Post by blinker on Sept 3, 2006 16:47:52 GMT -5
Rumored for a little while now, it was finally officially annouced Sunday in Toronto: Geoff Johns and JG Jones will team next year to start off All Star Batgirl, starring Barbara Gordon.
We caught up with Johns while he was in Toronto for an inside look.
Newsarama: Geoff, you were tied to rumors about half a dozen All Star books for a while there. Why, when the spinner did stop, did it land on Batgirl?
Geoff Johns: Well, first off, All Star Batgirl won't be out until the end of next year but in this day and age, since we just got "official" approval it would've leaked on to the internet anyway so we thought we'd announce early because we're psyched. It's a mystery in the vein of Batman: Long Halloween that revolves around the "new" Batgirl, Barbara Gordon. It will be completely from her point-of-view. JG Jones and I are
planning on doing the first six issues. We’re approaching it like Loeb and Sales' Batman books and Darwyn Cooke’s New Frontier.
As for how it came about? JG and I had been watching the finishing line to 52 coming up and we were talking about doing something together afterwards. We’re about four or five months away now from finishing completely so we finally found the character and story we wanted to tell – a mystery centering around Barbara Gordon’s transformation into Batgirl. I’d been in discussion for a lot of different All Star books, and obviously, I’m a big fan of the classic, Silver Age DCU. And like three years ago when they were getting All Star Batman and Robin going, they asked me to do an arc on Batman and Robin. I wanted to introduce Batgirl, and I had the whole story laid out and was really excited about it but they ended up going a different way.
So awhile later, JG Jones and I were talking about working together again. We’d been talking about doing something for a long time, and he’d been working on 52 with us, and the Batgirl idea was still with me - to do the origin story of Barbara Gordon as Batgirl. I wanted to do something like Power Girl’s arc in JSA Classified again – and I wanted to do something fun like that, but set in the Bat-universe. It’ll still have an edge to it, of course, because it’s in Batman’s ‘world,’ but it’s really the story of a girl trying to win back her father.
NRAMA: To clarify, this is, as you said, set apart, that is, this isn’t the DCU Batgirl, necessarily, so people needn’t be thinking, “Well, this is all fun and games until she gets shot by the Joker…”
GJ: We’ll see Batgirl confront the Joker. But our take is supposed to be out and on its own. Again, we want to do something like Grant’s doing on All Star Superman – he and Frank have down their own take on the heroes, sticking very close to the iconic status of them, but they are set in their own universe.
NRAMA: Going back, you said there was talk of doing this as an arc in All Star Batman and Robin. Does that mean this Batgirl, though not connected to the DCU, is connected to that version of Batman and Robin?
GJ: Nope. The Superman in All Star Batman and Robin is totally different from the Superman in All Star Superman. JG and I see this as our opportunity to do whatever we want with Batgirl, and it doesn’t have to fit in with anything else. Come to think of it, it’s probably the first superhero project that I’ve done
that doesn’t fit into continuity.
NRAMA: That would be a new feeling for you, I’d suppose…
GJ: It is. It’s kind of liberating, and at the same time, I want to use all the toys in the Batman universe, and so does JG – she’s going to be Commissioner Gordon’s daughter, she’s going to have the long red hair and a sense of humor, she’s going to have all sorts of tricks that Batman doesn’t have. And we’re going to have a lot of fun playing with the relationship between Dick and Barbara – that relationship is going to be very different than what people are used to. Her origins, however, will be different.
NRAMA: Given that this is the iconic interpretation of Barbara as Batgirl, she’s doing this because she can, and it will be fun, right?
GJ: That’s a lot of it, but there’s more to her motivation than that. Why does she need this outlet of fun? What is happening in Gotham and in Batman’s world that requires a need for Batgirl? There's a mystery that involves her that she has to solve.
NRAMA: But what’s at the root of her doing it? What’s the motivation to do this, frankly, rather risky thing?
GJ: It has a lot to do with her having a father who’s obsessed with Batman, who turns on a big signal and talks to him on the roof. A dad who now comes home in the morning, because he’s been fighting costumed maniacs with Batman all night. Her trophies from Junior High and High School have been moved off the mantle and a mock up of Batman’s utility belt is there as an ongoing problem and challenge for Gordon to try
and figure out how it works.
Our story is going to about a girl who is in the shadow of Batman in a lot of different ways, and trying to come out of it.
NRAMA: And becoming Batgirl is, in a way, her means of connecting with and talking to her father…
GJ: In a way. She’s able to finally connect with him on a level he hasn’t been able to since her mom died. And all of this will be tempered against how Batman reacts and how Robin reacts to her, not to mention how the Scarecrow and Joker and the other villains react. We’ve also got some unique takes on supporting cast as well.
We’re shooting for something like Allan and Terry’s Wonder Woman in tone. Exciting, fun but focused on character. That’s one of my favorite books out there right now.
NRAMA: Will she have any key villains tied to her or her origin? Back in the day, it seemed like Killer Moth always gravitated toward her for better or – usually – worse.
GJ: We’re probably going to steer clear of Killer Moth, because they did Batgirl: Year One, which focused on him a lot. Plus I’d rather see JG draw Poison Ivy and Clayface.
NRAMA: And speaking of working with JG…
GJ: He did just a beautiful job with Wonder Woman: The Hiketeia and Wanted, and the 52 covers are just consistently gorgeous. We’ve talked for years about finding something that would be really fun to do. We’re aiming to tell the best action mystery adventure story we can about how and why Barbara Gordon becomes Batgirl.
Second interview:
Sunday, Geoff Johns broke the news at the Canadian National Comic Book Expo that he’ll be joining forces with JG Jones next year to work on All Star Batgirl for DC. The two’s opening arc of the series will tell the origin of Batgirl, and explain why the seemingly nice, normal, and level headed (or at least that’s what her father thought) daughter of the police Commissioner would put on a costume and swing from rooftops, fighting crime.
We spoke with Johns about the story yesterday, and today, we catch up for a brief word with Jones, for whom the work will be his first return to interior work since working with Mark Millar on Wanted.
Newsarama: First off JG, how did this come about for you?
JG Jones: Geoff and I had talked a little about working together, but for this, I actually got a cold call from Dan saying, “You know all the plans you made for the coming year? They’re different now.” But when he told me what they wanted me to do instead, it was pretty spectacular, so how could I say no?
NRAMA: So this touched a chord with you?
JGJ: Absolutely. You know I only draw a book every two years – I’ll do six issues of something or other or maybe a graphic novel, that’s my general m.o. It’s not something I thought about before, but when Geoff pitched it, it made perfect sense. I’ve always loved the Barbara Gordon character, and to do an origin of her just sounded like a lot of fun.
And I think it’s something that my two or three fans out there might like.
NRAMA: What’s the appeal of the character for you? Someone you liked as a kid, someone you grew to like, or…what?
JGJ: I like her personality at that point in her history, before she’s Oracle. She has so much enthusiasm. I’ve done characters like Black Widow and Wonder Woman, who are…not dour, but are contained. They keep a lot of their emotion and power locked down and under control. The chance to tell the story of someone who’s basically a teenager discovering her ability for the first time, and figuring out how to make that work in the world…it’s a totally different mindset for me. It brings a certain freshness. It’s like looking at a hero with new eyes.
NRAMA: And quite the palate cleanser from your last interior work on Wanted…
JGJ: [laughs] Right. It’s exactly the opposite.
NRAMA: In speaking with Geoff, one of the things he pointed out was they she was the member of the original Batman “family” who became a member out of choice…and that informs everything about her, from how he’s going to portray her to how you’re going to show her, I’d assume…she was always the one with the smile, while Batman and Robin, to an extent, always had an “on guard” air about them…
JGJ: Yeah. That’s the important thing – she doesn’t come to this out of vengeance. She comes to this out of choice, and can therefore make, I think, clearer decisions about why she’s doing it, and can sort of see it from the outside, whereas the rest of the family had a horrible tragedy that brought them to the cave.
NRAMA: You’ve yet to put pencil to paper on this project at all, but in the back of your mind, are you already thinking about some tweaks or design elements that you want to change, or add in?
JGJ: I don’t really want to tweak the costume. I think it’s the perfect costume as far as the story we’re trying to tell.
NRAMA: High heeled boots and all?
JGJ: Hmmm…I may lower them a little. That could even be a story point – discovering that boots with heels are not the best thing in the world for jumping around in. Maybe she has heels because she’s shorter than Batman and wants to be able to look him in the eye a little more…but then learns looking Batman in the eye isn’t worth the twisted ankle.
NRAMA: And so we’re looking at the traditional short cape and utility belt with canisters rather than the ouches that have come into vogue with Batman in the last 15 years or so?
JGJ: I don’t know about the canisters. We’ll see how that goes. We’ll see what she needs to carry around. If I make any tweaks on the costume, they’re going to be really minor. I like the yellow interior on the cape, and her Bat-symbol that’s specific to her. It’s just a great costume.
NRAMA: At this point, have you talked to Geoff about the story that much?
JGJ: Oh yeah – he called me up after Dan called me and gave me the pitch. I’m a reticent sort, and don’t say yes immediately, and wanted to hear what Geoff had in mind, specifically. But we’d been wanting to work together, and had gotten to know each other working on 52, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity, and a perfect story for both of us. I can’t wait to get started.
We caught up with Johns while he was in Toronto for an inside look.
Newsarama: Geoff, you were tied to rumors about half a dozen All Star books for a while there. Why, when the spinner did stop, did it land on Batgirl?
Geoff Johns: Well, first off, All Star Batgirl won't be out until the end of next year but in this day and age, since we just got "official" approval it would've leaked on to the internet anyway so we thought we'd announce early because we're psyched. It's a mystery in the vein of Batman: Long Halloween that revolves around the "new" Batgirl, Barbara Gordon. It will be completely from her point-of-view. JG Jones and I are
planning on doing the first six issues. We’re approaching it like Loeb and Sales' Batman books and Darwyn Cooke’s New Frontier.
As for how it came about? JG and I had been watching the finishing line to 52 coming up and we were talking about doing something together afterwards. We’re about four or five months away now from finishing completely so we finally found the character and story we wanted to tell – a mystery centering around Barbara Gordon’s transformation into Batgirl. I’d been in discussion for a lot of different All Star books, and obviously, I’m a big fan of the classic, Silver Age DCU. And like three years ago when they were getting All Star Batman and Robin going, they asked me to do an arc on Batman and Robin. I wanted to introduce Batgirl, and I had the whole story laid out and was really excited about it but they ended up going a different way.
So awhile later, JG Jones and I were talking about working together again. We’d been talking about doing something for a long time, and he’d been working on 52 with us, and the Batgirl idea was still with me - to do the origin story of Barbara Gordon as Batgirl. I wanted to do something like Power Girl’s arc in JSA Classified again – and I wanted to do something fun like that, but set in the Bat-universe. It’ll still have an edge to it, of course, because it’s in Batman’s ‘world,’ but it’s really the story of a girl trying to win back her father.
NRAMA: To clarify, this is, as you said, set apart, that is, this isn’t the DCU Batgirl, necessarily, so people needn’t be thinking, “Well, this is all fun and games until she gets shot by the Joker…”
GJ: We’ll see Batgirl confront the Joker. But our take is supposed to be out and on its own. Again, we want to do something like Grant’s doing on All Star Superman – he and Frank have down their own take on the heroes, sticking very close to the iconic status of them, but they are set in their own universe.
NRAMA: Going back, you said there was talk of doing this as an arc in All Star Batman and Robin. Does that mean this Batgirl, though not connected to the DCU, is connected to that version of Batman and Robin?
GJ: Nope. The Superman in All Star Batman and Robin is totally different from the Superman in All Star Superman. JG and I see this as our opportunity to do whatever we want with Batgirl, and it doesn’t have to fit in with anything else. Come to think of it, it’s probably the first superhero project that I’ve done
that doesn’t fit into continuity.
NRAMA: That would be a new feeling for you, I’d suppose…
GJ: It is. It’s kind of liberating, and at the same time, I want to use all the toys in the Batman universe, and so does JG – she’s going to be Commissioner Gordon’s daughter, she’s going to have the long red hair and a sense of humor, she’s going to have all sorts of tricks that Batman doesn’t have. And we’re going to have a lot of fun playing with the relationship between Dick and Barbara – that relationship is going to be very different than what people are used to. Her origins, however, will be different.
NRAMA: Given that this is the iconic interpretation of Barbara as Batgirl, she’s doing this because she can, and it will be fun, right?
GJ: That’s a lot of it, but there’s more to her motivation than that. Why does she need this outlet of fun? What is happening in Gotham and in Batman’s world that requires a need for Batgirl? There's a mystery that involves her that she has to solve.
NRAMA: But what’s at the root of her doing it? What’s the motivation to do this, frankly, rather risky thing?
GJ: It has a lot to do with her having a father who’s obsessed with Batman, who turns on a big signal and talks to him on the roof. A dad who now comes home in the morning, because he’s been fighting costumed maniacs with Batman all night. Her trophies from Junior High and High School have been moved off the mantle and a mock up of Batman’s utility belt is there as an ongoing problem and challenge for Gordon to try
and figure out how it works.
Our story is going to about a girl who is in the shadow of Batman in a lot of different ways, and trying to come out of it.
NRAMA: And becoming Batgirl is, in a way, her means of connecting with and talking to her father…
GJ: In a way. She’s able to finally connect with him on a level he hasn’t been able to since her mom died. And all of this will be tempered against how Batman reacts and how Robin reacts to her, not to mention how the Scarecrow and Joker and the other villains react. We’ve also got some unique takes on supporting cast as well.
We’re shooting for something like Allan and Terry’s Wonder Woman in tone. Exciting, fun but focused on character. That’s one of my favorite books out there right now.
NRAMA: Will she have any key villains tied to her or her origin? Back in the day, it seemed like Killer Moth always gravitated toward her for better or – usually – worse.
GJ: We’re probably going to steer clear of Killer Moth, because they did Batgirl: Year One, which focused on him a lot. Plus I’d rather see JG draw Poison Ivy and Clayface.
NRAMA: And speaking of working with JG…
GJ: He did just a beautiful job with Wonder Woman: The Hiketeia and Wanted, and the 52 covers are just consistently gorgeous. We’ve talked for years about finding something that would be really fun to do. We’re aiming to tell the best action mystery adventure story we can about how and why Barbara Gordon becomes Batgirl.
Second interview:
Sunday, Geoff Johns broke the news at the Canadian National Comic Book Expo that he’ll be joining forces with JG Jones next year to work on All Star Batgirl for DC. The two’s opening arc of the series will tell the origin of Batgirl, and explain why the seemingly nice, normal, and level headed (or at least that’s what her father thought) daughter of the police Commissioner would put on a costume and swing from rooftops, fighting crime.
We spoke with Johns about the story yesterday, and today, we catch up for a brief word with Jones, for whom the work will be his first return to interior work since working with Mark Millar on Wanted.
Newsarama: First off JG, how did this come about for you?
JG Jones: Geoff and I had talked a little about working together, but for this, I actually got a cold call from Dan saying, “You know all the plans you made for the coming year? They’re different now.” But when he told me what they wanted me to do instead, it was pretty spectacular, so how could I say no?
NRAMA: So this touched a chord with you?
JGJ: Absolutely. You know I only draw a book every two years – I’ll do six issues of something or other or maybe a graphic novel, that’s my general m.o. It’s not something I thought about before, but when Geoff pitched it, it made perfect sense. I’ve always loved the Barbara Gordon character, and to do an origin of her just sounded like a lot of fun.
And I think it’s something that my two or three fans out there might like.
NRAMA: What’s the appeal of the character for you? Someone you liked as a kid, someone you grew to like, or…what?
JGJ: I like her personality at that point in her history, before she’s Oracle. She has so much enthusiasm. I’ve done characters like Black Widow and Wonder Woman, who are…not dour, but are contained. They keep a lot of their emotion and power locked down and under control. The chance to tell the story of someone who’s basically a teenager discovering her ability for the first time, and figuring out how to make that work in the world…it’s a totally different mindset for me. It brings a certain freshness. It’s like looking at a hero with new eyes.
NRAMA: And quite the palate cleanser from your last interior work on Wanted…
JGJ: [laughs] Right. It’s exactly the opposite.
NRAMA: In speaking with Geoff, one of the things he pointed out was they she was the member of the original Batman “family” who became a member out of choice…and that informs everything about her, from how he’s going to portray her to how you’re going to show her, I’d assume…she was always the one with the smile, while Batman and Robin, to an extent, always had an “on guard” air about them…
JGJ: Yeah. That’s the important thing – she doesn’t come to this out of vengeance. She comes to this out of choice, and can therefore make, I think, clearer decisions about why she’s doing it, and can sort of see it from the outside, whereas the rest of the family had a horrible tragedy that brought them to the cave.
NRAMA: You’ve yet to put pencil to paper on this project at all, but in the back of your mind, are you already thinking about some tweaks or design elements that you want to change, or add in?
JGJ: I don’t really want to tweak the costume. I think it’s the perfect costume as far as the story we’re trying to tell.
NRAMA: High heeled boots and all?
JGJ: Hmmm…I may lower them a little. That could even be a story point – discovering that boots with heels are not the best thing in the world for jumping around in. Maybe she has heels because she’s shorter than Batman and wants to be able to look him in the eye a little more…but then learns looking Batman in the eye isn’t worth the twisted ankle.
NRAMA: And so we’re looking at the traditional short cape and utility belt with canisters rather than the ouches that have come into vogue with Batman in the last 15 years or so?
JGJ: I don’t know about the canisters. We’ll see how that goes. We’ll see what she needs to carry around. If I make any tweaks on the costume, they’re going to be really minor. I like the yellow interior on the cape, and her Bat-symbol that’s specific to her. It’s just a great costume.
NRAMA: At this point, have you talked to Geoff about the story that much?
JGJ: Oh yeah – he called me up after Dan called me and gave me the pitch. I’m a reticent sort, and don’t say yes immediately, and wanted to hear what Geoff had in mind, specifically. But we’d been wanting to work together, and had gotten to know each other working on 52, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity, and a perfect story for both of us. I can’t wait to get started.
