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Gotham Academy, one of the critical bright spots of the DC lineup, is about to get some new artistic talent on board for a short time. Series co-writer Brenden Fletcher announced on a panel today at NYCC, that the Gotham youth-focused series, in its second year, will be shifting into the teenage side of the […]

At SDCC '15 I talked with the Burnside Batgirl crew about their creative origins, how the look that launched a thousand cosplays came to be, how to handle creative criticism, and their earliest con experiences.

Black Canary #2 (on sale 7/15)

By Harper W. Harris

The Fletcher-Verse: this is what superfans like to call the little corner of the DC Universe that’s penned (or co-penned) by Brenden Fletcher, including Batgirl, Gotham Academy, and the new Black Canary series. I got a chance to sit down with Brenden to discuss his inspirations, approach, and general disregard for continuity in Gotham Academy and Black Canary.

Gotham Academy #8 (on sale now)

Harper W. Harris: I’ve heard that Miyazaki is a big influence on what you’re doing with Gotham Academy. What parts or aspects of those movies did you want to bring into Gotham Academy and the tone?

Brenden Fletcher: I wouldn’t say that my love of Miyazaki is something that I’m trying to put on the page of Gotham Academy, or of any of my books. But discovering Miyazaki at a young age and his Studio Ghibli films really transformed my view of what it meant to tell a story, and how to approach character and drama. I think that’s what I’m trying to bring to all of this, I’m just trying to be mindful of his approach. These books are completely different from anything he’s done. So I’m hoping that when people are examining what we’re doing with that in mind, they’re not trying to look for specific elements or anything. I will say this however: I believe that what we have in common more than anything is the fact that we seem to be drawn to tell stories about female protagonists. If you look at most of Miyazaki films…[A saxophone plays in the distance] I’m sorry, that’s “Careless Whisper” on the saxophone being played at San Diego Comic Con. You don’t expect Wham on a Friday morning.

HH: No, it’s a little early for that!

BF: But yeah, I think I haven’t really figured out why it is I’m drawn to telling stories with female protagonists, but this has always been the case. Since I started writing, every story that I’ve felt connected to has had a female protagonist. I don’t do it on purpose, it’s just what interests me.

HH: So switching over to Black Canary for a second, that obviously draws from a very different creative pool than Gotham Academy, one that you have some personal experience with. How does your experience as a rock musician inform the way you write that book and formed that character?

BF: Yeah I’ve been playing music all my life. I’m primarily a singer; I went to school for music, studied voice and classical singing. I ended up doing musical theater for years, and on the side I was always playing in bands. At one point in my life I decided I didn’t like the formal aspect so much, so I wanted to get out of classical. I wasn’t really into the musical theater scene; I liked the jobs, but it wasn’t really me. So I spent more time writing music and playing music, and working on being a better instrumentalist and that turned into some touring and getting involved in the business of music. This was never something that I could make a living out of, I didn’t become a world famous musician, but I experienced enough of the life to inform this new world I’m building for Dinah Lance in the new Black Canary book.

HH: With Gotham Academy you’re co-writing with Becky Cloonan. With co-writing, I’m always curious about the process–what is the process like writing with Becky?

BF: It’s interesting: I think we could talk about it in terms of how Becky and I work, but this is a full team effort and Karl [Kerschl] is in on the story building at every phase of the project. We start usually by going out for a coffee–I’ve got some ideas, Becky’s got some ideas, Karl’s got some ideas. We turn that into a look at where the story should be going, and at that point Becky and I create a breakdown of the issue, what the twenty pages will roughly look like. We give that to Karl, he tells us we’re wrong and we have to back and retool it until he’s happy with it. From there we give it to the editors who sometimes tell us we’re wrong. Eventually we get to scripting, and that’s another stage where Karl will fix things or tell us things are wrong–or sometimes he just doesn’t, and I’m not even kidding you, he’ll just change things on the page, just draw where he thinks it should go, and 100% of the time he’s right. Karl is an extremely gifted storyteller, great writer, an Eisner award winning writer/artist. What we have is this incredible merging of visions–actually I think we share a vision, but we merge our talents and abilities and our individual ideas to become this wonderful thing that’s Gotham Academy.

Gotham Academy #9 (on sale 8/12)

HH: It sounds like Gotham Academy is a really collaborative effort, that’s great. So when you’re writing a script for different artists, so for example writing for Annie Wu on Black Canary, how is your scripting style different?

BF: Totally different. The only reason I’m writing full scripts for Gotham Academy is because I’m collaborating with Becky and because the office requires it–they like to see a full script. With Karl, we can pretty much get on the phone and say, yeah, page twenty looks like this, and he’ll deliver it and it’ll be perfect. Annie and I had a talk early on about how she likes to approach things, and she had been working with Matt Fraction on Hawkeye for a while and wanted a script that was closer to what Matt was doing. So this is the first time that I’ve written closer to what is known as the Marvel Style. Annie wants a looser breakdown of what the pages looks like with some script beats in there. She can push and pull those things as she wants, she adds beats, moves beats, but ultimately the core of the story I’m trying to get across, the core of the movement of the characters is all there on the page.

HH: When you first started out with Black Canary, were you able to pick and choose what aspects of her past you wanted to use? Given that it’s not your average superhero story, have you found it challenging to tell the story you want to tell within the confines of continuity?

BF: I have a relatively clean approach to continuity, which is just that I ignore everything that I don’t like. I will never contradict it to the best of my ability, but if something feels off to me I’ll try my best to avoid it. I am playing into a lot of the New 52 continuity for Dinah Lance, but using it for very specific reasons which you’ll see over this first arc. I’m trying to bring it all together and make it make sense in a way that makes Dinah feel like the iconic version of the character that we know and love.

HH: She’s a welcome member to the ever-growing Fletcher-verse!

Black Canary #1 and Gotham Academy #8 are on shelves now, with new issues coming in the next few weeks!

It’s that time again! Just like last week, I picked up every issue DC Comics put out of their current “DC You” initiative, and I’m here to present my scattered and unorganized thoughts in a few sentences. Again, none of these should be construed as reviews really, it’s just a quick glimpse at one fan’s thoughts on the newly evolving line of comics from his long-time favorite publisher.

Also, just a point of clarification, I bought all of these with my own money. Not one comp copy was involved in the writing of this piece, if that sort of thing means anything to you.

Batman #41: I’m not fully sold on the Jim Gordon as Batman take yet, but this new arc continues the rather fun zaniness that’s been part and parcel of the Scott Snyder–Greg Capullo run since “Zero Year”, and Capullo continues to be one of the best artists at the Big Two. His work pops in a way that so few superhero illustrators can manage, and he just keeps getting better. I also can’t say enough about FCO Plascencia‘s colors. The new status quo is intriguing enough, and I look forward to seeing how it spills over into books like Batgirl, Grayson and Detective Comics (see below).

Verdict: Already on my pull and staying there

Batman/Superman #21: I love Greg Pak‘s work on Action Comics, so it vexes me a bit when I can’t seem to reconcile the great work he does there and the fairly pedestrian stuff he cranks out for this title. The new shift for Superman, which inevitably is the character this title has focused on in greater detail, hasn’t really done much to refresh a series that can’t escape a feeling of staleness and bland superheroics. Being envisioned by the house-stylings of Ardian Syaf doesn’t help either.

Verdict: Stopping here

Catwoman #41: I missed the boat on early issues of the critically acclaimed, but fairly under-read (and promoted), Genevieve Valentine Catwoman run. I think I may have assumed too much to think that I could just jump on-board here. It’s really well written, you can tell Valentine has a pretty elegant control of prose, but I’ll be damned if I knew what the heck was actually going on. I found it difficult to keep up with who each character was, and what purpose they served in Selina’s world, though in ensemble-based crime fiction, I sometimes bump into that barrier. I’m maybe intrigued enough to try again, with the hope that familiarity will breed some affection, but I can’t say I’d recommend it for the first timer.

Verdict: On the fence

Constantine: The Hellblazer #1: Riley Rossmo can do no wrong, and the Dante‘s Inferno-inspired spread found within is the kind of panel layout that will always grab my attention. This is a really fun reintroduction to the John Constantine that we used to see back in the Vertigo days, rather than the New 52 superhero that had populated books like Justice League Dark and the previous Constantine title. I like this more arrogant and amorous John, and the fact that DC is putting out a book that pushes their general boundaries of content within the main line is nice to see. It’s a bit over-written, with its themes hammering you over the head (especially in a secondary character’s denouement), but I’m mostly sold provided that one big flaw is rectified in subsequent months

Verdict: Going onto the pull-list

Detective Comics #41: I really like Francis Manapul and Brian Buccelatto as an art team, frankly as far as “cape comics” go, there are few better. As writers though, I’ve had more trouble with their output. Their angle on the Jim Gordon as Batman take is solid enough: a book about Harvey Bullock and Renee Montoya will always grab my attention in some form or fashion. But I’m not sure I found enough here to really hook me between a few iffy narrative conceits and some dialogue that didn’t quite land with me. Additionally, while I think Fernando Blanco does a decent enough Michael Lark, I’d be more excited about this title if Manapul was penciling it himself still.

Verdict: Stopping here

Earth 2: Society #1: I had hopes that perhaps with a fresh start, Daniel Wilson might be able to employ something worthwhile into the literal new world that the Earth 2 characters are now inhabiting. How wrong I was, as this was basically unreadable. I liked the Johnny Sorrow appearance at least, but it was basically negated by Terry Sloane sprouting mechanical wings.

Verdict: Stopping here

Gotham Academy #7: I can’t even begin to pretend like I’m not in the tank for this book. I love it, and even when it has fill-in artists like Mingjue Helen Chen, the title is able to uphold its cinematic qualities. Chen’s work here reminds me a good deal of Irish animator Tomm Moore, and her gorgeous cartooning provides a perfect spotlight for secondary character “Maps” and the meet cute that occurs between her and Damian Wayne. There are a couple of spatial hitches where I was bit disoriented as to what was happening in a panel or two, but otherwise, this is a pretty great all-ages adventure.

Verdict: Already on my pull and staying there

Harley Quinn #17: Maybe it’s The Naked Gun fan in me, but I always laugh at a good beaver joke, and this one had me guffawing a bit. I hadn’t read an issue of Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti‘s take on Harley since its debut issue and this month’s offering had me wondering why I hadn’t. It was humorous, zinged with energy, and Chad Hardin‘s art looked way more suited to the material than I remember it. I thought the Gang of Harleys was a pretty fun idea too.

Verdict: In for the next issue

Red Hood/Arsenal #1: The idea of a “buddy comedy” comic book isn’t a bad one, it works well for titles like Archer & Armstrong, and in theory Jason and Roy should be diametrically opposed enough that it should make for some solid hinjix. Unfortunately, with Scott Lobdell at the helm, you may as well dash those hopes. It’s funny, looking at Denis Medri‘s art, I could see a fairly effective intro tale being weaved here if someone else wrote the dialogue. But Lobdell’s attempts to give an edge to every character voice makes them all sound like the same person. It’s better than Earth 2: Society, because I could at least tell what’s going on, but it reads like a comic that Poochie from The Simpsons would write.

Verdict: Stopping here

All-Star Section Eight #1: Yeah, this was pretty awesome. I never read Hitman, I should probably get on that (it’s 99 cents a pop on Comixology right now after all), but I thought what Garth Ennis and John McCrea were up to here was hilarious. It’s a bit “inside baseball” in the way a good Ambush Bug comic might be, particularly in its shoutouts to the 90’s “Bloodline” event and the various iconic Batman poses being used to pretty great effect, but it’s all presented in a way that shouldn’t detract from a new-comers enjoyment much. I mean, who doesn’t find a Batman that’s too cheap to pay a $3 ATM fee endearing? Yeah, Hitman, I need to read it.

Verdict: Going onto the pull-list

Starfire #1: I think I may have liked this better than even Harley Quinn this week, perhaps because I was entering at ground zero, but I have some affection for well done “fish out of water” stories and this is a particularly good one. There’s a great deal of damage control that needed to be done with Kori in the New 52, and I’m confident Conner and Palmiotti are well on their way to rectifying those issues. It’s Starfire getting into hijinx in a trailer part in Key West. This is my kind of jam, and I’m really appreciating the story-telling corner that this team is building for themselves.

Verdict: Going onto the pull-list

New Suicide Squad #9 – It’s hard to separate the real world inspiration for this story from the potential of the narrative. On paper, the idea of a group of supervillains going undercover into a bigger hive of evil-doers to take them down is attention grabbing enough (and as a big fan of COPRA, I’m primed to love a Suicide Squad story), but the parallels between this League of Assassins splinter group and the real-world ISIS rubs me the wrong way, and fairly bland sub-Rags Morales like linework pretty much put my interest in this book out of its misery.

Verdict: Stopping here

This week’s must-reads: Batman, Constantine: The Hellblazer, Gotham Academy, All-Star Section Eight, Starfire

Next week: Sonny Liew draws Doctor Fate, Martian Manhunter gets a solo series, the Batgirl spin-off Black Canary takes flight, and I try to reconcile mentally why I’m buying anything from the current Wonder Woman run.

This past weekend, DC took over a panel room at Special Edition NYC to discuss their DC YOU relaunch titles.  Panelists included Gotham Academy writer Becky Cloonan, Midnighter writer Steve Orlando, Action Comics writer Greg Pak, Black Canary artist Annie Wu, Black Canary writer Brendan Fletcher, and Constantine: the Hellblazer co-writer Ming Doyle.  While no new titles were announced, the panelists were in great spirits as they discussed their respective series, offering insight into the future of their books.

First up was Midnighter‘s Steve Orlando, who reassured fans that he was not here to ruin the lives of countless presently despondent Authority fans by separating Midnighter from his long-time lover, Apollo.  At the beginning of The Authority, Midnighter and Apollo have been a couple for five years.  Orlando said he wanted to dial the clock back and explore how Midnighter and Apollo got together in the first place.   In addition, he offered the most quotable quip of the day when he revealed the covers of issues 2 and 3, summarizing the second issue as follows:

“If corporations are people, then they’re people we can punch.”

Next, we had Gotham Academy‘s Becky Cloonan.  The first trade of her, Brendan Fletcher’s, and Karl Kerchl’s series releases on june 23rd, which happens to also be Cloonan’s birthday.  She told the audience that Gotham Academy‘s next issue, which comes out this week, would explore the mayhem that ensues when Batman’s son Damian starts going to school with Maps & co.  She and Brendan also teased an upcoming plot point for the series.  Dr Kurt Langstrom, more commonly known as Man-Bat, is going to be a chemistry professor at Gotham Academy!

“Maps! What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?”

Greg Pak discussed his new Action Comics arc, which began this past week.  In this story, Pak deals with the consequences of Superman’s secret identity as Clark Kent being revealed in Gene Luen Yang’s Superman series, which begins at the end of June.  Clark Kent’s costume has gotten a bit of a redesign centered around a neat S t-shirt that incorporates black into the traditional yellow, red, and blue.

He also showed off some fantastically designed covers for issue 42 and 43:

Finally, although Constantine: the Hellblazer co-writer James Tynion IV was not in attendance at the panel, co-writer Ming Doyle was there to take the reigns and quell any doubts about the return of the hellbound detective.  Doyle said that she and Tynion had given Constantine a “hot, young de-aging,” trading in the deteriorating body of the old Constantine for a new model that reflects the series’ new lease on life.  She made a point of saying that their Constantine is indeed bisexual, distancing them from the controversy surrounding the NBC TV iteration of the Hellblazer. Finally, Doyle took a moment to highlight Riley Rossmo’s art on the series, which breaks “DC house style” in interesting and exciting ways.

One of the biggest complaints about Special Edition NYC this year was the distinct lack of panel rooms.  Panels were hosted in one of two large booths, and the only thing that separated them was a thin curtain.  Audio from both rooms overlapped with one another, leading one guest to comment that it was “like being in two panels for the price of one.”  More accurately, it was like being in no panels although you were in one.  It did lead to a great moment in the middle of the DC panel, though:

Panel room 2 got their crowd to chant “Hey DC, what’s up with the Twix?!” at us. Maybe conjoined rooms aren’t so bad @DCComics @comicsbeat

— Alexander Lu (@Waxenwings) June 7, 2015

Nick Lachey probably never expected this kind of fame.

Babs Tarr is a core member of the new Batgirl creative team that has been making waves, lately, with their new interpretation of the character, and fresh, modern approach to superhero mythology. She works as the interior artist on the book, while artist Cameron Stewart provides story breakdowns, and cover art. Babs Tarr has drawn a number of dynamic comic book covers herself, like this week’s variant cover to another trailblazing book, Gotham Academy.

Babs Tarr is an accomplished painter, video game concept artist, and all around versatile freelance illustrator. Her many clients include Hasbro, Disney, DC Comics, Boom! Comics, The San Francisco Chronicle, and The Boston Globe. Tarr received her BFA in Illustration from Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, MD.

You can catch up with Babs Tarr’s convention schedule, and more artwork on her website here.

For more comics related art, you can follow me on my website comicstavern.com - Andy Yates

Gotham Academy #6

Story: Becky Cloonan, Brenden Fletcher

Art: Karl Kerschl, Mingue Helen Chen 

Color: Msassyk, Serge Lapointe

Letters: Steve Wands

Publisher: DC Comics

As much as we love reading about the adventures of the world’s greatest detective, you have to figure Gotham city is probably a pretty messed up place to grow up. Walking down the street could get you turned inside out by Joker gas or someone in a skintight cat outfit could shred you to pieces. Even adolescents in this world have it rough. This is mostly due to Becky Cloonan and Brenden Fletcher. They put kids in buildings with Arkham inmates, fire hazards, and sinister looking headmasters. All these obstacles put forth for our enjoyment in Gotham Academy #6.

The issue wraps the first story arc and sheds a little more light on Olive Sliverlock’s forgotten past. What issue six finally does is make good use of a Batman appearance. It’s powerful, and not just because of the fight with Killer Croc. This chapter of Gotham Academy puts Olive on a collision course with the caped crusader. Neither character is shown to be on the right side of the argument, which makes this matter poignant to the series and a mystery we’re sure to want answers about. Cloonan and Fletcher write the usual whimsy and angst sprinkled voice that cast of characters has become known for in the series. It’s just that now the team has managed to raise the stakes for all of them.

In addition to the usual fantastic Disney animated style art of Karl Kerschl, issue six brings Mingue H. Chen on board for some key flashback sequences and an epilogue that leaves us wishing DC would just skip Convergence altogether. Her style is noticeably more painted than that of Kerschl but it never jitters the reader. The two artists blend pages smoothly and that’s the best you can ask for when sharing illustration duties on a single story.

Gotham Academy is one of the best new ideas DC has published in awhile. If you’ve been on the fence about trying this series, go do it. Issue six, as a standalone, has major hook and you’ll definitely be enticed enough to pick up the pieces you’ve missed. One usually has to read a Vertigo published book to find this much depth in a comic.

Now that the kids are united it’ll be even more fun to see how they’ll be divided.

By Davey Nieves

Gotham Academy #4

Story: Brenden Fletcher, Becky Cloonan

Art: Karl Kerschl

Color: Msassyk, Serge LaPointe

Letters: Steve Wands

Publisher: DC Comics

Written by Becky Cloonan(DEMO, Killjoys) and Brenden Fletcher(Batgirl, Assassin’s Creed), Gotham Academy #4 continues its mystery as young Olive Silverlock uncovers the ghost of the north hall. The academy itself is much like Gotham City, written with an atmosphere that makes it feel living but never outshines the characters. Along the way Olive’s relationship with her ex-boyfriend Kyle continues to reach a breaking point as a possible new interest literally catches her. It’s not just her love life that’s bending. Like any young girl, Olive finds fitting in has challenges of its own. In this issue her self-esteem will be tested as she stumbles upon gossip she might not be ready to deal with.  Readers are enticed with more details as to Silverlock’s forgotten summer and the burning question of what happened to her mother.  These pages flow so well together that once you hit the end of the book it feels like a crime not to dive right in to the next issue. One of the very few minuscule problems I’ve had with the series is the way issues leave readers on a cliffhanger but subsequently pick up moments after it in the next chapter. Hopefully with the major punch this issue ends on that won’t be the case for issue five.

While the book is a rich ensemble full of unique voices from Olive’s sister figure the spunky young Maps all the way through to Headmaster; issue four is more Olive’s book as you really see her three sides. Who she is among friends, who she is to herself, and the part of her she doesn’t know. Moments in the book like her confrontation with the “ghost” of Jane Cobblepot illustrate it best.

Gotham Academy is consistently a pretty book. It plays with a Manga influence that in most other American titles would be a deterrent. Karl Kerschl’s (Majestic, Teen Titans) line work is the first part of this recipe. Where a lot of Manga-style books stumble is in the framing of their shots. Kerschl’s work doesn’t suffer from that one bit as everything feels like a natural camera position. When you add the colors of MSASSYK and Serge LaPointe it makes the page vibrant in a way few books are. The end result feels like a hybrid of Anime, cinema, and emotional Disney animation.

The series isn’t without imperfections of its own, since the first issue there’s a stumble that merely tugs on you in the way a fly tugs on an elephant. It probably only knows it’s there but doesn’t really ruin their day.  Gotham Academy has so many moving parts that some thing feels as though it falls by the waste side when I’ve seen it. Bruce Wayne’s brief appearances; they almost feel shoehorned in. Granted the book is only in the orbit of the Batman universe by association, but that means the series should get to a point where it only needs Bat appearances when absolutely necessary. It’s a minor complaint that does little to hinder the enjoyment overall, but you know… internets.

Growing up in the 90’s, for me it was all about: Batman: The Animated Series, Pepsi, and the band Rancid. Perhaps what stood out to me most about TAS was how much I cared about the players who weren’t Batman. Two-Face, Leslie Thompkins, one and done Charlie Collins, even Gotham City itself were all stories I invested in. As of late, Bat group editor Mark Doyle has added books to the bat-ecosystem that have captured a similar type of magic previously only on Fox Kids programing. Gotham Academy has been an underrated prime example of it. Issue four continues its unfolding of the institution’s connection to Gotham’s lore through the lens of adolescence.

Ultimately, Gotham Academy is a niche audience book that outstretches its boundaries by being energetic and refreshing. While its Young Adult nature might not appeal to the hardcore superhero crowd; there’s a good story about a troubled girl trying to find herself, which in a way makes her relatable to millions of people out there. If the Gotham Academy team is a band, then issue number four is their Let’s Go. What’s scary and exciting about that is the possibility that issue five could be their And Out Come The Wolves. For the non-punk rock fans out there, what that boils down to is Gotham Academy #4 figures out the strengths of the series. Issue five could be where everything fires on all cylinders and I have no doubts that it will be a book I can enjoy being a 72yr old man and then pass on to my adolescent niece. In short the definition of all age storytelling.

If words like Gretzky, Clutch, Zayn, and Archie are in your vocabulary then feel free to follow and unburden your anger at Dave on twitter @bouncingsoul217

Sneak peek at a coloured panel from #GothamAcademy issue 1, by me, @beckycloonan and @brendenfletcher: pic.twitter.com/5pwBdOXyGf

— Karl Kerschl (@karlkerschl) August 11, 2014

#GothamAcademy is coloured by the incredible Romain Gaschet, who worked with me on Teen Titans Year One. I don’t think he he’s on twitter.

— Karl Kerschl (@karlkerschl) August 11, 2014

Guys, the ENTIRE BOOK looks like this, except better because Olive and Maps are out of their chairs. :)

— Karl Kerschl (@karlkerschl) August 11, 2014

Artist Karl Kerschl teased a single panel of GOTHAM ACADEMY, the upcoming Batfamily book written by Becky Cloonan and Brenden Fletcher and drawn by Kerschl, with colors by Romain Gaschet. The book is something of a “sister” book to the new Batgirl and presents a more “shojo” approach to the Batman universe with the story of some students at Gotham’s number one prep school and their fantastic/Gotham tinged adventures. It’s a book aimed at a younger audience, and why not as the “academy melodrama” is a hallowed tradition of storytelling?

Fletch subsequently tweeted that they couldn’t show any more but Batgirl writer Cameron Stewart averred that the two books are set in the same universe, in spirit anyway.

Nice to see DC moving forward with a book that has a fresh take on a hallowed canon.