Another day of C2E2 is underway and today is more promising than the results we received yesterday.
First up is another pre-arranged interview with current Batman and Robin writer, Peter Tomasi. This interview took place at Tomasi’s table in artist’s alley. Again we headed to our Facebook Group for questions and instead of picking the best of the lot, we asked them all. Here is what Tomasi had to say.
TBU: Let’s start off with an easy one. Who is your favorite Robin personally and your favorite to write?
Peter Tomasi: I would say Damian, in all respects. I have actually had a real great time working on him and seeing Pat [Gleason] visualize him. He has a lot of great character aspects. He has a good balance of different emotions and personalities. From uncontrollable to being a deadly assassin. So there is a lot of drama there to work with. So it’s a lot of fun.
TBU: Speaking of the emotional elements with Damian, a lot of the stories that you have written over the past few years deal with the emotional elements of the characters. Why do your stories focus so much on those emotions of the characters where other books don’t?
Peter Tomasi: It really boils down to the fact that those are the types of stories that I like telling now. Having been in the business for a while, the action stuff as much fun as it is to write it with finding new twists and ways to explore action, to me it’s still the small human moments. You don’t really remember “Wow, I love the way he hit that guy.” You remember them hugging of Bruce holding Damian’s empty uniform. Or even the small moments where they were battling each other personally. That’s the stuff that stays with me as a reader when other guys do it and that’s the stuff that I really enjoy writing.
TBU: Going back to after Damian died, you had team-ups with various members of the Bat-Family, then the Batman was paired with Two-Face followed by the recent links to heroes from the DC Universe and leading to Ra’s al Ghul this June. Are there plans in the future to get to a status quo with a definitive character to be teamed with Batman?
Peter Tomasi: Robin Rises #1 which ships in July, is the opening salvo, it’s the beginning of part of a big epic that will end in December [2014]. And at the end of the year we will have a Robin back in the DCU, back at Batman’s side. The whole thing will be answered by the end of the story and I will be able to write Batman and Robin again.
TBU: With Robin Rises #1 being announced, how far back was it planned? Was it something that spawned out of the stories that you wrote or was it something planned before the death of Damain occurred?
Peter Tomasi: It was something we were thinking about for a long time. No matter how you cut it, Robin is an important character to DC Entertainment. So there needed to eventually be a new Robin, so the question was how to build a story that would bring in a new Robin or a Robin back to the universe. So we were really thinking about how to build that story.
TBU: Does this go as far back as when Morrison stated he was going to kill Damian?
Peter Tomasi: Yes. Grant always wanted to kill him, even back eight years ago. The story of Damian was going be around for a very short amount of time. I was editing the book at that time. But he [Morrison] changed his mind, so Damian stayed around for even longer than he expected. But once we knew it was a definite that he was going to be killed, it was a question of making sure that we made the character as relatable as possible, there was a method to the character by playing off all the great stuff Grant was doing, and build a story that gave us a really strong emotional journey. From Bruce’s grief to finding some sort of closure to it.
TBU: Are there any villains that you can tease that will be in upcoming issues?
Peter Tomasi: I would say that if you look at the cover of Robin Rises #1 closely and the title, you will get some clues as to what is coming up.
Batman and Robin #31 featuring Wonder Woman is in stores now and Robin Rises #1 hits stores this July. And just in case you wanted to seach for the clues Tomasi was referring to, here is the cover. Oh and the official title of the series is Robin Rises: Omega.
Posted by Dustin Fritschel
