Neal Adam's Batman Odyssey

[Drz]

Holy Cat-thongs, Batman! Why hasnt noone told me about Neal Adams and Frank Miller's upcoming Batman: Odyssey mini?!?!

6-8 issues long.
Sneak Peek
Possible CGI Promotion for Odyssey

Dan Didio hints the serie:

[S]ince it's never been officially announced, I can't really say if anything's going on with it... And if I had 80 pages in my drawer of it, right now, I still wouldn't be able to talk about it.

Ah Batman and guns. The perfect combonation. <3








Sunday Morning with Neal Adams

Batman Odyssey has been made larger. We have just penned an agreement for part 2 of the Odyssey which will be another 150 story. We are very excited on how this project is moving along . We are gathering together the top talent of the field to work with Neal on the inking chores of this fantastic series. I will keep you posted on when DC will be putting it out. Neal handed in the plots and scripts for the new second half of “Batman Odyssey “this week. And I decided to show a little Scott Williams inking on Neal.

Interview with Neal Adams:

Vince: Well that was another question I was going to ask: what other projects you're working on that you would like to talk about.

Neal: Well, that's a pretty big one.

Vince: Yeah, that would be great. I would love to see that because there are very few things that I look forward to every month, and I find myself reading the Showcase titles and things like that because I get excited, I have fun. I think that comics should touch you and thrill you, and overall they should be fun. And that's what I got when I read comics like yours.

Neal: Well, these are going to be like that. The first issue... Frank Miller has convinced me that he oughta dialogue, or at least re-dialogue the books, so I'm gonna have him do that. So the first issue is a 50-page portion of the larger story, and we tentatively call it Batman: Odyssey. It's a pretty big story, and pretty nifty, and very emotional, and very powerful. And basically what it is is that kind of challenge where you kind of go, oh, you think Neal is gonna come back, you think he's gonna screw up. Oh my goodness, what if it looks like that old stuff, it'll be kind of old fashioned. This is gonna be bad isn't it? This could be cool. Maybe he's just been holding back all this time, because he's got into a medium where he really didn't get to stretch his muscles. Hmm-mmm-mm. Wouldn't that be cool?

Older Interview with Neal Adams:

How is your project with Frank Miller going?
I’m on the second graphic novel and I’m moving toward the third.

When will we see it?
I think probably as I finish the third, which should be in a couple of months, they’ll decide when to put it on the schedule.

Is it going to be like “All Star Batman” in tone? Or more serious?
More like “All Star Batman” I would say. Not quite as crude, but I think Frank may whip a little crudeness into it. I think my Batman is not quite so hard on Robin. He’s very serious and dealing with problems that affect him personally so it’s a much more personal Batman. The characters I’m involved in take their stories much more personally and much more seriously. It’s not “here’s a case” it affectively deals directly with Batman. It’s stuff that goes on around him. It asks certain questions. Here’s one, who is doing more to help mankind, Batman or Bruce Wayne? Is Bruce Wayne doing more important things then Batman? It kind of turns what he’s doing as Batman into a hobby. If Bruce Wayne feeds a million people in Africa, how insignificant is what Batman is doing?

He keeps the streets safe.
He keeps the streets safe but he doesn’t save a million people who might be starving. Which is more important. If somebody doesn’t get mugged you train more cops. I’m not saying that one is more important. I think it’s a question that needs to be raised. That’s one of the things we deal with in the story.

So let's wrap this up:
Pencils: Neal Adams
Story: Neal Adams
Inks: Various
Dialogue: Frank Miller.

Looking good. Ofcourse some people will now make jokes about "Dick Grayson. Age Twelve" but this isn't Miller's comic so the editor can't just be okay with Miller doing his own gig and i doubt Miller would put his own Batman for Neal's work.

[[A]]

Originally Posted by Drz

..too much cheese, Bats

[Motown Marvel]

i'm easily buying this for the art. neal adams is a god. i have little faith in miller's ability to tell a competent batman story though.

[Cain]

Originally Posted by Motown Marvel

i'm easily buying this for the art. neal adams is a god. i have little faith in miller's ability to tell a competent batman story though.

if you know what to expect from this guy's Batman it's a lot of fun the problem is most readers think it's just gonna be a mainstream Batman tale and it's far from it, it's Batman with the Frank Miller imprint on it so it won't be your traditional Batman. That much is evident by the use of handguns.

[Cain]

I bet it's just year 4 of his wackjob Batman taking place chronologically after ASB&R not that I mind his wackjob Batman even though I think many people overrate the hell out of his Batman work.

[Motown Marvel]

no, its not that i expect mainstream batman. rather, miller has become a rather craptastic writer.

[Cain]

Originally Posted by Motown Marvel

no, its not that i expect mainstream batman. rather, miller has become a rather craptastic writer.

Miller has become a parody of himself but what makes it funnier is that he never was THAT great of a writer in the first place, but ironically this is exactly why I enjoy his recent work. It's like a giant F U to all the fans that overrated his work throughout the years and all the writers that completely misinterpreted his use of a more extreme Batman after TDKR. He's like "you want dark and vulgar I'LL GIVE YA dark and vulgar".

[Spidey_62]

To Neal Adams being on this, but I'm not sold at all on Miller doing this. His writing has gotten really bad over the years.

[Motown Marvel]

Originally Posted by Cain

Miller has become a parody of himself but what makes it funnier is that he never was THAT great of a writer in the first place, but ironically this is exactly why I enjoy his recent work. It's like a giant F U to all the fans that overrated his work throughout the years and all the writers that completely misinterpreted his use of a more extreme Batman after TDKR. He's like "you want dark and vulgar I'LL GIVE YA dark and vulgar".

no, miller was once a great writer. year one and DKR i think are over rated, but still very solid pieces of work. his sin city stuff was fantastic. and i know thats completely different, but it proves he was a great writer, though a very specific one. and while he's become a parody of himself, and his work has stumbled into the "so bad its good" area, i do not think that are his intentions.

[Cain]

Originally Posted by Motown Marvel

no, miller was once a great writer. year one and DKR i think are over rated, but still very solid pieces of work. his sin city stuff was fantastic. and i know thats completely different, but it proves he was a great writer, though a very specific one. and while he's become a parody of himself, and his work has stumbled into the "so bad its good" area, i do not think that are his intentions.

I think he was a good writer his DD was a masterpiece, Year One is one of my top 3 Batman tales of all time and yeah Sin City while sometimes uneven was a whole lot of fun overall. I also dearly heart Ronin. However I never thought he was as great as people touted him out to be because his works never AMAZED me even though they thoroughly entertain me.

They just don't grab me by the balls (pardon the vulgarity but in the spirit of Miller lol) like the works of a Morrison or Ellis or Moore or Waid or Gaiman. In other words he was better than most writer/artists sure but full fledged writers still always were way better to me. Also there are still many writer/artists who have also outclassed him in Batman alone (Darwyn Cooke, Matt Wagner) let alone all throughout comics like a Jurgens or Walt Simonson.

But I always took his attitude in his later work as him being very tongue in cheek about the way people perceive him. Basically he's satirizing the only things people think he's capable of (ultra violence and hard boiled pulpish dialogue in a gritty setting). Especially how he feels so many people failed to get the message of DKR throughout the years both fellow artists and regular fans, plus DC and fans always hounding him to do a DK2 when he was never into it then he just finally took the money, crapped out a half assed yarn and ran lol

I don't know it seemed kinda deliberate to me but in the words of movie Batman "you might be right".

[Motown Marvel]

Originally Posted by Cain

I think he was a good writer his DD was a masterpiece, Year One is one of my top 3 Batman tales of all time and yeah Sin City while sometimes uneven was a whole lot of fun overall. I also dearly heart Ronin. However I never thought he was as great as people touted him out to be because his works never AMAZED me even though they thoroughly entertain me.

They just don't grab me by the balls (pardon the vulgarity but in the spirit of Miller lol) like the works of a Morrison or Ellis or Moore or Waid or Gaiman. In other words he was better than most writer/artists sure but full fledged writers still always were way better to me. Also there are still many writer/artists who have also outclassed him in Batman alone (Darwyn Cooke, Matt Wagner) let alone all throughout comics like a Jurgens or Walt Simonson.

But I always took his attitude in his later work as him being very tongue in cheek about the way people perceive him. Basically he's satirizing the only things people think he's capable of (ultra violence and hard boiled pulpish dialogue in a gritty setting). Especially how he feels so many people failed to get the message of DKR throughout the years both fellow artists and regular fans, plus DC and fans always hounding him to do a DK2 when he was never into it then he just finally took the money, crapped out a half assed yarn and ran lol

I don't know it seemed kinda deliberate to me but in the words of movie Batman "you might be right".

i forgot about his DD work, that was good stuff. i should read more of it. never got around to reading ronin.

and while i dont believe he's intentionally parodying himself, even if he were, it still doesnt interest me, so....

[batpawn]

Originally Posted by Motown Marvel

no, miller was once a great writer. year one and DKR i think are over rated, but still very solid pieces of work. his sin city stuff was fantastic. and i know thats completely different, but it proves he was a great writer, though a very specific one. and while he's become a parody of himself, and his work has stumbled into the "so bad its good" area, i do not think that are his intentions.

No love for Ronin? In my opinion, it's still to this day, not only his best graphic novel (imo.) but also one of my favorite comic books in general. Combining cyberpunk with samurai culture is definitely a tricky one to accomplish, but the way Miller managed it in here seems flawless.

And don't forget his incredible take on Daredevil. Sure, he took the 'fun' out of the character, and made him too 'grim and gritty' for his own good. But besides hating this fact, you can't deny that the way he managed to imply these things to the character seemed unbelievably smooth. Every issue was psychologically relevant und filled with some of the best dialogues in the superhero franchises history.

Big Guy and Rusty, in which he was able to write a kid friendly, fun comicbook you could easily hand over to your six year old cousin and feel good about it, but still get lots of entertainment out of it for yourself. The themes it respond to were very adult, and reading between the lines showed a very depressing world ruled by war and violence, making it one of the best anti-war messages in comicbook history. But the fact that these things were so subtly implied that it works as a perfect read for a younger audiences, makes it one of his most underrated masterpieces.

And while I agree with you on the point that TDKR is overrated, one can't deny that it's still, in many aspects, a masterpiece of it's own. From the top notch writing and noirish, Raymond Chandler esque dialogues that gave the readers insights into the character's minds like almost none Batman comic before it, to the spot on storytelling that made 'out there' themes very easy to relate to. If one says 'Dark Knight Returns wasn't that good' only reflects the readers preference to other comicbooks which is absolutely okay, in my book. As I said before, I prefer other comic books to Dark Knight Returns as well. In fact, DKR isn't even in my Top 10 list of favorite Batman Comics, maybe not even in my Top 20. But denying it's huge impact to the comicbook industry and disown all the things the comicbook did not only right, but even spot on in some respects, is - imo - a very ignorant move.

In other words: like it or not, but Frank Miller was a fantastic writer once, very much so.

P.S.: I'd even consider DK2 to be his secret masterpiece. But that's another story.

[rogue trooper]

http://www.nealadams.com/batvid.html

CGI test!! Very cool!!

[Motown Marvel]

Originally Posted by batpawn

No love for Ronin? In my opinion, it's still to this day, not only his best graphic novel (imo.) but also one of my favorite comic books in general. Combining cyberpunk with samurai culture is definitely a tricky one to accomplish, but the way Miller managed it in here seems flawless.

And don't forget his incredible take on Daredevil. Sure, he took the 'fun' out of the character, and made him too 'grim and gritty' for his own good. But besides hating this fact, you can't deny that the way he managed to imply these things to the character seemed unbelievably smooth. Every issue was psychologically relevant und filled with some of the best dialogues in the superhero franchises history.

Big Guy and Rusty, in which he was able to write a kid friendly, fun comicbook you could easily hand over to your six year old cousin and feel good about it, but still get lots of entertainment out of it for yourself. The themes it respond to were very adult, and reading between the lines showed a very depressing world ruled by war and violence, making it one of the best anti-war messages in comicbook history. But the fact that these things were so subtly implied that it works as a perfect read for a younger audiences, makes it one of his most underrated masterpieces.

And while I agree with you on the point that TDKR is overrated, one can't deny that it's still, in many aspects, a masterpiece of it's own. From the top notch writing and noirish, Raymond Chandler esque dialogues that gave the readers insights into the character's minds like almost none Batman comic before it, to the spot on storytelling that made 'out there' themes very easy to relate to. If one says 'Dark Knight Returns wasn't that good' only reflects the readers preference to other comicbooks which is absolutely okay, in my book. As I said before, I prefer other comic books to Dark Knight Returns as well. In fact, DKR isn't even in my Top 10 list of favorite Batman Comics, maybe not even in my Top 20. But denying it's huge impact to the comicbook industry and disown all the things the comicbook did not only right, but even spot on in some respects, is - imo - a very ignorant move.

In other words: like it or not, but Frank Miller was a fantastic writer once, very much so.

P.S.: I'd even consider DK2 to be his secret masterpiece. But that's another story.

i never got around to reading ronin. i remember hearing good things, and i believe it, just havent gotten to it. so i cant be of any judge of it.

i totally forgot about his daredevil work. and yes, its fantastic, i want to read more of it. i only have a few collected arcs.

never heard much about big guy and rusty.

everything else, i dont disagree with you (except for DK2 being his secret masterpiece, ha ha). like i said, frank has some brilliant moments in comic history. he and his work was very important and influential. but his time as a relevant comic scribe has passed, it would seem. but i would love nothing more than for him to prove me wrong on that.

[Drz]

I don't know would Neal Adams be interested in The Dark Knight Returns universe? Anyhow lets not be so quick to judge on the guns! Remember that Brian Azzarello made his Pulp-Batman use guns as a "tribute" or "reference" to the original versio of Batman.

[Cain]

Originally Posted by Drz

I don't know would Neal Adams be interested in The Dark Knight Returns universe? Anyhow lets not be so quick to judge on the guns! Remember that Brian Azzarello made his Pulp-Batman use guns as a "tribute" or "reference" to the original versio of Batman.

At this point I'm sure he's just happy to still be getting offered work to pencil Batman decades after his prime. Plus Miller is one of those guys like Morrison where EVERYTHING he writes on a character is connected to the other. Everything Miller has written with Batman including BATMAN/SPAWN is part of his Dark Knight universe I don't see why this would be any different.

[Drz]

Originally Posted by Cain

At this point I'm sure he's just happy to still be getting offered work to pencil Batman decades after his prime. Plus Miller is one of those guys like Morrison where EVERYTHING he writes on a character is connected to the other. Everything Miller has written with Batman including BATMAN/SPAWN is part of his Dark Knight universe I don't see why this would be any different.

Oh right thats true. God damn i hate Batman/Spawn. I tho love All-Star Batman. Ah it's so cheesy when you do a Bale voice and say out loud "On your feet soldier! You've been drafted to a war!"

Tho i would be intriqued to learn about Miller's Batman teaming up with Jason Robin.

[batpawn]

I wouldn't be so shure that this is going to be miller's 'year 4', if I were you. Basically, this is Neal Adams baby, he created it and the story concept was written by him. As far as I see it, Miller is 'only' writing the script.

[Drz]

Update!




Sunday Morning with Neal Adams

Batman Odyssey has been made larger. We have just penned an agreement for part 2 of the Odyssey which will be another 150 story. We are very excited on how this project is moving along . We are gathering together the top talent of the field to work with Neal on the inking chores of this fantastic series. I will keep you posted on when DC will be putting it out. Neal handed in the plots and scripts for the new second half of “Batman Odyssey “this week. And I decided to show a little Scott Williams inking on Neal.

Interview with Neal Adams:

Vince: Well that was another question I was going to ask: what other projects you're working on that you would like to talk about.

Neal: Well, that's a pretty big one.

Vince: Yeah, that would be great. I would love to see that because there are very few things that I look forward to every month, and I find myself reading the Showcase titles and things like that because I get excited, I have fun. I think that comics should touch you and thrill you, and overall they should be fun. And that's what I got when I read comics like yours.

Neal: Well, these are going to be like that. The first issue... Frank Miller has convinced me that he oughta dialogue, or at least re-dialogue the books, so I'm gonna have him do that. So the first issue is a 50-page portion of the larger story, and we tentatively call it Batman: Odyssey. It's a pretty big story, and pretty nifty, and very emotional, and very powerful. And basically what it is is that kind of challenge where you kind of go, oh, you think Neal is gonna come back, you think he's gonna screw up. Oh my goodness, what if it looks like that old stuff, it'll be kind of old fashioned. This is gonna be bad isn't it? This could be cool. Maybe he's just been holding back all this time, because he's got into a medium where he really didn't get to stretch his muscles. Hmm-mmm-mm. Wouldn't that be cool?

Older Interview with Neal Adams:

How is your project with Frank Miller going?
I’m on the second graphic novel and I’m moving toward the third.

When will we see it?
I think probably as I finish the third, which should be in a couple of months, they’ll decide when to put it on the schedule.

Is it going to be like “All Star Batman” in tone? Or more serious?
More like “All Star Batman” I would say. Not quite as crude, but I think Frank may whip a little crudeness into it. I think my Batman is not quite so hard on Robin. He’s very serious and dealing with problems that affect him personally so it’s a much more personal Batman. The characters I’m involved in take their stories much more personally and much more seriously. It’s not “here’s a case” it affectively deals directly with Batman. It’s stuff that goes on around him. It asks certain questions. Here’s one, who is doing more to help mankind, Batman or Bruce Wayne? Is Bruce Wayne doing more important things then Batman? It kind of turns what he’s doing as Batman into a hobby. If Bruce Wayne feeds a million people in Africa, how insignificant is what Batman is doing?

He keeps the streets safe.
He keeps the streets safe but he doesn’t save a million people who might be starving. Which is more important. If somebody doesn’t get mugged you train more cops. I’m not saying that one is more important. I think it’s a question that needs to be raised. That’s one of the things we deal with in the story.

So let's wrap this up:
Pencils: Neal Adams
Story: Neal Adams
Inks: Various
Dialogue: Frank Miller.

Looking good. Ofcourse some people will now make jokes about "Dick Grayson. Age Twelve" but this isn't Miller's comic so the editor can't just be okay with Miller doing his own gig and i doubt Miller would put his own Batman for Neal's work.

[Cain]

Originally Posted by Drz

Update!




Sunday Morning with Neal Adams






Interview with Neal Adams:



Older Interview with Neal Adams:



So let's wrap this up:
Pencils: Neal Adams
Story: Neal Adams
Inks: Various
Dialogue: Frank Miller.

Looking good. Ofcourse some people will now make jokes about "Dick Grayson. Age Twelve" but this isn't Miller's comic so the editor can't just be okay with Miller doing his own gig and i doubt Miller would put his own Batman for Neal's work.

Yeah now that I see Adams also has a story by credit then I doubt Miller would go overboard strictly out of respect. So people finally may get a more dialed down FM Batman this time around. Whatever is the case I just know the Boston Brand fan in me just got a joygasm

[Pythagoras]

This should be great, especially since its gonna be more like ASB. I love Frank Miller's Batman, my favorite Batman persona.

[Mace Dolex]

Neal Adams doing Batman is gold but isn't Frank still doing that whole garbage of Batman vs. Osama Bin Laden?

[Drz]

Originally Posted by Mace Dolex

Neal Adams doing Batman is gold but isn't Frank still doing that whole garbage of Batman vs. Osama Bin Laden?

I think DC stopped him. I mean the guy was halfway done then few months later he announces it wasn't Batman anymore but something else. I think DC was worried about the bad press it would provide. Even tho ultimately it would have been the usual political desire from Miller, perhaps it was racist too abit? Who knows. We're getting something awesome from Neal Adams and his buddy Miller is helping him out. =)

[[A]]

I think that'll never get published..

[Mr. Earle]

Its a bit lame that they re using this art. "Ooh, lets use nostalgia to win the fans. Why do something new and swim in deep waters when we can cash in on our previous success". And obviously, knowing Miller, it will be filled with whores and crazy Batman. Why write "the Dark Knight" when you can write "Superhero Movie" and sell just as much?