Frank Miller’s classic Batman tale comes to animated life in Batman: The Dark Knight. Peter Weller stars as an older Bruce Wayne forced into retirement along with other costumed heroes. A violent gang called the Mutants is terrorizing Gotham City. When Harvey Dent aka Two-Face resurfaces the Batman comes out of retirement and becomes a target for the police, old foes and new enemies. MTV Geek posted this exclusive trailer for Batman: The Dark Knight part 1.
Batman: The Dark Knight part 1 arrives September 25, 2012.
Here’s a link to the Absolute Dark Knight by Frank Miller. This is THE graphic novel that reinvigorated Batman and comic books. A MUST read for fans of the Dark Knight.
Greg Capullo was unleashed as he created the creepy Court of Owls and their relentless assassin during his first storyline with Scott Snyder on Batman. But one Talon was not enough and Capullo designed an army of enforcers from various eras of Gotham City’s history.
After creating incredible new villains Snyder and Capullo take on the ultimate rogue in Batman #13. The Joker’s face was carved off in Detective Comics #1 and Snyder tells Comics Newsarama that means Capullo can create a new look for the classic villain.
“He really is going to, obviously, have a new look,” Snyder said. “At the same time, we want it to echo his iconic look. So it’s Joker in a much more horror movie fashion. But, without giving too much away, you will see the iconic face and the grin, and he might look a little bit different and scarier. But you’ll find that he’s still himself at his core. And he’s really here in his blood-stained clothes going to work.”
The Court of Owls epic was violent and visceral. Batman #5 literally put you in the drug crazed mind of Bruce Wayne. Can you imagine what the minds of Snyder and Capullo are creating for the Joker’s return. Capullo has a warning for readers.
“I would say that if you have any kind of heart conditions, or any kind of medical issues that could cause seizures or what-not, that you should check with a doctor prior to buying this story arc, because we don’t want to be responsible. DC does not want to be responsible for any fatalities or hospitalization or young or old people who may encounter this story and it just simply be too much for their system.”
Death of the Family with Capullo’s Joker redesign begins this October in Batman #13 and continues for five issues with tie-ins in other Batman family books.
Meeting Greg Capullo at Emerald City Comicon this year was a geek highlight for me. Greg did an amazing Scarecrow sketch that makes me hope Snyder/Capullo will take on that classic foe next.
The villain has been missing for a year since the finale of Detective Comics #1. Only his carved off face was left nailed up in a cell of Arkham Asylum. This new image by Capullo on DC Comics The Source shows the face back on and Joker readying his trademark look -blood red lips.
The Joker, Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo. You could call it a dream team. Call it Batman’s nightmare. The most infamous villain in comic book history is back.
DC Comics revealed the Joker is back this October. When The New 52 launched last September the Joker met a horrific fate at the end of Tony Daniel’s Detective Comics #1. The Joker’s face was carved off and he hasn’t been seen since.
October’s Batman #13 by Snyder and Capullo kicks off the “Death of the Family” storyline. DC teases the classic villain will be used in “dark, horrifying, unnerving” way and the return will affect Batman, the Bat-family and Gotham City.
“Joker is my favorite villain of all time,” Snyder revealed today on The Source. “Not just in comics. In everything – film, books, TV. He’s the greatest, hands down. So this story is something extremely important and personal to me – something I’ve been building in my head ever since I started working in Gotham.”
“When Scott told me that he’d written a Joker story for our next arc, I couldn’t contain my excitement,” added Capullo. “Talk about a dream come true! For me, the Joker is the ultimate rogue and the villain I most wanted to draw. I gotta tell you, after hearing what the story is about, this isn’t a dream come true. It’s a nightmare! A macabre and bloody, flesh crawling nightmare. We hope you’ll have the nerve to face what’s coming. Warning: It ain’t for the faint of heart!”
Given the cliffhanger of Detective Comics #1 could the classic villain be sporting a new face?
“Wait ’til you see him,” Snyder said. “Greg’s sketches literally gave me chills. Point blank: This is Joker like you’ve never seen him before. He has a mission. He has a secret. And he has a serious axe to grind with Batman. It isn’t going to be pretty, but it’s going to be a wild ride.”
This will be the first major story with the Joker in the relaunched DC continuity. The story title makes you think of the classic “Death in the Family” story in which the Joker killed Jason Todd. There’s no official word on if the Joker’s return will mean a crossover with other Bat-family titles like Night of the Owls. With a title like “Death of the Family” could the Joker’s new plot be to destroy Batman’s alliances with the other heroes of Gotham City? Could the Joker have been masquerading as another character this past year in the New 52?
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.
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?
Batman: The Killing Joke is one of the greatest Joker stories ever. Barbara Gordon’s life was shattered by the Clown Prince of Crime in Alan Moore’s landmark storyline.
Shot in the spine and paralyzed, Batgirl reinvented herself as Oracle and founded the Birds of Prey. In the DC New 52 reinvention, Barbara Gordon was not paralyzed by the Joker’s ambush and continues her career as Batgirl.
DC says fans will see a new side of that infamous encounter as Barbara faces her demons according to today’s preview for Batgirl #7in March 2012. Batgirl’s confronts the events of that fateful attack by the Joker and a new villain, Grotesque.
Gail Simone has delivered a thrilling return for fans of Barbara and this will be one of my ‘must read’ books.
