Batman Animated

Batman Animated

By: Paul Dini   Chip Kidd  

Buy it now at Amazon.com!

Average Customer Rating: 5.0 out of 5

From Emmy Award-winning-producer Paul Dini and acclaimed designer Chip Kidd comes Batman Animated, the behind-the-scenes story of the hit show that revolutionized television animation and brought a stunning new look to the legendary Caped Crusader. Since its premiere in September 1992, Batman: The Animated Series has been acclaimed by enthusiastic viewers and longtime fans of the Batman character as the defining image of the Dark Knight onscreen.

Now readers are offered an inside look into the creation of the series. Granted unprecedented access to the archives of the Warner Bros. Animation Studio, Chip Kidd has combined breathtaking photographs by Award-winning photographer Geoff Spear and fashioned an imaginative layout of never-before-published preproduction and finished artwork that echoes the boldness of producer-designer Bruce Timm's powerful TV show.

Paul Dini's text offers entertaining and informative commentary on the series history, development, and continuing production. It includes glimpses into the making of the Batman animated features Mask of the Phantasm and SubZero, and a sneak peek into the future projects.

Featuring a detailed episode guide, comments from the series creators and voice actors, and an introduction by Bruce Timm, Batman Animated is a must-have for Batman fans young and old.

Publisher: HarperEntertainment

Release Date: 1998-12-07

Customer Review: 5 out of 5
Bruce Timm's Batman - What a visially stunning book. Bruce Timm's artwork is sensationally brought to the reader through Chip Kidds fantastic use of photo design. This book thoroughly examines the behind the scene design concepts of Bruce Timm and Paul Dino and company with insightful reading on how they got to create one of TV's best animated series. A valuable piece of work collecting wonderfully laid out illustrations. Highly recommended for the curious and pure fans of the Batman character.

Customer Review: 5 out of 5
Batman Animated - A very good buy, i was waiting to have this book in my hands for a long time and i finally have it, it's just excellent for those who love the batman animated series and animation. It has a lot of tips and information "behind the scenes" of the series.
very recomendated, the only bad thing is that it was the only book this kind, i'm still waiting for something similar but of justice league and batman beyond.

Customer Review: 4 out of 5
Must-Have for the B:TAS Fan! - "Batman: The Animated Series" was one of the most revolutionary and influential cartoons ever created. This book, written by B:TAS writer/producer Paul Dini, is an essential look into the creation and phenomenon of the series. While a little slim on actual reading, what is there gives you that most coveted "behind-the-scenes" info on what it took to make "Batman". (For another perspective on the show's creation, check out the "Modern Masters: Bruce Timm" interview book.)

The real meat of the book lies in its visuals: photos, line art, animation cels, background keys, licensed toys, etc. The layout of these materials seems a bit haphazard (for being done by the "design-god" Chip Kidd), with captions sometimes hard to correlate with their images and numerous fold-out pages (which I really don't care for). However, the sheer number and quality of images is amazing, and some of the full-page renderings of production key art is breath-taking. I question some of the image choices in the character-design section, particularly the villians. But, again, there's a lot of ground to cover here and the quality and quantity of pictures is overwhelming.

The book was published before Batman Beyond and Justice League, so the ending comments might seem a little off. Still as a retrospective on the "B:TAS", you can't ask for much more. This would have been a 5 star review, if only there'd been a little more reading and a bit less visual confusion.

Bottom line: Love "Batman: The Animated Series"? Buy this book.

Customer Review: 5 out of 5
A great book for a great animated series - Who best to write a book about this justifiably award-winning animated series than one of the series writer/producers--Paul Dini (who wrote one of my favorite episodes--"Heart of Ice")? And with graphic designer Chip Kidd involved, you have a book that looks great on the coffee table. The best word I can use to describe this book is "thorough." It contains superlative art in full color, storyboards, character designs, in-house memos, licensed products, an episode guide from the animated series, plus great information on why the series was created, why the censors said no to certain aspects, as well as facts about the movies based on the series (SUBZERO, MASK OF THE PHANTASM). My only complaint is that the book isn't longer. But that's not the authors' fault. They put together such a great book, you'll want as much insight into the creation of this series as you can get (like a good DVD provides). And these guys deliver! This is a great "backstage" look for fans of the series.

Customer Review: 5 out of 5
The Greatest Book Companion to Any Series - I really was blown away by how meticulously put-together this book was. Besides the animation being great, this documentive source included everything from the episode guide title cards, merchandise (including ice cream and bubblegum cards), storyboards, character concepts, and a hell of a lot more! It also includes a great photo of Bruce Timm's drawing desk- complete with all the references he uses such as G.I. Joes & knick knacks. Color photos are adorned throughout, but besides that, there are also great stories of what the animation department went through with the head leaders of Warner Bros. There is even a charicature drawing that includes everything that the animators were restricted to draw (a nude, smoking Catwoman, a boozin' Joker, Batman strangling his foe, etc- it's really a treat!)
Even if you've had the misfortunate of not being familiar with this cartoon series, owning this book will make you realize how much effort is needed to create something this vast, and how much more we need to practice to ever reach this level!

--> Find out more about "Batman Animated" at Amazon.com or Order Now