After watching the video a couple of times, I realized that the voice of Bruce Wayne is provided by noneother than Neal Adams himself!!
It's a relief that Frank Miller won't be writing the story for this.
It looks even better to me. Neal Adams said, "I have never been able to bring my "A" game to Batman, to my satisfaction. Oh, a little here and there, but all out? Never, never. On this project? Yep. This is the Batman I believe in. So what do I, and of course the incredible Frank Miller bring to Batman after all that's gone before? Well it better be something that's pretty darn hot, Jocko, right?"Neal Adams artwork on it looks as great as it did back in the 70's.
Now on to Batman news. Neal is completely done with pencils on the first series which is 6 issues. YEAH ! “I’m Happy” Six complete issues. “I felt I had to say it again” I hear I will be handing in the first 5 pages of the next book, “The Underworld” on Monday and we will also start working on the first cover of the series as well. Neal has been inking along with penciling so I know everyone will be happy.
New art from Neal Adams Batman: Odyssey:
BATMAN: ODYSSEY, a 12-part mini-series launching in July, brings Adams back to the character he helped redefine. Adams’ energetic, realistic and sweeping style is both timeless and modern, and it’s an understatement to say his return to The Dark Knight has been something fans have been clamoring for.
ODYSSEY finds Batman facing a series of seemingly unrelated challenges, villains and allies, old and new, that push him to his limits as never before. The battles get more intense and, in turn, more deadly, The Dark Knight Detective discovers that there might be an overarching force behind his troubles. And if this is so, if there is a dark and mysterious matrix being superimposed over Batman’s life… what sort of life-changing voyage must he go on to free himself from this powerful and insidious direction?
Worse… where can he go that he has never gone before for his desperately needed Odyssey?
“I have been collecting bits and pieces of Batman’s life and time over the years since I was doing Batman regularly,” Adams said. “With even this massive series, I haven’t been able to shove them all in. but the juiciest and richest morsels are there. Have comic books always been this much fun?”
Adams, who will write and pencil the entire series, will also ink the first two issues, followed by pairings with some of the most lauded artistic collaborators in the comic book industry. What more do you really need? Neal Adams. On Batman. July 2010.
"There are other questions we have to deal with as well. For example, from the beginning Batman put people in jail. Now, somehow Batman's putting people – and not of his own choice – into Arkham Asylum. 'I've got this criminal who's robbed a bank, Commissioner. He should go to jail.' The Commissioner says, 'I think we're going to put him in Arkham.' Why? Because that's what we do in Gotham: put criminals in Arkham Asylum and almost give them a ticket to get out again so we can have the next story...it's a kind of fantasy world Batman's living in. It doesn't seem like he has to deal with it. It's a more deadly world. How does Batman deal with that more deadly world when his code is so inflexible in that he won't kill anybody or maim anybody? He's not a goody two-shoes, but his whole job is to frighten criminals who are a cowardly lot, and scare the hell out of them. But now these guys themselves are so scary and dangerous that the question is: How does Batman up the game? How does he deal with it on a new level?
"And it occurred to me, if you start throwing this stuff at Batman hard enough and enough of it sticks, he's going to have to reconsider his role. And that's what this story's about. In reconsidering his role, he ought to go someplace. Where does he go? To a bunch of warehouses? To Metropolis? To Paradise Island? After a while, it starts to get silly. So is there a place where for Batman to go to relearn and rediscover himself? That's also what the story is about. It's the story of a place that he can be driven to where the lessons can be learned. And that place is a surprise. And are there people along the way who he's met – like, say, Deadman – who know things about him we don't know? Is there a history behind Batman that he doesn't even know? Are there controlling devices that have allowed him to think...a Joker says it best when he says, 'Have you ever noticed you're surrounded by a bunch of clowns? Are there clowns in Metropolis? Doesn't that strike you as odd, Batman?'"
"There are other questions we have to deal with as well. For example, from the beginning Batman put people in jail. Now, somehow Batman's putting people and not of his own choice into Arkham Asylum. 'I've got this criminal who's robbed a bank, Commissioner. He should go to jail.' The Commissioner says, 'I think we're going to put him in Arkham.' Why? Because that's what we do in Gotham: put criminals in Arkham Asylum and almost give them a ticket to get out again so we can have the next story...it's a kind of fantasy world Batman's living in. It doesn't seem like he has to deal with it. It's a more deadly world. How does Batman deal with that more deadly world when his code is so inflexible in that he won't kill anybody or maim anybody? He's not a goody two-shoes, but his whole job is to frighten criminals who are a cowardly lot, and scare the hell out of them. But now these guys themselves are so scary and dangerous that the question is: How does Batman up the game? How does he deal with it on a new level?
"And it occurred to me, if you start throwing this stuff at Batman hard enough and enough of it sticks, he's going to have to reconsider his role. And that's what this story's about. In reconsidering his role, he ought to go someplace. Where does he go? To a bunch of warehouses? To Metropolis? To Paradise Island? After a while, it starts to get silly. So is there a place where for Batman to go to relearn and rediscover himself? That's also what the story is about. It's the story of a place that he can be driven to where the lessons can be learned. And that place is a surprise. And are there people along the way who he's met like, say, Deadman who know things about him we don't know? Is there a history behind Batman that he doesn't even know? Are there controlling devices that have allowed him to think...a Joker says it best when he says, 'Have you ever noticed you're surrounded by a bunch of clowns? Are there clowns in Metropolis? Doesn't that strike you as odd, Batman?'"
interesting read. I'm thinking about buying it because it has my two of my favorite Batman writers: Neal Adams and Frank Miller. It's interesting how he talks about Batman putting people in Jail and then put them in Arkham Asylum all of a sudden
It's interesting trivia that comic book pencillers are also kind of co-writers although they are credited as only penciller, the only penciller that I know that had been credited as co-writer was John Byrne on his X-Men (but he was credited as co-plotter) and I think that I remember Jim Lee having co-plotter credit on some of his 90's work on X-Men with Chris Claremont and later with Scott Lobdell. I didn't know Adams was the main uncredited writer for the late 60's pre-cancellation X-Men comics and that Roy Thomas only wrote dialogue.Neal Adams talks Batman Odyssey!
Batman Odyssey #1 cover. Seems Neal hasn't lost his charm when it comes to Violence.