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SPECIAL IN THIS ISSUE

INTERVIEW WITH GREG RUCKA
(by Tim "TWO-FACE" Leighton)

Greg Rucka is probably best known to Bat-fans as the writer for various critically and fan-acclaimed story-arcs that make up "No Man's Land", including "MOSAIC", "CLAIM JUMPING", "FRUIT OF THE EARTH", and "ASSEMBLY".  He well-known in other circles as the writer of the comic series "WHITEOUT", as well as the novels "KEEPER", "FINDER", "SMOKER", and "SHOOTING AT MIDNIGHT". Mr. Rucka has been kind enough to take time out of his busy schedule for this interview - so sit back, enjoy, and if you pay close attention, ya just might learn somethin'!

AND if you wanna see a pic of Mr. Rucka, just go here:
http://www.citynet.net/personal/batman/rucka.gif

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BTAN #01: Hi Greg! Thank you very much for participating in this interview - I've been eagerly anticipating this for a long time. Could you tell us a little about yourself? Age, married or single, family members, whereabouts you live, your bank code, etc?  (Note: I was kidding about the bank codes, of course.)

GREG #01: I’m 29, turning 30 at the end of November. I’ve been married for eight years to Jennifer Van Meter (herself a writer - most recently she did the Oni Press "Tales of the Blair Witch"). We live in Portland, Oregon, for just shy of a year now. Before that we were in Eugene, Oregon, where Jen was attending the University of Oregon, pursuing her Ph.D.. We’re expecting our first child in January - and I’m terrified.

BTAN #02: How did you get roped into the Bat-universe in the first place?

GREG #02: The shortest version is as follows, and it’s pretty long, actually. One of my closest friends works at DC, and put me in touch with Patty Jeres, who is the Marketing Guru there. Patty read my books on this friend’s recommendation, and knew that I wanted to get into comics. She introduced me to Bob Schreck, who was then at Oni, and that’s how WHITEOUT, my first comic series, came about. On the heels of that, I was in New York visiting folks, and Patty asked if I had any interest in the Bat books. I think I surprised her with my enthusiasm. So Patty went in to talk to Denny about me, bringing my books with her as a kind of visual aid - and it turned out Denny already knew who I was, he’d read the first novel and really liked it. Then he read the second one and really liked that, so we met for lunch - best business lunch of my life, because it wasn’t business, it was just pure fun, and I was tongue-tied, I mean, Denny O’Neil!!! He asked if I’d like to try my hand at a Bat story. I got home to Oregon and wrote "Two Down", which ran in [Batman Chronicles #16], and that pretty much did it - they started throwing work at me as fast as they could, and I kept asking for more.

BTAN #03: If given the chance, are there any other superheroes you'd like to write for?

GREG #03: I’ve said it before, but I’d love to write for Wonder Woman - in fact, that’s one of my long-range goals right now, is to somehow insinuate myself on that book in the next couple years. But other than Diana, I’m pretty happy with what I’ve got now - access to the DCU, pretty much as I want it. There aren’t many other characters out there, at any company, that interest me. I’m working on a Black Widow project with Devin Grayson, but other than that, most of the Marvel heroes bore me to tears.

BTAN #04: Did you get to choose which NML tales you wrote?

GREG #04: I got to lobby for certain ones - for example, the stories with Two-Face, especially at the end, I pursued pretty hard. But one of the things that happened was that the more I wrote, the more work the Bat Guys handed my way. I’m actually not entirely sure how I ended up with the majority of the finale - wrong place wrong time, I guess.

BTAN #05: Did you come up with any aspect of the NML premise to begin with?

GREG #05: I did not. Most all of it was Jordan Gorfinkel, as I understand it. I had my afore- mentioned meal with Denny as NML was just getting underway, and as soon as they roped me in I began to push those storylines that I, as a novelist, felt were the most critical. A lot of the Gordon stuff that’s going on in NML is courtesy of me, at least at the end. But otherwise, I pretty much implemented those ideas that had already been pounded out. The final issues, though, came about in committee, and then via Devin Grayson and myself really attacking the story with everything we had. Those are the issues that, I feel, are most mine, in the sense that most of the plot was created by Devin and me.

BTAN #06: I am well aware that my namesake is your favorite character of the Bat-universe.  Why
is that? What are some of the other characters you are fond of?

GREG #06: Oh, you’re opening a can of worms, here. I could go on for hours about Two-Face. There’s just so much. He was Bruce’s friend, Bruce’s best friend, in many ways. And he is, I think, the perfect mirror of Bruce. A lot of people say that Joker is the ultimate nemesis, or the dark reflection, of Batman. I think that’s crap - Joker is a sociopath, he has really no agenda other than misery, chaos, and destruction. But Two-Face, he’s always got a solid, cohesive, internal logic that’s guiding him. And then he’s got a coin that makes the final determinations. It’s a beautiful dramatic devise, and it says so much about the character - and
there are so many ways to use him, to explore how that works. This is a guy who is living two lives at once, and the two sides are always at war. It’s the same situation for Bruce. They’re a lot more alike than most readers think, in my opinion. And we have to remember, also, that there was a genuine affection between the two before Two-Face went around the bend; Harvey got along with both Bruce and Batman. It effects every interaction that they have.
    Finally, there’s just so much pathos in Two-Face’s character. Harvey Dent was a man who honestly wanted to do good, to do right, and to aid society. He dedicated himself to that, in much the same way that Bruce dedicated himself to becoming Batman. And I believe that, at times, that’s still what’s inside Two-Face, still trying to get out. That’s one of the purposes of the coin.
    I could go on and on, but I’ve already spewed enough, I think.

BTAN #07: Which is your favorite story that you've written in NML? Which is your favorite that you DIDN'T write? (My personal favourites, respecively, are "Claim Jumping" and "No Law and a New Order" - with "Fear of Faith" VERY close behind.)

GREG #07: It’s a toss-up between the "Jurisprudence" arc, leading into "Falling Back"; I view the three issues as a complete, discreet story and the "Endgame" arc that I wrote with Devin. 
     Favorite I didn’t write - that’s tough, but I’d have to say "Spiritual Currency" by Devin. I thought it was a wonderfully subtle and elegant story, and one that truly needed to be written in the light of NML.

BTAN #08: Which artist was your favorite to work with? Which did you feel complimented your work the best?

GREG #08: The answer to both questions, I’d have to say, is Rick Burchett. He drew "Falling Back", and he’s drawing the six-issue Huntress mini that I’m working on right now. Our communication is excellent; I can toss out a reference (and I know some very obscure references!) and he’s always right there, saying, "yeah, I’ve seen that" or "yeah, I’ve got a book on that." It’s very rewarding, because with Rick it is honestly a collaboration. I know he’ll honor my script, and that he’ll do his best to improve it with the art. A lot of artists don’t feel that way - they want to draw certain things, and the script be damned.

BTAN #09: How was it working with Devin Grayson? I feel that she is one of the other writers fans will always remember as one of the best contributors to NML.

GREG #09: I’m in love with Devin’s work, and the collaboration was one of the best I’ve ever had. It was an honest give-and-take of ideas, and I think we brought out the best in one another’s writing. Each of us has weaknesses - I tend to assume a lot, and Devin, I think, can get a bit wordy - but together those disappeared. I’m very proud of "Endgame". Both Devin and I are hoping readers will like it.

BTAN #10: What is your opinion on the various incarnations of "Batman: The Animated Series"?  Do you have any favorite episodes?

BTAN #11: Big fan of the animated! There are a lot of stories that I think are marvelous, especially early on: the two part Clayface origin is just brilliant, as is the establishing and origin of Two-Face. I’m not as big a fan of "Batman Beyond", but that’s because I’m a purist, and I don’t feel that Terry really has a right to the Mantle of the Bat - there’s no sense of destiny or responsibility surrounding his Batman, something that was captured so well in the original series.

BTAN #11: What did you think of the *SNICKER* live action movies?

GREG #11: I hate them. They all suck. The first two are sexist pieces of garbage where I feel Tim Burton is trying to make me pay good money to watch his therapy sessions. I loathe the third one particularly - the portrayal of Two-Face is unforgivable - and I didn’t see the fourth. My sincere hope is that they don’t make another one for at least five years, and then they hire someone from DC to write the script; I think Jeph Loeb, for example, would write a wonderful Batman movie. But that will never happen.

BTAN #12: How did you get "Bats on the Brain" in the first place?

GREG #12: I’m not really certain - he was always there in my youth. I remember buying ["The Dark Knight Returns"] when it first came out, and being really thunderstruck by what Miller was doing. I still have the original issues to "Year One", too. Those knocked me over the edge, made me see Batman in particular in a way I’d never imagined. Further, Miller treats Gordon with a respect that lot of writers don’t, and that spoke to me, because I think the stories are as much his as Batman’s.
   Later, when Patty steered me at Denny, the appeal was augmented by the rest of my artistic pursuits. I write PI novels, really, and what is Batman if not the ultimate private investigator? For a guy like me, doing what I’m doing to make a living, it’s an opportunity that can’t be ignored.

BTAN #13: How did you get interested in writing so much?

GREG #13: I’m assuming you mean how I got interested in writing for a living. I started pretty early, actually - I was writing regularly by the time I was 10, and by the time I hit college I was working on novels and short-stories and so on. Despite all that, though, I hadn’t considered it seriously as a career. And then, when I was about 20, I realized that writing was really the one thing that I kept returning to, whatever my other interests might be. And if I wasn’t writing, I was getting cranky, getting awful to be around; it’s like an addiction. Sometimes it’s awful and painful and lonely and generally unpleasant, and sometimes it’s the best thing in the world, but either way, you’ve got to do it. You can’t stop.

BTAN #14: When you write the draft of a comic, do you do a rough page layout as well? I believe that in a past interview, Ty Templeton ("Gotham Adventures") mentioned that writers do that as well.

GREG #14: Not normally, though for the latest issue of Detective I did a thumbnail of one page for Shawn (Martinbrough), just so he could see exactly what I meant. I tend to leave the visual lay-out to those who know better than me, and that’s almost universally the artist on the book. Shawn’s somebody I trust a lot, and I think he and I are going to work very well together, so for the most part I know any roughs I do will be greeted as they’re intended: guides, nothing more. But normally I just write a full-script, specifying the number of panels, sometimes a general layout, and that’s it. If the artist has a better way to accomplish something, I always try to be open to that.

BTAN #15: I'm very pleased to hear that you're taking the helm of "Detective Comics" come January 2000.  What are your plans for that title? I hear you're trying to bring back the gangster element to Gotham.

GREG #15: The initial storylines will deal with organized crime in Gotham, how all the various factions parcel up the city, and how Batman and Gordon really are powerless to stop it. Batman knows that crime will always exist - the question is how to contain it, how to keep it from creating tragedies like the one he himself endured.
   Further down the line, I’d like to try to explore the lives of the GCPD players a little more, contrasting their lives to that of Bruce Wayne. And I’ve got some stories in mind that would put Bruce, rather than Batman, on the spot, including one with Poison Ivy.

BTAN #16: While on the topic of spoilers - are there any new tidbits of info you could give us, regarding the final stretch of NML (from "Jurisprudence" onwards)?

GREG #16: It’s not just one character who dies. There are three "named" characters who will be dead by the end of "Endgame". And one of them, in my opinion, is pretty important.

BTAN #17: I know that you're also well-known for a comic series entitled "Whiteout"; could you tell us what that's about, and what it's like to write for it?  Do you intend to write BOTH this series and DETECTIVE COMICS simultaneously?

GREG #17: WHITEOUT (and its sequel, WHITEOUT: MELT) are mysteries/thrillers set in Antarctica. They’re fairly realistic "crime fiction" with a main character named Carrie Stetko who is a U.S. Deputy Marshal. I think the biggest difference between Batman and Carrie is that realism I can get away with plot turns and devices in the Bat books that would never work in the other series. Also, I have to watch my language a little more - sometimes I write a bit "blue" and the Bat books can’t handle that.
   The WHITEOUT stories have all been mini-series, so it’s been relatively easy to schedule them alongside DETECTIVE. As it is, after WHITEOUT: MELT, I’m planning on leaving Carrie alone for a while. But there will be other projects with Oni Press, so the schedule will still have to be balanced.

BTAN #18: I'm just hypothetically speaking here, but...imagine if you were given the opportunity to write the next live-action Bat-film, or some episodes for the animated series. You mentioned that you'd love to see Jeph Loeb get the chance, as would I - but how about yourself? Would you take the opportunity? If you were given complete creative freedom, what would you write?

GREG #18: Oh, I’ve no idea. If I had a chance at the movies I’d just wipe the whole damn slate clean, and do my own take on Year One. But frankly, I think a mini-series would be better - something along the lines of 12 hours, that could cover Bruce up to and through Year One, and would show Gordon and Dent and Selina as they were, watching them as they changed into who they are.
    I’d probably take the opportunity were it presented me - but the problem with Hollywood is that nothing is ever truly yours. And no matter what I wrote, some jack-ass would change it, and suddenly Batman’s costume would have nipples again, and Two-Face would be just silly, and Gordon would, once more, be a joke. So I’d take the money and run, but I’d want my name removed from the final project!

BTAN #19: Could you give us any info on the NO MAN'S LAND novelization due out January? Has an exact date been set? Which stories/characters will get a large amount of coverage?

GREG #19: The NML novel is different from the comic books, pretty much by necessity. It’s impossible to take fifty plus issues of a comic series and turn them into a 130,000 word novel; something’s got to give. I cut a lot of stuff that, to me, was extraneous. It’s important to remember that a novel is a very specific kind of creature, and that a good novel needs to have a throughline, something that ties it all together, and I don’t mean the plot. So in the novel I was able to go back and work on some of the imagery, some of the thematic concerns that I didn’t get to truly explore in the comics. As a result, there are new characters, new scenes, things that never happened in NML.
   And just to  further frustrate people, some things are radically different. My take on Harley Quinn, for example, is similar to Dini’s, but the origin is radically different. Poison Ivy is barely in the book - she’s only mentioned. The situation with Bane plays out to similar results as in the comics, but comes about in a very different fashion than what Dixon wrote. The "Fear of Faith" storyline is completely gone, as is "Fruit of the Earth", and many other arcs. I really stripped it down to the bare minimum, then went back and tried to make those stories that I had left work in the confines of the novel.
   And of course, I did a lot more with Two-Face, Gordon, and Montoya in the novel than in the comics.
   As it happens, I’m pretty darn pleased with the result, and I know both DC and Pocket Books (who will be publishing the book) are overjoyed. One editor told me that the thought the NML novel would change the way comic book novelizations are done, which is pretty high praise.
   I don’t know the exact release date, unfortunately, but I suspect it’ll be the first or second week of January 2000.