NYCC 2013: Batman Panel With Detective Comics, Talon, Batwoman, Nightwing, Red Hood & More News

News

The DC Comics Batman Panel came late in the day. But despite the late hour and a couple of the panelists having appeared at the All Access panel, there were still surprises to be had.

In attendance were Scott Snyder (Batman), Greg Capullo (Batman), James Tynon (Talon, Red Hood and the Outlaws), Mark Andreyko (Batwoman), Kyle Higgins (Nightwing), Ann Nocenti (Catwoman), John Layman (Detective Comics) and Pete Tomasi (Batman and…)

Snyder started things off by reemphasizing that Year Zero is his favorite story ever. Snyder tried to keep Year One as much as he could, but they had to jettison things that they loved in order to tell a tale for set firmly in the now. Batman Year Zero is a modern book about modern fears. Snyder admitted that he initially suffered anxiety and depression while working on Zero Year because he was worried about how it would be recieved.

Like Snyder, Capullo was honored that people are enjoying Zero Year.

Snyder and Capullo then proceeded to compliment each other on being great partners and brining out the best in each other.

In this second part of Year Zero Gordon and Bruce are antagonistic because of something that happened in Crime Alley. Snyder described this second chapter as “about bones being broken and reset.”

Fun fact; Bob Harras wanted no Blimps in Gotham. But because Snyder and Capullo knew the fans loved blimps they make an appearance. Basically Zero Year is a love letter to all things Batman.

Snyder said that the first part of Year Zero, which concluded with Batman #24 was about retelling a familiar story, but from this point on the story gets wild.

With the upcoming weekly Batman Eternal, James Tynon is doing the heavy lifting while Snyder is basically in the role of “showrunner.”

The big news of the panel was that Stephanie Brown returns in Batman Eternal’s third issue. She returns at Spoiler.

From there the panel went on to highlight the other panelists and the books they’re working on.

Batman & Two-Face #24. It’s a Two-Face arc and looks at his origin in the New 52. Erin Mckillan, a new character, has beef with Bats and Harvey. There’s a visual motif early in the issue where characters have half of their faces covered, to set the tone for the duality explored in the the arc. Tomasi declared that Pat Gleason is the most underrated artist at DC if not the entire industry. We’ll also get to see Harvey as a defense attorney before he’s a D.A.

Detective Comics – Layman’s been working on making evry issue a detective story, even as part of larger arcs. Zero Year issue of Tec will be a Gordon issue. Layman carved out his niche in the Bat books by making Tec more villain focused and mystery focused.

Batwoman – Zero Year will show Kate returning to Gotham to deal with a family tragedy. #26 will retintroduce a villain to Gotham. Andreyko declared that Kate is going to be a player in Gotham and play with others.

Nightwing – #24 closes out the first Chicago arc. Prankster is a cross between a modern hacker and Jigsaw from Saw movies, with a pinch of the hacker group Anynomous. Annual will focus on Dick and Babs as Dick returns to Gotham to tie up loose ends.

Catwoman – Nocetti proclaimed was a thrill to create Gotham Underground and play with Joker’s face has been an honor. She described the whole process as collaborative, working with the editors and the artists.

Red Hood & the Outlaws – Jason took over the League of Assassins. We’ll find out all of the things that happened and why and who was behind them.

Talon – Calvin is back in Gotham. He’s back with Batman, but Batman is worried about having Talons running around Gotham. And Bats is worried that if the Talons keep poking the Court of Owls, things might get worse. Tynion also plans on getting into Felix Harmon’s history and more. He also alluded to this being the culmination of the story that he originally pitched. (My take; could Talon be wrapping up as a series?)

Ray Fawkes, Layman, Tynon and Snyder are working on Eternal.

Snyder promises that 2014 will be a crazy year for Batman because of what’s going on in Gotham in the various books. It’s very much going to be the 75th anniversary that Batman fans deserve.

Direct quote from Snyder; “This year is going to be the craziest most exciting year in Gotham.”