With the news hitting yesterday that Batman: Li’l Gotham would not only become an ongoing title (as opposed to the periodic, holiday-driven one-shots we’ve seen so far), but also launch a print edition that will collect the online chapters, the newly-minted title jumped to the top of many fans’ DC Comics must-buy lists.With that excitement as a motivator, ComicBook.com tracked down Dustin Nguyen, one of the creators of the fan-favorite, all-ages-friendly Batman series.It’s rare these days that out-of-continuity stories, young-reader-friendly or visually daring stories sell in the Big Two market. This story is all three of them, so…what happened? How the heck did you guys succeed?We got REALLY lucky. Both in the sense that DC signed off on such an idea, and also that die hard Batman fans don’t completely hate it. I did get to “field test” it in a sense for the past few years, online thru various websites and art/fan communities to see if they would like it or not, so that kind of helped prepare for what sort of fan base we were shooting for, or at, and their reactions.Do you think the digital marketplace is really different from the comic shop market?I feel right now, it is. Give it a few years ( or sooner, who knows) and both become integrated, then we’ll just all move along as usual. I mean… probably?It seems that digital has allowed your book, and a handful of others, to overcome the challenge faced by other critically-acclaimed books that aren’t considered “necessary” to the continuity, like Superman Family Adventures or Resurrection Man. Would you say that’s accurate?I’d say that’s very accurate. As much as I’d hate to think we are potentially test subjects for the medium, we really are. Not that it’s at all a bad thing, we get to make the mistakes that later down the road wouldn’t be allow.This book is so visually distinctive that it’s hard to imagine anyone else ever taking it on. Is it weird to work on a major property like Batman but to be allowed to so completely dictate the look and feel of the story?You know… I thought about that, but the better me came to the conclusion that all I was really just drawing these characters small, everyone does that nowadays-some even better. So Derek and I went back to the more important aspect, which were the stories that give these characters their expressions and emotions. I think if we can succeed in that, then we’ll truly have something that’s ours. That DC owns hahaWhat’s your favorite part of Li’l Gotham?I’d have to say… drawing animals and plants that don’t have to make sense, because I sort of suck at drawing animals and plants that make sense.Are there any characters you haven’t worked with yet, that you’d like to use in the stories and we can look forward to seeing?You’ll notice a little JLA cameo here and there down the road, Aqua man is very fun in this style, just due to my obsession with the sea. (Besides, of course, She Who Must Not Be Named and her purple Batgirl suit.)😀
