Speaking of Rucka, he actually let me pick his brain over the phone when I writing Batwoman for the "52" novelization. He even told me her whole West Point backstory, then swore me to secrecy since that hadn't been revealed in the comics yet.
That's deja vu. Skarsten was one of the leads in the Birds of Prey TV series, which had a similar premise to Batwoman (centering on female leads in a post-Batman Gotham). The article says she was Dinah Lance, but she was actually a psychic named Dinah Redmond, the daughter of the show's version of Black Canary, who was called Carolyn Lance for some reason.
What is it with Batman and related characters and Alice in Wonderland? Batman has The Mad Hatter and Tweetle Dee and Tweetle Dum, and Batwoman has Alice. Has anybody ever done a team up with any of them?
The thing that none of these casting announcements is mentioning is that "Alice" is really Kate's presumed-dead sister Elizabeth,, and I'm interested to see how that fact will end up coming into play narratively.
They're probably trying to keep that a big surprise reveal for the people not familiar with the characters.
Kane family gathering must be confusing with Elizabeth "Bett" Kane, "Elizabeth "Bette" Kane, Kate Kane, Catherine Kane and Kathy Kane.
It happens in real life. I went to high school with a pair of cousins, even in the same class, who were both named Kirsten/Kirstin. The different spelling was the only way on paper to tell them apart. In person, they were different heights, etc., but even so.
"Murder on the Gotham Express." (You know, if that's not actually the title of an old BATMAN comic, it should be!)