World's Finest Interview

From the interview conducted by James Harvey:

The World's Finest talks to writer J. Torres on his upcoming stint as writer for the hit Batman: The Brave and The Bold comic series.

Beginning with Batman The Brave and The Bold #5, scheduled to hit comic shelves this week, writer J. Torres takes over as the new regular scribe to the popular comic series based on the animated series of the same name. The World's Finest had the opportunity to talk to Torres about what can expect from his upcoming stint.

Please follow this link to check out the Q&A:

a href="http://www.worldsfinestonline.com/news.php?action=fullnews&id=454

And remember, Batman The Brave and The Bold #5 is in stores this week! I believe Diamond's shipments are delayed until Thursday due to the Memorial Day weekend in the US. But that doesn't matter because you pre-ordered it, right? Right?

In Stores This Week

BATMAN: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #5
Written by J. Torres; Art by Carlo Barberi and Terry Beatty; Cover by Scott Jeralds

Children everywhere are missing thanks to the Queen of Fables! It's up to Batman and Captain Marvel to give this mystery a happy ending!


Johnny DC * 32 pages * Color * $2.50 US

On Sale May 27, 2009

This issue turned out spectacularly, at least visually speaking. I think old school Captain Marvel and C.C. Beck fans like me should be happy with the artwork Carlo turned in here. Story-wise, well, I'll leave it up to you to comment on how that turned out...

Batman vs. the Yeti

BATMAN: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #8
Written by J. Torres
Art by Carlo Barberi & Terry Beatty
Cover by Scott Jeralds

Things get hairy when Batman teams up with The Great Ten, China’s ultimate super team, in a battle that finds our heroes fighting against an army of yelping Yetis. Yikes!

On sale August 26 • 32 pg, FC, $2.50 US

It's the Great Ten minus seven. Plus one, if you count Yeti as a reservist. Anyway, it's Batman, Accomplished Perfect Physician, August General in Iron, and Celestial Archer in the team-up you never expected to see! At least not in this comic book...

Afterword

In celebration of the Toronto Comics Art Festival, The National Post asked several guests to fill out a fun questionnaire for the Afterword section of their website. I didn't realize that they actually used mine until someone mentioned it at the festival this weekend. It was originally posted a week ago, but anyway here's the link.

Make sure to look at the sidebars (on the left under "Popular" as well as on the right under "Recent Posts") for links to the questionnaires filled out by other comic creators, including my friends and former collaborators Arthur Dela Cruz, Eric Kim, Ramon Perez, Steve Rolston and others!

The Many Incarnations of The Batman

Update! It doesn't appear as though I'll be able to make it on Saturday, and that includes the "Comics for Boys" panel. However, I'm a panelist on "Teletoon’s Superfan Fridays Presents: The Many Incarnations of The Batman." It takes place on Sunday from 3:30-5:00.

Here's the official description of the panel from the TCAF website:

The Batman has been a consistently popular character since his introduction in 1939. But who is The Batman? Is he a dark and brooding vigilante? A bright and fun character for kids? A kitsch icon doing the “Bat-Tusi”? Yes! There are an unlimited number of interpretations and incarnations of The Batman, and in this panel we’ll the creators who bring The Batman to life! Join Paul Pope, author of the century-spanning Batman Year 100, J. Torres, writer of the comic book Batman: The Brave and The Bold based on the new cartoon, J. Bone, artist for DC Superfriends and Justice League: The New Frontier, and Paul Rivoche, background artist and designer for various Batman cartoon series including “Batman: The Animated Series,” “Batman Beyond,” and “The New Frontier.”

Sorry about missing Saturday, but I hope to see you on Sunday!

Toronto Comic Arts Festival

"The Toronto Comic Arts Festival exists to promote the breadth and diversity of comics, and what is considered comics, as legitimate medium of literary and artistic worth. We seek to promote the creators of these works in their broad and diverse voices, for the betterment of the medium of comics and to reach as wide an audience as possible for them."

The fourth TCAF takes place this Saturday, May 9th and Sunday, May 10th at the Toronto Reference Library. I will be hanging out at the Oni Press tables as well as participating on the "Comics for Boys" panel (Saturday at 1:30-2:30 PM in Learning Centre 2). For more information about TCAF and this year's stellar line-up of comic creators from all over the world, please go here.