Peter Tomasi recently talked to Comic Book Resources about his current Villain Month issues, as well as his upcoming "Forever Evil" tie-in series, "Forever Evil: Arkham War."
Comic Book Resources: Your Two-Face Villains Month issue has already hit stands, and your Bane and Scarecrow issues are set to come out over the next couple of weeks. You've got a big Two-Face story in "Batman and…," and Bane and Scarecrow are central to your "Forever Evil: Arkham War" miniseries — was that the reason you chose to focus on these three villains?
Peter Tomasi: Scarecrow and Bane they are going to play a huge part in the "Arkham War" situation. They're sort of our protagonists, our leads in a way, and we sort of see all the different sides, from the Blackgate side to the Arkham side, reflected through their distinct perspectives — Scarecrow, of course, representing the Arkham side and Bane representing the Blackgate side.
Comic Book Resources: Bane and Scarecrow represent their different institutions, but how do these villains stack up against each other, and how does that come to the forefront in your "Arkham War" miniseries?
Peter Tomasi:Really, it's all mental! [Laughs] One is the psychotic from the Arkham side, and then you've got the strong-arm, really badass dudes who have no compunctions about killing anybody on the Blackgate side and who have got their own distinct traits. So it's sort of a strong-arm sane crew against a whacked out insane crew!
Comic Book Resources:Looking at the villains in general, all are huge DC villains but especially Bane and Scarecrow who we've seen in other media, most notably the Christopher Nolan Batman movies. Have you felt the films have subtly influenced you in the way you look at them or the way you approach writing them?
Peter Tomasi:That's a good question, I think it's probably crazy to say it doesn't affect you in any subtle way, but having been a big fan of those two characters specifically, Bane and Scarecrow, it was sort of imprinted on my writer DNA for quite some time before I had seen the movies or any other media. I already had a basic approach and feeling for those characters before the movies came out. But seeing them visualized up on a thirty-foot screen obviously does make an impact, so I would say there's definitely something that leaks through. It's very hard to not hear, especially writing, Bane's voice from the movie, its so in my head he's talking like that when I'm writing him on the page. So I would say Bane a little more than Scarecrow, but [original Bane creators Chuck] Dixon and [Graham] Nolan's creation was so rich in character that I would say the movies themselves borrowed heavily from their view. So it was easy to kind of take ninety percent of what Dixon and Nolan had done and then add the visual, audio sensory stuff that plays into your own vision as a writer and kind of imprints itself on the script page.
For the full interview with Peter Tomasi, head on over to Comic Book Resources. The first issue of "Forever Evil: Arkham War" releases on Otober 9th, 2013
Posted by Dane Haji
