CHRIS BATISTA MOVING TO ROBIN

[MattBrady]

by Vaneta Rogers

As the Robin title changes creative hands come January, DC Comics has confirmed for Newsarama that Chris Batista will be the penciler on the title with, as previously announced, original Robin ongoing series creator Chuck Dixon returning to the comic as writer, and current artist Freddie E. Williams II moving to The Flash.

Most recently seen as one of the artists on the weekly series 52, Batista was signed as a DC exclusive artist for his work on the high-profile series. And while he got to draw much of the DCU while he was on 52, he was no stranger to DC characters before that, having spent the previous years working on The Legion series and JLA, as well as several other jobs for the publisher.

We spoke with Batista about how he got the work as penciler on Robin and found out he's working on a Superman Confidential story that caught the eye of assistant editor Jeanine Schaefer. "[She] was looking for an artist and happened to see some pages from my Superman Confidential gig," Batista said. "That seemed to do the trick. She was also familiar with my work on The Legion. She liked my take on teenage characters. Very important on a character like Robin."

The artist hopes his "take" on teenage characters gives the comic a realistically youthful feel. Having worked on teenage characters while drawing the Legion, Batista said he does believe Robin's environment has to reflect he character's age, but he also realizes Robin's night job requires the art on the comic to sometimes feel a little darker. "I definetly want it to feel like a real teenage world. I'll be doing a lot of research on today's youth and their fashion trends," he said, but added, "There should definitely be a contrast between his school days and his night job. It's Batman's world after all."

Batista said he's always been a fan of Tim Drake. "A third crack at Robin should never have been cool but he really jumped out as a character," he said. "I blame Chuck Dixon."

And while he hasn't had time to "brush up" on Robin as he finishes the last issue of his Superman Confidential work before starting on his first issue of the series, Batista pointed out that he's worked with the character before. "I took a crack at Tim in a recent issue of Teen Titans (#47, where the art with this article is from), and I enjoyed drawing him," he said. "Looking forward to really go nuts with him. Bring out a Gatchaman vibe with that cape of his. I really want my version of Tim Drake to stand out on his own and feel like a real teenager."

The artist said he's also excited that Robin does a lot of hand-to-hand fighting, and he looks forward to the challenge of drawing that type of fight scene. "The hand to hand combat should be fun," Batista said. "I want his actions to be really fluid and not ridiculous looking. It can be a challenge if you want to make the martial arts he uses look more realistic. He's not Spider-Man."

The first issue by the new creative team will be January's issue #170, which Batista said is about "setting everything up."

"It's not a huge event issue, so don't expect any Robin clones," Batista laughed, but said he is getting to create a new female character for the series right away. "There will be a new character named Violet to cause Tim no end of trouble."

And while he says Robin is going to be quite a change from drawing Superman the last few months, he's really looking forward to getting started on the comic and helping to define the look of the characters and personality of the series as Dixon takes over. "I really hope I get to bring some visual personality to the cast," he said. "Chuck's a great writer and provides a great deal of character to his work. I'm hoping I can do his scripts justice. I feel that Robin and I can be a great fit, and I hope fans respond."