Wizard Universe - Grant Morrison's Batman

Originally appeared at www.wizarduniverse.com, September 18th 2006

The writer dishes the dirt on Robin vs. Batman Jr., the league of international Batmen and why the Joker is no laughing matter

WIZARD: Now that you’ve introduced Damian, who claims to be Bruce Wayne and Talia al Ghul’s son, in your “Batman & Son” arc, what’s next for this kid?

MORRISON: The big showdown. The idea is that the kid, Damian, has decided that he’s now in a position where he should be Robin. He was raised by the League of Assassins, and they have a very simple way of dealing with anyone who’s in their way: You kill your rival and take his position. He has no qualms about it. That happens in part three [issue #657, due in September]. Batman will have to deal with that, how everything will play out—and what Talia’s plan really is.

After that four-part storyline wraps up with October’s issue #658, you move on to a Joker story with issue #659, right?

MORRISON: [My] fifth issue is a Joker story—kind of a one-shot. It’s going to be done almost like a prose story with illustrations, but with more illustrations [than those types of issues usually have]. It’s slightly different than the usual. I remember [former Batman writer and editor] Denny O’Neil did a story that’s always being reprinted in “The Best of Batman” books, where it was a combination of prose and illustrations. I wanted to try to do something new with that. It’s a very dark, pulpy story with the Joker.

And it plays off the events of your first issue, where the Joker’s been shot in the face…

MORRISON: They’ve had to do some reconstructive surgery, and he’s a little different.

Is this more of an origin tale, or—

MORRISON: This is more about where he is now in the DC Universe than any kind of origin tale. I thought the cackling, loony we’ve had for so long was kind of played out. I was looking back at the early stuff, and the Joker used to be a guy with a horrible grin that you just couldn’t stop. I liked that, visually—even when he’s staring at you with death in his eyes, absolute hatred, that smile is still fixed on his face. I wanted more of that—a fearful Joker—than just a guy who laughs hysterically all the time because he likes to laugh. This guy can’t stop smiling. He’s a bit more f---ed up.

So, do you have a definitive take on the Joker?

MORRISON: In Arkham Asylum I came up with the idea that the Joker has no real personality. Whatever happened to him in the past destroyed him so utterly that, unlike Batman, he’s just fragmented. I see him as a guy who adapts to circumstances. So you can play different versions of the Joker, depending on how he gets up in the morning and how he feels.

He could kill you or hug you.

MORRISON: One day he might hand you an exploding cigar that just goes “pop.” But the next he might hand you one that blows your head off, and half the building with it.

What do you and Andy have in store for your second arc, starting this December?

MORRISON: We’ve got a three-part story with all the different international Batmen on an island. Batman gets invited to the last meeting of the Club of Heroes, which he used to belong to in the stories of the ’50s. It was populated by all the different Batmen—the Knight and the Squire [from England], the Gaucho from Argentina and the Legionary from Italy. Batman and Robin get an invitation to visit John Mayhew’s island, he’s the eccentric billionaire that put these guys together once. His face appears on a screen and says, “I’ve brought you here because I’ve been murdered and I need you guys to solve the mystery—but the murderer is still here among us.” They all start getting killed off, one by one, while Batman and Robin are trying to figure out who’s doing it.