A new chapter in DC Comics, under the stewardship of writer Ram V, artist Rafael Albuquerque, and letterer Dave Stewart. Detective Comics #1062 marks the first chapter in the "Gotham Nocturne" arc, which Ram V describes as a "gothic opera," blending the gloomy aesthetic elements that Batman is best known for with high drama. Rounded out by a backup story by writer Si Spurrier and artist Dani, Detective Comics is going to test Bruce Wayne's sanity like never before.
At San Diego Comic-Con, we sat down with Ram V to discuss the forces at play in Gotham, as well as the considerations that went into forging this uniquely operatic vision of Batman. At DC's Gotham , Ram V revealed that "Gotham Nocturne" will show a city overrun by demons in its streets, a supernatural threat that will challenge the core elements of the Batman mythos.
Screen Rant: What are the key elements that define your vision of Batman for Detective?
Ram V: My Batman is set in a Gotham that feels ornate and has a lot of history. And there's the sense of tragedy and noir aesthetics kind of sitting on top of the entire narrative. So aesthetically, I think that ties into the idea that we're doing a gothic opera, that's kind of the direction that we're going in of narrative elements. We're looking at a Batman who is questioning his place in Gotham, his own relevance to the city that he has clearly devoted his life to. Equally, I like to treat places as characters as well. So Gotham is very much a character in the story. And the idea of, will Gotham always need a Batman? Does the city need to have its dark side, if you will? Yeah, those are some of the questions that we're looking at asking the series.
Going off of the personification of Gotham, I know with some of your previous work, there's quite a lot of that. Because gothicism often deals with memory, are we going to see Gotham reflect on its own memories? How is that going to play out?
Ram V: I think the idea of memory is actually quite pertinent to the way we're looking at it, but not in quite the way that you might think. The insinuation that there's an underlying pattern, an underlying memory to places, like cities have scars, and so the idea that Gotham, which is always portrayed as this kind of very difficult, very, very, sort of grim, crime ridden, dirty place to live in, the question there is, does it have a scar that won't heal? That's why the city, in every iteration, keeps delivering these difficult scenarios. And by that logic, does it then need Batman as Batman, the bandaid on the wound, if you will. And we can take that quite literally, because it's comics and comics are crazy, we can take that metaphor and turn it into quite a literal thing. So I'm quite excited to do that.
Going off of operas as a style, you mentioned that there's a melodramatic quality to opera. And so with that, I was curious, because melodrama often deals with extremes and moral extremes. For me, part of what's so compelling about Batman is the grayness, and so I'm really curious to see how melodrama plays out within the world of Gotham in that regard.
Ram V: I mean, you're not wrong in that melodrama deals with moral extremes, but moral extremes only in as much as the characters believe in those extremes. And if you then look at Batman, who is very much a gray character, but his code is an extreme code of belief. And then you take characters like that, and you place them in contrast to or alongside characters like Talia, characters like Two-Face. Those are all gray, but extreme points of view. And so I think there is inherent drama in there. And so I think that's right, for melodrama. The other thing is, my work has had an undercurrent of a high drama, poetic voice to it. And I find that people either love that, or it becomes a matter of criticism in that, "Why are all the characters talking like they're out of some, you know, 18th century, 19th century book." I think that is an aesthetic. That's a choice that a lot of creators make. And I felt like I wanted to do a series narrative where that choice was no longer just an incidental thing. It's built into the narrative of the book.
Like in the little teaser today [at the Gotham ], there was so much to take in at once. And I , just in the lettering, it seemed like it was a typewriter or some sort, dealing with issues related to sanity. And so it felt very gothic in that regard.
Ram V: Yeah. And I think actually, that's part of the narrative from Simon Spurrier's backup, the book, those words, so I don't want to lay claim to Si's writing. But I think Si and I are on the same page as well in that, yes, that absolutely is the aesthetic of the book, you will have internality of characters kind of questioning their own place, their sanity. Why are they doing this? What is their drive? And then you start having Batman ask those questions, they become quite existential.
And I just feel like comics as a form are just so uniquely suited for things like this, because it's not just the art. It's also the letters and, of course, the writing and the words themselves. And Batman has such iconic iconography that it really strengthens that.
Ram V: Yeah, I think comics are great, because there's so many ways in which you can affect how a comic is read, right? You can affect it through the art, you can affect it through your choice of pacing, how many words are you putting in, in each ? How are those words, you know, displayed? What's the font, what's the design, it is a very complex medium. But because it is that way, you have so many tools at your disposal. So that's a that's a great way to look at it. But also, I think comics do this wonderful thing where they are not restrained by the need to be one thing or the other. You know, with literature, you often get like, "Okay, this is a grounded story," or "This is fantasy," or "This is sci-fi." Comics can be all of those things, while being metafiction as well, while being cinematic as well. So there's that, because there are so many tools, there's also this amazing flexibility to what a comic book can do.
Returning to Batman, there's sort of this tension in the center of his character where he is very vulnerable and relatable, because he doesn't have any superpowers. Within Gotham, there's this mythic quality that his existence has. And so I wanted to ask you how the gothic opera form fits into this existing paradigm?
Ram V: Really, the most immediately famous examples of modern day operas, something like a Phantom of the Opera, is really about that. It is about the distance between the human being behind the mask, and the figure that is the Phantom, you know. So I think it's a straight correlation from there about how we perceive superheroes. Like, it's great to have them costume then we do these fantastic, bombastic things. But the reason these characters are so iconic, the reason we keep coming back to them, is because the human being behind the mask is engaging and relatable, and we are concerned and invested in their evolution.
Absolutely. And you mentioned Talia al Ghul and Two-Face earlier. What can we expect from the villains in your run?
Ram V: The status quo for this run, I believe, was that Two-Face was actually cured of his condition, if you will. But I'm not sure you can cure trauma that easily. So with that character I'm looking at how does that change who you are? Have you really gotten over your trauma if you've just hidden it? So there are interesting questions to ask there. With Thalia, I like the idea that she is there to remind Batman simultaneously of who he used to be, but also a reminder that he might need to become someone else, something else, based on the threat that is now approaching him. And the story in itself has that kind of mythical, almost sort of old history kind of quality to it.
So there is a lot that I'm drawing on from Indo-European, Indo-Persian mythology to do this and so, to me, I think the al Ghuls have always been like this old ancient history family of the Gotham books. But what if there is something older? And so Talia kind of fulfills that role in bridging those two stories, if you will. And then there's also Mr. Freeze who has historically been one of my favorite Batman villains, but also has been this character who was ruined by his own love, his own devotion to his relationship, to his wife. And I think there's an incredible parallel that I haven't seen explored between that and Batman. Batman is a person ruined by his love and devotion to Gotham. And I feel like those two characters kind of riffing off of that idea is going to be an interesting piece to write as well.
Did you have any specific Gothic touchstones while formulating this?
Ram V: Not really, I've read a lot of Gothic literature. A lot of Southern Gothic literature as well. But my touchstones weren't quite that direct. My touchstones were more aesthetic, so there's certainly visual ideas that we've drawn upon. Also just looking at Gothic tropes, across cultures and across mythologies. So we're drawing on some of those things as well. But I felt like any kind of direct correlation to things people would recognize with only lessen what this was. So we've tried to avoid any of those sorts of direct comparisons.
Detective Comics #1062 is available now from DC Comics.
