(no subject)

[batmanexaminer.insanejournal.com]

A few days ago we posted about the ambiguity of BFTC's conclusion.

Tony Daniel did an interview and it seems cleared up for the most part. Yes I'm plugging myself again... http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-6770-Batman-Examiner~y2009m5d22-Tony-Daniel-speaks

To make it legal...an era where not everyone Tim loved was dead..

Comments

[yaseen101.insanejournal.com]

IMO,Battle for the cowl was nothing more than some editorially mandated fiat. Tony Daniel has literally no experience as a writer, aside from a few projects here and there he was merely the artist on Morrison's run on Batman. He was going about his day when Didio called him and told him that he was writing Battle for the Cowl. I can only imagine his reaction. Which leads to a lot of question especially since the call was on Didio's part. Moreover I loved his art on Morrison's run, he was the type of artist that seem to work hard to improve his craft and he improved leaps and bounds over the course of the title. However, I hated his art on BftC, the panels were sloppy, the faces were muddled, the poses were unrealistic, it was just not up to the standard to what I usually expect from Daniel. The story itself was nothing impressive, it was as thin as tissue paper, we know Dick was going to become Batman, we know Tim was going to become Red Robin and we know that Damien was going to become Red Robin. So what was the need for a big event anyway. Couldn't they just finish the entire thing in Batman itself? No DC just needed a quick buck, which is understandable given the economy buy seriously Tony Daniel?

To summarize, Tony Daniel artist> Tony Daniel and Didio <anyone else except Queseda. Although I do wonder what would have happened if Morrison wrote BftC. However, with all said and done I'm still looking forward to Red Robin, I liked Chris Yost's writing in one of the BftC tie ins, Streets of Gotham, Gotham Sirens and Batman & Robin.

[icon_uk.insanejournal.com]

I agree that this was ultimately an utterly pointless story, since nothing remotely unexpected came out of it, aside from (shudder) "Jason's got a sec-ret! Jason's got a sec-ret!"

I can easily imagine that Tony Daniel has expressed an interest in doing some writing to DC editorial in the past (as artists do, look at Perez and Davis to name but two), IIRC Morrison tends to interact a lot with his artists when he's writing, so Daniel would have been more in the loop than most. It's entirely possible (though not known of course) that he astounded Morrison, DiDio and others in charge of DC with his love and awareness of the characters when he was involved in RIP.

So this was viewed as being suitable story for that, since the beginning and end were already known and the writer had been involved in the story that led into this. A gamble, but one I can speculate a logical reason for, not necessarily a wise one, but a logical one.

To be honest, and a fan of most of his work though I am, I would have had reservations about Morrison writing BftC, the way I have about him writing Dick in anything, since he showed NO feel for the character whatsoever throughout RIP. Dick was a cipher the whole time. I'm hoping this will change for "Batman and Robin"

[yaseen101.insanejournal.com]

It's Morrison and Quietly, I will buy it as long as it's on All Star Superman level of quality. I think DC was looking for a way to exploit Tony's potential, afterall he was a hardworker and that showed through most of his work. I just think that he got the wrong project. It would have been better if he did a tie in instead and let a more experienced writer handle the writing chores. As for Morrison I feel that he has difficulty writing characters that he doesn't get, like Wonderwoman for example so he relegates them to the side and gives them their moment to shine at the end of the story, ala the ending of FC and RIP. and with an entire mini concentrating on Dick becoming Batman, there is no way he could have relegated Dick to a side.

[batcookies.insanejournal.com]

I agree that this was ultimately an utterly pointless story, since nothing remotely unexpected came out of it, aside from (shudder) "Jason's got a sec-ret! Jason's got a sec-ret!"

Well, that and Orpheus is back from the dead and pretending to be the man that supposedly killed him.

[yaseen101.insanejournal.com]

You might be jumping to conclusions there bat-cookies, we never saw who was behind the mask.

[batcookies.insanejournal.com]

Bah, it's apparently a black male and most likely someone we already know. Not exactly a lot of candidates in the Batman books. Lucius Fox, Black Spider, and Michael Akins are unlikely. Considering Black Mask "killed" Orpheus, creating a link between the characters, and the new Black Mask's plan was apparently to start a gang war hurting Penguin and Two-Face (sort of like what happened in War Games) Orpheus is most likely candidate.

[yaseen101.insanejournal.com]

I never bothered to look at the story that deep, I go by the wait-and-see method.

[xdoop.insanejournal.com]

Is it a black male? I thought his face was just covered in shadow.

[freddylloyd.insanejournal.com]

Tony Daniel has literally no experience as a writer, aside from a few projects here and there he was merely the artist on Morrison's run on Batman. He was going about his day when Didio called him and told him that he was writing Battle for the Cowl. I can only imagine his reaction.

In this interview Daniel said, "I plotted and scripted everything from scratch. That’s why they chose me to write it, they liked what I had in mind." Clearly he recalled sharing ideas with the bosses before he got the job.

Furthermore, in his previous Newsarama interview (http://www.newsarama.com/comics/081222-tony-daniel-battle-cowl.html), Daniel talked about presenting ideas to editor Mike Marts in conversation, repeating his interest in an email, speaking to DiDio by phone two days later, and finally sending in a first draft before he was sure of the assignment.

We don't have to "imagine [Daniel's] reaction." He laid out the sequence of events for us. I don't defend the result, but I think it's worthwhile starting from the information that's available.

It's still obvious that Daniel wasn't DC's first choice, and the company was coming up against a deadline and had to find someone to crank this baby out. Your observations about sloppy artwork might imply that Daniel was spreading himself too thin, or caught in too tight a schedule.

[yaseen101.insanejournal.com]

You make a good point and I admit I got a little too eccentric. I guess I am a bit too jaded by this whole thing.

[freddylloyd.insanejournal.com]

Understandable since Battle for the Cowl has had a jaded feel ever since it was announced.