CBR: THE BAT SIGNAL: Burnham Gets Detailed On "Batman Incorporated"

[CBR News]

CBR News' THE BAT SIGNAL looks into the grand finale of "Batman Incorporated's" first volume as artist Chris Burnham goes into detail on "Leviathan Strikes!" while teasing what's next for Grant Morrison's story.


Full article here.

[Kiryu]

Chris, your work is unfriggin believable. I'm so happy to see art as wonderful as yours working in tandem with a story as great as this to produce what has easily been the best comic of 2011. And by comic I do mean the collaboration of art and story - this story would not have been as fantastic without your art.

I cannot wait to see more and I am so excited that you'll be on Leviathan - whenever it comes

And the stuff that's coming back from the first volume is the core Batman members versus the forces of Leviathan. I think it's hopefully going to dodge the question of the weird continuity problems. Hopefully we'll be able to dodge that entirely. [Laugher] So when Grant's full Batman run is completely done, you'll be able to read it all from start to finish and the "Flashpoint" thing won't even register. That's my hope.

Music to my ears. I'd love for the only thing about Flashpoint that registers for me is the freeing-up of cash from dropped titles

[TZDEKA]

Yeah, he's quickly become one of my favorites, really think he's perfect for these kinds of stories.

[Johnny P. Sartre]

What a cool read and made me even more stoked on Leviathan.

Also, for a split second I thought the title was called Burnham Gets derailed On "Batman Incorporated" and I became bummed out.

If anyone else wants more Burnham check out these titles!
http://www.amazon.com/Officer-Downe-...1&sr=1-1-fkmr2
http://www.amazon.com/Nixons-Pals-Jo...5184200&sr=1-6

[Mr. Holmes]

But what became totally clear to me is that the Denny O'Neil/Neal Adams stuff that launched the very first Ra's stories...well, "Batman Inc" is almost a direct sequel to that stuff. So if you go back and read that, it's puts things in a really interesting light. I don't know if I channeled any Neal Adams stuff in my first run, but he's really been in my mind moving forward. I'm super psyched to be continuing this 40-year-long meta story or whatever you'd call it.

Now that's interesting.

[Retro315]

Now that's interesting.

Reopening the Demon's Quest now!

It's so easy to see where the other bits tie in as well, obviously the biggest particulars being Son of the Demon and the death of Kathy Kane issues.

I re-read Resurrection of Ra's al Ghul the other day, and there were a couple of notable bits. Some of Talia's dialogue certainly fits the bill as someone cunning enough that she's fighting alongside her beloved dead-man-walking even as she connives and plots. But the big part was how far she was willing to go against her own father when he interfered for "HER PLANS" for Damian. Which means she was never finished with "her plans for Damian" - they were totally derailed after some "other evil organization and devious diva" supposedly "killed" her target out from under her.

I don't think "Leviathan" began in earnest until Batman died and I'm curious how it changed in time for Bruce to ... well, come back.

[FHIZ]

Betting on May for Leviathan #1. Won't be surprised if it turns to June...

[The Lucky One]

And the stuff that's coming back from the first volume is the core Batman members versus the forces of Leviathan. I think it's hopefully going to dodge the question of the weird continuity problems. Hopefully we'll be able to dodge that entirely. [Laugher] So when Grant's full Batman run is completely done, you'll be able to read it all from start to finish and the "Flashpoint" thing won't even register. That's my hope.

It's a nice hope, but it kind of hinges on Barbara and Stephanie playing little to no role in Leviathan Strikes. Any (costumed) Babsgirl or Spoiler appearance would sort of automatically "register" Flashpoint, no?

Which, I suppose, in turn depends on who you consider the "core" Batman members.

-D

[Filip]

Nice interview. CB art is absolutely suitable to daily-glo-pop-acid-Bat-flavour Morrison rides on.

Leviathan has been confirmed as total of 12 issues, right? And Burnham will be the only Morrison's artistic partner in crime? I need confirmation on these two, please.

Betting on May for Leviathan #1. Won't be surprised if it turns to June...

I'm placing my bet before the TDKR release, start of summer... but hopeful for May.

[Retro315]

It's a nice hope, but it kind of hinges on Barbara and Stephanie playing little to no role in Leviathan Strikes. Any (costumed) Babsgirl or Spoiler appearance would sort of automatically "register" Flashpoint, no?

Which, I suppose, in turn depends on who you consider the "core" Batman members.

-D

Mustn't forget that Morrison has a great track-record for just rapidly assimilating continuity changes and tossing us into situations regardless, like he did in JLA with Electric Superman ... Dead Wonder Woman ... and a freaking myriad of other characters.

He's always written the characters in team-ups quite a bit like each character is speaking dialogue that their current solo title writer would have written. Aquaman spat Peter David grouchy lines. Rayner dropped 90s idioms straight out of Marz' book and Wally felt Waid-like.

Even Final Crisis just rolled with it ... Hawkman back with Kendra. Ollie and Dinah "just married". Who rapidly cycled through a few Wingmen and Dark Rangers, threw Cassandra Cain into a large, important position in Incorporated with a new appropriate moniker heralding back to a Pulp-era rival of Batman's, and brought in Nightrunner.

In fact, I'd wager honest money that within the first couple panels of Barbara appearing as Batgirl, there's some line or quip that works perfectly to describe the difference between her last Incorporated appearance as Oracle and her latest as Batgirl. Ditto you know ... Spoiler, Nightwing, Batwing living up to Judd's origin story, and all others.

[FHIZ]

I'm placing my bet before the TDKR release, start of summer... but hopeful for May.

I think we should start a poll.

[FailureByDesign]

Music to my ears.

Agreed, my only real concern was that the DCnU would influence Grant's story.

[Alex Decay]

As a reader and a Batman fan and a Grant fan, I thought it was awesome. Since reading the script, I've gone back and picked up pretty much every Ra's al Ghul and Talia story. And some of them are terrible, and some of them are awesome. But what became totally clear to me is that the Denny O'Neil/Neal Adams stuff that launched the very first Ra's stories...well, "Batman Inc" is almost a direct sequel to that stuff.

Sounds like Grant Morrison's storytelling.

[Batmite2012]

Creatively, it's the titles that didn't exist or no one noticed that benefited from the Relaunch. Animal Man, Wonder Woman, Frankenstein... But the main titles JLA, Superman, Teen Titans, Aquaman STILL SUCK. The Flash is OK, and so is Batman by Scott Snyder. But everything else? More of the same crap just worse "creative" teams.

Grant Morrison seems to be waning, though. I thought the "revelation" at the end of his run on "Batman and Robin" was non-existent. Pointless. What was so threatening and menacing about Doctor Simon Hurt to begin with?? The facility with which the Joker defeated him and the easy with which the Joker was apprehended by Batman was incredibly disappointing.

[The Lucky One]

Mustn't forget that Morrison has a great track-record for just rapidly assimilating continuity changes and tossing us into situations regardless, like he did in JLA with Electric Superman ... Dead Wonder Woman ... and a freaking myriad of other characters.

Sure, I'm not questioning Morrison's ability to incorporate changes. (And since I'm not reading Leviathan, it's all academic to me.) I was just pointing out that for it to actually dodge all "weird continuity problems" and for readers to be able to not even know Flashpoint had happened, as Burnham hopes, well, that would be quite a feat. Since it hasn't been confirmed yet whether Babs was ever Oracle in DCnU or Steph was ever Batgirl, Leviathan will have to either confirm those facts itself or not reference some of its own earlier continuity; plus there are Tim and Dick and Bruce's costume changes, which are pretty minor all told, but are still an indication that something has happened.

Again, that's not a knock on Morrison's ability to weave in other people's stories; it's just an observation that for a future reader to really not know that a big continuity shift happened in the middle of the story, a lot of things will have to fall in place, or be very skillfully glossed over.

-D