Layman on the case as new 'Detective Comics' scribe

USATODAY

Oddball villains are a staple in the works of comic-book writer John Layman. It's only now, though, that he gets to square them off against a guy with a cape, cowl and mighty fine CSI skills.

This week, Layman takes over the reins of Detective Comics, his first work for DC Comics on the book that has starred Batman since his debut in 1939.

Drawn by Jason Fabok, Detective Comics issue 13 (available Wednesday digitally and in comic shops) begins an eight-issue story arc called "Emperor Penguin," and Layman, who co-created the quirky indie hit Chew and pens alien invaders in Mars Attacks, promises weird jump cuts, gallows humor and other aspects to give Detective Comics a different tone from any other Bat-book.

"He's been such a part of everyone's life — certainly of my generation and really anyone younger than probably 50 — and it's cool to be working on something that's so iconic. Your grandmother knows who it is and your 3-year-old knows who it is," Layman says.

"Everyone who wants to write superheroes wants a stab at Batman at some point. You don't find any Batman haters — everyone wants to take a crack at this."

Like with his other comics, Layman has a larger story to tell but aims for a self-contained tale each issue. "I'm not a fan of decompressed storytelling where you basically get a whole issue of a superhero walking to a refrigerator and getting into a fight and that's it," he says.

He's also blowing up some expectations. If fans think they're going to get eight issues of the Batman supervillain the Penguin, think again. There will be a lot of misdirection, he says, as fans "channel-flip" through each case featuring a different classic Batman character.

"Detective" is in the book's title, and that will be a work in that area for the Dark Knight. "Batman's not just this rich guy who likes to punch things and has a lot of toys. He actually has a brain and uses it to further his case," Layman says.

"To write a detective comic, you do need bad guys almost as smart as Batman. Not only do I have the brilliant detective, you have to come up with the brilliant adversaries."

Poison Ivy and Clayface appear early on in Layman's run, and the writer's taken to the latter baddie.

"Clayface was a sap. He's tough but at least in this story he's getting used," he says. "It's fun to write these bad guys when there's a sympathetic aspect to them. They're doing these things and you're just like, 'Well, he's also getting the shaft. I can understand why he's mad.' "

There will also be a tie-in with the Joker-centric "Death of a Family" story line spinning out of writer Scott Snyder's Batman series.

While the psychotic madman is staying out of the pages of Detective Comics, Layman is writing about the repercussions of his antics in Gotham City and the deranged individuals who follow him and his Manson-esque charisma.

"Just the Joker being on the loose brings out the crazy on Gotham, and this particular rampage Joker's on is much worse than previous," Layman says. "It's amped up the levels of psychosis among all the crazies in Gotham. So not only does Batman have to stop the Joker, he has to keep a lid on all these weirdos."

With so much work to do and evildoers to foil, Layman says the focus will be solely on Batman and no love interests or other supporting characters. "It's like Homicide the TV series where you don't get into the personal life too much. It's about the job."

And so far Detective has been a dream gig for Layman, although he admits that "honestly I think I had a little bit of stage fright the first issue."

Since then, each issue has grown crazier as he's become more comfortable.

"Writing is like pulling teeth for me, and this was a little more painful an extraction," Layman says. "It takes a little longer, you second-guess yourself a little more, and you've got almost a century of big shoes to fill."

He normally approaches every project like he's going to be fired, so Layman's writing each Batman story "really gung-ho and crazy and memorable.

"Hey, this is my one shot at Batman — let's make it awesome."