Batman Editor Mark Doyle Discusses his Vision for the Batman Line

[Dzetoun]

In an interview with ComicBook.com, D.C. Group Editor Mark Doyle discusses developments in the Batman Office, hints at plans for a super-powered Damian, and talks about his goal of a bat book for every genre and every fan:

http://comicbook.com/2014/11/19/batm...o-gotham-city/

[LoneNecromancer]

Man, I love this guy.

Makes me sad when I remember he's leaving in the big office-move thing.

[Sacred Knight]

I wish the Superman line would pick up a fresh thinking editor like this. Not someone with these exact same verbatim ideas of course, just someone fresh.

[JasonTodd428]

Man, I love this guy.

Makes me sad when I remember he's leaving in the big office-move thing.

I really love what he's been doing with the Bat line and I wish there was some way to tempt him into staying for longer. He's done a lot of good there and personally I don't want to see it come to an end.

[Dzetoun]

I really love what he's been doing with the Bat line and I wish there was some way to tempt him into staying for longer. He's done a lot of good there and personally I don't want to see it come to an end.

Well, so far nothing has been announced. I am sure that they would have to come up with a very nice deal and a job for his wife to get him to make the move. But he's getting a lot of personal exposure these days, and he isn't talking in the interview like someone who's going to be gone in six months.

[SXVA]

He's doing great things with the Bat -verse. Kudos.

Now, if only there can be more people like Doyle in other areas of the DCU to provide a fresh perspective on things.

I had been re-reading all “Batman Inc.” by Grant Morrison and company. There was one fantastic issue that featured Stephanie Brown Batgirl,

Yes, that's the only issue i enjoyed in Batman, Inc. I was wondering if Gotham Academy had influences in that.

I wanted to say, “Hey, do you read Batgirl?” But I didn’t want to seem like a creeper.

HA HA.

[Baggie_Saiyan]

Man, I love this guy.

Makes me sad when I remember he's leaving in the big office-move thing.

Huh he's leaving? That saddens me, the bat line has been on fire recently.

[JasonTodd428]

Well, so far nothing has been announced. I am sure that they would have to come up with a very nice deal and a job for his wife to get him to make the move. But he's getting a lot of personal exposure these days, and he isn't talking in the interview like someone who's going to be gone in six months.

No, he doesn't sound as if he is going to be gone any time soon, does he? Made me wonder if something has indeed changed there. I'd be over the moon if he did decide to stick around since he's been making what I feel to be some much needed changes in the Bat-verse. There seems to be a positive energy there that wasn't present before that I think is being reflected in the titles and in the way the writers go about their work. Doyle certainly has breathed new life into the Bat line at any rate.

[chipsnopotatoes]

What I'd like to know is why isn't he doing more for Catwoman. Her new book is severely under promoted. I feel bad for Genevieve because she's a really decent writer but it doesn't sound like she receives any support from him or DC management.

[Fuzzy Cactus]

It's a shame, because Valentine's first issue was really good. But I imagine a lot of people would still associate it with the previous runs.

[FHIZ]

What I'd like to know is why isn't he doing more for Catwoman. Her new book is severely under promoted. I feel bad for Genevieve because she's a really decent writer but it doesn't sound like she receives any support from him or DC management.

You're making some serious assumptions.

Huh he's leaving? That saddens me, the bat line has been on fire recently.

Nothing has been confirmed.

[chipsnopotatoes]

You're making some serious assumptions

Isn't it pretty obvious from this article (and previous ones). Do you know something we don't?

[Godlike13]

Isn't it pretty obvious from this article (and previous ones). Do you know something we don't?

He didn't mention Grayson either, does that mean its being under promoted and not seeing support. Though Catwoman probably would have been better off if they relaunched it, but they probably avoided doing that for the same reason as Batgirl.

[chipsnopotatoes]

He didn't mention Grayson either, does that mean its being under promoted and not seeing support. Though Catwoman probably would have been better off if they relaunched it, but they probably avoided doing that for the same reason as Batgirl.

Oh please, Grayson received a ton of advanced marketing before it came out. Cats didn't even merit a post on the DC Comics page the day the book was released last month. Makes me wonder how committed they are with this new direction for her.

What was the reason for not relaunching Batgirl? Didn't get the impression Simone had run it to the ground as much as Nocenti did with this book...

[Dzetoun]

Oh please, Grayson received a ton of advanced marketing before it came out. Cats didn't even merit a post on the DC Comics page the day the book was released last month. Makes me wonder how committed they are with this new direction for her.

Well, the two situations are not exactly identical, either from an editorial or a business perspective. In Dick Grayson they had a very popular character who had already proved capable of carrying a mid-ranking series even under less-than-ideal circumstances, and whom many believed, based on the evidence of Teen Titans and Batman and Robin, should be capable of doing much more given the right support. In Catwoman they had a character who was well-liked and of long lineage, but who had never been capable of selling at the same level as Grayson's books and who had no Teen Titans or Batman and Robin to give hard data on possible improvements, whatever the editors might think of the character's literary potential.

For what it's worth, I actually was at a convention where Genevieve Valentine talked about her experience with the Batman Office and Catwoman. It's true that anything said in such a public forum has to pass through several filters, and I am sure there was more to the story than she let on. But she indicated that, although she had faced some problems inherent in working in a corporate culture like D.C.'s, she was very admiring of Mark Doyle and his approach (she said it was like Gotham was a multi-dimensional city where dozens of different realities interacted) and had no complaints about the support she was getting from that quarter. She did say her initial contract was for seven books with no promises thereafter. However, given that she had never worked for D.C. or in comics before, such a trial run is scarcely surprising, or unwise. Also, she said that everyone seemed to have very realistic and reasonable expectations. That is, and she put it rather bluntly, given how badly things had gone for the character in the last few years, if a writer just managed to get a solid arc out without major stumbles, everyone was prepared to breathe a sigh and declare a victory. One might call that defeatism, but she found it a welcome and very workable attitude.