Post by /\/\att on Jun 20, 2006 3:53:54 GMT -5
Mr. Steve Englehart, the legendary Batman writer that re-defined Batman from the campy 60s era into the character we see today has agreed to chat with LoG!
We're both honored and excited about this interview. I decided to do something a little different and let ALL of the questions be asked by the fans here.
You can check our Steve's extensive comicography on his official website
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LoG member jlavaia asks: Will we be seeing any more work coming out of the "strange apparitions" and "dark detective" era? Both were phenomenal works and i hope you get to continue telling those stories!
Steve Englehart: Thank you, and yes, we are doing a third run called DARK DETECTIVE III. I've written #1 at this point and Marshall will begin drawing it just as soon as he finishes our BLACK RIDER for Marvel.
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LoG member Shadowbat69 asks: This is my favorite era of Batman comics, both the art and the writing.
Mr. Englehart, you wrote stories that gave such an intensity and depth to the characters involved, you could tell that there was much more going on with them. There also seemed to be more dialog as well as narrative in the books that you and some of the other writers did as opposed to what we get in todays comics. How do you feel about the current state of comic writing? Also, do you think there are too many titles for one particular character and do you think this has alot to do with some of the current continuity problems?
Thanks for your time, and thank you for giving Batman fans great stories.
Steve Englehart: These are all great questions, but I decided fairly recently that I'm going to duck everything in that vein. I do what I do because that's what seems right to me, but if others have different standards, then they do. In the end it's you guys and what you pay money for that will change things.
********************************
LoG member wetstereorebel asks: Mr. Englehart, when was writing the stories that drug Batman out of those campy 60's plots, I w! onder how much of a concious decison it was to 'darken' the character? Was there ever a certain plot line or a story that you didn't do or drastically re-wrote because it might have seemed like too much of a throwback to the more fantastical 60s?
Steve Englehart: Another good question. I had watched the Batman TV show, I had read the O'Neil/Adams stories, but what I hadn't seen, beyond the occasional reprint, was the original 1939 stuff with its pulp influences. When I got DC to show me that (incidentally creating the whole Archive genre), I loved the darkness of the early version. Yes, I was consciously reacting against the camp, but I was also consciously acting in favor of the pulpy darkness. In addition, I wanted Bruce Wayne, noted playboy, to have an adult relationship, and that also gave the stories more weight. So I never looked back at the 60s (although I like a great deal of it, with Infantino and Kane and Robbins). I was determined to find, IMHO, the essence of the character, and that was all forward motion.
********************************
LoG member andyh40 asks: Steve, you did such a brilliant job in updating most of Batman's main rogue's gallery throughout the 70's. Of course, your Joker story, 'The Laughing Fish', has become a true classic in the Batman Canon. I consider it the first Joker story that actually combined the absurd comedy of the character, with his psychopathic murderous side to it's most perfect degree. Can you tell us a little about genesis of the story?
Steve Englehart: Well, I wanted to combine the absurd comedy of the character with his psychopathic murderous side. :-) Seriously - the psychopathic side had been lost and I knew I had to get that back, but it was the Joker, not Jack the Ripper or any other psychopath, so I needed something _funny_. And it was clear that the Joker wouldn't see the humor in it at all. The Joker amuses himself and so thinks he's funny, but if he thinks he's being serious he misses the humor entirely. I wish, now, I could tell you the exact moment that "laughing fish" blew up in my brain - or why I can wrap my head around a psychopath's - but all I know is, one day it was there...in my head. The next step was to get it drawn on paper, and if Marshall and Terry hadn't been involved, who knows how it would have come out?
********************************
LoG member BatmAngelus asks: Mr. Englehart, I'm a big fan of your ! work. The "Strange Apparitions" TPB of your '70's run in Batman's Detective Comics is one of my favorite collections.
I am aware that you were involved in the story development of the 1989 Batman film, including writing two script treatments. It is in the introduction of "Strange Apparitions" and also on your website (so Grissom and Vicki Vale were originally Rupert Thorne and Silver St. Cloud?! Wow). Did you like the final product? Is there anything you would like to share regarding the similarities and differences between your treatment and the final film? Any chance we'll be seeing more of your treatments than the two pages on your website?
Steve Englehart: I liked the final product a lot. I am sorry that Rupert and Silver had their names changed - it would have been a better movie with a full-blown Silver St Cloud as opposed to a generic girlfriend - but they got the Batman and the Joker the way I wrote them and that's what a writer wants. I was especially pleased that the line where Batman (or maybe Bruce) says he's not insane, because I've always believed that in the face of many who can't wrap their heads around that.
********************************
Thanks so much to Mr. Englehart for taking the time to chat with the fans here at LoG. Its an honor to chat with such a Bat-Comics legend!
We're both honored and excited about this interview. I decided to do something a little different and let ALL of the questions be asked by the fans here.
You can check our Steve's extensive comicography on his official website
********************************
LoG member jlavaia asks: Will we be seeing any more work coming out of the "strange apparitions" and "dark detective" era? Both were phenomenal works and i hope you get to continue telling those stories!
Steve Englehart: Thank you, and yes, we are doing a third run called DARK DETECTIVE III. I've written #1 at this point and Marshall will begin drawing it just as soon as he finishes our BLACK RIDER for Marvel.
********************************
********************************
LoG member Shadowbat69 asks: This is my favorite era of Batman comics, both the art and the writing.
Mr. Englehart, you wrote stories that gave such an intensity and depth to the characters involved, you could tell that there was much more going on with them. There also seemed to be more dialog as well as narrative in the books that you and some of the other writers did as opposed to what we get in todays comics. How do you feel about the current state of comic writing? Also, do you think there are too many titles for one particular character and do you think this has alot to do with some of the current continuity problems?
Thanks for your time, and thank you for giving Batman fans great stories.
Steve Englehart: These are all great questions, but I decided fairly recently that I'm going to duck everything in that vein. I do what I do because that's what seems right to me, but if others have different standards, then they do. In the end it's you guys and what you pay money for that will change things.
********************************
LoG member wetstereorebel asks: Mr. Englehart, when was writing the stories that drug Batman out of those campy 60's plots, I w! onder how much of a concious decison it was to 'darken' the character? Was there ever a certain plot line or a story that you didn't do or drastically re-wrote because it might have seemed like too much of a throwback to the more fantastical 60s?
Steve Englehart: Another good question. I had watched the Batman TV show, I had read the O'Neil/Adams stories, but what I hadn't seen, beyond the occasional reprint, was the original 1939 stuff with its pulp influences. When I got DC to show me that (incidentally creating the whole Archive genre), I loved the darkness of the early version. Yes, I was consciously reacting against the camp, but I was also consciously acting in favor of the pulpy darkness. In addition, I wanted Bruce Wayne, noted playboy, to have an adult relationship, and that also gave the stories more weight. So I never looked back at the 60s (although I like a great deal of it, with Infantino and Kane and Robbins). I was determined to find, IMHO, the essence of the character, and that was all forward motion.
********************************
LoG member andyh40 asks: Steve, you did such a brilliant job in updating most of Batman's main rogue's gallery throughout the 70's. Of course, your Joker story, 'The Laughing Fish', has become a true classic in the Batman Canon. I consider it the first Joker story that actually combined the absurd comedy of the character, with his psychopathic murderous side to it's most perfect degree. Can you tell us a little about genesis of the story?
Steve Englehart: Well, I wanted to combine the absurd comedy of the character with his psychopathic murderous side. :-) Seriously - the psychopathic side had been lost and I knew I had to get that back, but it was the Joker, not Jack the Ripper or any other psychopath, so I needed something _funny_. And it was clear that the Joker wouldn't see the humor in it at all. The Joker amuses himself and so thinks he's funny, but if he thinks he's being serious he misses the humor entirely. I wish, now, I could tell you the exact moment that "laughing fish" blew up in my brain - or why I can wrap my head around a psychopath's - but all I know is, one day it was there...in my head. The next step was to get it drawn on paper, and if Marshall and Terry hadn't been involved, who knows how it would have come out?
********************************
LoG member BatmAngelus asks: Mr. Englehart, I'm a big fan of your ! work. The "Strange Apparitions" TPB of your '70's run in Batman's Detective Comics is one of my favorite collections.
I am aware that you were involved in the story development of the 1989 Batman film, including writing two script treatments. It is in the introduction of "Strange Apparitions" and also on your website (so Grissom and Vicki Vale were originally Rupert Thorne and Silver St. Cloud?! Wow). Did you like the final product? Is there anything you would like to share regarding the similarities and differences between your treatment and the final film? Any chance we'll be seeing more of your treatments than the two pages on your website?
Steve Englehart: I liked the final product a lot. I am sorry that Rupert and Silver had their names changed - it would have been a better movie with a full-blown Silver St Cloud as opposed to a generic girlfriend - but they got the Batman and the Joker the way I wrote them and that's what a writer wants. I was especially pleased that the line where Batman (or maybe Bruce) says he's not insane, because I've always believed that in the face of many who can't wrap their heads around that.
********************************
Thanks so much to Mr. Englehart for taking the time to chat with the fans here at LoG. Its an honor to chat with such a Bat-Comics legend!