Grant Morrison talks about Batman And Robin

Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely's new comic book series, Batman And Robin, looks like it will be great.

The debut of the series follows the events of Batman R.I.P., Final Crisis, and Battle for the Cowl in which the original Batman, Bruce Wayne, apparently died at the hands of DC Comics villain Darkseid and features the winner of the Battle for the Cowl as the new Batman. The conclusion to Battle of the Cowl shows Dick Grayson becoming the new Batman, while Damian Wayne becomes the new Robin.

I love both the creators involved and now that Dick Grayson (Robin, Nightwing) has now taken on the mantle of the Batman we should see some cool wisecracking action.

io9 have some more news on the feel of the series. Grant Morrison describes it below.

The only way I can explain the tone is that I had this idea of recapitulating the television show in a certain way... I was thinking of what other aspects of Batman are completely out of favor - that people tend to hate and don't seem to work anymore. The Batman 60s TV show was one of those. Obviously it was camp and a product of its time. But when I was a kid I thought it was really serious. [laughs] So I wanted to take some of that bizarre, psychedelic feel. I wanted to take the idea of very short, punchy stories that just kind of existed on their own terms. Rather than Batman RIP, which was a big, epic story that had a lot of secret subtext and hidden meanings and stuff, these are just crazy stories that are pretty upfront.

It was taking that aspect of the Batman TV show and then trying it in with David Lynch and Twin Peaks. [laughs] And creepy European cartoons and marionettes and stuff like that. That bad dreamlike feeling of a Marilyn Manson video in the '90s, or like Chris Cunningham's video for 'Windowlicker'. [laughs] Again, it was about trying to fuse those two things together into a bad trip, Lewis Carroll kind of world.

Morrison details that the tone of the series will be a "reverse" of the normal dynamic between Batman and Robin, with, "a more light-hearted and spontaneous Batman and a scowling, bad ass Robin." Morrison also divulges that this is a continuation of his previous work on the Batman character, although this is a different title than what he wrote previously. "This is the next book in what will be a 5-volume series beginning [with] Batman & Son, but it can be read on its own too. Batman and Robin welcomes new readers!" Morrison also said that even though the series deals with familiar identities, the series features all new villains and situations, but also revealed that some villains were glimpsed in Batman #666.

When asked if the series would deal with the new Batman being unable to fill Bruce Wayne's proverbial shoes, Morrison answered, "When I started out I had that in mind, and I thought we'd finally prove that nobody else could be Batman. But I do believe certain aspects of RIP were about how nobody but this guy could be Batman. I think with this, it's fun to start by seeing what happens when someone else tries. Sometimes it goes wrong, and sometimes it goes really well. Some of the things these guys do are things that Bruce Wayne would never have thought to do". In regards to using Frank Quitely as the artist, Morrison described the difference between this particular collaboration with previous ones, specifically on JLA Earth-2 and All Star Superman. For instance, Morrison asked Quitely to choreograph the flow of the action in his own way, rather than through Morrison's normally heavily detailed scripts.

Morrison said, "I've asked [Quitely] to re-introduce the much-maligned sound effects to superhero comics, but in a way that integrates them more closely with the art." He also described Batman and Robin as, "a shorter, pacier collaboration so we've tried to keep it looser and more open than All Star Superman.

When given the question about a possible appearance by the Joker, Morrison said, "I think we'd all love to see [Quitely's] take on the Joker, so yeah, I'd like to think I can make that happen in some way."

What do you think about that? Will you be reading it?

The comic is due out next week.

Discuss in the forum or leave a comment below.

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The League - Fan film to help us through while waiting for the Watchmen

Clive Young over on the always excellent Fan Cinema Today has news on a fan made film called, The League, that may be worth watching while we wait for Zack Snyder's Watchmen adaption.

The film follows a band of original, yet strangely familiar superheroes who began their adventures in the 1940s, but the story takes place decades later, after cynicism and aging have started to take their toll. That’s where the similarities with Watchmen end, however; in fan film terms, The League has much more in common with Grayson, the acclaimed Robin pseudo-trailer, and Tomorrow’s Memoir, which follows the film noir ramblings of geriatric Superman.

I posted the Grayson trailer a while ago and I am always in awe at the quality some of these fan films reach for little or no reward. You can watch The League here.

Check out Clive's book, Homemade Hollywood: Fans Behind the Camera if you get the chance.

Let me know what you thought of The League.

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Batman R.I.P. - Bruce Wayne retires

Bruce Wayne has been through an awful lot in his time. Parents killed when he was young, travelled the World to see what evil lurks in the hearts of men and how to combat it, the rise of a grotesque rogues gallery epitomized by the psychotic Joker, his back broken by Bane, his city almost destroyed in an earth quake, the appearance of a son he did not know he had, fighting, the death (and return) of Jason Todd, the JLA turning on him when they found his plans to take them all down, and so on and so fourth.

Most recently he has descended into madness through the machinations of the Black Glove in Grant Morrison's story arc Batman R.I.P. It was not clear whether this would mean the death of Bruce Wayne but has recently seen the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh, a back-up personality that Bruce created in case things went drastically wrong and was mindwiped. Basically a Batman without Bruce Wayne.

Now USA Today have the cover of Batman #681 (above), due Nov. 26, wraps up writer Grant Morrison's Batman R.I.P. story line, in which the crimefighter is so shaken by a secret from his past that a new Batman must be found.

What makes this "death" go beyond the usual circulation booster is the talent involved. Helping to bury Batman will be best-selling novelist Neil Gaiman, who created the goth-cult Sandman comic 20 years ago.

Gaiman is writing a two-issue tribute to the character, starting with Batman #686 and tentatively titled Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?, due in February.

The question is who will be the new Batman and Robin? Nightwing (Dick Grayson) has paid his dues and deserves the cowl, or maybe it will be Damien, Wayne's son who recently appeared. As to what the secret is that causes Wayne to retire well until I read the issue I don't know but it could be that his father, Thomas Wayne, is still alive and is the Black Hand or maybe Bruce has developed another personality and is the Black Hand. We will just have to wait and see.
Who do you think will be the new Batman? Do you think DC will make him more along the lines of the Christian Bale version? If you have been following the Batman R.I.P. storyline what did you think of it?

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Grayson - You will believe Dick is cool! Fnar!

With The Dark Knight busting through the $500 million mark there has been all sorts of talk about the third Nolan Bat movie. Various people rumoured to be The Riddler, Catwoman etc, and everyone is saying no Robin. I personally think no Robin is a bit of a shame. If written well he works as an integral part of the Bat universe and helps keep the Bat on the straight and narrow. Plus it gives Bruce a chance to be a father, something the Batman would never really let him be, but in the filmiverse it would be difficult to make it work without the camp factor creeping in. Plus it would all depend on how good an actor they got to play Robin.

This is a pretty cool trailer for a Robin movie. An actor named John Fiorella has made it and it features most of the Justice League and a few of Batman's motley crew of villians. You can get a copy of the script at John’s website.

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