Batman gets close to the insanity of Gotham, to the craziness, to what drives that city mad, and not be driven mad himself - or, at least, most of the time he isn't. That's most like the mission of the C.I.A. We get into the heads of our enemies without becoming our enemy.

Tom King

Categorized in : City Enemies Time Mad

That’s thestory of our work, we get intriguing clues, we pursue t... by Tom King

That’s thestory of our work, we get intriguing clues, we pursue them, and we get skunked.

latest-headlines

It's funny, you know: my mother-in-law, who doesn't have an ounce of nerd in her, is just so excited by the fact that I write 'Batman' because she'll see an article about me in the 'Washington Post' or 'The Wall Street Journal' or something. And that means so much to me.

street me you funny

You can't tell a Batman story without the Joker, and you can't tell a Joker story without Batman. They're just the symbols of the best and worst of humanity.

story best you humanity

That's all the Joker is. It's Batman without love. The Riddler is the opposite of that. It's the detective in him.

joker opposite without love

When I was 12, I used to ride my scooter two miles to a comics shop, which I can't imagine letting my kids do by themselves through the city.

ride city through two

It's good to be a cynic. I'm a cynic. But the best part of being a cynic is somebody proving you wrong.

wrong best good you

If you actually read the 'New Gods' tetralogy, this epic without an ending, it's like dipping your head into madness. You feel a little bit like the Joker for a little while. And I mean that in the best way possible.

ending feel best you

I've said this before, but I don't like putting captions in my comic books. I feel, for me, they become a crutch, a way to ignore the essential fact that our medium is a visual medium, and the greatest pleasures to be derived from comics are how stories can be told with pictures.

pictures feel ignore me

You throw sadness, you throw depression, you throw horror at Batman, he's like, 'Yeah, yawn, I've done that.' You throw happiness at him? That's something that riles him; that's something that he's not used to.

you sadness depression happiness

Writing is weaponized empathy. It's putting yourself in someone else's head. It's finding what's in them that relates to you.

yourself someone you empathy

All stories are just stories of a character changing. by Tom King

All stories are just stories of a character changing.

changing just stories character

What eventually you find in comics is the only thing unique you can bring to a character who's been around for 80 years is yourself.

yourself you unique character

My first book is called 'Carry the Three.' It's definitely in a drawer, and it's terrible. I never sent it to anybody. My wife read it, but nobody else.

nobody never wife book

Literally, over a weekend, Friday to Monday, I went from a C.I.A. officer to changing diapers and putting the kid in a Bjorn and going to the playground and hanging out with all the nannies. I was the only dad - everyone kind of gave me strange looks because of our sexist society.

me weekend dad society

I still feel it's kind of weird to say, 'I'm a comic book writer.... by Tom King

I still feel it's kind of weird to say, 'I'm a comic book writer.'

weird say feel book

If you're a writer, you're constantly doubting yourself. by Tom King

If you're a writer, you're constantly doubting yourself.

doubting writer yourself you

I wanted to write about the Trump era, but I didn't want to write, 'Fascism sucks' or 'Trump sucks.' That doesn't get you anywhere.

write get you want

When I write, I see the pages in my head, not the words. by Tom King

When I write, I see the pages in my head, not the words.

i-see head words see

I grew up your classic nerd who was not good at throwing balls or kicking them. I was good at reading stories by myself. That was my specialty as a child.

good child myself reading

I went to college in New York. I interned at Vertigo, and then I interned at Marvel working for Chris Claremont. Just to age myself, this was in 2000.

new myself college age