After the smashing success of The Court of Owls and Death of the Family the Batman creative team is going back in time!
The Dark Knight is going back to basics with a nearly year-long storyline called The Year Zero starting in June 2013 according to the AP. The upcoming Batman arc by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo will focus on the beginning of Bruce Wayne’s crime fighting career in The New 52.
“It’s not ‘let’s redo the origin,'” Snyder clarified. The story will focus on how Bruce Wayne figured out how to be Batman, and what challenges he faced when he first wore the cape and cowl.
A new Green Lantern from the Middle East? DC Comics revealed the cover to Green Lantern #0 by Geoff Johns and Doug Manke scheduled for September. After seeing the writing on the hero’s arm on the cover I did some searching and I think this Comic Book Resources post does a good job wrapping up the potential for this character.
This moves follows the reintroduction of Alan Scott as a gay man and Green Lantern of Earth 2 and continues DC’s commitment to add more diversity. Given this is a stand-alone story it may be a test to see if this character could receive his own title or be part of the Green Lantern Corps.
I think this may be the first time a Muslim character has been introduced since Dust in Grant Morrison’s New X-Men era.
DC Comics The New 52 gave Tony Daniel the creative reigns of Detective Comics as writer and artist. Daniel put Batman on the trail of the Gotham Ripper, introduced a new love interest – TV journalist Charlotte Rivers, gave us the dreaded Dollmaker and left one an absolutely freakish cliffhanger with the Joker.
Daniel’s first seven issue are collected in Detective Comics Volume 1: Faces of Death in hardcover out this month. Batman’s pursuit of the new serial killer in Gotham made him a target while balancing his budding romance with Charlotte, who is out to unmask the killer and the Batman. Here’s the link to buy.
One of Daniel’s triumphs has been the clever use of classic rogues and introducing new enemies in Gotham City. Hypnotic is after Batman and Wayne Enterprises in Detective Comics #10 out this week. This issue continued the back story starring Two-Face.
To see and hear Tony in his own words discuss his villains, the Two-Face story and which old school villain he will reintroduce next here’s the link to my interview with Daniel at Fan Expo Vancouver.
I don’t know if Mister Miracle is going to be the icon DC Comics The New 52 will reintroduce as a gay hero but I think this would a good choice. When you look at the origin of Mister Miracle (the original Scott Free) it mirrors the life experiences some LGBT people go through on their journey to acceptance.
Jack Kirby created Mister Miracle as part of his Fourth World. Scott Free is the son of Highfather of the New Gods of New Genesis. In an effort to prevent war Highfather of New Genesis and Darkseid exchanged sons* as the ultimate fail safe so neither would attack the other’s world.
Scott lived a life unaware of his heritage and rebelled against the totalitarian world of Apokolips. He also hated himself for not fitting in but Scott found hope in the teachings of a rebel (Himon was born on New Genesis and living undercover on Apokolips.) Scott fell in love with a fellow rebel named Big Barda who later became his wife.
Mister Miracle escapes on the cover of Jack Kirby's Fourth World Volume 2 courtesy DC Comics
Scott escaped (nullifying the truce and triggering a war) to Earth and trained under a circus escape artist going by the name Mister Miracle. Scott and Barda returned to face Darkseid, win their freedom and would return to Earth and become members of the Justice League.
Like Scott Free many gay men and women live an early life of self-loathing and wondering why they don’t fit it a world that tells them who they are is wrong. Scott had a difficult journey of discovery to find his true identity and self-acceptance. Scott Free escaped his past to create his own future. Mister Miracle shows us that the person and not their upbringing (even with a father like Darkseid) shapes their own destiny.
*Orion was raised by Highfather on New Genesis and learned to control his rage. Orion learned to deal with his dark, angry heritage and would become the greatest warrior of both worlds and a member of the Justice League.
Tony Daniel at Fan Expo Vancouver, photo by ComicsBlend.com
Tony Daniel made a rare appearance at Fan Expo Vancouver, the city’s first major comicon. The creative force of DC The New 52 Detective Comics shared his take on Batman’s foes and the new villains he’s bringing to plague Gotham City.
“Batman has the greatest rogue’s gallery of all the comic book characters in the world probably so it’s easy to use those characters and find something fun and creative that you’ll enjoy as a writer and the fans will enjoy because they love seeing these villains.
What I try to do in Detective is bring in a little bit of the new as well as a little bit of the old. I created a character named the Dollmaker who I think fits in rather well with the other characters, the other villains taking up residence in Gotham City.”
Daniel launched his Detective Comics run with a violent showdown and shocking cliffhanger for Batman’s archrival and his favorite villain.
“My favorite villain…well my favorite villain is the Joker but I’ve only used him sparingly. I worked with the Joker in Grant Morrison’s RIP. That was a lot of fun. (Say Thank you to my gushing!) That was…you know…I can’t believe I was part of that it was just a great experience. I’m lucky to have done the work with Grant on that. And then of course Detective Comics #1 I show a nice fight, battle that goes on between Batman and the Joker and we leave it off with his face hanging on the wallI would love to get back to him. I can’t say when but I’m sure it will be soon because we can’t leave him hanging there so to speak.”
Detective Comics #1 courtesy DC Comics
Detective Comics #8 was the start of a backup story starring Two-Face. Daniel says you may experience conflicting feelings for Harvey Dent with this tale.
“He’s pretty much the protagonist of the story so you gonna end up rooting for him. He’s kind of the good guy in the story but he’s still a bad guy so it’s the perfect noir style story which I absolutely love that. Those old school detective stories. The Jim Thompson stories. He’s a great noir book writer – one of the groundbreaking writers from the 50’s and 60’s. I love that pulp fiction type atmosphere and I’m going to bring that to my Two-Face backup story so I’m having a lot of fun with that.”
Daniel praised artist Szymon Kudransky as the perfect fit for back up story.
September will mark the one year anniversary of DC Comics The New 52 with big plans for Detective Comics. Daniel says he will change-up the villains.
“One of the characters we’ve seen before in the Penguin arc at the Iceberg Casino. He’s the guy that shows up and gives Batman some trouble and we deal with a lot of radiation and villains that are experimental. We have one guy who is a new 52 version of Professor Radium so we haven’t seen that guy in a long time and I kind of breathed new life into that character but he’s new…he’s a 52 version so he’s not the same Professor Radium so hopefully people will like that. It’s a story I’m writing and Ed Benes is doing the art work.”
Daniel expressed his ambition to create a story with Clayface and a bigger arc with the Scarecrow. Detective Comics #1 ended with a shocking fate for the Joker and Daniel hopes to dive back into the fate of Batman’s archenemy.
In the Fan Expo Sketch Duel against Whilce Portacio and Yanick Paquette, Daniel revealed his early comic book dreams were inspired by KISS and how the love of the rock band led to this first commissioned work. I asked if he shared my love for the movie KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park.
“I did and when I was a kid man I loved that show. I like 7-year-old – it was a long time ago. As a kid those guys are like superheroes. They’re more than like rock stars. Every kid in my class loved KISS just because they look crazy and had the makeup on – dragons and space guys and what not. What I remember it was so weird. But back then you didn’t have video recorders, Tivo – you watch it once and when it’s over you’re like, man what did I just see. Today you can rewind and watch it again. It was such a weird – you know maybe that screwed me up or something it was very…I just remember it being very bizarre. I’m sure if I watched it now I might feel disappointed in it (laughs) but it was super cool back then as a child.
(I interject asking about how KISS art was his first paying work so to speak)
Yeah it was my first commission. I drew a giant poster size picture of all of four characters. One kid was gonna buy it from me for like two dollars and another kid was gonna give me a big giant stack of basically the entire collection of KISS trading cards and I went with the trading cards and ended up getting into a brawl afterwords with the guy that lost. So yeah, you know blood, sweat and tears from age 7 on with the art.”
Detective Comics #9 arrives May 2nd featuring Mr. Toxic and the Two-Face backup story.
By Editor
My only regret – not bringing more books to be signed – including Gambit and the X-ternals – anybody remember that one?
