James Harvey
08-18-2001, 12:52 PM
A friend of mine, "Clayface", was able to talk to Greg Rucka at the WizardWorld convention about upcoming story arcs for Detective Comics. This is what went down:
At a DC "icons" panels Rucka made some interesting comments about the OnStar Commercials, saying he feels they "diminish" Batman as an icon. He was obviously not pleased with the use of Batman in that product marketing.
At one point an audience member asked if we'd be seeing "the Dynamic Duo" aspect back in the Batman comics - commenting on how Batman's been solo and a lot of fans are missing the Batman/Robin relationship. In reply, Rucka
commeneted that the upcoming "Bruce Wayne: Fugitive" storyline would resolve this to some degree - making Bruce re-evaluate how much he's isolated himself, and if he can continue to do so in the future. He also said that
"Robin _will_ appear in Detective comics".
Both Ruck and Jeph Loeb commented during the panel discussion that the WB show "Smallville" is "REALLY good". Both seemed very excited about the show, and felt that it would have a very positive effect on the comics by
bringing in new readers.
I asked Rucka out on the floor later in the day if he could comment on any of the upcoming villians in the Batman comics. He said that there will be an issue with "a new character - a villian, though she's not really a villian". And then comes the "Fugitive" storyline, which will "take everything in a new direction". He and the rest of the DC people are very
tight lipped about the "Fugitive" storyline, and he wouldn't tell me anymore than that. He also mentioned that another character of his (a villian) from the "No Man's Land" storyline will be making a return in Detective later in 2001.
I asked him if he'd be doing any more Clayface stories (Clayface being a favorite of mine, of course), and he said he's actually been thinking about that. He mentioned how hard it is to write a good Clayface story in the mainstream comics, because the continuity and history of the character is so screwed up - he likes to write villians that have a lot of pathos -
villians you can empathize with, and unfortunately, the mainstream Clayface is pretty much a glorified thug. But, it sounds like he's got an idea or two.
Sounds interesting...
At a DC "icons" panels Rucka made some interesting comments about the OnStar Commercials, saying he feels they "diminish" Batman as an icon. He was obviously not pleased with the use of Batman in that product marketing.
At one point an audience member asked if we'd be seeing "the Dynamic Duo" aspect back in the Batman comics - commenting on how Batman's been solo and a lot of fans are missing the Batman/Robin relationship. In reply, Rucka
commeneted that the upcoming "Bruce Wayne: Fugitive" storyline would resolve this to some degree - making Bruce re-evaluate how much he's isolated himself, and if he can continue to do so in the future. He also said that
"Robin _will_ appear in Detective comics".
Both Ruck and Jeph Loeb commented during the panel discussion that the WB show "Smallville" is "REALLY good". Both seemed very excited about the show, and felt that it would have a very positive effect on the comics by
bringing in new readers.
I asked Rucka out on the floor later in the day if he could comment on any of the upcoming villians in the Batman comics. He said that there will be an issue with "a new character - a villian, though she's not really a villian". And then comes the "Fugitive" storyline, which will "take everything in a new direction". He and the rest of the DC people are very
tight lipped about the "Fugitive" storyline, and he wouldn't tell me anymore than that. He also mentioned that another character of his (a villian) from the "No Man's Land" storyline will be making a return in Detective later in 2001.
I asked him if he'd be doing any more Clayface stories (Clayface being a favorite of mine, of course), and he said he's actually been thinking about that. He mentioned how hard it is to write a good Clayface story in the mainstream comics, because the continuity and history of the character is so screwed up - he likes to write villians that have a lot of pathos -
villians you can empathize with, and unfortunately, the mainstream Clayface is pretty much a glorified thug. But, it sounds like he's got an idea or two.
Sounds interesting...