s the case, then I think most of them will be satisfied with Dick Grayson as Batman -- in BATMAN AND ROBIN, BATMAN, and STREETS OF GOTHAM. So far people who want Dick Grayson, he’s still there.
If by chance people want to see Nightwing -- the hero, the name “Nightwing” -- they can find a Nightwing over in the Superman books.
The last of the Bruce Wayne Batman?"
BOF: The Bruce Wayne fans are hurting a bit right now. Anything positive you can say to those guys -- me included (laughs) -- about the future?
MM: What we’ve started here is truly just the beginning.
There IS a master plan and we hope it goes on a long time. We hope that everyone on board right now sticks around. But really, “BATMAN, R.I.P.,” “BATTLE FOR THE COWL,” and “BATMAN REBORN” is truly just the beginning. We’ve got a lot more surprises, a lot more character development, new characters and villains coming in the future.
Let me say this to all of those who stopped reading Batman comics after "R.I.P." and FINAL CRISIS: Give 'em a shot. I'm with all of you "Bruce Wayne is the only Batman" people, trust me. But perhaps I was wrong and rushed to judgement about what's going on with Batman in comics. Yeah, I'm not happy that the current Batman isn't BW, but the stories are good and I am interested in seeing how it plays out.
A big thanks to Mike for taking time to visit with me -- dude's a busy man. Also thanks to DC's Alex Segura with this help setting up the interview.
