Whenever the words “Batman: The Animated Series” grace your screen, you’ll invariably think of one of three things. You’ll want to rewatch the series for the umpteenth time, pine over Mark Hamill and Kevin Conroy‘s generational performances as The Joker and Batman, and reminisce over it being the best animated series of all time.

Although all of the above is a pretty lukewarm take, thinking about the DC Comics animated series often dips into nostalgic reminiscing that points to the incomparable Bruce Timm as the sole reason the show worked. He was essential, sure, but I Am the Night: The Ultimate Unauthorized History of Batman: The Animated Series, written by journalist and author Daniel Dockery (Monster Kids), moves past auteur worship to spotlight how the series was a collective gamble, made iconic by an entire creative village.

I Am the Night: The Ultimate Unauthorized History of Batman: The Animated Series chronicles BTAS‘ narrative history. Across 304 pages of archival material and exclusive interviews Dockery conducted with key staff members involved with the show, the book weaves in production anecdotes that examine the show’s dramatic shift away from the stigma of Saturday morning cartoons. To demystify BTAS’ meteoric rise, Dockery fact-checked even the most innocuous claims from its online fandom—digging through archives and tracking down people involved to verify details most viewers would never question.

“There were a few times when something that was taken as common knowledge everyone would say off the cuff as fact enough times that it becomes fact,” Dockery told io9.

Source link