Held the 3rd Saturday in September since 2015, Batman Day is an annual celebration of one of DC Comics’ most iconic superheroes, the Darknight Detective who made his debut in Detective Comics #29 in 1939.
Created by Bob Kane with the help of writer Bill Finger, Batman has remained popular with fans throughout the world for over 80 years through comics, novels, TV shows, and movies—most recently in 2022’s The Batman, starring Robert Pattison, and in this year’s The Flash, in which two Batmen appeared: the Ben Affleck iteration from the “Snyderverse”; and Michael Keaton, returning to the version he made world famous in 1989’s Batman. (Okay, there might be a couple more Caped Crusaders popping up in The Flash, but you’ll have to see it yourself to find out.)
Well, if you’re a fan of Batman and his ever-expanding cast of supporting characters and arch-villains, then perhaps you’d be interested in checking out a couple of bat-adjacent projects from your friends at StarWarp Concepts…
In 2012, author Richard C. White interviewed New York Times bestselling author Tracy Hickman (Dragonlance) for Rich’s how-to book for writers and RPG gamemasters, Terra Incognito: A Guide to Building the Worlds of Your Imagination. In addition to the ins and outs of proper world building for fantasy and science fiction projects, they also discussed what was then Hickman’s latest novel: Wayne of Gotham, in which Bruce Wayne traces his family history to discover whether there was more to the murder of his parents when he was a boy—the traumatic event that led to his becoming Batman—than a simple robbery gone wrong.
“When approaching an iconic character like Batman, you walk a really fine line. My first reaction after we proposed this story and they accepted it was, ‘Oh man, I get to write Batman.’ And then the second reaction was, ‘What have I done? I have to write Batman!’ Because everyone has an idea of who Batman is.”
However, since the topic had nothing to do with Terra Incognito’s focus on world building, I cut it from the book during the editing process. But there’s no reason why you can’t read it now, given today’s celebration of all things Batman.
So head on over right now to the Richard C. White blog and celebrate Batman Day by reading all about Tracy Hickman’s Wayne of Gotham!
To read the rest of Rich’s interview with Hickman—which includes a discussion of Hickman’s creative experiences during his time as a designer for gaming company TSR, the original home of Dungeons & Dragons—pick up a copy of Rich’s Terra Incognito: A Guide to Building the Worlds of Your Imagination, which takes you through the step-by-step process of constructing a world for your characters, from societies and governments to currency and religion. In fact, it’s a book that’s become so popular with gamers that it’s currently being used as a textbook in the Interactive Media & Game Development program at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worchester, Massachusetts!
And then there’s Heroines and Heroes, a free digital-comic collection of comic stories and pinups written and drawn by Steven A. Roman (that’s me!), dating back to my days in the early 1990s small-press movement—that age of dinosaurs in which creators like me used to make our comics by printing them out on photocopiers and then stapling them by hand. In H&H you’ll find mainstream heroes and small-press heroines, and even a couple of anthropomorphic bikers.
Leading off is “V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N (in the Summertime),” a three-page story starring Wonder Woman and Batman enemy Harley Quinn that I wrote and drew in the late ’90s as a sample for a DC Comics editor who thought I’d be a good fit for their Batman: The Animated Series comic (spoiler warning: it didn’t work out). It’s followed by an adventure of small-presser Jeff Wood’s rabbit-eared superspy, Snowbuni; three pages from the long-canceled indie comic Motorbike Puppies; and an adventure of the indie superheroine The Blonde Avenger.
Terra Incognito: A Guide to Building the Worlds of Your Imagination is available in print—both trade paperback and hardcover—and digital editions. Visit its product page for more information.
Heroines and Heroes is a free digital exclusive comic. Visit its product page for ordering information, as well as sample pages.
