The guys over at Newsarama don't let the coals cool under their feet - Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne isn't to far away with its release next week 12 May, so what better way than the keep the excitement going than to speak with artist Chris Spourse on #1 with the first bat incarnation - Caveman Batman.

Newsarama: How did you hear about the opportunity to draw this issue?

Chris Sprouse: While I was getting ready to wrap up Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom, my editor Ben Abernathy called and said DC had asked if I was available and interested in the project. I'm not sure why DC thought of me as a good choice for caveman Batman. Maybe it was the fact that they'd seen that I could draw caves reasonably well, since three entire issues of Robots of Doom are set in underground caves. Whatever the reason, I wanted to do the book!

Nrama: How do you choose what projects interest you? Knowing your history working with writers like Alan Moore and Brian K. Vaughan, is it the writers that attract you? What was it about working with Grant on this story that appealed to you?

Sprouse: I often choose to do projects based on the story idea itself, as with Ocean, which intrigued me immediately when it was pitched to me. Sometimes it's the chance to do something different from what I've been doing, which is why I drew Midnighter, and other times it's simply that the project sounds like a lot of fun to draw, which was why I worked on Wildstorm's Number of the Beast.

It seems that most of the time, though, the writer is definitely the deciding factor, and getting to work with Grant was about 80 percent of why I said yes when they offered me the book (the other 20 percent was getting to draw Batman again, something I haven't done since the early '90s!). I had read and been a fan of Grant's Animal Man and Doom Patrol, and I knew that this could be really interesting.

Nrama: What did you think about the concept when you first heard it?

Sprouse: At first I wondered why they chose me for caveman Batman, but once I read the script, I loved it. I loved how each issue of the series is an examination or exploration of what makes this man, Bruce Wayne, do what he does. Also, Grant had written in several really nice visual moments that I just knew would be a blast to draw. I never got a chance to talk to Grant while working on the book – I just jumped in and had fun.

For the full interview click here and head on over to Newsarama...

(Source - Newsarama)