Lets talk Black Canary we dont know much about the series yet beyond the initial imagery, and the fact that shes in a band. How much more can you share?
Fletcher: Let me just tell you that a significant amount of butts will be kicked.
Annie Wu: All the butts.
Stewart: Your daily recommended dosage.
Fletcher: There will be a lot of people with bandages and bruises, and there may be some touring in a bus and some gigs happening. But mostly a lot of butt-kicking and a lot of fun, fish-out-of-water stories.
How much does the music aspect play a role is it a major component, or more in the background?
Fletcher: It informs the situation, but the situation, of course, involves a woman who is ex-military, and potentially the best martial artist on the planet. Trouble kind of follows her around. While theyre trying to go on this tour, while theyre trying to make the most of this unique opportunity that theyve been given to have a record deal, and play all these shows, really they just end up in fights all the time, and people end up hurt. Thats maybe a problem. It fuels the story.
Wu: What I have in mind, stylistically, music plays a big part in that. I look at a lot of gig posters and music videos; the theatrical aspect of being on stage, all that fun stuff. Hopefully our final product will have that feeling of a rock tour. Halftones and bold colors. That, plus, al the kung fu action and all that kind of stuff. Hopefully itll be a really fun, vibrant, energetic final product.
Fletcher: This set-up has allowed us to put her back into fishnets, because now it makes practical sense. Its her stage outfit! Its not her action outfit. But of course she ends up in the middle of action scenes wearing her stage outfit.
Annie, what are some of the specific things that you got inspiration from? It a specific type of aesthetic?
Wu: All the bands, from every genre, and every era. The way that Ive been mentally approaching it is, this is an era in an artists career. Like Bowie, Ziggy Stardust, he has a very distinct look, and then when he moved on to Thin White Duke, this is a distinct look, so Im trying to approach it like that.
Im a big musical theater nerd, too, so Ive been watching a lot of musical movies, as well. Everything thats exciting about being a performer, and music, being in a band all the theatrical stuff, Im trying to have that directly inform the style and the energy of the book.
Fletcher: This was one of our first conversations when I was trying to get Annie on board the book, one of the first things we were talking about was Bowie. We share this Bowie passion.
So does that wide range of inspiration reflect in the band itself? Its not like, this is exactly what they sound like, but youre pulling from a lot of different places?
Fletcher: Its something that were still talking about. Were still trying to nail down the exact sound. We want to know the exact sound of the band, but its not entirely derivative of anything thats out there. You see, even in the promo shot, you can get an idea of what the make-up of the band is, and its not your average bass, guitar and drums lineup. Its different. So its going to sound a bit different.
Will we see the two books intermingling, between Batgirl and Black Canary?
Fletcher: Where Batgirl #40 ends, is where Black Canary #1 begins.
Stewart: Im sure that at some point, after Dinah goes off on her own, well have a reason to draw them back together again.
Tarr: Maybe during her tour, she has a concert at Burnside.
Fletcher: I have a feeling that something might happen around September or October where we might have a good opportunity for Black Canary to return.
Interesting! What kind of threats or enemies can we expect in Black Canary?
Fletcher: Nasty ones.
This is a book that features a character that was born in the New 52. So she has a past. Shes been in several books before. If you look to the books that shes appeared in, theres some information already there about what she might end up facing while on the road with her band.
But then theres a lot more. And its fairly fantastical, and maybe outside of the realms of what youre expecting. But you can rest assured, that whatever it is, its butt will be firmly kicked.
Wu: Hes really pushing that point.
Fletcher: People are wondering if this is just going to be a music book. Its Black Canary. She kicks peoples butts.
Wu: Shes deadly. Shes one of the top martial artists in the entire universe. Were going to be addressing that in the book.
Fletcher: You can put her on Apokolips, and theres probably no better martial artist than Black Canary.
Theres been a lot of talk about the comic book audience changing, and now it seems like thats actually being recognized by publishers how gratifying is that part? Are you getting a lot of feedback from people who may not be traditional comic book readers?
Tarr: We get told weekly, I wasnt into comics before Batgirl, and now I read it, its so fun. Its awesome.
Stewart: Ive never read a DC book before.
Fletcher: Ive been getting a lot of, either, my first two comics, or my first two DC comics, are Gotham Academy and Batgirl Im adding Black Canary to my list already. Which is amazing.
Its a Brenden Fletcher monopoly. Its also reflective of a diversity of art style something that DC had gotten some criticism for at one point, with the notion that a lot of the books were looking kind of the same. Have you gotten a lot of freedom thus far on Black Canary?
"Batgirl" took the comics world by storm, and many fans have told the creators its their entry into comics or DC Comics overall
Wu: Theyre letting us get away with murder. [Laughs] Until they tell us to rein it in, Im just going to keep doing what I do.
Tarr: Dont listen. [Laughs]
Fletcher: Weve been given great freedom across the board. Right before we came over here, we were pretty much story meeting with our editor, Chris Conroy, and group editor Mark Doyle. We were actually hashing stuff out and making decisions out there. Theyre so open to talking about everything. Its incredible.
I feel like were spoiled. We have the best editorial team in comics. Its incredible. Its the best feeling. I dont know if I could go to work anywhere else after this.
And Black Canary is a little different for you, Brenden, because youre writing it solo thats your first solo monthly, right?
Fletcher: For big, monthly ongoing series, yes, its my first.
Stewart: Brenden is the co-writer of Batgirl and Gotham Academy, but he does a lot more than I think hes often credited for, or is acknowledged. Black Canary is going to give him an opportunity to show that hes got the chops.
