Batman #28 packed multiple teasers for what’s coming up in Batman Eternal .
This week’s issue looked 6 months into the future showing a new sidekick for the Dark Knight and the return of a fan-favorite character.
Before I share part of a new interview with writer Scott Snyder on the big reveals here’s a
SPOILER ALERT!
If you have not read Batman #28 yet stop reading now!
Seriously…
Here it comes…
Fan-favorite heroine Harper Row will be Batman’s new sidekick, Bluebird. Snyder tells Comic Book Resources why he chose a new code-name for Harper instead of becoming the next Robin.
“I thought about it; I think part of the fun is, when I created her, I tried to not have a status in mind for her. I wondered if maybe she’d become Robin or maybe she’d be a lady Nightwing or maybe she’d become someone else entirely. But it was really more important to me to develop her as a character first. The big issue of why she is called Bluebird and why she picked that persona have a lot to do with her background and the mystery surrounding her mother and some of the material that’s going to come out in “Eternal.”
Just so people are clear, she really doesn’t step into costume for a couple of months into that series. You’ll see her growth and you’ll see why she makes those decisions in that series, and I’ll touch on it in “Batman” too. But I think part of the fun is to create new characters for the 75th Anniversary that show the upcoming generation of allies and villains and celebrate the ones that exist — and there’s going to be plenty of that, I promise you! There will be at least two really giant stories with little ones in between, don’t worry, we’ll give people a breather! But we plan on doing at least two giant Bat-stories that celebrate Batman’s cast of characters, old and new. This was about trying to begin that process of introducing you to some new characters, [like] the character in the cave, who you haven’t met yet, and Selina Kyle by way of trying to show you the kinds of things we’re going to do to characters you know, giving them new statuses. That’s really what this issue is about. It’s about going bold and getting daring this year as a team, meaning the readers and us and Gotham. Let’s try to really make Gotham fresh and exciting and different for Batman’s 75th [Anniversary] — that’s the best way to honor him and to give the perennial favorites a big brushing off and new stories for them too.”
The other big surprise in Batman #28 is the return of Stephanie Brown. The former Robin and Batgirl before The New 52 reboot is back in her original role, The Spoiler. Snyder explains why this was the right time to bring Stephanie back into the Batman family.
“Well I would have brought her back in “Batman” but “Batman” has been in the past for the last year and there really isn’t room to do it there. So a lot of the things we’re doing in “Eternal” are things I plan on playing into with “Batman,” or things I would have done in “Batman” or things like that if I was on the book for very long and had a lot of time. I plan on being on the book for a while, but it feels like you have so many ideas that having a book like “Eternal” where you can start to get some of them out there is great! Honestly, the other guys on the book too — James and Ray [Fawkes] and Tim [Seeley] and Kyle [Higgins] and John [Layman] before that, this is a place for them to do everything they want to the city as well. So we are all really excited about bringing her back.
For me, I’ve been a fan of her for a long time, all the way back from her Robin status through what Bryan Miller did. I love that series, the “Batgirl” series, I love it dearly and he’s a good friend. So it became about how do we bring her back if we’re going to do the New 52 version of her in a way that honors that character and keeps who she was at the core, but updates the notion of Spoiler? If she’s going to be Spoiler then why is she called Spoiler? What does that mean? Is she someone who knows everything, and does she know everything because of her father or something overheard or because of breaking in somewhere? Does she have all the secrets that everybody wants and that way can we update the idea of Spoiler to be the modern definition of what a spoiler is, and at the same time keep her who she was? It became about those questions, and we’re really happy how it came out.”
In Batman #29 Snyder begins the final arc of Zero Year, exploring Bruce Wayne’s first year as the Dark Knight.
The stories of Harper (aka Bluebird) and Stephanie (aka Spoiler) continue in Batman Eternal #1 coming in April.
By Editor
Nightwing and Stephanie Brown made our 14 characters to watch in 2014. Click here to see the complete list.
Here’s our hope for the future of Nightwing in the DC Universe.
Here’s Harper and Batman from an issue of Detective Comics.
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