A Word from Steve Englehart
Passed along via Handsome, and a good follow-up to a post made this past Friday, here are some encouraging words on the project from the creative side:
Hi there, and Happy 2005. Steve Englehart here.
First, I'm sending this news squib to you because you and I have been
in contact in the past, or in some other way you've ended up in my
address book. If you'd rather not get anything further from me, just
hit reply and say so.
Second, sorry for the impersonality of it, but it's a broadside.
Third - the reason for this email is, last year DC asked me, Marshall
Rogers, Terry Austin, and John Workman to get together and do a
"Volume 2" to our definitive Batman run, and we did. So this spring -
specifically May, June, and July, bracketing the release of the next
Batman movie - DC will issue a 6-issue series (biweekly) called DARK
DETECTIVE. It features the long (really long-) awaited return of
Silver St Cloud, and the Joker, with first appearances (by us) of
Two-Face, the Scarecrow, and, uh, Dr Double X. (The Scarecrow's in
the movie, too, but we did our own take on him in our story.)
Silver's moved on, and the last thing she wants to do is meet Bruce
Wayne again, but fate, you know... And the Joker is running for
governor with a simple slogan: "Vote for me or I'll kill you."
My goal, in accepting this, was to do something _as good as_, but
_not the same as_, the first run. Word from DC is, they think we did.
(Confidentially, I think so, too. Marshall and Terry's art is
spectacular, and it was a thrill for me to get back to a character
and situation I had so much fun with the first time.) So I'm writing
to say, if this sounds interesting to you, please let your local
retailer know. As you're probably aware, in the current age of
comics, retailers want to know what potential interest is in a new
title so they can order enough (but not too many, of course) - so
your expression of interest will help ensure not only that you'll get
a copy come May, but that your friends will get one, too. Give 'em a
call or drop a word this week, if you will, and we'll all be happy.
Finally - as many of you know, I no longer hype projects I'm doing
until they're in the can (and after BIG TOWN, even that might be too
soon). But I will just mention that based on the inhouse response to
DARK DETECTIVE, I've been asked to do a similar project with some
other heroes I've had some success with there. So maybe later this
year, if you want it, you'll get another one of these emails...
Thanks for listening.
--
Steve Englehart
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