Batman: Earth One Update(s) by Gary Frank

With Superman: Secret Origin finally came to an end, artist Gary Frank is going to be busy now in his next project, again with writer Geoff Johns, featuring a re-imagined Dark Knight tale, Batman: Earth One.



Below are his answers to the questions about “what’s going on now” behind this much awaited book.


How far along are you on “Batman: Earth One?”

Gary: I have 21 pages done so far.

Have you learned anything new about Bruce Wayne and Batman over those first 21 pages that you maybe hadn’t considered before?

Gary: At the moment, out of Bruce, nothing really, as you’ll see when you get this thing in your hand. Bruce at the moment is still a spoiled child. He’s not a particularly likable character. But the character that is the most fascinating at the moment is Alfred. We have a completely new Alfred. And he is going to be much, much more central to the character of Batman.



Yeah, instead of being a glorified butler, we find there is much, much more to Alfred. He is much more of a man of the world and a much wiser character. Well, I guess Alfred is normally fairly wise but I don’t know, I just never really felt entirely convinced by the current Alfred taking out swords and battling ninjas and things like that. So we have a character in Alfred, in the early days at least, who is quite an intimidating character for Bruce. Bruce is slightly over-awed and slightly frightened of him in the early days and the most interesting thing about the book, I think, will be the way that the relationship develops between the two of them.

Can you talk about the look and feel of your Batman? Are there some major changes that you’ve made to the costume?

Gary: There is but it’s going to be a progression. We’re not regarding this as a finished, archetypical Batman, so everything is in development. And when you see the first issue you’ll see what I mean. He starts out with quite a primitive costume. He hasn’t thought a lot of things through. He doesn’t really know what he’s supposed to do. He’s a young man, he’s an angry, young man and obviously for some strange reason he’s decided the best way to go about making himself feel better is to dress as a bat creature and go and solve crimes.



You’ve signed on for multiple volumes (Batman: Earth One) correct?

Gary: Yeah, for now, there are no plans to stop or do anything else.

Is there an ETA on the first volume?

Gary: Well, I don’t know. I have no idea yet. I know we’re going to make it so that we have a good wedge of pages done before we start talking about a release date.



Source(s): CBR, DC

Batman 701 Annotation

PREVIOUSLY ON BATMAN
Click all the images to make it larger


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BATMAN 701


Title: RIP: The Missing Chapter
Part 1: The Hole in Things
Writer: Grant Morrison
Artist and Cover: Tony Daniel

















Page 1 -2: This follows the images above that took place on Batman 681. As Bruce gained consciousness and tried to resurface, we can see that the helicopter carrying Hurt and Lane continues to go down deep.

Page 3: Form of charts showing the weather, the value of stocks, and the stars in the sky are shown, meaning that the world continues to go on while Batman is submerged. We can also see that while Bruce continues swimming, Hurt is alive and now escaping the sinking helicopter.

Page 4-6: Finally, Bruce resurfaced and reached Gotham harbor.

Page 7: Bruce took his emergency cowl from the utility belt as he realized he’s not wearing his cape and cowl which he took off before he jumped unto Hurt’s helicopter. (Refer to 2nd image above)



Note: Why Bruce would remove his cape and cowl during his face-off with Hurt is answered here. Bruce doesn't remember taking his mask off because he didn't do it voluntarily, he did this as a response to the mental command "I must put away my Batman costume and retire from crime fighting" Hurt told him to. A line also concluded to be originally from Batman #156 (As seen in the pages of Batman #674.

Page 8: Upon reaching land, Bruce met Ellie. A former prostitute (Batman#664) now working as a receptionist at Wayne Tech, All thanks to Batman who offered her a job back then.



Page 9-13: Bruce returned to Wayne Manor and into the Bat Cave greeted by Alfred. After some rest and a couple of conversations with the butler he returns to Gotham River to check the wreckage but returned disappointed for he could not find Hurt’s or Lane’s body. This is also a bizarre thought for Bruce. For him, Hurt swimming away from the crash is impossible. More than five minutes go by in addition to the time that it took him to swim out, yet Hurt never resurfaces. And so, Bruce cannot explain Hurt. For him Hurt remains "a ghost", a threat. Alfred doesn't want to accept the supernatural explanation about this but he gets another form of that reply when he sees that the clock in Wayne Manor had stopped at the precise moment of the helicopter crash.

Moments later, Bruce asked Alfred not to be disturbed if afterwards he sleeps for three days.

Note: This is the "three days" reference to Easter from Batman and Robin #13. Sleeping for three days then rising, Bruce will be resurrected.

Page 14-15: Bruce goes to the Barbatos shrine under Wayne Manor. He knows that Hurt had been there, and he sees the paint that Dick Grayson (Batman and Robin #10) discovered as relatively fresh. We find out that Bruce's parents knew about the room and we also find out that Bruce knew about the things that Dick Grayson discovered so recently. But he didn’t know why it was there.



Note: Bruce enters that room through the library in Wayne Manor, standing almost on the exact spot where Doctor Hurt shoots Dick Grayson. He looks at the painting of his parents that is to overlook Dick's shooting. Before the painting there stood a large statue of a black knight in a chess board, it, too, is to look down upon Dick's shooting. (Batman and Robin #13)













Page 16: Blood like skies. Bruce got a call from Superman pertaining to a death of a god (Orion). Here, we can see the importance of Batman’s role in the Justice League and the respect given to him by Superman in handling this important case.

Page 17-21: An angry Bruce holds a newspaper, almost crashing it. Alfred assured his master that the scandals in the articles are not true, but it’s not the scandals that upset Bruce; it’s the Bat-costume that his father wore years before, a possession he treasured, and is now in the hands of Hurt. The conversation between him and Alfred skipped to what Hurt had told him. Bruce bears in mind the curse that was bestowed upon him. The next time he wears his cape and cowl will be his last.

Still, Bruce’s will was too strong for him to retire from crime-fighting and so once again, The dark knight detective wore the cape and the cowl and headed to the case he was assigned to, without having a single clue but only a hole in the ground.



Note: Bruce ends the issue looking at a hole. But more important, he calls Hurt a hole. An empty space. An absence. Bruce has an empty space in his life; an enemy who is an absence represents not Bruce's father but the hole in his life where his father should be. Bruce suspects that Hurt goes back in his own family tree. A dark twin. An anti-Thomas Wayne. An anti-Bruce as well. As Bruce is the one who sleeps for three days then rises, an anti-Bruce is symbolically an anti-Christ.











Next Issue: The Conclusion of “RIP: The Missing Chapter”


Until then.