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BATMAN IN A CITY OF LIGHTS
by: Jennifer Contino (The Pulse)
As was just announced at the SDCC, Mark Paniccia along with
Arnold and Jacob Pander are working on a Batman miniseries
called Batman: City of Lights. THE
PULSE caught up with Arnold
Pander and Mark Paniccia to talk about this new project,
and find out what a city of lights means to a creature of
the dark.
THE PULSE: What is Batman: City of light?
PANICCIA: It’s an eight issue series that explores
what happens when Bruce looses it after a shocking event
in Batman’s life. I don’t want to give too much
away but I can tell you you’ve never seen anything
like this in Batman before. It introduces an awesome new
villain to the Batman mythos. And it has spectacular artwork
by the Pander Bros and great coloring by Moose Baumann.
THE PULSE: How did you get involved in Batman: City of Light?
PANICCIA: I’d been working with the Pander Bros on
various projects here and there since my days at Malibu and
Marvel West. We had ended initial development on an animation
project for Ron Stone over at Gold Mountain and were like, “what’s
next?” Arnold and his brother Jacob had been working
on this Batman story and asked me if I wanted to co-write
it with them. So I read through the treatment and came up
with some suggestions and we talked about it back and forth.
Shortly after, Arnold ended up moving to Hollywood. He was
literally around the corner from me so we spent the next
few months meeting and plotting. We were always in contact
with Jacob and every so often he’d come in from Portland
for the jam sessions.
ARNOLD PANDER: We’re multimedia and our most notable
consistent work has been comic books with Grendel, TRIPLE-X
(XXX), Exquisite Corps, and other books. We had done a few
short stories for DC with the Batman character and we wanted
to explore it a little further. We grew up with Batman and
always identified with the concept of an inner demon that
haunts his soul, and his relationship with his city, Gotham
City. We thought it would be really cool to do something
that dealt with the city and his role within it. Notion of
a new design coming into play that might impact his relationship
with it was something we wanted to explore. In this case
an architect created a city that is luminous. In that cast,
Batman himself is an aspect of that dilemma of Gotham. The
same thing that created crime is what created him. In this
new city, he may not have a place or be required.
In that regard Batman has a kind of identity crisis, where
his insecurity and sense of doubt almost consume him. We
really forced him to go into this deepest darkest part of
himself to find a balance or lose control all together. He
risks either losing his soul or gaining control of it. It’s
a combination of inner turmoil in his own environment. He’s
losing control of both himself and his city.
We wanted to play with the irony of this nemesis character
Slate, who the architect that has created the City of Light.
His design was born out of a similar tragedy, where his family
was killed, and it motivated him to create a design that
would eliminate crime itself. Even Bruce Wayne sees value
of this design and its impact.
THE PULSE: What was it like working with the Panders?
PANICCIA: Energizing. They play off of each other very well
and when the three of us got going it sometimes got crazy
with the gags and pranks. But we really did work hard at
it and put in a ton of hours. It was a fun experience and
I’m grateful to them for asking me aboard.
THE PULSE: What’s it like working with Mark?
A PANDER: Really great. We had worked with Mark in the past
as our editor on various projects for various companies.
We established a nice rapport with him and enjoyed working
on different things each time he asked. So when Batman pitch
came along (it was turned down twice due to its complexity),
we felt we needed someone else to help us clarify some of
the points and be not just a co-writer, but an editor. We
needed someone else to break things up. Mark was really instrumental
in helping us shore things off and get it through its final
resolution. We’re excited to not only draw but write
a story that involves an icon of the American Culture. This
character speaks to our nature … Batman has a universal
conflict that embodies him and crosses every gender and economic
distinction. There is a little bit of Batman in everybody.
So far it’s been a great collaboration and we’ll
probably work together on other projects in the future. I’m
in Hollywood working on concepts, so there is probably some
cross pollination that will take place in that regard.
THE PULSE: What makes it different from other things
we’ve
seen in the Batman universe?
PANICCIA: There’s a lot of stuff from Batman’s
state of mind, to a new villain, to the amazing architecture
of the city of Gotham. I don’t think you’ve ever
seen Batman like this before. Bob Schreck is allowing City
of Light to bend a few of the rules.
I think the villain is definitely unique but has all the
qualities of a Batman nemesis. Sometimes new villains don’t
always fit within the hero or title’s mythological
parameters, which isn’t always a bad thing, but is
not always good either. The villain in this series has that
special “Batman” feel to it.
City of light also stars Batgirl and we get a chance to
get into her head and see what kind of relationship she has
with the caped crusader and how it fits into her past. We
see that the events in this story really put her to task
both emotionally and physically—she has something to
prove but it’s not going to be easy for her.
And Jacob’s cityscapes are fantastic. It gives Gotham
that cinematic quality that makes it as important a character
in the book as any. It’s just beautiful, awe-inspiring
stuff and I think Batman fans are going to really dig it.
THE PULSE: What were some of the biggest challenges for
you?
PANICCIA: Story structure was something I concentrated on
very hard. The Panders had this epic and we spent a lot of
time on pacing and logistics. When we started, the Panders
were thinking of it as a six issue series. I was thinking
DC would come back to us and say, “Make it three issues.” When
we were done with the plotting and outlines Bob told us to
make it eight. I was elated but worried we would lose the
pacing we worked so hard to create, but it ended up working
out perfect.
A PANDER: Yah, we had pitched it as a six issue series and
once they signed off on it, they wanted to stretch it out.
There was some difficulty structurally in where an issue
ends and where dramatic points are; and the “to be
continued” structure that comics tend to have. So we
struggled with that, and then as it loosened up, we took
the concepts even further. The series, as it progressed,
became more high complex and had a lot of elements we put
into play early on we were able now to expand upon. It’s
a great opportunity and challenge for us to try and take
this book even further and make it a bigger epic. A complete
story that is finite yet could be taken further into the
DC universe.
Other than that real challenge was deciding on the look
of Batman and getting a feel for the character and becoming
acquainted with his mythos. We wanted to represent him in
a way that was universal and familiar yet at the same time
be different and keep the readers in tune with the character.
THE PULSE: What new characters can we expect to see in this
story?
PANICCIA: There are a few supporting characters that I think
have a place in the Batman universe after the series, but
one of City of Light’s main characters—a complex
and eccentric architect named Evan Slate—is this guy
who rivals Bruce Wayne’s enigmatic stature in Gotham.
He’s also a lot like Bruce on several different levels
including his desire to rid Gotham of crime—but his
way is by liberating it from shadow—hence the title.
THE PULSE: When working on an eight-part story, how tough
was it to make each chapter have a cliffhanger or compelling
point to lead up to the next part?
PANICCIA: The story has so much really cool stuff going
on that there was always a place to break it and leave the
reader hanging. It would just come naturally. Arnold and
I would be on this roll and we’d be like…bam!
That’s it! That’s where we end it.
THE PULSE: How tough is it to balance editing comics and
writing comics?
PANICCIA: They are both creative outlets for me, even though
editing is the “day job.” While I see editing
as a cross between being a talent manager and air traffic
controller, it’s also a collaborative process. Every
aspect of the book needs your attention on some level, and
being both an artist and a writer helps me bring something
different to the party.
As a writer who is an editor, I’ve had the opportunity
to learn a lot from that side of the desk. The only problem
is that I can sometimes self-edit my stuff to death. That’s
why I like collaborating so much…as long as you’re
bringing out the best in that person and vice versa.
THE PULSE: What other projects are you working on?
PANICCIA: Arnold Pander and I are working two other projects
together, one comic and one screenplay. I’m collaborating
with several other writers on comic book stuff. I’m
working on a documentary and co-creating /co-writing an original
manga for TOKYOPOP called Juror 13. I’m keeping busy,
but I’m always looking for cool things to do. I would
really like to do a Mister Miracle story someday.
A PANDER: We’re actually developing a comic series
but haven’t got a publisher lined up yet. We spend
a lot of time now developing stories for comics and film.
We’ve worked in film and music producing electronic
music compilations with emusic.com. On our website you can
see music videos we produce for national artists some animated
and some live action. ALSO developing feature length concepts
as well for live action and animation.
To see more of the Pander Bros. work visit their official
website.
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