The past few months have treated Batfans to the earthquake in
Gotham City, and will lead to its descension into Hell in the upcoming
NO MAN'S LAND storyline. Bat Editor Jordan "Gorf" Gorfinkel and I
chatted a bit, and he remained enigmatic (yet promising) on the future
of the Bat books.

CHRISTOPHER IRVING: What has the general reaction to the Bat titles
been recently?

JORDAN B. GORFINKEL: Gosh, I'm not sure I'm in the position to answer
that question. You'd have to talk to the fans and the retailers to ask
them what their reaction is. Anything you get from me is going to be
subjective. I guess if you'd let me turn your question around it
should be "How do we perceive the BATMAN comics?"

CI: So how do you perceive the reaction to the BATMAN titles?

JBG: Well, I'll tell you! (Laughter) Our perception is that people
would be content for us to continue with the status quo (the status
quo being the BATMAN stories with Batman receiving a clue from
Commissioner Gordon, discovering a badguy and his nefarious plans,
having a little witty banter with Alfred, and defeating said badguy).
     Sales have been steady. We feel we've been doing some of the best
comics in the industry for a long time now. We could have just
continued the way we were
doing things.
    But the industry as a whole has been struggliing. It has struggled
with
decreased enthusism from those fans that already are into comics, and
has failed to attract any additional interest that would breed new
fandom. As a result, we felt that it was up to us to shake things up.
Instead of waiting and reacting, we thought instead, that we would
take action; hence NO MAN'S LAND.

CI: About NO MAN'S LAND, I keep hearing that you guys will have a few
new characters being introduced; I hear that Harley Quinn will be
adapted for the comic book?

JBG: That is correct. Harley Quinn will be introduced into continuity
by Paul Dini, her creator.

CI: I do keep hearing rumors of a new Batgirl?

JBG: We do keep hearing rumors about that.

CI: (Laughter) Can you either support or deny those rumors?

JBG: I can both support and deny them.

CI: How could you support them, and how could you deny them?

JBG: I could support it because it is definitely true that we do have
a Batgirl under consideration. And I can deny it because it ain't the
Batgirl you're expecting.

CI: That could be anyone from a new character to one based on the
Golden Age Batgirl?

JBG: It could be anything. I'm being coy on purpose, because my
feeling is that in this age of speedy information, readers know too
much. We go to movies and we see trailers and, after the trailer is
over, we turn to our neighbor and say "I don't have to see the movie,
I just saw the entire thing in one minute." Same thing with comics:
with the Internet, and with advance publicity, and with all of the fan
magazines, there is so little that is left to the fan to discover by
actually picking up the comic book and reading it.
    We want fans to experience this first-hand. We don't want them to
have their experience spoiled by too much advance publicity. We're
keeping it mum.

CI: Are you even keeping it hush-hush in the advanced publicity?

JBG: As much as possible.

CI: Will you announce ahead of time when the new Batgirl is coming
out, or will that be a surprise unto itself?

JBG: Again, the answer is yes and no. Certainly we're not keeping it
secret to the point where you're not going to know where it's
appearing. But, at the same time, we're not going to run out and tell
you "This is the first time Batgirl appears!"  We want readers to
explore the story. But I can tell you this: whatever Bat-figure we're
introducing, it's inside the VERY beginning of NO MAN'S LAND. If you
tune into the beginning - the very first story arc by Bob Gale, Alex
Maleev and Wayne Faucher - you won't miss whatever surprise we have in
store for you.

CI: When is that due to hit the stands?

JBG: NO MAN'S LAND #1 is on sale January 6, 1999. The backstory of NO
MAN'S LAND will run through the entire line of BATMAN books through
the end
of 1999.

CI: What of your new artists: so far I've seen Wil Rosado, Brian
Stelfreeze, and you guys now snagged Alexander Maleev.

JBG: The unofficial rule of thumb on the BATMAN comics art-wise (and
for that matter, writing-wise) for the next year is "Been there, done
that: no go." That means that you're going to see lots of artists and
writers
who have never touched a BATMAN project before and those that have,
you'll see in interesting new ways. I'll give you a couple of
examples: Ian Edgington and
D'Israeli: two names you'd normally associate with VERTIGO, have done
a two- part story for us featuring the Penguin, and it's spectacular.
It is so enjoyable.
The art is more like David Mazzuchelli and in that vein, it is not a
standard superhero comic.
    On the other hand, we have a cover by Alex Maleev that we had Bill
Sienkiewicz ink, because Bill brings something different to Alex.
Likewise, Alex brings something different to Bill. So we may have seen
Alex and Bill before on BATMAN comics separately, but never in this
way.

CI: How will NO MAN'S LAND affect the other titles?

JBG: All of the titles will be affected. What we like to call them are
the Bat-titles and the Bat Universe of titles. The Bat Universe of
titles incorporates NIGHTWING, ROBIN, CATWOMAN, and AZRAEL. All of
those titles will be affected by the goings and comings of NO
MAN'S LAND. Our backstory is that Batman tells all of his partners
"Stay out of Gotham City. I don't want you here, it's too dangerous,
it's too chaotic. I don't want to be responsible for you. Get out and
stay out."

CI: Including Robin?

JBG: Including Robin. Robin lives in Gotham County. His father says
"You know, Tim, my business is dried up here, and everything's going
to Hell in a handbasket.  Why don't we move to Keystone City?" And
they do. They
move to Keystone and he lives in the city of The Flash. In their first
adventure, he battles Captain Boomerang.
    Nightwing's city of Bludhaven is overrun by refugees of Gotham
City, so Superman drops by to help.
    Catwoman decides there is nothing of value in Gotham City, so she
goes to Europe, and starts looting
Europe.
    Azrael redefines himself with a brand new costume, and has to deal
with a new modus operandi. Eventually, he'll be entering NO MAN'S LAND
and following the villain who's responsible for turning Gotham City
into a no man's land.

CI: With Robin moving to Keystone, and Nightwing still in Bludhaven,
there really isn't a "Dynamic Duo" anymore.

JBG: Eventually things will come to a head and there will be.

CI: I've noticed in the past few years that Batman and Robin have
become independent entities and less partners.

JBG: We're moving it into that direction. This is not unprecedented,
for Robin to go his own way for a while. It happened when Nightwing
took over the mantle of the Bat, and it happened around KNIGHTQUEST.

CI: How will NO MAN'S LAND affect the other titles, like YOUNG JUSTICE
and JLA?

JBG: The answer is YOUNG JUSTICE will be reflecting NO MAN'S LAND.
Robin will show his displeasure that his mentor has cut him off.
    Regarding the JLA, an upcoming issue of JLA will focus on Batman's
and Huntress's relationship with the League in the wake of the No
Man's Land events. Likewise, the League will be struggling with
whether or not they should be interfering in what traditionally has
been Batman's business and therefore off limits. In short, the major
questions fans of JLA and BATMAN want to see answered will be grist
for the dramatic mill!

CI: How will this affect The Spoiler? Will we still be seeing her
around?

JBG: Sure, The Spoiler storyline will be continuing in ROBIN, as it
has for a long time.