On May 17th writer Damon Lindelof talked to CBR about his upcoming Batman digital comic with artist Jeff Lemire as well as what fundamental introductions to the characters meant to him and how he came to know Batman .
CBR News: What was your introduction to Batman?
Damon Lindelof: “Super Friends” and the Adam West “Batman” were my fundamental introductions to the character. I had a Batman alarm clock when I was five years old. It was a talking alarm clock with Batman and Robin on the front. When it went off every morning, Robin would say, “Jumping Jehoshaphat, Batman” and then the two of them would have a whole little dialogue. I had bed sheets and all that stuff too, but that was my first exposure to him.
What is interesting is that Adam West gave me a fundamental understanding of who Bruce Wayne was, but Bruce Wayne isn’t even in “Super Friends.” He was only Batman. At the time, I didn’t really group them in the same category because one was animated and one was live action.
What about as a comic book reader?
I remember “The Dark Knight Returns” really specifically, because my dad was reading it and I knew that it was very cool and very dark. Obviously, that whole shift was happening in terms of the deconstruction of superheroes. I remember “Year One,” which was also [Frank] Mille,r and then, of course, “The Killing Joke,” with Barbara getting crippled. I feel like those all came out within a week of each other, but I know I’m covering something like a three-year period. That was really my primary exposure to the comic book Batman.
Since then, I’ve dropped in and out over the years. I remember getting back in during the early 2000s when [Jeph] Loeb and [Jim] Lee did “Hush,” and I followed [Grant] Morrison’s run, too. All the Batman titles aren’t on my weekly pull list today, but I am aware of what’s happening with the character.
Last year, you did a Superman story for “Action Comics” #900. What brought you back to DC Comics to do a Batman story?
What happened was that I basically became obsessed with Jeff [Lemire]. [Laughs] I read “Sweet Tooth” and was like, “Holy shit. Who is this guy?” I googled him and found out about “Essex County,” so I ran out and grabbed the collected edition and read it cover to cover. Then I tweeted about him and about how awesome “Sweet Tooth” was. And then, he tweeted back at me, we exchanged email addresses and just started talking to each other.
The interview continues on a little bit longer . For the whole story go to the source .
Source – CBR
– Adam
