Monday , March 18 2024
Blogcritics sat down to chat with comics scribe Brendan Fletcher at the recent C2E2 Convention in Chicago.

Interview: Writer Brendan Fletcher on ‘Batgirl,’ ‘Gotham Academy,’ and ‘Black Canary’

Batgirl

This year there were more than 70,000 attendees at C2E2, and on Saturday the most crowded day of the convention, it sometimes felt as though a majority of that throng were gathered at the table of Batgirl’s dynamic duo Brendan Fletcher and Babs Tarr. I was lucky enough to grab a few minutes with Brendan Fletcher the writer on Batgirl, Gotham Academy, and the upcoming Black Canary at their shared booth while he was setting up, and while his artist Babs Tarr, herself a newly minted Eisner nominee, was being swamped by fans.

One of the things that I admire about Gotham Academy and Batgirl is the diversity. How much of that is just reflecting the fact that Gotham is a big city and that diversity is inherent in a big city like Chicago or New York or Los Angeles? That being said, when we usually see those places in comics, that diversity doesn’t  always feature. Was this something you were thinking of in writing these books?

It’s about making Gotham a real place. I mean, for me, I live in a big metropolitan city, Toronto, and it’s diverse. So why wouldn’t Gotham be? I know that holds true for the rest of the writing team on Gotham Academy as well.

Wait. Another Canadian in comics? Okay, so Jim Zub spilled the beans on a secret plan for invading the U.S. comics industry. Jeff Lemire was supposedly the one organizing the whole thing with Justice League Canada but the book was cancelled?

Ask yourself,was the book canceled or did we simply change the name (to Justice League United) for the purposes of keeping the invasion plan a secret? Its still happening man. Were just awaiting word from Lemire and it’s on!

How important is having an all-ages title like Gotham Academy or even maybe Batgirl  has a diverse cast in terms of growing comics readership at DC?

There isn’t anything more important. In the end, comics are a business and it’s a business that relies on readers. If you aren’t getting new readers, you are dying. And the future readers look like the characters in a Gotham Academy or a Batgirl so why wouldn’t you want to make those readers feel welcome?

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About Gabe_Canada

Gabrial is a native Hoosier. He is a blogger for the grassroots media literacy organization Racebending.com and a member of the team at Kind of Epic Show. A weekly pop culture news podcast http://www.podomatic.com/kindofepicshow whose hosts may or may not form a giant fighting robot.

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