While I would never deny the amazing quality of the recent DC Universe animated movies — heck, "Wonder Woman" was my favorite comic book film of the year — my first love will always be "Batman: The Animated Series," the much beloved cartoon that made household names out of Kevin Conroy, Bruce Timm and Harley Quinn throughout the comic book community.
Although the show is long over, there's still plenty of "Batman: TAS" goodness for fans to enjoy. Recently, the show's "Series Writer's Bible" made the rounds online, revealing some fascinating insight into the cartoon's production process from the creative minds of Bruce Timm and Paul Dini.
Read on for some of the highlights from the "Batman" writers' bible.
The Origins of Crime: The show's obvious reliance on film noir and crime story tropes wasn't just an extra enjoyable layer — it was part of the series' fabric.
"Our half-hour series will have a darker look and tone to it," states the bible. "With a nod to the crime films and novels of the 1940s, we will combine both old and new in this 'Dark Deco' visual design and create a fresh take on The Batman."
Change of the Cowl: Aside from the heavy use of '40s-era crime story elements, the bible boasts a list of other changes that the show made to the Batman mythos. Notable changes include describing Batman as a solo act without too much help from Alfred and Robin, Robin's own status as a solo crime fighter, and the Dark Knight's conflicts with the Gotham Police Department.
"Our stories will be hard-edged crime dramas with villains who play for keeps," the bible reveals of the changes made to Batman's famous Rogues Gallery, who were intentionally created to be "as wild, dark and sinister as we can make them."
The Funny Business: There is an entire section of the bible devoted to the show's use of humor, which, ironically enough, is pretty funny in and of itself.
"The humor in our version of Batman should arise naturally from the larger than life characters and never tongue-in-cheek campiness," instructs the bible. "Dry lines in tough situations and occasional comments about the outlandishness of costumed villains is certainly within the realistic context of our vision of Batman."
Character Building: The bible has an extensive rundown of all of the various characters that popped in and out of Timm and Dini's Gotham City, heroes and villains alike. Interestingly, the bible notes that aside from Joker, Penguin and Catwoman, each new villain introduced — such as Riddler and Poison Ivy — would be encountering Batman for the first time.
"Many of the villains faced by Batman will combine an eccentric, outrageous sense of criminal 'fun' with deadly efficiency," the bible describes. "After all, if they're going to give a character as extreme as Batman a run for his money, they'll have to be pretty extreme themselves."
Tell us what you think of the writer's bible for "Batman: The Animated Series" in the comments section or on Twitter!