This week, the latest tie-in to “Batman R.I.P.” kicked off in DC’s Batman and the Outsiders
by Frank Tieri and Ryan Benjamin. Given that it’s starting off a little
bit after Batman has gone MIA as far as his extended family knows, this
week’s Batman and the Outsiders #11 finds the team without its headlining leader…and rather worried about his whereabouts and safety.
We spoke with Teiri about the tie-in issues, and what Batman’s absence will do to the team.
Newsarama: As we've seen in the other Batman family books, by
this point in the R.I.P. storyline, Batman is out of the scene, and as
the solicitations suggest, he's MIA to the Outsiders as well. How do
they take the news? Time to party since “dad’s gone?
Frank Tieri: Quite the contrary.
Let me be brutally honest here for a minute … there are certain heroes
that could vanish into thin air tomorrow and it wouldn’t really make
much of a difference in their respective universes. (Sorry, fanboys. I
only calls ‘em like I sees ‘em)
But Batman is definitely not one of those heroes. Batman goes missing
and all Hell breaks loose. That’s something we very much touch on
during my stint, especially in the first issue where we’ll see how
Batman’s disappearance affects not only the Outsiders, but also his
fellow heroes (Superman, Nightwing, Black Lightning in this case), the
criminal underworld (Penguin, Intergang, and the inmates at Arkham) and
of course, Gotham City itself (including Commissioner Gordon and
Jeremiah Arkham).
In fact, I’d say Batman & The Outsiders #11 is
basically our “search and rescue” issue, with all these different
parties looking to find Batman. And what they find by issue’s end is very interesting.
NRAMA: But still - why this response? I mean, if you look at the
shared universe concept, there are periods where all characters would
have "gone MIA" to their friends in regards to their own adventures. Is
thinking something bad has happened to Batman the team's first
response?
FT: Not just the team—but everybody.
It’s something we address immediately in the storyline, as a matter of
fact, in a scene between Green Arrow and Superman. They’re in the mess
that Wayne Manor has become and Supes, ever the optimist, brings up
just what you said…
Until he sees what’s happened to the Batcave. And then even he realizes it’s different this time.
Batman may not be coming back.
NRAMA: Judging by all the characters you’ve mentioned, obviously
there’s going to be a lot of guest stars during your run. Is that it or
are we missing anybody else?
FT: Well, like I said, something like Batman going MIA is going
to have ripple effects throughout the entire DCU, so we wanted a good
representation.
So with that in mind, yeah, Batman & The Outsiders # 13
sees a few other familiar Bat characters pop up. Man-Bat, for one, will
play a very important role in this arc -- and fans can also expect
Spoiler and Riddler to make appearances, as well.
NRAMA: Who takes the disappearance the hardest on the team? Who could give a crap?
FT: I’d say they all take it pretty hard, actually... but each
does it in their own unique way. That’s definitely something we explore
in this storyline—loss, and how different people deal with it
differently. There’s some reactions you’ll expect—Grace will be angry,
Rex will try and lighten the grim mood…
But then there’s reactions that may surprise you. Like Nightwing’s. And Thunder’s.
NRAMA: As we've also seen (in Nightwing for example,
those responsible for RIP'ing Batman have been playing with the others
in the family. Do they turn their attention to the Outsiders at all?
FT: Well, if I was going to slap a big “BATMAN R.I.P. “ banner
on this thing, then I felt it was only fair to the fans to deal with as
much of the main "R.I.P." action from Grant’s book that we possibly
could. So with that said...
About your question about Black Glove specifically? Um... no comment.
NRAMA: Can the team hold together without Batman? The "Outsiders" he's picked before have managed along just fine without him...
FT: Well, that’s the $64,000 question, now isn’t it? That’s what
they’re all asking themselves right out of the gate. Batman put this
team together, he set up their mission statement—so with him missing,
what does that mean exactly? Are they still a team? Maybe the bigger
question is do they still want to be a team?
BATO fans might not want to hear this, but there’s a very real
possibility they don’t. I mean, the name of the storyline is “Outsiders
No More”, after all.
NRAMA: Nature abhors a vacuum, and in the world of superheroes,
it also abhors a team without a leader. Who takes the reigns of the
members and tries to make something out of it? Does anyone?
FT: Batgirl does. In fact, from issue #12 on you could almost change the name of the book to Batgirl & The Outsiders.
Let’s face it… Batgirl’s a character right in my wheelhouse. But beyond
that, she’s a character with a lot to play with. Look, whether or not
you think it was a mistake to turn her into a villain, you have to
figure she still has this tremendous guilt because of it-- that she has
this great need to redeem herself—just like we’re seeing in the Batgirl limited series that’s going on now.
And in her mind, she was going to get that through Batman. So now that
he’s missing… what does that mean for her? Well, we’ll see that she
gets very much into a “what would Batman do?” mode, eventually leading
her into conflict with some of her own team mates.
And that’s even before #12 hits. That’s where everything really hits the fan and something truly bad happens-- and unfortunately, Batgirl’s sort of right in the middle of it.
NRAMA: She doesn’t only come into conflict with her fellow
Outsiders though, right? The cover to your final issue—BATO #14—shows
her duking it out with one time Outsider and Batman sidekick, Nightwing.
FT: What we’ll wind up with there is really a battle over
Batman’s ideology more than anything. Batgirl believes there’s a
certain way that Batman does things and Nightwing is totally against
the methods she’s using. It all leads up to a huge, knock down, drag
out, slobber knocker between the two in our grand finale.
Think of it as sort of like two kids fighting over their parent’s inheritance. Only with colored underwear and deadly weapons.
NRAMA: DC is being very quiet on what may happen at the end of
RIP - and you're not going to say anything about what's to come past
your arc....but are we looking at a long-term different dynamic here?
FT: No doubt about it.
Like you said, I can’t really say too much, but I can promise fans they
can expect some major stuff going down before this is all over with. At
least one member of the cast dies, somebody else ends up in a coma and
we may not have an Outsiders team anymore when all’s said and done.
That enough of a different long term dynamic for ya?
