Wednesday, December 16, 2009

The Batman Bible

Okay, while that might be a decent idea for a single issue comic this isn't about any type of Batman based religion. Someone has posted a pdf of the writer's bible for Bruce Timm's animated Batman series.

As I've said many times before, this is probably one of, if not my all time, favourite incarnation of the character. What I particularly like about this document is that it says what all Batman and superhero fans think - there is no real need to re-tell his origin. Yes, it plays a big part in the very nature of the character, but there's no need to get caught up in the details of retelling it. It is basically common knowledge, so move past it and just start to use the format to tell stories.

For the most part the information here was seen throughout the series, except for the origin of Mr. Freeze. The eventual show about him was much better than the original idea. It's probably one of the best reworkings of a Batman villain that this series offers, although I'm quite partial to the Clayface two-parter.

I always find it interesting to see the nuances that are created by this type of document. How the show's creators work out the subtle relationships between the characters while in and out of the costume. I think the end result was a series that approached Batman as a millieu through which they could tell fantastic crime stories - from mysteries, to scary stories, to riddles, to death traps and global spanning espionage intrigues. In short this is the idea of Batman distilled to its essence all while keeping the sense of wonder and fun that is at the core of anything animated or comic book based. When you're just making shit up, you don't need to worry about the budget, so go nuts as long as it makes sense to the story.

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