By Todd Allen
In the 4th “New 52” writer shuffle of the week, DC has announced Gregg Hurwitz as the new writer for Batman: The Dark Knight, as of issue #10. I suspect they really mean co-writer on that, as I’m under the impression artist David Finch, for whom the title was created pre-relaunch, has a pretty good amount of input on the plot. Hurwitz has been around comics for 3-4 years. He started out at Marvel doing stints with Foolkiller, Punisher, Moon Knight and Wolverine. More recently, DC’s had him on the Penguin: Pain and Prejudice mini-series. Of course, comics are Hurwitz’s secret identity. The rest of the world knows him as a mild-mannered writer of bestselling prose novels in the thriller category. (Yes, that Alex Alonso fellow does love recruiting crime writers to comics.)
No word yet on what previous writer, Paul Jenkins, is up to next.
Hurwitz’s statement of intentions:
“Okay. So this is the job I’ve been waiting to get since I was eight years old. I’m thrilled to be tackling one of the world’s greatest characters with one of the industry’s greatest artists,” said Hurwitz on his upcoming run on BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT. “Finch and I are very fired up to take the Batman into dark and dangerous new terrain, presenting a story that’ll be epic and sweeping and juuust a little bit twisted. We’re gonna see a cornerstone villain from a whole new angle, too. I’ve always been fascinated by Jonathan Crane—not just what makes him tick, but what could have happened in his past to make him obsessed with fear at the expense of all else. And perhaps that particular obsession isn’t so different from the demons that drive the Dark Knight. As I discovered when writing Penguin: Pain and Prejudice—Batman fits uniquely with the villains in his rogue’s gallery. They are two sides of the same coin, yin and yang, ego and shadow. But in some cases, maybe the match is even closer. Maybe instead of ego and shadow, it’s shadow and shadow. Maybe when Batman looks in the mirror, the Scarecrow’s face is looking out. We’re used to Batman teaching his villains a lesson, but this time the Scarecrow might have something to teach Batman, too. Right now, I’m knee deep in straw and burlap, trying to stitch together a tale I hope you’ll find familiar yet new, a twist on a classic. It’s gonna get bumpy and scary and bit unhinged, so buckle up for the ride.”
DCnU, where A-list characters, B-list creators and C-list editorial planning collide.
“In the future, everyone will write Batman for 15 weeks.”
Is there some contractural requirement for writers taking on DC books to say that they’ve always wanted this special job and the results are going to be awesome and break new ground in subtext?
It’s about time they got a writer for this book. I still want those responsible for White Rabbit to own up. Someone had to invent her and someone had to approve her. Step forward and take your walk of shame.
I think they should just have new artists re-draw old scripts of the popular stories and just release that. I think that would be more interesting than all this mess.
Mike, I’m with ya!
I think maybe that whole DC editorial staff should see someone about their commitment issues. They can’t seem to stick to a specific continuity for more than a couple years, now they can’t even get stable creative line-ups for more than a few issues.
Joking aside, this is why they’re perennially #2. You have to give the readership something to connect and grow attached to. It’s understandable to a point to adhere to the bottom line and do something to shore up losses on underperforming books, but it definitely seems like a lot of the early New 52 creative teams were almost picked by tacking names of creators on the wall and throwing darts blindfolded at them. They weren’t really the ideal configurations for the job but they were the best they had at the time.
Meanwhile, they’re irritating fans who actually enjoyed those creative teams, and for those who avoided a certain title because of the team involved, now they’ve missed several issues and might be far less likely to jump on board. Wasn’t that the whole point of renumbering everything in the first place, because people are less likely to start reading a book at #7 or #8 than they are at #1?
Also.. why in the hell is DC flooding the titles with so many Bat titles int he first place?!
Snyder should have been on Tec. Then have Morrison with Batman and make it Batman Inc. Maybe also Batman and Robin to showcase Damien, if Batman Inc isn’t enough.
That is all you freaking need. Daniels and Finch’s books should never have been green lit. It’s a bunch of 90s fluff.
Tough crowd.
I, for one, will be jumping on Dark Knight with the addition of a new writer. So it’s another Bat book…if it’s good, who cares how many others there are.
I wonder if Finch is seeing the success that Capullo has had by teaming with an established writer, and rethinking the whole I can do everything route.
I’m curious to at least check this out.
Wait, TomO, why not wait and see if it’s good first?
I agree that too many of the new 52 are BatBooks. While the Batman universe is my second favorite corner of the DCU after the GL’s, which also have too many books, I think the overkill is hurting the diversity of the new DCU.