It was just announced by DC that Batwoman would be receiving her own ongoing series. With the departure of Greg Rucka, the new writing team will consist of J.H. Williams III co-writing with Haden Blackman. Williams and Blackman stopped by First Comics News to let the fans know what to expect from the new series.
First Comics News: How did the two of you start working together?
Haden Blackman: I met Jim through a mutual friend – colorist Alex Sinclair – at San Diego Comic Con about ten years ago when Jim was working on Promethea. Soon after, Jim did some covers for a Star Wars limited series I wrote for Dark Horse. A few years later, we collaborated on a Hellboy Weird Tales story. I think we both felt that the brainstorming and then plotting went very well. We found ourselves building off of each other’s ideas very organically and without any ego.
J.H. Williams III: We enjoyed that collaboration so much that we decided to keep working. So we’ve been working at creator owned concepts for years now that no has seen yet, and have quite a lot of them. Hopefully those will come out someday.
1st: How do the two of you work together, who does what when?
J3: It’s very organic, we have conversations going over ideas and sparking off each other until we have something we like. Then one of us will start getting stuff on paper, usually Haden makes the first pass at that, but sometimes I will too. Then we go over that and make tweaks and adjustments, decide what is working and not working. Then we talk over it all again to make sure we are in agreement of what we have. The scripting process will be similar to this as well. We’ll both have input on the script before drawing commences.
HB: Usually, it starts with a phone call – one of us saying “I have this bizarre spark of an idea… What do you think?” Then we brainstorm over the phone and on e-mail, and one of us will put all of the notes into some sort of coherent order. I usually tackle an outline of some sort, which we discuss and revise, passing the document back and forth until we feel we have enough detail to move onto the script.
1st: The Detective Batwoman run has won and been nominated for some pretty impressive awards. Is there any concern following such a successful run?
J3: Of course there is, but I also have confidence that we have some good concepts that have value. There is always some trepidation involved when creating anything, but I think we can give this a good go of it. Hopefully the fans will enjoy what we do, but I know the work will be strong. Whether it ends up resonating with people is another thing, we’ll see. But I’ve got a good feeling about this.
HB: I try not to think about it, honestly. Our run needs to stand on its own and have its own voice while being respectful of the previous work. Greg and Jim have created a very strong and complex character: Batwoman defines “hero” in so many ways, but she’s also very, very human. I want to be true to that character without trying to ape what’s come before.
1st: Will this be a continuation of the Detective run or more of a new start with the new series?
HB: We’re picking up essentially where the Detective run left off, but we’ll be quickly introducing new characters, plots, and themes.
J3: There are things we are building off of from the previous plot and leaving other parts alone. We’re continuing without necessarily going down the same path Greg was leading to, but without creating a scenario where Greg couldn’t return and tell the story he originally intended to. We’re excited about it and I think what we have so far is going to work and feel like a natural progression from where Greg and I started.
1st: What will remain the same?
HB: The series will still have amazing art. And I hope that readers feel this is still a very character-driven series
J3: Pretty much everything will be the same, we’re not going to ignore what came before. But will be sort of sidestepping into a direction that Greg may not have considered, so we’ll be building on what is already there by creating lots of new things. Sort of an expansion of the themes.
1st: What can we expect so see that is all new and exciting?
J3: Well we will definitely be looking at creating more villains towards a true rogues gallery for Batwoman, every great hero has this set of villains they must contend with, to show the weight of their heroism. But we don’t want this to be random either; we want this to have a connective aspect to it. So there are plans to interweave things as we move along. It’s still early in the process so I don’t want to give away plot details just yet. But we will be dealing with the idea of myth and legend in interesting ways. We are looking at how we can twist the common superheroe tropes in unexpected ways while still staying true to the genre.
HB: At a very high level, I think what we’re planning is a really unique mix of mythology, horror, romance, spy movies, and superhero action. We are also hoping to break or redefine some of the conventions of the “vigilante” comic. More specifically, we want to give Batwoman her own Rogues Gallery, consisting of villains who can challenge different aspects of Batwoman’s character. We also have plans for evolving some of Batwoman’s relationships in some pretty unexpected ways.
1st: Are there any changes to the supporting cast?
J3: No there isn’t, if anything we’ll be expanding it. We want to address the supporting characters in bold ways in order for their roles to have a greater impact on Kate/Batwoman and the choices she will face.
HB: To some degree, yes. First and foremost, we want to further develop some of the relationships established in the Detective run, but we’ll be introducing some new characters as well.
1st: Any plans for crossovers with the other Bat titles?
J3: Not at this time, but we can’t ignore the other Gotham characters either. So I’m sure we’ll see appearances or roles within our stories at some point.
HB: We’re very cognizant that Batwoman is part of a larger Gotham and even the greater DCU. We have some ideas for how to reinforce that, but nothing we can discuss yet.
1st: What makes this series so cool no fan would want to miss the first issue?
HB: It’s Batwoman! Every time I think about the character, I see some new element that would make a great launching pad for a new story. She has so many strengths and heroic traits, but is also flawed in some really interesting ways. She feels very real, very honest to me.
And if that doesn’t work for you, there’s also Giant Vampire Robots.
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