Nico: Is there anyone you didn’t get to team him up with in the first twenty-six episodes that you want to in the future?

Ben Jones: Well, me personally, probably, like…..

Michael Chang: DR. FATE?

Ben Jones: We did DR. FATE.

Jonah: Ah, so you (Ben) wanted DR. FATE?

Michael Chang: Well, yeah.

Ben Jones: You should’ve told me.

Jonah: So did you guys arm wrestle for who got to do which episode?  Or did you try to just “out geek” each other?  Well this element is from this issue from this date?

Ben Jones: No, it just got assigned to us.  And he got the RED TORNADO episode that I wanted.  It was just based on scheduling.  And there’s nothing you can do about it.  But RED TORNADO shows up later, so I got him.

Michael Chang: Dr. Fate doesn’t…

Jonah: How pleased were you with Andrea’s casting?  Any people in particular that you really enjoyed?  Anyone, that made you think, “That is so dead on!  That is exactly what that character should sound like.”?

Ben Jones: Not really I mean we had…

Brandon Vietti: R. Lee Ermey.

Ben Jones: R. Lee Ermey, and that was amazing.  We got to hear his voice and then we got to hear him talk about FULL METAL JACKET in his downtime.

Michael Chang: It’s just weird that he’s real.

Ben Jones: I know!

Jonah: He’s not real.  He’s a puppet, right?

Laughter.

Jonah: Are there any other animated shows you guys watch?

Ben Jones: I think VENTURE BROTHERS is the best show on TV, animated or not.

Jonah: Wow, strong words.  You?

Michael Chang: GOSSIP GIRL?  No. I worked on AVATAR, so I enjoy that show.

Brandon Vietti: Animated?  Spiderman.

Jonah: Yeah, I was NOT sold on the first few episodes, but by the end I really dug it.  Anything on the horizon?

Ben Jones: No.

Jonah: Nothing else you do, this show is just your entire lives?

Ben Jones: Pretty much.  Any time you would spend looking for another job, you send working on this one.

Nico: What was your favorite comic book arc in Batman?

Ben Jones: Can I go a little modern? There’s a miniseries about Arkham Asylum by Dan Slott and Ryan Sook.  That was awesome.

Nico: That WAS cool.

Ben Jones: And the guy came up with something like a half dozen new BATMAN villains which is practically impossible.  And they were pretty good.  I didn’t believe it was possible and he did it. That’s my choice.

Brandon Vietti: DARK KNIGHT got me into it.

Jonah: I think that book got most of us into BATMAN.

Brandon Vietti: Me too.  And right around that time Jim Parr’s run on DETECTIVE COMICS.  I was following that.

Jonah: Is there a character you didn’t get that you wanted?  Ben clearly wanted RED TORNADO and Michael clearly wanted DR. FATE.  Were you upset you didn’t get GORILLA GRODD?

Brandon Vietti: One of us that I don’t think any of us gets to work with, ‘cause I don’t think we’ve got the rights to it is RA’S AL GHUL.  I’d love to get a story with that.

Ben Jones: I actually think that we could, it just all depends on what James (Tucker) wants to do really.

Michael Chang: It’s all up to James (Tucker).

Ben Jones: You didn’t get to use him in THE BATMAN either, did you?

Michael Chang: No.  Cause of the movie.  A lot of times if there’s a character that’s already going on in the movie. Then we cannot touch it.

Jonah: Is THE BATMAN completely over now?

Brandon Vietti: Yeah.  It did well though, five seasons.

Jonah: And just when it started to be fun.

Brandon Vietti: Glad you liked it.

Jonah:  I did.  I did NOT like the first season at all.  I did not like it.  I’m not gonna lie.  I’m not gonna pretend otherwise.

Brandon Vietti: Sure.

Jonah: But the last few seasons were good.

Michael Chang: It did get progressively better.

Jonah: I’m sure a lot of that was just me though.  It was a shock to my idea of BATMAN.  Who is this guy?  He’s not Kevin Conroy!?!  And WHY does the Joker have dreadlocks???  And that was the problem at first, but I still have the last few seasons on my Tivo.

Brandon Vietti: Cool.

Jonah: Well, thanks a lot you guys.  Looking forward to the show.

Ben Jones: Best of luck to you.

 

Sounds, dare I say it? FUN!  Once again we have a new BATMAN to look forward to, even if he comes without the Demon’s Head…