September seems like a long time away with everything happening in The Batman Universe, but September will bring a bunch of untold stories from the history of the characters within the New 52 inside the zero issues. Gregg Hurwitz will not only be writing the story for his title, Batman: The Dark Knight, but will also be stepping in on Detective Comics. Newsarama talked with Hurwitz about what can be expected in these two issues.
Newsarama: Then let's start by talking about that story for The Dark Knight #0. We've already heard from Batman writer Scott Snyder about his #0 issue, and what era it covers in Bruce Wayne's history. What does Batman: The Dark Knight cover?
Gregg Hurwitz: For The Dark Knight, I wanted to write and show, finally, the story that's beneath the story to what happened in that alley outside the movie theater. I wanted to show, finally, who Joe Chill is. What is the mystery that's behind him? And how did that comprehensively redefine Bruce Wayne's worldview?
It's a young man who is scarred and defined by this enormous childhood loss and is obsessed with finding the answers that are beneath it. And what those answers are will prove completely defining for him and his mission and world view for the rest of his life.
Newsarama: When you were exploring this story, were you able to change a little bit of what had been told before about Joe Chill and the events surrounding his parents' murder, since this is the New 52?
Gregg Hurwitz: Yeah. Absolutely. It's a new Joe Chill. There's new information that's discovered. There are new types of encounters and questions that are raised. And there's a new outcome.
Newsarama: Let's talk about Detective #0. What story will you be telling in that issue?
Gregg Hurwitz: I wanted to do something in that story that focuses on Bruce during his period of traveling to Tibet and around the world. The Joe Chill story I'm telling in Dark Knight hooks into Batman's psychological underpinnings around loss and grief. But I wanted to tell a story in Detective that's a very action-geared, thriller-geared story that solidifies his views on intimacy and relationship. That's one of the things that I think is so defining of Bruce Wayne. He's kind of in a castle on a hill, you know? No one can touch him. He stands alone.
I wanted to show a story about how, at the hands of a former master, and a former Buddhist warrior, he took in some lessons while he was traveling, becoming who we know as Bruce Wayne. But what are some of those other lessons that he might have learned about what human closeness means? And it has to be overlaid on top of what he's already learned human closeness means from his parents and what he also learned the cost of that can be outside that movie theater on the fateful day.
For the entire interview, including talk about the art in both series, head over to Newsarama. Detective Comics #0 and Batman: The Dark Knight #0 hit stores this September.
Posted by Dustin Fritschel
