Rob Levin moderated the DC Comics: DC’s Gotham City panel today at New York Comic Con. The panel included Alex Segura (The Question: All About the Watchtower), Christian Ward (Two-Face, Batman: City of Madness), and Dan Watters (Nightwing, Batman: Dark Patterns). , with Hayden Sherman (Batman: Dark Patterns) as a guest. and Tate Bronval (Batgirl).
The panel began with an introduction to the new vertical scrolling comic “DC GO!”. We have special previews of two issues: Harley Quinn in Paradise and Nothing But Nightwing, available now on DC Universe Infinite. Details on DC GO! here.
Rob asked the panelists where they came from and what Batman issue or other Batman media was that first got them interested in Batman. For Tate Brombal, it was Tim Burton’s Batman: Returns. At the time, he was obsessed with Michelle Pfeiffer. For Hayden Sherman, the third trade paperback of Knightfall: Night’s End is what got them into Batman, so we have to go back in time to understand how the story began. It was. Dan Watters said he was shocked when he first read “Arkham Asylum: Serious House on Serious Earth.”
The panel discussion moved on to Christian Ward’s discussion of Batman: City of Madness. Batman: City of Madness is now available in a beautiful new hardcover edition. In his elevator pitch for City of Madness, Christian mentioned the existence of Gotham Above and Gotham Below as a much worse mirror version of Gotham. Batman from Lower Gotham comes to Upper Gotham to look for Robin. It’s a great series and the hardcover looks beautiful.
Christian was then asked why Two-Face deserves to star in his own standalone series as a Batman villain. This is the first Two Face Solo series ever published. For Christian, Two-Face is Batman’s best villain and the one he missed the most when writing City of Madness. While writing this piece, he fell in love with Harvey and wanted to shed new light on Harvey, both good and bad. He finds it fascinating that Harvey has these two sides to himself. The Two-Face books will be like the classic Perry Mason show. Harvey is a lawyer for hire in Gotham’s underground, and strange stories are told in Gotham’s seedy underground.
The panel then focused on Dan Watters and whether he felt anxious stepping into the highly acclaimed shoes of Tom Taylor and Bruno Redondo, who play this character. Of course it was, but he said there was no point in trying to pale imitate that great run and he was going to do something new and different. His new operation will concern the power vacuum left in Bludhaven and four rival gangs vying for power. Nightwing needs to find a way to prevent these gangs from destroying each other and the city, so he may have to befriend some bad people to achieve those goals. yeah. There’s a new, as-yet-unnamed villain that harkens back to Dick’s circus roots. Dan considers Nightwing to be the Big Brother of the entire DC Universe. Dan, who has written many dark characters, is amazed at how Nightwing acts like a good character.
Tate Brombal was asked why now is the right time to release a Cassandra Cain solo book, as it has been almost 20 years since her last solo book. Bronval believes she has a lot of untapped potential, especially her relationship with her mother, Lord Shiva. In fact, the title of the first story arc is “Mother.” Mrs. Shiva returns to Gotham City and warns her daughter that a group of ninjas are trying to kill her, but of course Cass doesn’t believe her. This series is about Cass and Shiva fighting a bunch of ninjas with their backs against the wall. It will be very martial arts-driven, with new martial arts-focused heroes and villains. We also learn that Batgirl leaves Gotham City after the first issue. Bronval eventually wants to bring her back and see how Gotham reacts to her, and how she reacts to Gotham. It’s becoming a cliché by now, but Gotham City has its own character.
Alex Segura talks about how chaotic Renee Montoya’s life is in his new series “All across the Watchtower.” She lost her job, her personal life is in shambles, and things are a little unstable. Renee must find her place in the watchtower and solve this mystery that neither Batman nor Superman can solve. This is a noir story told in a different setting than the traditional noir setting. This series is a character study of Renee and we watch her journey. Alex says people will be surprised who the villain is, and there will be plenty of fun cameos. Part of the fun of Segura is fleshing out the gazebo setting and bringing it to life. Where do people eat and how do they spend their time? These are all questions that can be answered.
Dan Watters talked about the origins of Batman: Dark Pattern, and it turns out Robert Pattinson’s Batman movies were a big inspiration. He wanted to tell a messy crime story about a man dressed as a bat who solves cases. This really goes back to Batman’s roots. The book was originally going to be drawn by three different artists, one for each arc, but Hayden Sherman wanted to draw them all, which was a pleasant surprise for Dan and his editors.
When asked if he had more or less freedom writing the early Batman stories, Waters thought it was more freeing and that he had fun. Batman is more of a mortal and we can see him fail, but he hasn’t become an infallible guy who always makes the right decisions. The series takes inspiration from all versions of Batman, and even the yellow bat symbol is reminiscent of previous classic versions of Batman.
