3 weeks ago
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By W.R. Miller
Forewords by Robert Greenberger,
Joe R. Lansdale, Andrea Romano, Jerry Beck
Published by BearManor Media
I’ve just gone through all five massive volumes of The Unofficial Batman: The Animated Interviews. Together, these five books total more than 3400 pages of essays, episode guides, and immersive behind-the-scenes discussions with pretty much everyone connected with the various classic 1990s Batman animated series on every possible level.
The books are credited to W.R. Miller who has, himself, worked in the animation industry. Miller has done a stunning job of coordinating all of this material, and Robert Greenberger, Jerry Beck, Joe R. Lansdale, and Andrea Romano contribute Forewords. There is also a huge selection of well-chosen photos and episode screen grabs throughout, many in color.
Bruce Timm, of course, the heart of the animated Batman series, is all over the volumes, as are other obvious players in the success story such as Paul Dini, Michael Uslan, Paul Levitz, Alan Burnett, Dan Riba, Tom Ruegger, and voice actors Kevin Conroy (Batman), Loren Lester (Robin), Mark Hamill, Diane Pershing, Tara Strong, Arleen Sorkin, and all the rest that made up the wonderful ensemble.
But they would be, wouldn’t they?
How many histories of this type would give just as much credit to the background artists, storyboard artists, the designers, the producers, composers and musicians, writers, animators, and story editors?
The story itself is, of course, an interesting one. Having myself transcribed quite a number of John Trumbull’s interviews with some of these same folks a few years ago for a special issue of Back Issue magazine, much of it was familiar to me. I, myself, even get mentioned for it in the bibliography in Volume 5—twice! The sheer scope of Miller’s new project here, though, adds so much more to the big picture.
Miller is a good interviewer and there are also other, pre-existing interviews from other sources, used by permission and credited.
Sadly, one person not interviewed about his Batman work is Bob Hastings, who was the voice of Commissioner Jim Gordon throughout the series, its several reboots, the movie, and even the video games. Bob died in 2014 but Kevin Conroy (himself now gone, too) speaks very highly of him in one interview. Speaking as someone who was privileged to know and work with Bob Hastings myself at the annual Cincinnati nostalgia cons during the same time he was working on Batman: The Animated Adventures, I can assure you that he always talked about how much fun he was having doing the series, even if he was never formally interviewed about it.
There’s lots of discussion throughout the volumes as to the creation of the memorable Dick Tracy-style rogues gallery of animated villains. Most, of course, were originally from the comic book—The Joker, The Penguin, Catwoman—but all were redesigned for animation, essentially re-creating them as fresh characters, some of whom then translated back to the comics in their new forms. Then there were the totally brand-new characters such as Harley Quinn, who premiered in her cartoon version before going on to success both in DC comic books and in big-budget live-action motion pictures.
The bottom line is that these volumes of The Unofficial Batman-The Animated Interviews are most likely major information overload for the average fan but if you’re the type of person who feels the need to know every single little thing about a favorite TV show or character, then this series is an absolute must for you! You may need to take out a second mortgage, mind you, but it might be worth it. I myself have always been that type of person who needs to know every aspect of my obsessions and I know some of you out there are, too. This series has so much info it is without question the definitive history of the animated Batman.
Booksteve recommends.
English (US) ·