'Batman' spinoff 'Talon' swings its way to NYC

In the film "Dark Knight Rises," some locations in Gotham City were portrayed by New York City spots.

In the comics, however, Batman's haunt is certainly its own place - a living, breathing city with its own attitude. Same thing for Superman's hometown of Metropolis. But both have their origins in The Big Apple.

"The thing that everyone used to think was Metropolis was New York by day, and Gotham was New York by night," says James Tynion IV, a writer for DC Comics who currently authors stories in the "Batman" comic book as well as a spinoff, "Talon."

Jumping off a story line steeped deeply in the Batman mythos, "Talon" follows Calvin Rose, a former assassin for the Court of Owls, an Illuminati organization in Gotham City. In issue No. 3 of "Talon," illustrated by Guillem March and in stores today, Rose heads to New York City to explore his past.

"We're going to discover that when [Rose] first ... escaped the Court, New York is where he [went]." says Tynion, who lives in the East Village. "There is something in the tradition of New York City, the fact that with the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island - it's always been a place of refuge. It's been a place where people in trouble can go.

"And I thought that it was really appropriate to bring him there and build a new life here ... I'm a New Yorker, so it's great to get to play in a city I'm as familiar with as New York."

The 25-year-old writer says one of the areas of New York City that he was most excited to feature was the bridges, especially the walking area over the Brooklyn Bridge.

And don't expect the NYC in "Talon" to look like a fictionalized version of the city. Tynion says March drew the book using photo references of the city.

"I always get annoyed in some comics where they have a superhero running down an alley in New York City, when New York is one of the only major cities in the world that does not have back alleys," he says. "I wanted to make sure ... that we're operating in a New York that felt real."