Welcome to the Cartoon Research Card Catalog – your monthly check-in on present publications, periodicals, and peeks at important books from today and throughout the last century of animation!
When Batman: The Animated Series debuted in 1992, who could have predicted that the storytelling and characters contained within would echo across animation, comics and films for the next three decades? It’s an understatement to say that Batman: The Animated Series was monumental in showing that audiences were receptive to Batman-centric stories that contained a more serious tone; characters and storylines that contained drama, suspense, and emotion not normally explored through Saturday mornings. Thanks to author, W.R. Miller (The Animated Voice: Interviews with Voice Actors and contributor to The Animated Movie Guide, The Hanna-Barbera Treasury, Animato!, and much, much more) and publisher BearManor Media have compiled and published a five volume set of interviews with almost every single contributor responsible for making the show happen. Batman: The Animated Interviews Volumes 1-5 were originally released November 15th, 2024 in hardcover with rereleases in paperback starting this past January, 2025 – with each volume releasing once per month until Volume 5’s release this upcoming June. I’ve spent the last two weeks chewing through the 800+ page Volume One and – if these volumes are not already on your radar – then let me say upfront and with emphasis that this first volume is an absolute joy to read.
Author W.R. Miller has set up this first volume to explore how Batman: The Animated Series (B:TAS) came to be through interviews conducted by the author from the early 1990’s during production and from new interviews spanning from 2019-2022. Additionally, there are relevant sourced interviews from other groups and individuals, especially when a production member has since passed away, sprinkled throughout the volume. Noted comic editor and writer, Robert Greenberger, opens with an introduction detailing various events, big and small, that had to occur for a series like B:TAS to even have a shot at being made. Through the next 66 interviews we see a combination of a clear vision, passionate crew, a badass demo reel, and corporate faith in untested young artists paired with experienced producers, to create a timeless series.
Each interview features a biography of each subject and a quick explanation of their roles in making B:TAS. No relationship is left unexamined; whether the relationship was between the production staff – writers, storyboard artists, background designers, voice directors, orchestra composers and directors – rights and stakeholders like corporate entities Warner Brothers and DC Comics, broadcast networks like Fox Kids, discussions with Broadcast Standards and Practices – Miller even features a fascinating interview with Michael Uslan whose work in bringing the Tim Burton 1989 live action Batman film was pivotal for Warner Bros. to consider embarking on a Batman animated series. Personal highlights include interviews with VP of Fox Kids, Sidney Iwanter, Eric Radomski the Swiss army knife, an interview with Bruce Timm from the 1990s, voice director Andrea Romano, and Executive/Producer, Margaret Loesch.
Miller’s background as a layout and storyboard artist, with credits including The Simpsons, Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase, Courage the Cowardly Dog and 101 Dalmatians: The Series, in addition to early work as a journalist on periodicals like Animation Magazine and Animato!, have given Miller the insight to ask pointed, relevant, and open ended questions that allow the interviewee to reminisce and recount fascinating stories. Miller pushes for further explanations when necessary and does a great job making subjects feel heard while getting them past rudimentary information and into their unique experiences, perceptions and meanings. Miller even sources forum posts and blog posts – a really smart way to archive already disappearing digital conversations and statements.
That’s not to say the book is perfect. It is obvious that the text featured in this book was derived from an ebook with occasional hyperlinks printed – I touched them with my finger, but they wouldn’t open up, unfortunately. I do hope BearManor Media considers a fresh layout with smaller font size for a shorter second edition as the sheer length has resulted in a fairly high price. Hardcovers of each volume hover around $110 and each paperback hovers around $60. That’s not to say that this set isn’t worth those prices, they are, it would just be nice to see a more affordable option.
Batman: The Animated Interviews Volume 1 is an essential collection of interviews documenting the origins of a milestone series whose reverberations can still be felt 33 years later. The serendipitous right place and right time of W.R. Miller as a journalist in the 90’s, in addition to an inconvenient world health crisis in 2020, has produced a thorough historical record that sheds light on a pivotal industrial change for animation production, a snapshot of growth in audiences tastes, and shines a spotlight on those responsible for redefining the Dark Detective’s stories for an entirely new generation of comic and animation lovers. Highly Recommended.
Once you’ve filled up on the historical context of the production of the show you may want to check out Paul Dini and Bruce Timm’s Mad Love, a one-shot comic book released in 1994 during the production of Batman: The Animated Series and briefly talked about throughout The Animated Interviews Volume 1. Mad Love explores the origins of the animated series’ original character, Harley Quinn, and her imbalanced relationship with the Joker. The pictured Deluxe Edition, released in 2015, includes an introduction penned by Dini and reproduced original sketches and color layouts by Timm with a two page introduction.
Additionally, Joe Sutliff Sanders wrote a fascinatingly nuanced critique of B:TAS in the TV Milestones series released in 2021. Sanders explores three arguments in three chapters. First, that the tension between the art deco and subsequent streamlining art movements in the 1920s and 1930s is replicated within the themes and design of B:TAS. Sanders next argues that B:TAS has a unique exploration of how the wealthy elite in Gotham, including Bruce Wayne, find humanity. And lastly, that Harley Quinn is a character that encapsulates some of the questions and contradictions third-wave feminism in the 1990s was asking and investigating. It is a well thought out series of arguments that makes you consider the implications.
If that’s still not enough Batman: The Animated Series, make sure to check out another behind-the-scenes peek at the production art of the series in the rare hardcover, Batman Animated by Paul Dini and Chip Kidd and released in 1998.
Orrin Scott is an animation researcher. His research focus has been on how society interacts with animation as a form of communication, commerce, art, and entertainment. He is the administrator of the 
I suppose a smaller font size might result in an edition with fewer pages and therefore a lower price, but then a lot of us would complain that the type was too tiny to read. It’s impossible to please everyone.
The early ’90s were an exciting time to be an animation fan, with the Disney Renaissance in full swing, the increased availability of Japanese anime on home video, and the publication of many excellent books about the medium. On television we had the first prime time animated sitcoms in decades, terrific Saturday morning fare from Warners, Spielberg and Universal, and with Batman: TAS, the most compelling superhero show ever seen. I’m very pleased, and not at all surprised, that there’s a five-volume compendium of interviews with its creators now in print. I’m afraid I won’t be purchasing it, as international shipping charges and currency exchange fees add a bundle to an already hefty cover price. But if a five-volume set of interviews with the creators of the Simpsons or Animaniacs ever comes out, I’ll be all over it.
The early 1990s was a great time to be a Bat-fan. As one who had lived through the era of Batman’s amazing popularity in the 60’s, followed almost immediately by a rapid decline of same, when the TV series suddenly became unpopular–I had seen the ups and downs of the franchise. Then, following DC’s Crisis on Infinite Earths, which streamlined the DCU to make it more accessible to new readers, there seemed to be a resurgence in popularity for Batman. There was Frank Miller’s “Dark Knight Returns” plus Tim Burton’s two films, which gave the character a huge boost. I found myself jumping on the DC bandwagon at the time of Superman’s demise and Batman’s persecution at the hands of Bane.
When I first saw BTAS on television, I was hugely impressed. It put me in mind, which of course was intentional, of the Fleischer Superman cartoons of the late 30’s and early 40’s. That was my first thought–which I have since read was what the creators of the Batman series had in mind. Rarely has an animated series aimed at kids/family been so infused with adult sensibilities. It was truly a show that parents could watch with their kids and not be ashamed of. The scope and magnitude of the series also surpass what had come before. The writers were willing to tackle difficult, complex topics and deliver them with style and a hard-hitting punch.
I’ve been a fan of Batman in whatever form–comic books, comic strips, film franchises, TV shows. I enjoyed the Super Friends series and Batman’s guest appearances with Scooby Doo. But BTAS stands on its own and raised the bar for the presentation of superheroes in animation.
I remember watching Batman: The Animated Series on Cartoon Network back in the 1990s and being attracted to how different and practically darker it was from most of the other shows or other versions of Batman cartoons for that matter. In retrospect, the creatives took more creative risks also in the storytelling and characters than how other animated series did at the time. It’s one of those rare instances where the show was actually better than you remembered it, plus it had a top tier voice cast.