ANDY DIGGLE ON BATMAN CONFIDENTIAL'S OPENING ARC

[MattBrady]

Note - art not from the series.

Early days, early days.

That’s the focus of two new series form DC, recounting the early days of both Superman and Batman - Superman Confidential and Batman Confidential. Both series launch in November, and aim at showing key moments of the heroes earliest’ days as heroes –first meetings, critical decisions, the forging of alliances, and laying the roots of friendships.

As the series will tell individual arcs, both will see rolling creative teams pass through, with Darwyn Cooke and Tim Sale launching Superman Confidential and Andy Diggle and Whilce Portacio handling the opening arc of Batman Confidential.

We spoke with Diggle about how he landed the gig, and what he’s bringing to the table with his story.

“I think the moment it all started was probably when Jock and I bounded up to Bob Schreck at the bar at the Bristol comic con a couple of years ago and babbled at him about how much we’d love to do a Batman story,” Diggle replied when asked how he landed on the new title’s first arc. “Bob was like, ‘Cool!’ And that was that - until later that year at the San Diego Comic Con where, right out of the blue, Bob offered me Detective Comics. I couldn’t believe it!”

But, given that this isn’t a story about Diggle writing Detective Comics, and given that Diggle had a lot gong on when the offer was made, by the time he got around to making his pitch there’d been an editorial shuffle at DC, Schreck was no longer the Bat-editor, and a new Detective team was already in place.

“But,” Diggle continued, “Dan Didio came over to London later that year, and we chatted about what I had in mind - a Batman versus Lex Luthor story. Well, I say ‘chatted’ - what I actually did was engage in an enthusiastic beer-fueled rant, most of which detailed the choreography of an elaborate action sequence featuring a Mach-3 face-off between the Bat-Plane and a 200-foot tall war robot outside Area 51. As you do.

“I recall Dan’s eyes narrowed and he made this sort of non-committal ‘Hmm,’ and I thought, ‘That’s it, I’ve just blown it. He thinks it sucks!’ Turns out what he was thinking was that my take on Batman didn’t sound like the traditionally low-key Detective style of story, and that it might actually make a great launch arc for Batman Confidential.

“It was my feeling that DC had tried so hard to ground Batman in a gritty urban ‘reality’ in the post-Dark Knight era, maybe they’d lost sight of that fact that at its heart it’s still supposed to be a superhero comic. And I passionately believe that superhero comics should be about speed and energy and movement, thrilling adventures and spectacular action. Not just, y’know, whining and soap. So my story begins as a mystery, develops into a conspiracy, and then explodes into all-out, balls-to-the-wall chunky robot action.”

As mentioned earlier, the idea behind the two new Confidential titles is to illustrate key moments in the character’s lives. As you probably guessed from Diggle’s comments, his story focuses on Batman’s first encounter with Lex Luthor.

“I know Luthor’s traditionally been Superman’s arch-nemesis, but it intrigued me how similar he and Bruce Wayne actually are on the surface,” Diggle explained. “They’re both brilliant, driven, super-rich billionaire industrialists, each seeking to change the world for what they see as the betterment of mankind. So on the surface, there’s not much to differentiate between them, and neither knows about the other’s shadowy double life... yet. But once you scratch away the veneer, you see they have very different ideas as to what constitutes the public good - although both are using extreme, secretive measures to pursue their agendas. I think that leads to some interesting contrasts, interesting dramatic friction.”

Given the storyline, the meeting, and thus the arc take place somewhere during Batman’s second year in business. “He hasn’t yet made peace with his inner demons - there’s still a lot of anger in him, which he channels into violence. He’s not yet the calm forward-planner he will later become. He’s still a little green, still a little rough around the edges, and he doesn’t yet have the huge arsenal of high-tech gadgets. That said, he does pick up a few cool toys during the course of the story - not least the Bat-Plane, which is a prototype VTOL stealth fighter being developed by Wayne Aerospace.

“In short, WayneTech and LexCorp are each competing for a multi-billion dollar government defense contract. Needless to say, Lex Luthor has bigger plans than merely selling weapons. He plans to use them for himself - and in a big way. So when bodies start dropping in Gotham City, Batman takes a personal interest. And then the giant robots turn up...

“Oh, and as for Whilce - what can I say? A picture tells a thousand words, and Whilce’s artwork speaks for itself!”

[PaulCrocker]

But Batman: Confedential has already started.

Wagner's Monster Men and Mad Monk stories are just this.

Nonetheless, I'm on this like a fly on sh*#!

[Andre MOP]

Cool... batman is in a great moment right now and in the foreseeable future

[cynic79]

Originally Posted by MattBrady

“In short, WayneTech and LexCorp are each competing for a multi-billion dollar government defense contract. Needless to say, Lex Luthor has bigger plans than merely selling weapons. He plans to use them for himself - and in a big way. So when bodies start dropping in Gotham City, Batman takes a personal interest. And then the giant robots turn up...

Giant robots? Batman?

Sign me up!

[BatWolverine]

Looking forward to it....although will say this, with the amount of history these two characters have, this new title(s) might have a hard time stay away from 'repeating' old tales.

Then again, it is a *NEW* Earth.

BW

[bsmith]

This sounds great, Andy and Jock's LOSERS was fantastic, and Andy's always pushing the action envelope in his work. Well written layered stuff.

Only question is, does this replace "Legends of the Dark Knight", and if not, why not?

BSmith

[McAlice]

Sounds interesting
I'll check it out on the rack

[wither]

at first i thought id be passing this up.... not anymore

[kingofcities]

I love Diggle's enthusiasm here. Seriously looking forward to this book.

[smitch]

I like the concept, and the creative teams launching them. And since All Star Batman straight up BLOWS (not Jim Lee's fault), I'll need this for my "early days" Batman fix. November, that's too far away!

[Lex]

He had me at giant robots.

Based on Diggle's great Adam Strange mini, I think he'll do an awesome Batman story.

[WC Brooks]

“It was my feeling that DC had tried so hard to ground Batman in a gritty urban ‘reality’ in the post-Dark Knight era, maybe they’d lost sight of that fact that at its heart it’s still supposed to be a superhero comic. And I passionately believe that superhero comics should be about speed and energy and movement, thrilling adventures and spectacular action. Not just, y’know, whining and soap. So my story begins as a mystery, develops into a conspiracy, and then explodes into all-out, balls-to-the-wall chunky robot action.”

Exactly!

[Steve J.]

Originally Posted by bsmith

This sounds great, Andy and Jock's LOSERS was fantastic, and Andy's always pushing the action envelope in his work. Well written layered stuff.

Only question is, does this replace "Legends of the Dark Knight", and if not, why not?

BSmith

Very good question, would seem logical to replace it. Either way, I'm quite looking forward to Diggle's Batman story, hoping it's as good as his Adam Strange story.

[Nukeboy]

Both of these sound good. Though it does make Legends of the Dark Knight redundant. Good to see Darwyn Cooke back in the game.

[steveupson]

Originally Posted by bsmith

Only question is, does this replace "Legends of the Dark Knight", and if not, why not?

BSmith

Good question.
And not to poop on anyone's parade, least of all Andy Diggle's, but hasn't the early days/year one/etc. of Batman been done to near-death already?

Having said that, I like the idea of the Bruce Wayne/Lex Luther conflict.

[smitch]

Originally Posted by Nukeboy

Both of these sound good. Though it does make Legends of the Dark Knight redundant. Good to see Darwyn Cooke back in the game.

Agreed, Tim Sale too!

[SpyGuy]

Originally Posted by bsmith

Only question is, does this replace "Legends of the Dark Knight", and if not, why not?

BSmith

Yeah, BATMAN: LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT has officially become a redundant title. Time for a little more pruning of the Batman line, methinks...

[HG_studios]

So much for cutting back on the amount of Superman and Batman titles.

I REALLY want to get this, but I am already getting (and pre-ordering) so much from DC already, this really feels like overkill.

So many good stories out there=empty wallets for us fans

Guess I'll wait for the trade...

-Kevin

[shady878]

Originally Posted by MattBrady

Darwyn Cooke and Tim Sale launching Superman Confidential and Andy Diggle and Whilce Portacio handling the opening arc of Batman Confidential.

Found you Tim Sale!

Whilce on a Batman project...very interesting.

[Kevin T. Brown]

Oh yeah. Diggle and Portacio on Batman and Cooke & Sale on Superman? Can you say less money in my pocket and more in DC's?

[s*p rules]

"So my story begins as a mystery, develops into a conspiracy, and then explodes into all-out, balls-to-the-wall chunky robot action.”

That exact plan worked quite well in the Adam Strange mini (the best mini from either of the big 2 in years, IMHO), so looking forward to seeing how it plays out in B:C.

I had thought Diggle went to Marvel, and that was why he didn't pen the Rann-Thanagar War series (and oh, how I wish he had). Good to see he still gets to play in the DC toybox. I've heard rumors of a new Adam Strange series; I really hope Diggle gets to write it.

[afterburnz]

Originally Posted by WC Brooks

“It was my feeling that DC had tried so hard to ground Batman in a gritty urban ‘reality’ in the post-Dark Knight era, maybe they’d lost sight of that fact that at its heart it’s still supposed to be a superhero comic. And I passionately believe that superhero comics should be about speed and energy and movement, thrilling adventures and spectacular action. Not just, y’know, whining and soap. So my story begins as a mystery, develops into a conspiracy, and then explodes into all-out, balls-to-the-wall chunky robot action.”

Exactly!

Look, the way I see it is older writers and editors have this mad-on for somehow "restoring" superheores to their former glory. I guess the readers that started reading when comics went "wrong" are in for a freeze-out. Batman hasnt been a superhero in the strictest sense of the word in a long time, and quite frankly, the dark knight is what I grew up on. I like Batman mean, scary and gritty. Burton's Batman introduced me to that world.

I guess I feel like some people felt post-DKR. Your Batman went from superhero to nutcase as some people have put it. My Batman went from scary to happy in the span of a year and it's a bummer.

[samnoir]

Originally Posted by bsmith

This sounds great, Andy and Jock's LOSERS was fantastic, and Andy's always pushing the action envelope in his work. Well written layered stuff.

Only question is, does this replace "Legends of the Dark Knight", and if not, why not?

BSmith

Rotating creative teams doing story arcs set in the early days of Batman.

Sounds to me like Legends of the Dark Knight is simply getting a facelift and a new #1.
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[rpi]

Yeah, I believe that LOTDK is getting cancelled. Bit of a shame since it's got such a history, but that's Dan Didio's DC. This story does sound appealing but I wonder if it'll bring anything new to the Batman/Luthor relationship that we haven't already seen from creators like Morrison, Rucka, Brubaker, Loeb, etc. Still, I do like the idea of a story that's just b@lls to the wall energy, especially after the plodding, padded story we're currently getting in Batman and 'Tec.

[c_andrew_s]

Originally Posted by HG_studios

So much for cutting back on the amount of Superman and Batman titles.

I REALLY want to get this, but I am already getting (and pre-ordering) so much from DC already, this really feels like overkill.

So many good stories out there=empty wallets for us fans

Guess I'll wait for the trade...

-Kevin

I understand, I am defintely spending a lot more than I did One Year Ago (OYA)