Batman Animated
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 Cover to the hardcover edition of Batman Animated. |
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| Author | Paul Dini and Chip Kidd |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Bruce Timm and others |
| Cover artist | Bruce Timm |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Subject(s) | Batman: The Animated Series |
| Publisher | Titan Books |
| Released | October, 1998 |
| Media type | Hardback |
| Pages | 144 |
| ISBN | ISBN 1-84023-016-9 |
Batman Animated is a coffee table book written by Paul Dini and designed by Chipp Kidd, about the popular TV show, Batman: The Animated Series. It was first published in a hardcover edition in 1998 by Titan Books. A softcover edition of the book was published later.
[edit] Overview
A very picture-heavy book, Batman Animated features numerous sketches, storyboards, character designs, finished paintings and other material from the popular animated series about Batman, an iconic superhero character in the comic books published by DC Comics. The book details Batman's development from series producer and co-creator Bruce Timm's early sketches to his eventual finished look in the series, as well as the newer designs Timm made for the follow-up series The New Batman Adventures and Batman Beyond.
The designs of other significant characters, such as Robin, Batgirl and Nightwing, as well as Batman's numerous enemies (e.g., The Joker, Harley Quinn, Catwoman, Two-Face) and friends, (e.g., Alfred Pennyworth and Commissioner Gordon) are also explored in detail. The book also goes into the architecture of Gotham City and Batman's various vehicles and provides a detailed look at the show's overall visual flair, such as the episodes' title cards. Various pieces of merchandising related to the series are also featured. The book has numerous fold-out pages that display larger images. As is common with coffee table books, visual design is heavily emphasized throughout the full-color book and numerous pages are dedicated to the artwork from the series.
In addition to the plentiful visual elements, the book also contains detailed background information and anecdotes from the series' history, development and production, as well as comments from the various series creators and voice actors. It discusses various production problems ranging from technical challenges to the constant struggle between the creators and the network's censors over whether specific scenes of action and dialogue were too intense. Batman Animated also goes over the creation of two spin-off movies, Mask of the Phantasm and Sub-Zero.
The book's author, Paul Dini, was a writer and the co-producer for Batman: The Animated Series. The designer, Chipp Kidd, was also the author and designer of another book, Batman Collected, about Batman collectibles. Batman Animated also features an introduction by Bruce Timm.
