- “Batman: Widening Gyre” issue #6 hit shelves this week and is the absolute talk of the industry. A major twist occurs in the last 4 pages of the book which has readers counting the days until the series returns with the back 6 issues early next year. We highly recommend NOT spoiling the reveal, and instead checking out the entire series from the start. We’ll say no more here, other than congratulate Kevin and Walt for keeping their plan secret during the book’s run — This one is rewarding even more to long time fans of Kevin’s work in the comic industry. We love it. This sets things up for an incredible finish.
Kevin and Walt hosted a panel in San Diego last week about this fantastic series, which Comic Book Resources has a nice summary of. Here’s a sample:
…A fan asked when the start of the next miniseries was expected. “Volume two begins after the new year,” Smith said. Smith wanted to give himself enough time to write as he’d be shooting a film soon.
Another fan asked if the Joker will be featured more in the second volume. “I felt like since ‘Cacophony’ was such a Joker heavy book for us, I wanted to use him very sparingly in the first six issues. But he features a little more prominently in the next arc.”
“I still hear Mark Hamill when I write my Joker,” Smith added. “When I was reading comments online, people said that, ‘This Joker reads like the fucking ’90s Joker.’ I felt really complimented by it.” The writer added that while he likes Heath Ledger’s version from the film, his Joker remains the version from the cartoon series by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm.
Smith also said that he finds writing the Joker easy. “What’s the most fucked up thing I can write? Okay. Write that,” he said. “For me, I’m way more interested in writing Bruce Wayne and Batman than the Joker.”
The hardcover compilation of issues #1 – #6 isn’t due until Christmas…So we’d recommend seeking out issues 1-6 right now and catching up. An already cool series became legend with the issue 6 cliffhanger. Catch up now!
