Post by /\/\att on Jul 10, 2009 8:50:02 GMT -5
The Creation of the Brave and the Bold classic, “Interlude on Earth-Two”
Interview by and courtesy of Fred M. Grandinetti
Below is an interview with famed writer, Alan Brennert, regarding how he came to write Interlude on Earth-Two published in Brave and the Bold# 182. This classic tale sent the modern Batman to Earth-Two where he, a grown up Robin and Batwoman battle Hugo Strange. As a longtime fan of the original Batwoman (Kathy Kane) I was deeply disturbed by her demise at the hands of The League of Assassins (and DC’s editorial board).
DC approved this move to boost reader interest in Batman’s adventures but her death apparently left little impression on The Masked Manhunter.
She was not allowed to die a heroic death and was one of the first heroines to be killed off by DC Comics which, unfortunately, has become the norm.
I have had several articles published on Batwoman’s career in various magazines and newspapers. All have mentioned Alan Brennert’s classic story.
************************
How did this story come about?
Originally I’d wanted to do a story teaming the Earth-One Batman with the Justice Society. But at that time Roy Thomas was DC’s official “Earth-Two Editor”-he had veto power where the JSA could appear
and he was keeping a tight rein on how the characters were portrayed. So I found myself in a quandary; How to do an Earth-Two story without the JSA? Then I hit on the idea of using the Earth-Two Robin and
limiting the story to E-Two versions of the Batman Family. I believe Roy signed off on this, and also graciously allowed me to use Starman in a cameo. In the end, it probably turned out to be a more memorable story than if I’d used the JSA.
Were you a fan of the former Earth-Two and well versed on its history? You certainly knew the history of the Earth-Two Batman.
I loved Earth-Two-still do-for all of the reasons you cite; characters could age, marry, change in ways the heavily merchandised Earth-One versions never could. I remember being absolutely fascinated, not just the Julie Schwartz’s Earth-Two stories, but the one-text features about Golden Age characters that Julie ran in many of the comics in the 60s. This idea of a super heroic history that stretched back over twenty years really held a huge sway over my imagination, which is why so many of my own comics stories played with he concept of alternate worlds and/or the passage of time.
I was familiar with Batman’s history as well as anyone who grew up reading those great 80-page Giant Batman Annuals, as you can tell from the Batcave sequences in “Interlude”, though I was ever tempted to try to work in the Zebra Batman.
Being a longtime fan of the original Batwoman, I was thrilled to see Kathy Kane included. The scene where Batman and Batwoman shake hands gives me a chill. Why did you decide to include her?
Since I was focusing the story on the Earth-Two Batman Family, it seemed logical to include Batwoman. Plus it had never been established that there was an Earth-Two Batwoman and I thought that would be kind of cool to do, so that at least she was still alive somewhere.
In the story where the Earth-One Kathy Kane was murdered Batman showed little emotion over her death (this being a woman he once admitted loving). However in this story Batman’s emotions were worn on his sleeve. Did you write it like this to perhaps correct the wrong turns made when the Earth-One Kathy was killed and Batman’s lack of reaction to it? The last scene between the two appears to have been written with that thought in mind.
Yeah, that was pretty much my thinking; if you’re going to kill of a character that cast as much of a shadow as Kathy had at one time; at least make more of a big deal out of it. But in all fairness, when Denny O’Neil wrote that story killing off Kathy Kane, I think there was probably some uncertainty at DC over how many of those 1950s stories actually happened to the then-current (Earth-One) Batman, and did he really have the romantic attachment to her that the 50s-era Batman did? I chose to think that he did, but I can also see how Denny might have thought, eh, not so much. Was the Neal Adams Batman really the same one who fought “The Alien Boss of Gotham City”? I think Batwoman just brought up a whole lot of associations the creators of the current Batman were uncomfortable with, understandably so.
Certainly Hugo Strange’s reasoning for wanting to bring the three heroes together was unique (in order for them to destroy him). Was that your intention all along rather than simply the capture of the mad scientist?
I was never as interested in how the hero captures the bad guy as I was the emotional/psychological aspects of the characters and their relationships. (At the end of “The Autobiography of Bruce Wayne”, you may recall, Batman actually captures the Scarecrow off-panel.) Having Hugo Strange become the unwitting victim of his own deranged experiments and actually long for the release of death, that just seemed a little fresher.
When you submitted this story to the brass at DC do you recall their initial reaction? Was it, “oh, no you’ve included Batwoman!” It’s too bad a story such as this couldn’t convince them Earth-Two had much reason to hang on.
I handed the script to Dick Giordano and as far as I know there was no reaction at all from above. After all, it was Earth-Two, and it didn’t really affect Earth-One continuity.
I always felt DC should have retained Earth-Two after The Crisis of Infinite Earths because the heroes depicted here were allowed to age, grow, have children and DC could still have another universe devoted to characters for licensing purposes. What did you think when the Crisis wiped out this Earth, along with the deaths of the Huntress, Robin, etc.,
I wasn’t happy about it. It seemed like a waste of a really great concept-an opinion that I think has since been validated by Marvel’s use of its own plethora of alternate Earths (which don’t seem to have confused their core audience) and now by the welcome return of the DC Multiverse (albeit not quite as Multi, pared down to 52). The Multiverse was only confusing when it was handled badly.
Following the Crisis, DC depicted many, many stories featuring deaths of several super heroines and much blood shed. I certainly didn’t appreciate the deaths of Lois Lane and the Earth-Two Superman in Infinite Crisis.
What are your feelings on the high mortality rate?
Well, I’m not exactly without blood on my hands myself-I killed off the Golden Age Black Canary-but I admit, I found the death of the Golden Age Superman in Infinite Crisis to be rather gratuitous and I was kind of mad about it at the time. But now that Earth-Two is back-at least some version of Earth-Two-I’m feeling a lot more forgiving about it, and who knows, maybe Kal-L will find his way back into continuity as well.
Interview by and courtesy of Fred M. Grandinetti
Below is an interview with famed writer, Alan Brennert, regarding how he came to write Interlude on Earth-Two published in Brave and the Bold# 182. This classic tale sent the modern Batman to Earth-Two where he, a grown up Robin and Batwoman battle Hugo Strange. As a longtime fan of the original Batwoman (Kathy Kane) I was deeply disturbed by her demise at the hands of The League of Assassins (and DC’s editorial board).
DC approved this move to boost reader interest in Batman’s adventures but her death apparently left little impression on The Masked Manhunter.
She was not allowed to die a heroic death and was one of the first heroines to be killed off by DC Comics which, unfortunately, has become the norm.
I have had several articles published on Batwoman’s career in various magazines and newspapers. All have mentioned Alan Brennert’s classic story.
************************
How did this story come about?
Originally I’d wanted to do a story teaming the Earth-One Batman with the Justice Society. But at that time Roy Thomas was DC’s official “Earth-Two Editor”-he had veto power where the JSA could appear
and he was keeping a tight rein on how the characters were portrayed. So I found myself in a quandary; How to do an Earth-Two story without the JSA? Then I hit on the idea of using the Earth-Two Robin and
limiting the story to E-Two versions of the Batman Family. I believe Roy signed off on this, and also graciously allowed me to use Starman in a cameo. In the end, it probably turned out to be a more memorable story than if I’d used the JSA.
Were you a fan of the former Earth-Two and well versed on its history? You certainly knew the history of the Earth-Two Batman.
I loved Earth-Two-still do-for all of the reasons you cite; characters could age, marry, change in ways the heavily merchandised Earth-One versions never could. I remember being absolutely fascinated, not just the Julie Schwartz’s Earth-Two stories, but the one-text features about Golden Age characters that Julie ran in many of the comics in the 60s. This idea of a super heroic history that stretched back over twenty years really held a huge sway over my imagination, which is why so many of my own comics stories played with he concept of alternate worlds and/or the passage of time.
I was familiar with Batman’s history as well as anyone who grew up reading those great 80-page Giant Batman Annuals, as you can tell from the Batcave sequences in “Interlude”, though I was ever tempted to try to work in the Zebra Batman.
Being a longtime fan of the original Batwoman, I was thrilled to see Kathy Kane included. The scene where Batman and Batwoman shake hands gives me a chill. Why did you decide to include her?
Since I was focusing the story on the Earth-Two Batman Family, it seemed logical to include Batwoman. Plus it had never been established that there was an Earth-Two Batwoman and I thought that would be kind of cool to do, so that at least she was still alive somewhere.
In the story where the Earth-One Kathy Kane was murdered Batman showed little emotion over her death (this being a woman he once admitted loving). However in this story Batman’s emotions were worn on his sleeve. Did you write it like this to perhaps correct the wrong turns made when the Earth-One Kathy was killed and Batman’s lack of reaction to it? The last scene between the two appears to have been written with that thought in mind.
Yeah, that was pretty much my thinking; if you’re going to kill of a character that cast as much of a shadow as Kathy had at one time; at least make more of a big deal out of it. But in all fairness, when Denny O’Neil wrote that story killing off Kathy Kane, I think there was probably some uncertainty at DC over how many of those 1950s stories actually happened to the then-current (Earth-One) Batman, and did he really have the romantic attachment to her that the 50s-era Batman did? I chose to think that he did, but I can also see how Denny might have thought, eh, not so much. Was the Neal Adams Batman really the same one who fought “The Alien Boss of Gotham City”? I think Batwoman just brought up a whole lot of associations the creators of the current Batman were uncomfortable with, understandably so.
Certainly Hugo Strange’s reasoning for wanting to bring the three heroes together was unique (in order for them to destroy him). Was that your intention all along rather than simply the capture of the mad scientist?
I was never as interested in how the hero captures the bad guy as I was the emotional/psychological aspects of the characters and their relationships. (At the end of “The Autobiography of Bruce Wayne”, you may recall, Batman actually captures the Scarecrow off-panel.) Having Hugo Strange become the unwitting victim of his own deranged experiments and actually long for the release of death, that just seemed a little fresher.
When you submitted this story to the brass at DC do you recall their initial reaction? Was it, “oh, no you’ve included Batwoman!” It’s too bad a story such as this couldn’t convince them Earth-Two had much reason to hang on.
I handed the script to Dick Giordano and as far as I know there was no reaction at all from above. After all, it was Earth-Two, and it didn’t really affect Earth-One continuity.
I always felt DC should have retained Earth-Two after The Crisis of Infinite Earths because the heroes depicted here were allowed to age, grow, have children and DC could still have another universe devoted to characters for licensing purposes. What did you think when the Crisis wiped out this Earth, along with the deaths of the Huntress, Robin, etc.,
I wasn’t happy about it. It seemed like a waste of a really great concept-an opinion that I think has since been validated by Marvel’s use of its own plethora of alternate Earths (which don’t seem to have confused their core audience) and now by the welcome return of the DC Multiverse (albeit not quite as Multi, pared down to 52). The Multiverse was only confusing when it was handled badly.
Following the Crisis, DC depicted many, many stories featuring deaths of several super heroines and much blood shed. I certainly didn’t appreciate the deaths of Lois Lane and the Earth-Two Superman in Infinite Crisis.
What are your feelings on the high mortality rate?
Well, I’m not exactly without blood on my hands myself-I killed off the Golden Age Black Canary-but I admit, I found the death of the Golden Age Superman in Infinite Crisis to be rather gratuitous and I was kind of mad about it at the time. But now that Earth-Two is back-at least some version of Earth-Two-I’m feeling a lot more forgiving about it, and who knows, maybe Kal-L will find his way back into continuity as well.
