CBR: THE BAT SIGNAL: Tomasi On Damian, Dogs & "Batman And Robin"

[CBR News]

Writer Peter Tomasi spoke with THE BAT SIGNAL about NoBody's past, digs into his approach to writing Damian Wayne and outlined his take on "Batman and Robin" in DC Comics' New 52.


Full article here.

[jloder24]

Damian's situation reminds me a lot of Dexter: natural born killers with an almost-overwhelming urge to do so, and are trying to satisfy their homicidal impulses by murdering only criminals, leaving them with a clean conscience. The main differences are 1) Dexter's "dark passenger" was born of trauma, in a very similar "origin" to Batman, where as Damian's killer instinct was due to being raised as a murdering weapon and 2) Dexter was trained by a father-figure man of justice, who's job as a policeman included killing criminals if absolutely needed, and who had no qualms in training Dexter to steer his urges towards the murdering of criminals. Damian, however, is being trained by his real father, a super hero who never, ever takes a life, and is training Damian to completely ignore his murderous impulses and never kill, even if it's a criminal who deserves it. It's like a great "What If Dexter was raised by Batman?" saga.

[Comicbookfan]

These interviews have helped me to pick up some of these new 52 comics, and this one was good so i am going to check out Batman and Robin and see how it feels.

[RoughNTumble]

excellent interview, and I agree with him about damian's tendencies

[gcarbone]

These interviews have helped me to pick up some of these new 52 comics, and this one was good so i am going to check out Batman and Robin and see how it feels.

After reading four issues I think this is in the top 4 of the new 52 (along with Animal Man, Batman and Wonder Woman).

[StoopKidLivesOn]

Fantastic interview. I'm really glad he addressed the "Damian is regressing" complaint. I've always agreed with him, but it's nice seeing it in print.

[The Ray II]

Anybody who isn't reading this sure should!

[Just Endless]

I legitimately think this is a good comic, and I'm cynical as hell when it comes to the n52. It's my favorite thing that DC publishes, really.

[pedestriancrow]

Honestly, issue #1 didn't wow me, but Tomasi and Gleason's Batman and Robin was the only Bat-title I was reading every month, pre-DCnU. So, I stuck with it, and I'm glad I did. I think Tomasi's got a handle on the feel this book should have, and I can't wait for more issues. Great interview.

[nsiops]

I agree his #1 didn't floor me either, however I must say - it's my favorite Bat title out right now. It simply keeps getting better and better. I like Detective, I love Snyder's Batman however the plot of B&R just gets me excited. It pulls into existing Batman mythos, and really creates a compelling human side regarding Bruce as a father. Loving it!

[rpi]

I am loving this title much more than I expected, but my one beef with all this is that these issues are almost exactly what Bruce has gone through with Jason Todd and Cassandra Cain (assuming their basic story beats are the same in the DCnU). Jason, the rebellious, troubled youngster. Cassandra, the child trained to be a deadly assassin. I know Damian might be Bruce's son, but I wish he'd stop acting like he's got no experience in all this. He took it slow and steady with Cassandra and did an amazing job with her, Beechen's work aside, so this feels too contrived. He failed with Jason, succeeded with Cassandra, and now is right back to making the same Jason mistakes again.

[Dick_Wingnut]

I had a tremendous bias against this book for probably obvious reasons, but Ive come to accept and dig it... I blame Stockholm syndrome

One thing that urks me is the shifting of Damien from Cat to Dog person, I thought his being a cat person was a quaint personality quirk.

[JasonTodd428]

I am loving this title much more than I expected, but my one beef with all this is that these issues are almost exactly what Bruce has gone through with Jason Todd and Cassandra Cain (assuming their basic story beats are the same in the DCnU). Jason, the rebellious, troubled youngster. Cassandra, the child trained to be a deadly assassin. I know Damian might be Bruce's son, but I wish he'd stop acting like he's got no experience in all this. He took it slow and steady with Cassandra and did an amazing job with her, Beechen's work aside, so this feels too contrived. He failed with Jason, succeeded with Cassandra, and now is right back to making the same Jason mistakes again.

And that, in a nutshell, has been my problem with these issues as well. If Bruce has already dealt the same issues in the past with regard to Cassandra and Jason it woulds stand to reason he would already know, at least on some level, how to deal with Damian now. That he doesn't seem to have a clue troubles me greatly and even more so that he is repeating some of the same mistakes here that he made with Jason years ago.