Two New Series To Be Freakishly Pumped About

DS: Hey SoldierHawk! I heard a fangirlish squeal of joy all the way in Canada. What’s that all about?

SH: Hey DS! That would have been me, reading that the new Batwoman monthly series–which I have been not-so-patiently waiting for since Rucka and Williams’ run on Detective Comics ended–finally has a release date! According to DC, issue #1 will be on shelves in February. Additionally, they will be releasing a zero issue in November. *SQUEEEE!!!* 😀 Now I have to say DS…I heard *you* hollering for joy as well, all the way down here in SoCal. Care to share the source of your happiness with the rest of us?

DS: OK. I can totally buy that you’d be happy about Batwoman. Rucka and Williams have done some amazing work on her. Her long absence from the monthlies has *got* to mean that they’re planning to do this series right. My shout for joy (a much more masculine one btw) was on seeing the ads for the new John Carter series by Dynamite, called Warlord of Mars. I am a total Edgar Rice Burroughs fan, and just at the time I started collecting comics and discovering bargain bins, I’d picked up a couple of issues on Marvel’s old run, which (a) got me completely hooked and (b) pointed me in the direction of Warlord of Mars, the first novel I ever bought, maybe the second I ever read. The art (internal and cover) looks amazing, and Dynamite has a real track record for taking classic and public domain characters (Princess of Mars is public domain) and turning them into original serial adventures. But let me put this to you: There are some amazing comics out there right now, some of which you review every month. Why the big deal about Batwoman?

SH: I’m a huge fan of the Barsoom series myself! (Specifically the novels…I’ve never had the pleasure of reading the old comics.) But to answer your question about Batwoman, I love the books she’s been in; and I am ridiculously excited about the monthly to come–because of Kate Kane herself. I love the fact that, although she has the requisite tragic past that all superheroes (and more specifically, all members of the Bat-family) must possess, it is not exclusively the memory of this tragedy that drives her. Her goal in life had been to become a soldier, but that dream dies for her after being kicked out of West Point. In spite of this she still feels compelled to serve and protect, and she turns to nightly crime fighting as a way to fulfill this need. I find the “superheroism as a substitute for military service” angle fascinating, and I think it gives Kate a very unique perspective and motivation that not many other heroes have. I also very much enjoy the way her relationship with her friends and family is portrayed; the Detective Comics storylines did a better job than any comic I’ve read to date of balancing the hero’s real-life concerns and relationships with their superheroic activities. Now, my question for you: what was it about John Carter and his stories grabbed your attention so thoroughly when you first discovered them?