If you’ve been following us on Twitter or Facebook, you’ve probably noticed that there’s been a huge outpouring of press in reaction to the shocking conclusion of BATMAN AND ROBIN #16. It all started early yesterday, as THE ASSOCIATED PRESS broke the news that (stop reading now if you haven’t picked up the issue) Bruce Wayne had been secretly funding Batman for years, and would expand his funding and launch BATMAN INCORPORATED in an interview with the man behind it all, writer Grant Morrison.

With that, we were off to the races. DC Comics Editor in Chief Bob Harras did a number of interviews, including chats with USA TODAY, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, CNN’s MARQUEE BLOG, TIME TECHLAND, AOL COMICS ALLIANCE, THE L.A. TIMES' HERO COMPLEX, COMIC BOOK RESOURCES, NEWSARAMA and IO9.

And in case you missed it, WIRED’s Scott Thill had an epic, engaging and all-around interesting interview with Morrison, which is a must-read for fans of the man’s work. Also, the issue's been getting raves -- with glowing reviews at POP MATTERS and IGN to kick things off.

Have you picked up your copy of BATMAN AND ROBIN v2: BATMAN VS. ROBIN yet?

Our spotlight on all things BATMAN AND ROBIN continues and concludes today, with a special peek inside the mind of Grant Morrison, as the writer guides us through the various amazing new characters that first appeared in the second volume of BATMAN AND ROBIN, which hits stands in comic shops tomorrow as a DELUXE EDITION.

Take it away, Grant.

Squire and Knight

I introduced the new Squire and Knight in the pages of JLA back in 1998 and I’ve been slipping them into stories like JLA CLASSIFIED #1-3 and BATMAN #667-669 ever since. For some reason I’ll never be able to explain, this pair have developed a complex, intricate backstory and web of relationships that so far exists solely in my head and is only hinted at in these brief appearances.

My redesign of the Squire was intended to reference the British comics characters Beryl the Peril and Minnie the Minx (these tomboy anarchists headed their own weekly humor strips in the venerable UK titles Topper and Beano respectively), as well as the character “Monkey” from the film Quadrophenia, as played by Toyah Willcox.

Batwoman

I was a huge fan of Greg Rucka and JH Williams’s Batwoman stories in DETECTIVE COMICS and wanted to get the two new characters together as soon as possible. Simple as that.

British Villains

The Beefeater is an old-time DC hero who once represented the UK in the international Global Guardians hero team. He appeared as the butt of numerous Keith Giffen jokes in JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL and here makes a comeback as the Queen’s Jailer. Beefeater mentions a number of British super-criminals, many of whom were created for an imaginary SQUIRE AND KNIGHT series that’s been growing in the damp undergrowth of my imagination for the last ten years.

The Pearly Court of Crime

Pearly Charlie English and his son Eddie are the only two members of the Pearly Court of Crime, but we can assume there’s a Pearly Queen and some Pearly Princesses too.

I must point out that the real-life Pearly Kings and Queens of London are firmly on the side of the angels and are famous for their contributions to charity.

The Coals From Newcastle

King Coal was based on a combination of influences, including Arthur Scargill, the miners’ union leader who was Mrs. Thatcher’s nemesis in the 1980s. His henchmen were based on the gang of dancing chimney sweeps led by Dick Van Dyke in Walt Disney’s film of Mary Poppins.

Metalek

The Metaleks are weaponized, intelligent construction machines from another world on a mission to “xenoform” our planet, starting with London.

Morris Men

Like the Pearly King, the Morris Men belong to the world of tradition and folklore. Remnants of some unspeakable pagan fertility business, they pin jingling bells to their clothes and hop around hitting one another with sticks. The whole thing is a kind of stylized sword dance which ends when the dancers lock their “swords” together in a star-shaped configuration and “behead” their kneeling leader, who is then restored to life by a comic doctor. Readers familiar with the original film version of The Wicker Man starring Edward Woodward may remember seeing the Morris Men there.

They may seem jolly and bucolic, like a sun-dappled afternoon at a pub next to a canal in the South Downs, but as any British child can tell you there’s something screamingly weird and abnormal about the Morris Men that demanded to be absorbed into the Batman world.

The criminal version of the Morris Men are violent, ninja-like assassins who worship the Horned God.

The Highwayman

Stand and deliver! I saw the Highwayman as a cross between Adam Ant and Russell Brand: a dashing gentleman bastard who plies his devilish trade on the motorways of Britain. He rides his big black stealth cycle alongside tourist coaches, delivery trucks and especially security vans before robbing them blind and making off with the loot.

The Wayne Ancestors

The portraits of the Wayne patriarchs in BATMAN AND ROBIN #10 were all drawn from Batman’s long publishing history, but as usual I missed a couple of established characters.

I missed Lancelot Wayne, one of Bruce’s earliest known ancestors, and Sir Gaweyne de Weyne, who was introduced into the bloodline in 1998 by Alan Grant and Frank Quitely in BATMAN: THE SCOTTISH CONNECTION, as well as a third Revolutionary War hero, General Horatio Wayne, who appeared in BATMAN #120 and takes his place alongside the fictional Darius Wayne (created, I believe, by Alan Moore for a SWAMP THING story) and the real-life “Mad” Anthony Wayne, who was absorbed into Bruce’s family tree by Batman writer extraordinaire Bill Finger.

As for the others, Alan Wayne appears in BATMAN: THE RETURN OF BRUCE WAYNE #4, while the stories of Alan’s father Solomon and uncle Joshua were covered in BATMAN: SHADOW OF THE BAT #45 and BATMAN: LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT #27, and were also alluded to in Christopher Nolan’s film The Dark Knight.

This week, BATMAN AND ROBIN v2: BATMAN VS. ROBIN DELUXE EDITION hits comic shops – and it’s not a stretch to say you’re in for a treat. The second volume of writer Grant Morrison’s epic Batman tale -- starring Dick Grayson in the cape and cowl and Damian as Robin – puts the spotlight squarely on the Dynamic Duo and their, well, dynamic. How long can the new Batman and his sidekick really make it work? What does Talia have to say about it? And what of the other, myriad villains that populate the series?

That’s for you to find out when you get this lovely collection in your hands, which features the artistic talents of Cameron Stewart, Andy Clarke and covers by Frank Quitely. But, very much like what we did for the first collection of BATMAN AND ROBIN, we’ll be taking a look behind the curtain at all the elements that made this second collection memorable, essential and compelling – from the covers to the characters.

First up? The covers, with words from the man himself, Grant Morrison.

Issue 7

Issues 7 to 8 of BATMAN AND ROBIN were a loose tie-in to DC’s “Blackest Night” event, written by Geoff Johns and illustrated by Ivan Reis, in which a host of dead DC superheroes returned to wreak vengeance on the living as cruel zombies.

Rather than tie directly into the main event, we chose to reflect it in a more thematic way with this story of walking dead men.

As before, the cover ideas began in my notebook. For this one, I wanted a kind of Egyptian Pharaoh/Tutankhamen take on the remains of Batman. By the time I’d decided he’d look really good standing up in a sarcophagus-shaped alcove, it was too late to explain exactly how a dead body was supposed to stand upright. Obviously anti-gravity or sturdy hooks were involved.

Issue 8

With Damian out of action as Robin, I wanted to make this look like the classic “Batman has a new partner” covers of the past so here he’s back to back with Batwoman, facing the threat of a rising mysterious figure.

At that time, no one knew when Bruce Wayne might be returning as Batman so we wanted to make it look as if this might be the moment.

Issue 9

This one was for the diminishing demographic of Damian-as-Robin haters. It seemed only fair to give them a moment’s hope that Batman was about to hurl the little snot’s unconscious body to a splattery demise on the Gotham sidewalk three hundred feet below. As if.

Issue 10

For this one, I had in mind a classic “mystery” cover like some of the Neal Adams compositions from the 1970s showing Batman investigating while some threat crept up behind him. In this case the threat was Robin himself, setting up our Batman vs. Robin storyline with what I hoped would be an intriguing image.

Issue 11

In this issue Robin comes to suspect that the enigmatic Oberon Sexton might actually be Bruce Wayne, so we decided to echo the cover of BATMAN AND ROBIN #1 in a way that would emphasise the close connection to Batman of Robin’s new partner.

Issue 12

When I first saw this simple Batman vs. Robin X-shaped composition I was sure that Batman’s extended leg was too long, but I should have known Frank Quitely doesn’t make anatomical mistakes like that. When you turn the cover on its side as if Batman’s standing in a martial arts or yoga pose, his leg is in perfect proportion.

• If you’re in the Soho area of Manhattan tonight, swing by the Animazing Gallery, on 54 Greene St. Comic book legend Neal Adams will be the guest of honor at the event, which starts at 6pm and goes on until 9. The gallery will feature a new collection of original and exclusive art and Neal will be signing copies of his new art book and featuring pages from BATMAN: ODYSSEY. Cool, huh?

• IGN gave BATMAN AND ROBIN #15 a sterling review, calling writer Grant Morrison’s entire run “groundbreaking.” We agree!

• In case you missed it, over at io9, there’s a lengthy and interesting interview with incoming DETECTIVE COMICS writer Scott Snyder about his plans for the series and what it’s like working with artists Jock and Francesco Francavilla.