This week, the Joker epic Death of the Family hits the pages of Batman and Robin #15, which will extend to next month's #16 as well. The Joker and current Robin Damian Wayne have got a bit of a history (crowbars were involved) from back in the days of Grant Morrison's B&R run, so this new confrontation should be interesting.
We talked with writer Peter Tomasi about the upcoming tie-in, on sale Wednesday.
IGN Comics: Damian has a bit of history with the Joker that I can’t imagine Joker is going to remember too fondly. Does this mean we’re going to see a rematch, so to speak, of those two?
Peter Tomasi: Yeah, I’m glad you mentioned that, actually. That does actually happen. There’s some specific reference to their previous little crowbar incident and everything else in the police precinct back in Grant’s [Morrison] Batman and Robin run. There’s some real key lines that I spin off of from Grant’s stuff that Joker definitely does not forget, and neither does Robin. There’s some cool spins on that that actually play out in these two issues of Death of the Family.
Tomasi: [laughs] Assuming. I sure hope they survive, that’d be horrible if Batman died! I don’t know what DC Comics would do. But yeah, the relationship from the first issue has been one of growth and change, so even after this – after the horror that’s going to be perpetrated on all of these people in the Bat-family – it’s going to change the family dynamic in many ways and it’s also going clarify and enhance Bruce and Damian’s relationship.
IGN: Do you think Damian sees Joker as an opportunity to make his dad proud?
Tomasi: Absolutely. That’s a good question. The first thing he does is go out and look for Alfred, but there’s a sense of “if I can go find Alfred and bring him back to safety, it says ‘look at me, Dad.’” It’s a son trying to prove to his dad that he can step up in those kind of situations, especially since Bruce has told him to lay low and leave the cave.
Of course, he’s breaking the rules and going against his father’s wishes, but he’s thinking that if he goes against his wishes at least he comes back with Alfred. That would wash away any of that kind of rule breaking, so it’s going to be interesting the way it plays out and how the dynamic between Bruce and Damian goes on after this issue.
IGN: How are the events of Death of the Family going to impact Batman and Robin, the series itself, long term?
Tomasi: The stuff that they go through is pretty intense and you’ll see right in the next issue, #17, the ramifications and reverberations of what just happened to them, and even to Alfred. That’s all still percolating and not going away; we’ll see that played out.
IGN: How did Batman and Robin’s involvement in this story come about? Was this an editorial thing or did you see a natural tie to tell this story here?
Tomasi: We were sitting around talking about the Joker one day in Mike Marts’ office, me and Scott [Snyder], and we both had a very distinct view on the Joker; we’re right on the same page. We both started laughing just how close our feeling for the Joker was. We started talking about the best way for the Joker to come back into the book, and it really dealt with making an impact, not just on any peripheral characters or even Gotham itself, but to really come at the Bat-family. Those always seem to be the best kind of stories with the Joker, and that’s what we did. Then I threw out riffing off of A Death in the Family, when Jason was killed, and said “Hey, why don’t we name this Death of the Family?” and everyone got on board with the title.
Scott went off and wrote a main document detailing his story, and then from there we had another meeting in the offices with the rest of the Bat-writers and we figured out and broke the story on how best to play off the spine of Scott’s story and branch out into the other books. That worked out pretty good.
IGN: What’s your take on what makes Joker such a compelling villain?
Tomasi: He’s iconic, one, in a visual sense. And two, just that feeling of how important Batman is to him and him to Batman. Just the twisted and sick way that he views everything; that Joker prism that is just so distinct. We see it come into play the way he talks to Batman during Scott’s stuff and then we’ll see it fleshed out more in Batman and Robin when he’s talking to Damian about how he views what Robins mean to him. And what he feels Robins mean to Batman and what a burden he feels the Robins are to the Batman.
Once you peel away the layers of the Joker and just see the darkness and the true insanity and the way he’s a super-genius in so many ways also, he’s just a great character to write. I don’t want to spoil what comes out in these issues, but my take on him will be pretty specific and people will realize the way I see him in those two issues.
IGN: This is a more general Batman and Robin question, but are we going to see the events happening with Damian in Batman Incorporated impact your story in Batman and Robin?
Tomasi: Yeah. There’s definitely going to be an impact across the board on the stuff coming up. Kind of a cross-pollination I guess you could call it, a sense of stuff that’s happening in Batman Inc. starting to bleed into the other books.
Tomasi: I wish I could! I don’t think I can even give you the slightest hint of a clue. But it’s pretty big, it’s pretty heavy, and it’s got a lot of great psychological elements along with some great stuff with Batman and Robin. I think there are some big surprises coming everybody’s way. I wish I could tell you more, but it’s one of those stupid moments where I just can’t say anything because anything will tip it.
IGN: That’s pretty much all I’ve got, is there anything you want to add?
Tomasi: Just touting the art of Pat Gleason and the rest of the team, Mick Gray and John Kanlisz, they’re top notch, man. They’re A-list guys. I’m hoping that with everybody looking at these next couple of issues, they’ll really start to realize just how talented all of these guys are. Hopefully they’ll get talked about more and get the press they deserve.
Joey is IGN's Comics Editor and a comic book creator. Follow Joey on Twitter @JoeyEsposito, or find him on IGN at Joey-IGN. Damian Wayne is his favorite Robin.
Source : ign[dot]com
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