CBR: THE BAT SIGNAL: Tony Daniel on Dick Grayson, Two-Face & Classic Villains

[CBR News]

THE BAT SIGNAL returns for a conversation with writer/artist Tony Daniel about the creation of Catgirl, the return of Two-Face and the artistic process behind "Batman."


Full article here.

[jgiannantoni05]

This is a visual medium, first and foremost. That seems to have been forgotten.

Sorry Tony, I don't think that was even nearly forgotten.

So if you have an artist who writes well, you then have someone who has those types of creative sensibilities that could hopefully translate to a winning combination.

"If" is certainly the word. Tony is not a bad writer. But, for me, he doesn't nearly best represent this winning combo he mentions.

I was just fine with the winning combination of a writer doing the writing, and an artist doing the art.

[zur en arrh]

I'm hoping this upcoming arc goes back to the quality of Life After Death and not the nonsense he was writing in that Sensei arc.

[pantslesssociety]

I'm old school when it comes to my bad guys. I think bad guys should ultimately stay bad, even if they teeter on the edge of hero occasionally. You can't have it both ways.

Um. This is such juvenile thinking. Are there not enough evil people in Gotham or something? No one is allowed to be a shade of grey? I shouldn't be surprised considering this is the dude who made Jason a psycho child killer in BftC. I'll be buying this book again when Daniel is not the writer.

[Jaded Devil]

Tony Daniel’s writing got me to drop Batman for the first time since issue #400. His muddled plotting and “handle” on the various characters, especially undoing the fantastic work done on the Riddler under Paul Dini, just shows that most artists are better viewed, not read.

[darkseidpwns]

He's okay,not bad but not really good either.But i feel he's improving.

[chrisgiff]

Not that Daniel is bad, but this book just seems so meaningless next to Morrison's Batman Inc and Synder's Detective.

I just don't feel like anything of consequence is going to happen in this book to justify reading it.

Not to say that every comic has to have "Crisis" ramifications, but we've have like 70+ years of "Batman fighting The Riddler and Two-Face for a couple of issues" stories.

[DarkKnghtJared]

Sorry Tony, I don't think that was even nearly forgotten.

I think he has somewhat of a point, there--during the '00s, the focus was definitely given more to the writer, and while there were plenty of super-star artists during the '00s, they were often paired with the bigger super-star writers.

I'm hoping this upcoming arc goes back to the quality of Life After Death and not the nonsense he was writing in that Sensei arc.

And I'd flip it over--I hope he continues the more well-written and simple quality of the Sensei arc, and doesn't try to do that Loebian, overtly complicated and poorly plotted thing that was Life After Death.

[Kiryu]

I think he has somewhat of a point, there--during the '00s, the focus was definitely given more to the writer, and while there were plenty of super-star artists during the '00s, they were often paired with the bigger super-star writers.

Yeah but comics are too much half and half. It isn't skewed to the more visual side in my opinion.

For instance, Mark Millar works with AMAZING artists, but because his writing is such crap who cares?(aside from millar's fans)

Meanwhile, look at like Morrison's second arc on B&R, it's still fantastic but the art really pulls it down.

You can't have one without the other, and I'm sorry, but Finch and Daniel are not really making me keen on the "writer/artist" revolution at DC. Like I dunno whats less exciting, DC's Editors writing comics or DCs artists writing comics.

The best comics are collaborative works that combine great writing with immaculate visual storytelling. I don't care WHO is doing art on a book, if like, Chuck Austen is writing it, I'm not buying.

However, I did buy Grant Morrison's second B&R arc and have suffered through the art shifts on BoP because of the strength of the writing.

A good story will be a good story with bad art if thats what happens. But great art with a shit story will always just be pretty pictures.

[gwangung]

Um. This is such juvenile thinking. Are there not enough evil people in Gotham or something? No one is allowed to be a shade of grey?

Even if you are out and out evil, I would think some of Batman's iconic villains would be SMART about it.

I don't think Daniels writes smart villains.

[Lancerman]

Not that Daniel is bad, but this book just seems so meaningless next to Morrison's Batman Inc and Synder's Detective.

I just don't feel like anything of consequence is going to happen in this book to justify reading it.

Not to say that every comic has to have "Crisis" ramifications, but we've have like 70+ years of "Batman fighting The Riddler and Two-Face for a couple of issues" stories.

This pretty much sums up the reason why I love reading Tony Daniel's run on Batman. It's not Morrison or Snyder trying to be as innovative as possible or creating some big apocalyptic Batman story. It's simply basic Batman action stories. It's what made me love Batman in the first place.

[Godlike13]

Sounds good. Ive enjoy Daniel's work for the most part, does a damn good action book IMO, and ive had a hunger for a decent Two-Face story. So we'll see if this can satisfy it.

[RubberLotus]

Considering what Daniel wrote Harvey as in Battle for the Cowl, boy oh boy do I not look forward to this.

[Mr. Holmes]

Um. This is such juvenile thinking. Are there not enough evil people in Gotham or something? No one is allowed to be a shade of grey? I shouldn't be surprised considering this is the dude who made Jason a psycho child killer in BftC. I'll be buying this book again when Daniel is not the writer.

I general, Daniel's writing is sooo generic and vanilla/bland, and that statement is just one mere example of it.

[Godlike13]

Considering what Daniel wrote Harvey as in Battle for the Cowl, boy oh boy do I not look forward to this.

wrote Harvey as?