Geoff Johns and Gary Frank need no introduction to comic book fans.
For years, theyve collaborated on some of the most engrossing books youll find on comic racks.
Since 2012, with the publication ofBatman: Earth OneVol.
We meet Gothams Finest in unfamiliar roles (especially for the Harvey Bullock we know and love).
But its Johns and Frank take on the villains, so theres always a little twist.
Only this time, hell have to learn how to do some detective work to save the day.
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Enjoy!
We need to talk about the Riddler.
What is it about the Riddler that has made him such a prevalent character in todays Batman comics?
What was the inspiration behind the grungy-looking Riddler?
Gary Frank:The city, the environment is very not traditional.
So it was trying to find a version of the Riddler which our version of the city would produce.
Geoff and I talked about a way in which we could do it which wasnt too kitsch.
There were certain things we wanted to avoid.
GJ:We didnt want to do the bowler hat.
We wanted to try something different in this reality.
Not that there is anything wrong with the classic elements.
But beyond that, we just wanted to make something that was a little less flashy.
At some point we talked about maybe doing tattoos or another way of approaching that.
In the end, we restricted it to the immaculate.
What are the challenges of writing and drawing such a different, militaristic-looking Alfred?
GF:We didnt want to do a small butler with a pencil mustache.
It never really felt natural to me seeing him as this butler.
We wanted our Alfred to be robut and we wanted the visuals accommodate that.
We wanted to do something that woudl stray away from what people would expect visually.
And when Gary drew him, I immediately connected with it.
Writing this different Alfred, hes become an important character to me in a lot of ways.
I have to say there werent too many chalenges on Alfred once we hit on who he was.
I did have to rely on Gary for some of the dialogue, though.
What was the inspiration behind Birthday Boy [fromBatman: Earth OneVol.
So we came up with a creepy guy who worked for Penguin called the Birthday Boy.
We wanted shocking and disturbing.
We start to see the evolution of Batman from a brawler to detective work in Vol.
Do you see a where your Batman will become the ultimate crime-fighting force that we know and love?
Is that an end goal?
Hes just a different bang out of Bruce Wayne.
Ultimately, he might grow in skill, but the path we put him on is pretty different.
He will grow as Batman and as Bruce Wayne, and thats a big part of his journey.
So were definitely going to get Vol.
3 at some point?Is there any chance we are finally going to see Batgirl?
GJ:We are already deep into Vol.
It will be out next year.
I want to talk a little about your collaborations on Superman.
GF:Personally, Id love to do Superman again.
I love the character.
But Ive always loved the character.
GJ:I always felt like we had more Superman in us.
Theres one story I would really like to tell.
Shes become one of my favorite characters.
Geoff, since you write forArrow, would you ever consider doing a Green Arrow run?
I like the character, but I just dont see anything with Green Arrow right now.
Can you give us any updates on Supergirl?
GJ:Sorry, thats all under lock and key, my friend!
Any last words about the new book?
In one sitting you get beginning, middle, and end.
I hope that people dig it.
So I hope that people will give it a try.
Thank you, Geoff Johns and Gary Frank!
John Saavedra is an assistant editor at Den of Geek US.
Chat with himon Twitter!
Or check out all his work athis website.
