Hey, here’s some more news from DC’s trip to Dallas for the ComicsPRO retailer conference, courtesy of their official blog The Source: artist Lee Bermejo is making his writing debut with Batman: Noel, an original graphic novel with a, wait for it, Christmas theme. Yep, he’s illustrating it as well. No release date has been set, but we’re guessing — and this is just a guess — around Christimas-time.
Bermejo is probably best known for his two high-profile collaborations with Brian Azzarello, 2005′s Lex Luthor: Man of Steel and 2008′s Joker. Says DC’s VP of art direction and design Mark Chiarello in DC’s blog post, “I knew Lee could deliver the goods artistically, but I never knew he was also this great of a writer!”
A full look at the cover (image is kind of small, but the best we have right now) is after the jump.
February 10th, 2011 at 4:59 pm
Anything with Bermejo will certainly get a look see. As far as yet another artist stretching their creative wings into the writing realm, I’m fine with it, although another collaboration with Azz would be even finer.
February 10th, 2011 at 5:15 pm
Gotta agree with AeroRep. But I’ve read the first issue of Finch’s Batman and I’m not totally thrilled, but I hope that Bermejo’s writing skills are a bit more impressive. Gotta give props to DC for letting more artists write stories. Haven’t read Tony Daniel’s Batman or JH Williams Batwoman, but wanna give them a read to check out their skills.
February 10th, 2011 at 6:33 pm
This is a very promising project…
Sadly, there’s an error in the title. Someone should advise DC that in French, Noël is spelled with the trema on the E, not on the O!!
If DC needs a reliable French translator, I’ll be more than happy to help!
February 10th, 2011 at 11:07 pm
Bermejo is an awesome artist, but why is he wasting his talent on yet another Batman title. This might be a good read and all but can we stop trying to put our personal stamp on 72 year old established characters?
The question here is not whether this book will be any good, there’s no doubt Bermejo is talented. But the industry needs to MOVE FORWARD. Stop trying reinvent fictional history. Batman has like 100 Graphic Novels and most them are good, some are regarded as great.
I got no issues with Batman so don’t go there. My issue is the lack of willingness from most talented creators to do something original. Hell I could’ve accepted Bermejo doing a imitation of Batman, but entirely different hero. At very least it wouldn’t been another Batman GN.
It’s time to move on, let the upcomers work on the established characters to build their own rep as artist. The big talent of the industry need to stop being nostalgic kids.
Kirkman’s Walking Dead and Invincle, Mignolia’s Hellboy, Brubaker’s Criminal and Incogntio. That’s just few….this industry needs more to make up for the redundant Batman and and X-men trades.
Move on, Show me what you got Lee Bermejo!
February 11th, 2011 at 4:05 am
@cray_ws
“It’s time to move on, let the upcomers work on the established characters to build their own rep as artist. The big talent of the industry need to stop being nostalgic kids.
Kirkman’s Walking Dead and Invincle, Mignolia’s Hellboy, Brubaker’s Criminal and Incogntio. That’s just few…”
You know, Mignolia did Batman and other DC mainstays before he created Hellboy…Just sayin=P Patience and what with it being a virtue and all could prove that Bermejo has something original up his sleeve. He could have it right now in the planning stages. Could have been pondering it for years now. So calm your bones and let other books occupy your time in the now.
February 11th, 2011 at 12:17 pm
@cray-ws: I think it’s more the publisher than the actual talent. Every comic creator wants to put their stamp on the pre-existing characters just as much as they want to put out more original fare, but the people in charge at DC and Marvel are going to put out more of which characters sell. For DC that’s Batman, so we’ll most likely get more Batman by creators. As unabashedly creative as we’d all like mainstream comics to be, it’s also a business and business dictates that you put out what the people want. In this case it’s more Batman.
February 12th, 2011 at 1:19 am
@Thechessclub
Mignolia wasn’t considered to be top of the food chain in terms of talent when he did Batman. He was still in process of rising to stardom, which he gained in doing. Hellboy was something brilliantly timed as it helped Dark Horse and put Mignolia on the map.
Bermejo has done Batman/Deathblow GN and that should’ve been enough to put his stamp on Batman.
@Dark Nut
I agree, I suspect Bermejo was offered the chance to do another Batman GN. I don’t think he proactively sought out the project. At the same token I think he still feels he needs/wants to put his stamp on the character. Frankly this urge is whats killing this industry creatively speaking. My take on Superman might be different, but it’s not going change anything. Superman is already established. Re-imagining him any different doesn’t really add anything. It only feeds the child in the creator.
Almost every creator who has read superhero comics as kid/teen has their own idealized version of their favorite hero. This happens because the stories they read inspire them. The first instinct as wannabe creator is to change something they have read. So instead of Joker Killing Robin, creator might change it to killing Batgirl instead. Just a different spin on an old story that’s all it ends up being.
This industry is full of re-imaginations of age old established characters. When do we come to a point where the creators realize that the urge to put their “stamp” on a character is a false sense of pride?
February 12th, 2011 at 9:56 pm
thats a really sweet picture. i mean REALLY sweet!