Nearly twelve (!) years ago, while I was promoting my first-ever published comic book, Footprints, my hometown paper did a story about me and my work.
I was 26 and didn’t know shit about shit (as it stands at nearly 38, I only know a little bit of shit about shit), but it’s always nice when your hometown gives you some recognition. Anyway, in that story I’m quoted as saying “I don’t need to write Batman—I just love comics as a storytelling medium.”
Reading between the lines, of course I didn’t ~*need*~ to write Batman… but I wanted to. Desperately. Of course I did! Who wouldn’t?
Even though I was green and just starting to embark on a career in making comics, I knew enough to know that one key element to surviving in this industry, from a mental health perspective, is having your expectations in the right place.
Nobody is going to show up at your doorstep because you’ve decided to make a comic book and be like, “Hey kid! We heard you put together one book that ~100 people read! Wanna write Batman?!” So I was just being realistic, tempering expectations. But inside? Of course that was always one of the goal posts I wanted to reach.
Cut to this month, and my biggest DC Comics story to date is finally out in the world. It’s a four-part arc kicking off in Batman: Urban Legends #20 called “The Murder Club,” a story that will see the wonderful Urban Legends series through to its conclusion with issue #23.
