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Batman Meets Anarky in December But Still No Cassandra Cain – The Batman Panel At Fan Expo

Published Sun, 31 Aug 2014 10:00:49 -0500

Last updated Mon, 01 Sep 2014 04:40:07 -0500

Diana McCallum writes for Bleeding Cool from Fan Expo in Toronto

The final DC panel of the weekend was all about the Dark Knight.

Titled Batman 75: The Eternal Dark Knight, the panel featured Larry Ganem, Greg Pak, Ray Fawkes, Jason Fabok and Francis Manapul

Greg Pak spoke for awhile about his current run on Batman/Superman and the enjoyment he had in exploring these characters from every angle. The only tease Greg would give for the next arc of the story was that we should ponder the question, "Who is Superman's Joker?"

The discussion then switched over to Batman: Eternal with writer Ray Fawkes providing an overview of the series as a whole and how it came about.

"We wanted to create the most insane Batman story of all time, one that would include every single major character in Gotham City and give every single one of those characters their moment."

The conversation eventually moved to Julia Pennyworth who Fawkes had recalled as a love interest for Bruce Wayne in the 80's and wanted to reintroduce with a more exciting background.

"She doesn't just have to be a love interest now," Fawkes said, possibly hinting that she could still be a potential love interest for Bruce, even if she is also a secret agent.

Jason Fabok who is doing the art on Eternal could barely contain his excitement for the book.

"In the end when it's all collected this thing is going to be reprinted for years and years and years," he said.

Francis Manapul was also on hand to talk about what's coming up in Detective Comics and said that after the Icarus storyline he and Brian Buccellato will be bringing back the villain Anarky with a twist. Manapul talked about the inspiration for the new Anarky as coming from his own interest in rooftopping, the subculture phenomenon where photographers take incredibly dangerous selfies from different heights while wearing V For Vendetta masks. Manapul said, "our take on Anarky is really different. He more or less liberates everybody. Everybody in the city will be given the opportunity to wear a mask and choose who they want to be."

The rest of the panel was taken up with some interesting crowd questions. One fan asked if writers and artists think of cosplayers when they redesign characters which received a resounding yes from Fabok and Fawkes.

"Yes," said Fawkes. "Some of the writers, we like to consider the possibility of cosplay. We think would villains make this, would people want to wear this?"

And it wouldn't be a DC panel unless one person asked it, yet again.

"When am I going to see Cassandra Cain, or have I already missed her?" an audience member asked.

"Well you haven't missed her," said Fawkes. "That's all I'm gonna say."

Diana McCallum is a writer and the co-creator of Texts from Superheroes. If you like fun stuff, follow her on Twitter at https://twitter.com/WordsOfDiana

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