In a matter of hours, DC Comics is releasing the momentous Detective Comics #1000, a milestone very few comic titles have been able to reach before. ComicBook.com sat down with Detective Comics scribe Peter Tomasi at C2E2 this past week to chat about the upcoming issue and what it means for him to be on such a large title. In addition to Detective Comics #1000 talk, Tomasi revealed how much of the title he already has plotted out moving forward, and not only that, but the fan-favorite writer even chose who his favorite on-screen Batman is.
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Here’s what Tomasi had to say about all things Batman.
ComicBook.com: So, there’s a little book on the horizon — Detective Comics #1000. Let’s start there. What can you tell us about that?
Peter Tomasi: Not a lot. It comes out Wednesday. My story is I took the same tack as I did on Action, with all splash pages. And it was… it’s a complete night and day of Superman, obviously, and Batman, in terms of, character and characterization and approach to the story. Where in Action #1000, it was just showing a father’s love. Being able to push through, the villain’s trap, so to speak, to get back to his home and celebrate his birthday.
But this time I wanted to take a different road on it, a different angle by exploring Batman. Because, I knew what the other stories were going to be. So, I wanted it to be from somebody’s perspective who looked at Batman as a villain. So, their captions drive the story, with the images.
Was there ever a sense of added pressure, you think, because it’s such a big issue?
No. You know what? Luckily no, because I’ve been in the business so long, it was really a question of… I had to pinch myself really. To say, “Wow. I did the lead — me and Dan Jurgens did a lead — and now we both have the same amount of pages.” 15 each in Action #1000. Then I have the lead story, the highest page count in Detective #1000.
So, to be able to do the lead story in Action #1000 and Detective #1000… 10-year-old Pete Tomasi, would have never imagined he’d be doing it. The fact that the stars aligned and allowed me to be able to do both of those issues, milestones when you’re a comic fan; it’s pretty special. So, the added pressure really wasn’t there. I’ve been in the Batman universe so long that it was… he’s really a character who talks to me very quickly in my head when I write. So, it was pretty cool to be able to do this.
So, your run on Detective still somewhat in its infancy, I guess. How’s the future look? What’s the future look like? Are you in it for the long haul?
Oh, yeah. Yeah, I’ve turned in the script to #1008. I’ve already plotted out to #1016. So, I’m there for a while, until they throw me off. So, no. I’d love to do what Tom King is doing. I’d love to try to get a hundred issues under my belt on Batman, that would be awesome.
Bringing up Tom. I mean, the two lead Batman writers. Do you communicate, at all, about any events or?
Believe it or not, no. Not as much as you would think. We talk to each other more like, “Hey. What’s up? How’s it going?” But we haven’t really… like, “today, I’m breaking this, and what are you breaking?” We, leave it up to the editors. So, sometimes the little wires get crossed. So, even a thing like “Kightmares,” there was a tonal feel that was very similar, which caught me off guard, but sometimes just, lines get crossed. But that all got taken care of.
You’ve been involved with Batman forever. Which on-screen Batman is your favorite? Is there one that stands out to you and says, “Damn, this is Batman?”
It’s tough. I mean, obviously Adam West was the “be all, end all” when you’re a kid. Because it all seemed serious too. When you’re young, you’re not taking it as camp compared to if you were watching it later on in your life. He was my Batman, for a long time.
But, I got to say, I did love Christian Bale’s take on it. Yeah, you know, I think all of them have brought something original to the table in the end. I mean, Michael Keaton, who would have imagined? But in the end, he really was a good Batman. You know that scene where they’re in the apartment of Vicki Vale and he grabs the hot poker and he smashes it, and he goes, “You want to get crazy?” I mean, stuff like that. I love that kind of Bruce Wayne too. The one who can also go a little off-kilter, because he should be a little off-kilter.
Batman, to me, I don’t like writing a Batman who’s just a calm, driven, force. I love for the world around him, and his own phobias and hang-ups to intrude on him, and humanize him more, make him fallible a lot too. It just makes it more interesting as a writer to write him that way too.
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Detective Comics #1000 hits stores March 27th.
