After successfully reinventing the Dark Knight in Batman: Earth One, Volume 1, fans have been eagerly awaiting the next installment, and Geoff Johns and Gary Frank do not disappoint. Volume 2, which is now available, expands their new Batman mythology and has many twists and turns in store for long time fans, all while keeping their Batman grounded in reality. I recently had a chance to catch up with the creative duo to find out more about the new design of The Riddler, drawing a more expressive Batman, and they also teased future volumes:

I really like the fact that this Bruce Wayne / Batman feels very grounded in reality. Can you talk about the visual changes that helped set your Batman apart from other incarnations we've seen?

Gary Frank: With Batman, it's important to remember that we're dealing with a man who's just starting out. This is a man who's assembling all of this together and it's important to not regard the Batman costume as finished. It progressively gets slicker as he develops the Batman persona.

The key to reminding people that he's a man was to make sure the eyes were always visible. That's how you connect with the man beneath the mask. It wouldn't have served our purpose to go with the traditional white eyes. You lose so much in terms of expression and drawing people in.

Geoff Johns: I need to give Gary props big time. His emotional storytelling is unparalleled. You see how angry or frightened Batman gets. So many great moments are simply in the artwork and you don't need narration to tell you how he feels or what he's going through. It's all on his face. Seeing Batman horrified when people are hurt and knowing it affects him was really important for us.

The Riddler is one of the more drastic design updates we've seen for Batman: Earth One, but I think it really works within the world you've created. Can you talk about coming up with the new design of The Riddler?

Gary Frank: We talked a lot about The Riddler, because we couldn't do the bowler hat and type of design you see in the other books. This book being so grounded, it necessitated a different approach. Our Riddler is the kind that would evolve in this Gotham, so we talked about tattoos and other motifs, but in the end we decided not to go overboard.

Geoff Johns: In the end, I didn't want him covered in a million question marks. Then Gary decided on the one that went over the eye and I thought to myself: Why hasn't anyone done this?

There was quite a bit of time between the release of Volume 1 and 2. Was this more due to your already-busy schedules or does it take that long to craft this type of story?

Geoff Johns: Yes, it absolutely does take a long time. This is over 150 pages, so it's almost eight issues worth of story in one sitting. That takes time and it's at least a year worth of work for us.

We have to plan the whole thing out at once and we have to have the whole story figured out. We pride ourselves on the book, because there are so many character arcs. Jim Gordon doesn't just give Batman info... He and Bullock have a very specific journey, and it's the same with Bruce, Alfred, and even Croc. The steps we introduce Croc in wouldn't resonate as much if you do it month to month.

It's really a challenge because there are so many great Batman stories and different takes, not just in comics, but in films and animation. It is a huge creative commitment for us. We want to give it our all, so it does take a while.

We did Shazam: Earth One between Batman 1 and 2, so that kept us busy for over a year. We're really proud of Shazam and it gave us a nice break. All that said, we got so excited after working on [Batman: Earth One] volume 2, that we're already working on 3. Gary is probably a quarter or third of the way through, right?

Gary Frank: I probably shouldn't' be too specific [laughs], but there's a fair chunk done. When we were doing volume 2, we were already thinking about volume 3 and beyond.

Geoff Johns: As Gary said, volume 1 was setting the foundation. When we were writing volume 2, we were plotting future volumes, because we have a beginning, middle, and end for our whole run of Batman Year One novels. Even though it's a bit invisible now, that's starting to build in Earth One, volume 2.

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We've included preview pages from Volume 2 below and look for more details on Batman: Earth One, Volume 2 in this month's issue of DEADLY Magazine.

BATMAN: EARTH ONE, VOL. 2 - It’s here – the sequel to the #1 New York Times bestseller and critically acclaimed BATMAN: EARTH ONE by the superstar creative team of writer Geoff Johns and artist Gary Frank! While Gotham City is plunged into terror by an enigmatic anarchist and killer calling himself The Riddler, the Dark Knight must reconcile the increasingly conflicting ideologies of Detective Jim Gordon and Bruce Wayne’s head of security, Alfred Pennyworth. But there are many more mysteries lurking within Gotham City, including the secret agenda of Harvey Dent and the bizarre creature prowling the sewers – Killer Croc!