With announcement of the second wave of the New 52 earlier today, DC Comics' Editor-in-Chief, Bob Harras answered a number of questions relating to the new series that will be hitting stores this May. Both Newsarama and Comic Book Resources talked with him and asked him questions that not only relate to the new books, but The Batman Universe.
CBR: "Batman Incorporated" is a title fans have been waiting for. How will Grant Morrison's story fit in with the relaunched line of Batman books and how will everything get coordinated with the other Batman writers?
Bob Harras: What's going on with [Editor] Mike Marts and Scott Snyder and Tony Daniel and Grant [Morrison] — the Bat office works very well together. They talk a lot, they're very keen on the fact that this is a shared character and a shared universe. What Grant has got planned is very well known to both Scott and Tony, and is, quite honestly, phenomenal. I really think Batman fans are going to be ecstatic about what's coming down the pipe on all the major Batman books, but "Batman Incorporated," especially, is going to be a lot of fun for people.
CBR: Finishing up the new titles, we have "The Ravagers" by Howard Mackie with art by Ian Churchill. Is it really important to folks reading "Teen Titans" and "Superboy" to read this book? What place do the Ravagers have in the New 52?
Bob Harras: "The Ravagers" is going to be coming out of, and actually storylines have been growing out of both books, "Superboy" and "Teen Titans" specifically have hinted [at this] almost since issue one. What "The Ravagers" is really going to be, as it comes out of an event where these books come together, it's going to be about, in a lot of ways, what is destiny and do you have free choice? A lot of these characters, as you'll see, have been designed to be, for lack of a better term, super-villains, or killers. Now, they've been freed by a certain event. They have a choice to follow what they've been bred to be, or they can now be better than they think they can be. What we'll be following with them is a book that can go either way. Some characters will go to the dark side; some characters will hopefully embrace the lighter side. It's very interesting. It's different from our other teen books because we don't know where these characters are going to end up, we don't know how damaged they have been by the preceding storyline that you will see through this Spring. It will be an interesting journey, following them. You'll be seeing some interesting characters come and go in that book. What I like in the book is the struggle to do good when it's not innate in you.
CBR: "The Ravagers" spins out of Scott Lobdell's two books — "Teen Titans" and "Superboy." Is there a potential for crossover there? Are Howard Mackie and Scott Lobdell discussing their individual storylines? Is this really a stand-alone book?
Bob Harras: Scott Lobdell and Howard Mackie have been working together very closely over the past few months, discussing things. Even Tom DeFalco, who has stepped in to help on "Legion Lost," which is a book that will be tangential to this, has also stepped in, discussing characters and directions for all these new Ravagers. As I said earlier, when I say "world-building," there's a lot of conversation, there's a lot of talking about stories, talking about new characters that go on constantly. This is just an example of that.
Newsarama: Is The Ravagers going to be connected to Rose Wilson or maybe star the Gen 13 characters that are showing up in the DCU?
Bob Harras: Ravagers will be a bunch of different characters. You'll see development of characters from Superboy, Teen Titans and little bit of Legion Lost in the spring. So I think you're going to be surprised by what comes out in that book, and the characters that will be in that title. And who and what they are.
For the entire interview, including tons of talk about the other new series, head over to Newsarama and Comic Book Resources. The second wave of the New 52 titles hit stores in May.
Posted by Dustin Fritschel
