Okay, so I'm starting an omake. Wish me luck.
Talks for a New Era of Comics
Bruce, Allan and Kathleen had been talking about the new script for the new Batman sequel, now that Bruce wanted the Boy Wonder in it. The talks could have gone on for hours and they wouldn't have noticed, but there was an interruption.
"Sir, Mr. Harrison and Mrs. Khan have arrived." Alan secretary said on the intercome.
Alan simply nodded. "Send them in." he said.
Bruce raised an eyebrow. "Who did you call for?"
"The current president and editor-in-chief of DC Comics wanted to speak to you, Bruce. I'm sure I mentioned that." Alan said with a look that screamed intrigued, which Bruce was skeptical about.
Bruce did remember a short comment about that in the beginning of the meeting, but he put it on the back burner because the main discussion was about the Batman sequel. But then again, he could give them a bit of his time.
It didn't take two long before a man and a woman entered the room and everyone stood up to greet them.
"Alan, good to see you. It's nice to know you got Batman into the room too." the older man jested with a bit smile on his face as he went to shake Bruce's hand. "Sol Harrison, president of DC Comics. A pleasure to meet you, Mr. O'Brien. Oof, quite the handshake." he said with a smile as he shook the actor's hand, the strength of the grip surprising him a bit.
The young woman then approached Bruce. "Mr. O'Brien, Jenette Khan, editor-in-chief of DC Comics. It's an honor to meet someone of your stature and influence." she told him as they shook hands.
"It's a pleasure to meet the both of you."
Alan then gestured for the new arrivals to sit, which now allowed everyone in the room to sit down as well.
"Alright, so I was told you two wanted to speak with me?" Bruce inquired as he looked at the heads of DC Comics.
Jenette quickly spoke. "Actually, it was me who was more adamant on setting this appointment up. I also had Mr. Harrison and Alan set up meetings with Mr. Reeve and Mrs. Carter. However, you probably have the most influence on this whole new cinematic universe plan, aside from Alan of course, so I wanted to talk to you about the comics themselves."
"I guess this is coming from the massive increase of comic book sales that has occured since the release of the first Superman movie?" Bruce asked her.
This time, before Jenette could answer, it was Harrison who spoke up. "Precisely. You must know how many people have been buying comic books ever since the movies have been coming out, and all these movies have seeded a big idea in our editor-in-chief's mind."
The woman in question looked a bit miffed for a moment, but then she returned to speak and focus on the matter at hand. "You see, we're scheduling for a release of a new run of the Teen Titans team this year, and we want to wait and see how successful it is before we go for something big. Really big."
"How big are we talking about?" Kathleen entered the conversation, Alan and her now much more interested.
Jenette turned to look at Alan and Kathleen. "The movies are a single continuity, correct? It focuses things and prevents it from becoming incredibly convoluted, at least on paper. Since DC Comics has over 40 years of history, it has become incredibly convoluted and hard for our readers to keep track of, so we at DC Comics decided to take a page out of your book and reset everything. I'm thinking on some massive event that could allow us to bring forth our company's entire history in an engaging story."
She then turned to Bruce. "We want our heroes to start from scratch, so that readers could follow them for years to come, and we want the movies to be the main inspirations for the new origins. We're even thinking of letting Frank Miller be the one to work on the new Batman origins since he was among the screenwriters of your movie." she explained to him.
"Well, it's just an idea at the moment. We'll wait on it for a few years until we see how popular the movies will make the other members of the Justice League before we go with it." Harrison tried to calm down his obviously enthused editor-in-chief, but Bruce could see a dollar signs in his eyes despite the apprehension on his face. It made sense, it was a major gamble even in a few years from now, but if it was successful then it could really revitalize the brand in a similar way to the movies.
"So you want my opinion on this idea? Do you wish for me to give pointers for future Batman comics?" Bruce asked the two.
"As a matter of fact, we would." Jenette said with a small smile on her face.
Alan, with a sly smile on his face, decided to speak up. "Well, you're in luck. We were just talking about how to put Robin in the new movie. He said that a Batman without a Robin is like Superman without Lois, incomplete." he told them in a way that was egging a reaction, building excitement.
The two easily fell for it. "That's great news! This could bring an increase of sales for the New Teen Titans comics! We hope that you can do wonders with this new movie as well, Mr. O'Brien." Sol Harrison said with a big smile on his face.
"That's a wonderful line. You should definitely use it. I know I'll tell our writers to, if you don't mind." Jenette said as she wrote it down on a small notebook that fit the palm of her hand.
The meeting went on for another hour or so as Bruce talked to the two, talking how he saw Batman as a character and what kind of ideas he had for the sequel to emphasize those characteristics, which was written down by both Kathleen and Jenette, with the former knowing that she had a lot to remember for when production starts.
Before everyone went to leave, Harrison spoke up one last time. "Mr. O'Brien, one last thing. We at DC Comics heard that Marvel Comics have been discussing with Lucasfilm Unlimited as well as Dreamworks and Sunrise not only about a sort of a new system to labeling comic books, but also that there are talks to join this newborn trend of cinematic universes, correct?" he inquired.
"For what purpose are you asking, because I can't disclose information to competition." Bruce told him professionally.
Harrison nodded, seemingly understanding. "Well, if the former is accurate, then we would like to join this discussion and if we find it beneficial to sales and publishing our comic books, we would do our best to help when it comes to approaching the CCA. Getting their approval is good for bussiness. As for the latter... we will keep a close eye." he said as he got up and went to shake Bruce's hand. "It was a pleasure meeting you."
"It was a pleasure meeting you to." he then shook Jenette's hand as well. "As well as you, Mrs. Khan. As for your offer about the publishing system idea, I'll think about it and talk to Stan about it. All I can tell you about it that it was just an idea that was thrown around. Nothing has come of it yet." he said as the older man nodded and left the office.
"Thank you for your time and for all these notes, Mr. O'Brien. I'll make sure to make good use of all of them." she said as she left Alan's office.
All in all, Bruce could say about that day's meeting was exceptionally fruitful.
Well, so this is it. I think it went pretty okay there. I also had to think of a way of when to insert it, just to try for it to make sense.
