[Updated] DAN DIDIO ON PAUL DINI & RAGS MORALES ON DETECTIVE

[MattBrady]

Ask Dan Didio to explain how he came to decide on Paul Dini and Rags Morales as the new creative team for Detective Comics, and he’ll refer back to the technical term he used when describing how he picked Kurt Busiek and Carlos Pacheco for Superman: “It was a serious no brainer.”

Though Dini’s career has taken him far and wide, for example, to working on ABC’s Lost, as well as his own comic creation, Jingle Belle, he’s probably still best known to comic fans as one of the major creative forces behind Batman: The Animated Series. The series not only revolutionized Warner Bros. animation in regards to superheroes, but is also still pointed to as one of the best interpretations of Batman to appear in any media.

Dini’s dabbled in DC’s comics before, most notably a Zatanna special, as writer of Alex Ross’ “Treasury Sized” books, and a few Batbooks, most often focusing on the more animated side of things, such as Batman: Harley & Ivy. His upcoming (at least) 12 issue run on Detective will be his first regular comic book gig.

“Paul’s someone who I’ve known for quite a while and have always wanted him to do a series here at DC,” Didio said. “And thankfully, the stars aligned for us at this particular moment – he wasn’t signed for any ongoing televising series, and he just loves Batman. Absolutely loves Batman. This is one time where you can walk into it and say that you know exactly what you’re going to be getting from the person delivering the book.”

Didio said that, knowing what he is getting from Dini, in regards to story.

“Detective Comics was one of the books that I used to read regularly in my early days as a fan, mainly because I loved the detective aspect of the stories. Batman was the superhero book, and Detective was the crime title. Paul is one of the few people that I believe can go in and tell those kind of stories, so that’s what we’re going to have him do.

“Part of Paul’s own agenda on the series is to go in and tell single-issue mystery stories. Every issue is a standalone mystery. There may be an overarching story that runs underneath everything, but every issue has a beginning, middle, and end of a detective mystery. That’s something that we haven’t seen in a while, and it takes someone of real talent and ability to be able to pull that off on a monthly basis.”

The return to the “detective” aspect of Batman is something that Didio sees not just as an extension of the character coming out of Infinite Crisis, but also as the latest point the character has reached along a continuum that reaches back over ten years.

“If you look over the history of Batman over the last few years with an eye on what everyone was accomplishing, under Denny O’Neil’s editorial run, they really heaped the lore on Batman, and put him through the ringer. They put him through changes such as Knightfall, put the city through changes as well such as we saw in Cataclysm, and put the supporting cast through the ringer with things like Officer Down. They tied a lot up in the lore, and put a lot of heavy continuity on the characters so much that Batman really didn’t operate well in the rest of the world – the DCU. Batman’s world was very self-contained.

“When Bob [Shreck] took over the books, part of what he had to do was deconstruction. Through the Denny years, we had an army built up around Batman, and we had to get back down to Batman himself, and who he was. A lot of what Bob was doing was finding ways to peel away the layers to reveal the character of Batman underneath, and really strip him down to his core.

“Now, what you’re going to find is the rebuilding of Batman in the classic interpretation, so that you feel you have a Batman that you know him to be, just from everything that you’ve read and seen over the years. We’re taking the classic elements and putting a spin on them that makes them feel fresh and new.”

An equal part of that equation of putting a fresh spin on classic elements, Didio said, comes in the form of Morales, who Didio said, is at his best when he’s working with a character that has an edge – a bit of grit.

“You’re putting together two really classic storytellers – Paul with words, and Rags with pictures,” Didio said. “You’re going to see great stories with all the nuances from the two of them. When you’re telling standalone stories as Paul is doing, you need an artist who can make sure that readers know exactly what’s going on in the story, and Rags is that guy. He brings that level of detail to the book that’s going to make it just break out.”

Didio pointed to Dini and Morales, Busiek and Pacheco on Superman, and Bilson, De Meo and Lashley on Flash as prime examples of where the post-Crisis DCU is headed in regards to its characters.

“A lot of what we’re trying to do is define both classic and new contemporary interpretations of our characters that will be here for the foreseeable future,” Didio said. “Again, the Superman and Batman you see now will be the Superman and Batman that you see a year from now, or two years from now, no matter if the team changes. My goal is to make sure we’re so clear in our definition of who these characters are, and there’s such a solid understanding of them that everyone who comes on board knows the direction in which to take the characters because we’ve spelled it out so clearly in the past few months.

“That’s always been a problem with Batman and Superman - you’ve had people come in, and they want to do their interpretation, usually from whatever they remember and liked best. Now, it’s time to lock it down a little more and move ahead with clear, concise views of the characters that gives anyone coming in a straightforward understanding of their motivation and goals, what they’re trying to accomplish, what they’re giving up to accomplish that, and what they see as their greatest victory. Once you understand what is at the heart of the characters, it’s much easier to tell stories about them, because you know how they’re going to act.”

And yes, we did ask – as for the new team on Batman?

“It’s still going to be cold and lonely in February,” Didio said. “Talk to me then. Word is coming.”

Update: In a post on this online Live Journal, Paul Dini has hinted that in addition to Detective Comics, he'll also be writing other DC projects this coming year...

"I'll be writing a ton of new Batman comics this year, along with a very special graphic novel starring two DCU darlings near and dear to my heart," Dini posted.

[Jack Burton]

Simply put this is cool.

[algertman]

sold

[Astro]

Very excited about this!

Even moreso than the Busiek/Pacheco news, to be honest.

Dini and Cooke - two animation guys - write some of the best comic stories out there.

Stunning stuff!

[rob_g]

no disrespect to rags who i know is a capable artist, but that drawing is a little.....off. super stoked that paul dini is returning to batman though.

[Hypestyle]

new team.. I hope it involves C. Priest...

[cynic79]

Originally posted by rob_g
no disrespect to rags who i know is a capable artist, but that drawing is a little.....off.

I actually like Rags' Batman quite a bit. I guess I'll finally be picking up a Bat-book!

Besides we use that picture to judge, since it's apparently "Not actual art." I guess a bunch of pencils fell off Dan Didio's desk and randomly created that image.

[Starpilot]

Great creative team. I'll finally get to come back to a Bat title! It's been a couple years since Rucka left Detective and (yawn!) Winick took over Batman.

[Kenro]

Sold. This will be the first Batman Book I've purchased on a regular basis since the late 90's.

I love Paul's work and Rags work in Identity Crisis and Countdown were outstanding.

[CATMAN3]

COOL!

[apoehler]

Originally posted by Hypestyle
new team.. I hope it involves C. Priest...

Nobody but Priest's three fans want to see that. He's certainly no A-list talent, or even a B-lister.

[I am MODOK]

Sold!

[Steve J.]

“You’re putting together two really classic storytellers – Paul with words, and Rags with pictures,” Didio said. “You’re going to see great stories with all the nuances from the two of them. When you’re telling standalone stories as Paul is doing, you need an artist who can make sure that readers know exactly what’s going on in the story, and Rags is that guy. He brings that level of detail to the book that’s going to make it just break out.”

I'm glad to see that Rags has earned a spot on DC's marquis title. I've enjoyed his art since he did Turok for Acclaim. 'Tec by Dini and Rags should be a must read!

[c_andrew_s]

Sounds like something to add to the pull list!!!

[SUPERMAN1]

I think this will be great for the readers,I love rags morales art.I just hope to see a more vulnerable batman,one that doesn't win at everything.

[SkipShot]

“Part of Paul’s own agenda on the series is to go in and tell single-issue mystery stories. Every issue is a standalone mystery. There may be an overarching story that runs underneath everything, but every issue has a beginning, middle, and end of a detective mystery. That’s something that we haven’t seen in a while, and it takes someone of real talent and ability to be able to pull that off on a monthly basis.”

Sweet! Somebody who finally gets it! It shouldn't take 6+ issues (6 friggin' months in real time) to tell a damned story. Let's hope this is a trend that continues to grow in this age of decompression and writing for the trade. I'm in!

[artiepants]

woah! Dini on a Bat-book?!?!?!?!?!?!

SOLD!!!

[rob_g]

"I actually like Rags' Batman quite a bit. I guess I'll finally be picking up a Bat-book!"

don't get me wrong i like his work too. alot. he does great stuff. i'm just curious why DC would promote a new creative team with "not actual art" especially if it's not his best stuff.

[HomerJimmy]

yup definitely sold. dini combined the superhero and detective aspects of batman perfectly as one of B:TAS creators. this should be awesome. i was hoping they would but someone like this on detective. finally an awesome writer this title. this has been something that 'tec has been missing for a long time.

[Contrabandolero]

This is the kind of news I have been waiting for since Mr. Didio announced changes to creative teams... I know he mentioned Flash (not particularly interested) and Superman (feels kind of "been there, done that"), but this is indeed a new take on the character that was long overdue and by a "fresh" creative team!!
Don't get me wrong, I will pick Superman up for sure, and will still give a try to Flash, but the Batman news are the exciting ones!
Peace,

[EyesBL7]

I've never purchased a Batman book outside of the Hush storyline. I will be buying this. I think few people understand the Batman character better then Mr. Dini and Mr. Morales, besides being a stellar artist, is a class act.

[Steve J.]

Originally posted by apoehler
Nobody but Priest's three fans want to see that. He's certainly no A-list talent, or even a B-lister.

So Hypestyle's the mystery "third Priest fan"? My friend Terry and I have always wondered who they were...

As for Priest being less than a B-list talent...did you ever read his run on Black Panther? IMHO, Priest is a much, much better writer than many so-called "A-list talents" working in comics today. Based on his BP run, I believe that Priest could write some very solid Batman stories if given the chance.

[UberShep]

I need this book more than i need liquor, and I'm a man who needs liquor.

I like the fact that DiDio is trying to define these characters, and have people think "Yeah, that's a Superman moment." Define their personalities throughout the DCU and not stray too much, nice and focused. I hope this is a return to Bruce Wayne, billionaire playboy. This is going to be great.

I do hope they bring back the back up stories in Detective. I always like those.

[CitC]

This sounds like fun, but can we get a freakazoid guest spot? (Dini did the Freak right?

comicsintheclassroom.net

[samnoir]

This is great news, Paul Dini has done some of the best work in recent years on Batman comics that no one has ever heard of because of the stigma attached to the animated work as being "for kids".

Looking forward to seeing him put his mark on the DCU Batman. So much of the animated series characters and innovations have entered into the DCU in recent years, including Mr Freeze's new origin, Harley Quinn, Tim Drake's all read Robin outfit. Why not go to the source itself?

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