After thinking that the series was cancelled for the entire week, we found out that Karen Traviss has taken over as writer on the same day that issue #44 was released!
IGN Comics have interviewed Karen about the book and some of her work on Halo. Here is a snippet of that interview.
IGN Comics: First and foremost, congrats on taking over the book! How did this gig come about?
Karen Traviss: Thanks! It came out of the blue, as these things always do. The Gears of War comic series was coming to the end of its run, and my editor at DC, Jim Chadwick – who’s been terrific to work with – said he'd see if there was anything else around for me to pick up. (He knows how much I love doing comics. It's my thing.) I moved on to the next job in my pile, which happened to be my new novel for Simon & Schuster, not expecting to hear anything, but then Jim came back soon afterwards and said: "Do you feel like doing Batman?"
It was so far out of my usual story area (military) that I said yes -- instantly. I love being pushed out of my comfort zone. And I'm English, so as most comics readers know, we Brits have a different attitude to superhero stuff. But look at it – a traumatized billionaire who dresses up as a bat to beat up criminals and exorcise his inner demons, and the only really close relationship he has is with an elderly family retainer who’s almost certainly got a pretty hardcore secret past himself? That's irresistible. That's actually right up my street. I looked past the freaky costumes and saw dysfunction. I love it…
IGN: What threads are you picking up on from the previous run, if any?
Traviss: It's a whole new storyline, but obviously still within the Arkham canon and timeline. It's all set between the first and second game. Basically, what happens in Gotham while all this Arkham malarkey is going on? How do the citizens, the police, the staff at city hall, react to all this? Because it’s going to upset an awful lot of people.
IGN: What new elements are you bringing into the fold?
Traviss: I've got a particular way of writing novels, and that carries over into the way I write comics and games too. I'm a news journalist by background, so I approach everything as reporting – I treat it as real, I ask the questions I’d ask in a real situation, and I let the characters speak for themselves. And I don't do black and white characters – real human beings are more complex than that, so be prepared to see villains who make you stop and think they might sometimes have a point, and also to see the grey areas in the traditional heroes.
And there are a few new characters. Yes, you'll see quite a few of the old favorites, but I've had fun creating a few more.
IGN: Any particular characters (besides Batman) that you’ve found yourself gravitating towards?
Traviss: I think it’s more the scenarios and environment that have whetted my appetite – you've got a pretty dodgy City Hall at work in Gotham, and I spent far more years than I ever want to remember working for politicians on that level. And then there's the police response to all this. Yes, I worked for the cops for a while, too. So I'm not exactly adrift from familiar territory in this, despite the lack of military content. It's hugely enjoyable writing Jim Gordon, I admit. I've tried to look at his stuff from a copper's perspective. He asks the questions an actual cop would ask.
IGN: What are the challenges of writing a story that has to fit rather specifically into a certain time frame and that has to match up with established events?
Traviss: It's what I do all the time. I don't even think about it – it’s automatic now. And it’s not just something you have to manage in franchise work. You’re as stuck with timescales and the events you commit to in your own original fiction as you are in a shared universe. Sometimes you've got to juggle a bit, but being constrained by a timescale or events is partly what fuels creativity. It's puzzle-solving.
Source: IGN
Because Ravens still not in it lol
