Back Issue #99 by TwoMorrows Publishing

Celebrating Batman: The Animated Series’ 25th Anniversary!

September 2017

Harley Quinn history! The Batman Adventures comic! The animated DC Universe in comics! And a tribute to the late, great Mike Parobeck! featuring Altieri • Burchett • Conroy • Dini • Pasko • Sorkin • Strong • Timm & more!

No.99 $8.95

82658 00102

THE RETRO COMICS EXPERIENCE!

Edited by MICHAEL EURY, BACK ISSUE magazine celebrates comic books of the 1970s, 1980s, and today through recurring (and rotating) departments like “Pro2Pro” (dialogue between professionals), “BackStage Pass” (behind-the-scenes of comicsbased media), “Greatest Stories Never Told” (spotlighting unrealized comics series or stories), and more!

Go to www.twomorrows.com for other issues, and an ULTIMATE BUNDLE, with all the issues at HALF-PRICE!

BACK ISSUE #90

BACK ISSUE #91

DIEDGITIIOTANSL BL AVAILA

BACK ISSUE #87

UT! SOLD OONLY! L DIGITA BACK ISSUE #88

UT! SOLD OONLY! L DIGITA BACK ISSUE #89

“Batman AND Superman!” Bronze Age World’s Finest, Super Sons, Batman/Superman Villain/Partner Swap, Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane go solo, Superman/Radio Shack giveaways, and JLA #200’s “A League Divided” (as a nod to Batman v. Superman)! Featuring work by BRIAN BOLLAND, RICH BUCKLER, GERRY CONWAY, JACK KIRBY, GEORGE PÉREZ, JIM STARLIN, and more. Cover by DICK GIORDANO!

“Comics Magazines of the ’70s and ’80s!” From Savage Tales to Epic Illustrated, KIRBY’s “Speak-Out Series,” EISNER’s Spirit magazine, Unpublished PAUL GULACY, MICHAEL USLAN on the Shadow magazine you didn’t see, plus B&Ws from Atlas/Seaboard, Charlton, Skywald, and Warren. Featuring work by NEAL ADAMS, JOHN BOLTON, ARCHIE GOODWIN, DOUG MOENCH, EARL NOREM, ROY THOMAS, and more. Cover by GRAY MORROW!

“Bronze Age Adaptations!” The Shadow, Korak: Son of Tarzan, Battlestar Galactica, The Black Hole, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Worlds Unknown, and Marvel’s 1980s movie adaptations. Plus: PAUL KUPPERBERG surveys prose adaptations of comics! With work by JACK KIRBY, DENNY O’NEIL, FRANK ROBBINS, MICHAEL W. KALUTA, FRANK THORNE, MICHAEL USLAN, and sporting an alternate Kaluta cover produced for DC’s Shadow series!

(84 FULL-COLOR pages) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $3.95

(84 FULL-COLOR pages) SOLD OUT! (Digital Edition) $3.95

BACK ISSUE #92

BACK ISSUE #93

BACK ISSUE #94

“Eighties Ladies!” MILLER & SIENKIEWICZ’s Elektra: Assassin, Dazzler, Captain Marvel (Monica Rambeau), Lady Quark, DAN MISHKIN’s Wonder Woman, WILLIAM MESSNER-LOEBS and ADAM KUBERT’s Jezebel Jade, Somerset Holmes, and a look back at Marvel’s Dakota North! Featuring the work of BRUCE JONES, JOHN ROMITA JR., ROGER STERN, and many more, plus a previously unpublished cover by SIENKIEWICZ.

“All-Jerks Issue!” Guy Gardner, Namor in the Bronze Age, J. Jonah Jameson, Flash Thompson, DC’s Biggest Blowhards, the Heckler, Obnoxio the Clown, and Archie’s “pal” Reggie Mantle! Featuring the work of (non-jerks) RICH BUCKLER, KURT BUSIEK, JOHN BYRNE, STEVE ENGLEHART, KEITH GIFFEN, ALAN KUPPERBERG, and many more. Cover-featuring KEVIN MAGUIRE’s iconic Batman/Guy Gardner “One Punch”!

“Bronze Age Halloween!” The Swamp Thing revival of 1982, Swamp Thing in Hollywood, Phantom Stranger team-ups, KUPPERBERG & MIGNOLA’s Phantom Stranger miniseries, DC’s The Witching Hour, the Living Mummy, and an index of Marvel’s 1970s’ horror anthologies! Featuring the work of RICH BUCKLER, ANDY MANGELS, VAL MAYERIK, MARTIN PASKO, MICHAEL USLAN, TOM YEATES, and many more. Cover by YEATES.

“All-Captains Issue!” Bronze Age histories of Shazam! (Captain Marvel) and Captain MarVell, Captain Carrot, Captain Storm and the Losers, Captain Universe, and Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers. Featuring C. C. BECK, PAT BRODERICK, JACK KIRBY, ELLIOT S. MAGGIN, BILL MANTLO, DON NEWTON, BOB OKSNER, SCOTT SHAW!, JIM STARLIN, ROY THOMAS, and more. Cover painting by DAVE COCKRUM!

“Indie Super-Heroes!” NEAL ADAMS Ms. Mystic interview, Continuity Comics, BILL BLACK Captain Paragon interview, Justice Machine history, STEVEN GRANT/NORM BREYFOGLE Whisper “Pro2Pro” interview, and the ’80s revivals of Mighty Crusaders and T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents. Featuring BUCKLER, DEODATO, ELLIS, GRINDBERG, GUSTOVICH, ISABELLA, REINHOLD, ORDWAY, PÉREZ, and more. Cover by NEAL ADAMS!

(84 FULL-COLOR pages) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $3.95

TwoMorrows. The Future of Comics History. BACK ISSUE #95

BACK ISSUE #96

BACK ISSUE #97

BACK ISSUE #98

“Creatures of the Night!” Moon Knight’s DOUG MOENCH and BILL SIENKIEWICZ in a Pro2Pro interview, Ghost Rider, Night Nurse, Eclipso in the Bronze Age, I…Vampire, interviews with Batman writer MIKE W. BARR and Marvel’s Nightcat, JACQUELINE TAVAREZ. Featuring work by BOB BUDIANSKY, J. M. DeMATTEIS, DAVE SIMONS, ROGER STERN, TOM SUTTON, JEAN THOMAS, and more. SIENKIEWICZ and KLAUS JANSON cover!

“Marvel Fanfare Issue!” Behind the scenes of the ‘80s anthology series with AL MILGROM, interviews and art by ARTHUR ADAMS, CHRIS CLAREMONT, DAVE COCKRUM, STEVE ENGLEHART, MICHAEL GOLDEN, ROGER McKENZIE, FRANK MILLER, DOUG MOENCH, ANN NOCENTI, GEORGE PÉREZ, MARSHALL ROGERS, PAUL SMITH, KEN STEACY, CHARLES VESS, and more! Cover by SANDY PLUNKETT and GLENN WHITMORE.

“Bird People!” Hawkman in the Bronze Age, JIM STARLIN’s Superman/Hawkgirl team-up, TIM TRUMAN’s Hawkworld, Hawk and Dove, Penguin history, Blue Falcon & Dynomutt, Condorman, and CHUCK DIXON and SCOTT McDANIEL’s Nightwing. With GERRY CONWAY, STEVE ENGLEHART, GREG GULER, RICHARD HOWELL, TONY ISABELLA, KARL KESEL, ROB LIEFELD, DENNY O’NEIL, and others! Cover by GEORGE PÉREZ.

“DC in the ‘80s!” From the experimental to the fan faves: Behind-the-scenes looks at SECRET ORIGINS, ACTION COMICS WEEKLY, DC CHALLENGE, THRILLER, ELECTRIC WARRIOR, and SUN DEVILS. Featuring JIM BAIKIE, MARK EVANIER, DAN JURGENS, DOUG MOENCH, MARTIN PASKO, TREVOR VON EEDEN, and others! Featuring a mind-numbing Nightwing cover by ROMEO TANGHAL!

(84 FULL-COLOR pages) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $3.95

TwoMorrows Publishing 10407 Bedfordtown Drive Raleigh, NC 27614 USA 919-449-0344 E-mail:

store@twomorrows.com

Order at twomorrows.com

Volume 1, Number 99 September 2017 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Michael Eury PUBLISHER John Morrow

Comics’ Bronze Age and Beyond!

DESIGNER Rich Fowlks COVER ARTIST Bruce Timm (Harley Quinn commission from the collection of John Hicks.) COVER DESIGNER Michael Kronenberg PROOFREADER Rob Smentek SPECIAL THANKS Kevin Altieri Paul Levitz Brian Augustyn Judi Lewinson Brooke Barnett/DPN Elliot S. Maggin Talent Agency Tifiney McCullough Mike W. Barr Dennis O’Neil Norm Breyfogle Mike Parobeck Laren Bright Appreciation Society Rick Burchett Martin Pasko Alan Burnett Scott Peterson KC Carlson Mike Pigott Kevin Conroy Dr. Harleen Quinzell Gerry Conway Dan Riba Karen Crary Randy Rogel DC Comics Andrea Romano Sean Catherine Derek Nino Santiago Paul Dini Arleen Sorkin Chuck Dixon Len Strazewski Mark Evanier Tara Strong Lance Falk Rick Taylor Jordan B. Gorfinkel Steven Thompson Grand Comics Bruce Timm Database John Trumbull Heritage Comics Steve Vance Auctions Warner Bros. Animation John Hicks Glenn Whitmore Christopher Jones Marv Wolfman Karl Kesel Walden Wong Charlie Kochman World’s Finest Online Jon B. Knutson Philip Youngman James Heath Lantz

If you’re viewing a Digital Edition of this publication,

PLEASE READ THIS: This is copyrighted material, NOT intended for downloading anywhere except our website or Apps. If you downloaded it from another website or torrent, go ahead and read it, and if you decide to keep it, DO THE RIGHT THING and buy a legal download, or a printed copy. Otherwise, DELETE IT FROM YOUR DEVICE and DO NOT SHARE IT WITH FRIENDS OR POST IT ANYWHERE. If you enjoy our publications enough to download them, please pay for them so we can keep producing ones like this. Our digital editions should ONLY be downloaded within our Apps and at

www.twomorrows.com

PRO2PRO ROUNDTABLE: Batman: The Animated Series: An Oral History . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Animators, writers, and voice talent discuss the evolution of the classic Batman TV show EPISODE GUIDE: Batman: The Animated Series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 BACKSTAGE PASS: Bob Hastings, the Voice of Commissioner Gordon . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 This actor/voice actor was no stranger to comics-related roles TOY BOX: The Animated Batmobile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Collectibles of the coolest cartoon car ever FLASHBACK: The Batman Adventures: An Enduring Legacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Behind the scenes of the BTAS comic-book spin-off FLASHBACK: The DC Animated Universe in Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Batman and family certainly didn’t have all of the “animated” fun FLASHBACK: Remembering Mike Parobeck . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 A look at a life and career that ended much too soon BRING ON THE BAD GUYS: Harley Quinn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 A history of Mistah J’s main squeeze and BTAS’ break-out star BACK TALK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Reader reactions BACK ISSUE™ is published 8 times a year by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614. Michael Eury, Editor-in-Chief. John Morrow, Publisher. Editorial Office: BACK ISSUE, c/o Michael Eury, Editor-in-Chief, 118 Edgewood Avenue NE, Concord, NC 28025. Email: euryman@gmail.com. Eight-issue subscriptions: $73 Standard US, $116 International, $31 Digital. Please send subscription orders and funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial office. Cover art by Bruce Timm. Batman: The Animated Series © Warner Bros./DC Comics. Batman and Harley Quinn TM & © DC Comics. All Rights Reserved. All characters are © their respective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © 2017 Michael Eury and TwoMorrows Publishing except ISSN 1932-6904. Printed in China. FIRST PRINTING.

Batman: The Animated Series 25th Anniversary Issue • BACK ISSUE • 1

by J o h n T r u m b u l l y Steven additional transcription b utson Thompson and Jon B. Kn

In Batman’s 78-year history, 1992’s Batman: The Animated Series (BTAS) is regarded as one of the best-ever interpretations of the character. Its striking look, suspenseful stories, nuanced voice acting, and memorable music captivated audiences from the start, winning the show a total of four Emmys. BTAS adapted the best from the comics while also making several new contributions to the legend of the Dark Knight. Harley Quinn, Renee Montoya, and Mr. Freeze’s origin all debuted on the show. But the production of Batman: The Animated Series was not without its growing pains. Like any great Batman story, it featured character conflict, intense obstacles, narrow escapes, and ultimate triumph. This is the story of a modern classic of animation. In 1990, Warner Bros. Animation was at a crossroads. The massively successful Tiny Toons was winding down, and the studio needed new projects going forward. Jean MacCurdy, president of Warner Bros. Animation division, realized that WB had a perfect property for animation in the blockbuster movie of 1989: Batman. RANDY ROGEL, Writer: Jean MacCurdy ran the studio. Jean is “mom.” Jean was basically—I come from the military—she’s a commander. And what a commander does is marshal the troops and then gets out of their way. She ran an unbelievably big organization with lots of temperamental artists, composers, and writers and directors, and animators—people who get all crazy on you, because they’re artists—and she had the sensibility to just control all of that and put out one hit after another. MacCurdy announced to the 40-person team at Warner Bros. Animation that the company was developing four new animated shows based on WB properties: Gremlins, The Griswolds, Taz-Mania, and Batman. She asked everyone who was interested to submit ideas.

CREATING THE PILOT

Inspired, Tiny Toons storyboard artist Bruce Timm went back to his desk and spent the next hour sketching up character designs for Batman. Another Tiny Toons artist, Eric Radomski, created background treatments for all four potential shows. For Batman, he devised a new technique involving airbrushed highlights on black paper to emphasize a gritty, film noir look. BRUCE TIMM, Producer, Director: [Eric] had independently of me just started doing some experimentation with background treatments on black paper. So we both showed up at the same meeting and I had some character sketches, he had some BGs, and Jean liked both. She mixed his peanut butter with my chocolate. It turned out to be a smart choice on her part—I thought we made a really good team. It’s a shame Eric doesn’t get nearly enough credit for the series as he deserves—he and I were practically attached at the hip throughout those first couple of seasons, not just on the art direction, but every facet of production, from story development to casting and voice recording to post-production. Recognizing the strength of Timm’s character designs and Radomski’s backgrounds, MacCurdy asked the two artists, who only tangentially knew each other from Tiny Toons, to collaborate on a two-minute presentation reel for Batman. She recommended that the duo look at the 1940s Fleischer Superman cartoons for inspiration. BRUCE TIMM: They’d been in negotiations with Fox Kids to actually do the show, and the negotiations, I guess, had been dragging on for a while. Jean thought that might be a good way to kind of goose the process was to just show them some footage and say, “Hey! This is

2 • BACK ISSUE • Batman: The Animated Series 25th Anniversary Issue

The Fleischer Studios Superman cartoons of the 1940s were an inspiration for the look of BTAS. Superman and Batman TM & © DC Comics. BTAS © Warner Bros.

how cool it would be if you guys do this,” and then, unbeknownst to us, by the time we had actually finished the thing, it was a done deal. Timm and Radomski’s efforts weren’t wasted, however—their pilot sequence soon began to circulate around the animation and comics communities. DENNIS O’NEIL, Batman comics Writer and Editor: I was sitting in my office one day and these two guys from California came in and asked if they could show me something. And they put a tape on the machine, and what was on the tape was what became the opening of the TV show, the first minute or so of animated action. And I was impressed. I am not a big fan of animation and especially not of TV animation, but it looked to me like they were solving the problems I perceived. DAN RIBA, Director, Character Designer, Storyboard Artist: There was no Internet back then, [but] it went all over the world. Everybody in the industry knew somebody who knew somebody who still had a copy of this promo that was circulated! So I got a copy, like three or four generations away, from a friend, but I [thought,] “ I have to work on this! I’ve got to work on this thing!” SEAN CATHERINE DEREK, Writer, Story Editor: Let’s face it, that show looked awesome. It was awesome! Eric painting [backgrounds] on black? That had never been done! Genius! BRUCE TIMM: It kind of cemented Eric and I as being the frontrunners to actually produce the show, so that was a good calling card for us. Radomski and Timm’s efforts paid off, as MacCurdy named them producers of the 65-episode first season of Batman. The offer startled Timm, who at most was expecting to become art director of the new series. BRUCE TIMM: That was about as far as my ambition went. It didn’t even occur to me that I could possibly be offered the chance to actually be the showrunner. That was just… y’know, mega-gravy. It was an amazing opportunity and I was wise enough to not just get totally freaked out and say, “Oh, no! I can’t handle it!” I would be crazy to turn down an opportunity like that. But at the same time, yeah, it was definitely a whole lot of responsibility dumped on us out of nowhere. Yeah, it was daunting. Absolutely. H

BUILDING A CREW

Batman went into production in November of 1990 with a premiere date set for September 1992, a schedule that allowed almost no time for development of the series. BRUCE TIMM: Once the show was sold, we already had an airdate. We didn’t have any infrastructure. We didn’t have a crew, we didn’t have a story editor—nothing! Basically, when it started off it was Eric and I, and we frantically scrambled trying to assemble a crew ASAP. KEVIN ALTIERI, Director, Storyboard Artist: I was the first director hired. When I went in there, there was only a handful of people—me, Bruce, and Eric, and pretty much a couple of other people.

BTAS’ Alan Burnett, Eric Radomski, Jean MacCurdy, and Bruce Timm, circa 1992. © Warner Bros.

DAN RIBA: I got a call from Kevin going, “Hey, I’m working on a new Batman thing, do you want to join us? Bring us your portfolio, show it to Bruce.” I had been directing at DIC, but I knew how hard the show was going to be. I was getting ready to get married that year, and I’d be busy, so I didn’t feel like I could put in the hours to direct something, but storyboarding or character design was something else. I didn’t push myself as a director at that time. As Batman gained personnel, the look of the show developed further. Background designer Ted Blackman defined Gotham City’s “Dark Deco” look with buildings inspired by architect Hugh Ferris. Comic-book artists Mike Mignola and Kevin Nowlan contributed to the character designs for Mr. Freeze, Man-Bat, Killer Croc, and others on a freelance basis, and animator Lynne Naylor brought a Tex Avery-influence to the female characters such as Poison Ivy, reporter Summer Gleeson, and police officer Renee Montoya. BRUCE TIMM: We wanted to get the best possible people we could and we also had to get a pretty distinct vision of what we wanted the show to be. Just because they were doing action-adventure stuff doesn’t necessarily mean they had the right point of view that we were looking for. [It] didn’t necessarily mean that they were good to go. We had to like go, like, instantly! DAN RIBA: I was expecting to be a storyboard artist on it, but [Bruce] looked at the character designs I’d been doing and went, “Okay, this guy can draw, [and] I need character designers really bad.” So he put me to work on that. And a lot of the guys that he had on that at that time were like used to working in Saturday morning stuff, and they weren’t used to doing this new kind of streamlined approach that Bruce was doing.

Batman: The Animated Series 25th Anniversary Issue • BACK ISSUE • 3

KEVIN ALTIERI: The real difficulty was in the layouts, because in the character layouts, you hire people with experience in layouts, and at that time, everyone was just doing goofy, funny, wacky cartoons. If people had drawn action-adventure, they hadn’t done it for a long time. Part of the reason the early shows looked so good was that we had total control over the layouts. It was totally done in-house. DAN RIBA: [If] the layouts were outsourced, you really didn’t get to see them. If they went to Japan, we didn’t deal with layouts at all. If they went to Korea, we rarely got to see layouts, and so, we would have to do them here. Most of the guys who were having trouble with understanding the show, a lot of these older guys who did the job of the layouts, didn’t understand it. The ones that did were all the young, hungry artists that were new, but were passionate about the stuff, and eager to learn, so we had a bunch of artists, and all these new people who either ended up becoming character designers, art directors, or storyboard artists for features later on. But these older guys just didn’t quite get the show. So, directing was really tough, because you spent a lot of time at night redoing layouts. KEVIN ALTIERI: It was actually hard to find board artists at first. There were not very many people who could actually draw action-adventure stuff at that time, surprisingly. There weren’t many people that could really draw like that. And then you have people’s egos that didn’t want to draw in that Alex Toth/Dan DeCarlo style that Bruce had. People would just draw any style they wanted.

DAN RIBA: There was some guy who would look at the Bruce models and add all sorts of musculature and all these extra lines, and I told him, “Don’t do that, just draw it the way it’s done.” “Oh, you mean this… I thought he wanted it good!” [laughs] Eventually, that guy moved on to layouts. KEVIN ALTIERI: I think that was the key with all the directors that were involved… they could look at the drawings and the boards and layouts and understand what was wrong, and they could make the corrections. Being a storyboard artist, a good one, you understand all the levels of animation. You have to understand layout, you have to understand what you’re asking animators to do, and you have to understand how much money you actually have [laughs], and you can’t just draw anything. And the directors on that show, at Warner Bros., would do the boards also. I boarded on almost all the shows, but I would give myself credit only when I did a substantial chunk of the boards by myself. I don’t know many directors worth a sh*t that can’t do storyboards. BRUCE TIMM: On the one hand, we were trying to assemble an art crew and directors. We had to find good directors and good storyboard artists and BG designers and all of that, and we really needed to find somebody to be the story editor of the show. That was probably the biggest stumbling block that we had for the first year of production. As it turned out, executives at Fox had their own ideas about who else to involve with Batman. BRUCE TIMM: There was this weird kind of passive-aggressive thing coming from Fox that because Warner Bros. had done Tiny Toons with Steven Spielberg, for some reason the people at Fox thought it would be a really cool idea if we had somebody big, a stunt-casting name like Steven Spielberg attached to the Batman show. This was after the first Tim Burton Batman movie had come out, so they thought, “Wow, it would be really great if we could get Tim Burton involved with the show!” And everybody went, “Yeah, that’s a great idea,” except for Eric and I. We were just kinda going, “You know, that’s probably not going to happen, and we don’t necessarily want another creative cook in the kitchen.” So we kinda reluctantly said, “Okay, yeah, sure. Whatever.” In the meantime, somebody through backdoor channels was trying to get Tim Burton interested in it and in the meantime, Fox said, “Don’t develop the show yet until we get Tim onboard.” So we’re sitting around. We’ve already started to hire people and we can’t get going, we can’t even get the scripts developed, because they said, “Let’s wait for Tim Burton.” So literally a couple months go by, and we realize we can’t wait, so under the radar we started getting some scripts in the pipeline. At that point, I was technically the story editor because we didn’t have a story editor. So I contacted an old friend of mine named Mitch Brian to write the very first episode. Actually, he and Paul Dini and I had actually written the rough bible for the show on a freelance basis. PAUL DINI, Writer, Story Editor: I did work on the series bible with Bruce and Mitch Brian, but after that I was not around the studio much. My contract had ended and rather than resign right away, I took a movie-writing assignment. KEVIN ALTIERI: I think the bible didn’t happen on that first show, I think it kind of happened as the show progressed. But everyone there, we were all kind of in sync about the kind of Batman we wanted to do. BRUCE TIMM: So Mitch wrote the first episode [“On Leather Wings”]. And I contacted some other people and Paul contacted some people to get some scripts going [and did] a little bit of unofficial rewriting on the side as well. One of the scripts that he had got going was the “Christmas with the Joker” episode, because he was good friends with Eddie Gorodetsky, and so he contacted Eddie and they kind of both worked out that show together.

Background layout drawing for Batman: The Animated Series, courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com). © Warner Bros.

4 • BACK ISSUE • Batman: The Animated Series 25th Anniversary Issue

SEAN CATHERINE DEREK

BRUCE TIMM: Eventually we did hire a story editor named Sean Derek. One of our executives had worked with her, I think at Hanna-Barbera in the past, and recommended her highly. Sean Catherine Derek had worked with both Jean MacCurdy and exec producer Tom Ruegger before. The daughter of Hollywood actor and director John Derek, she’d broken into animation writing for The Smurfs for six years, but still felt an affinity for superhero action due to her family background. SEAN CATHERINE DEREK: My dad did all these swashbuckling films when I was a kid and I grew up watching him on the sets, and he liked to do his own stunts whenever they’d let him. He was always sword-fighting and flying around and doing supernatural things for that, kind of a superhero guy. And I just felt like I always wanted to write that. It didn’t feel unnatural for me to make the transition. I went over, found out about Batman, and then went to Bruce and Eric and said, “Okay, you’ve got enough testosterone around here. You need a woman’s point of view.” Batman, in my opinion, is the sexiest of all the superheroes. I mean, he just is. He’s so appealing. I said, “You need the other side.” So I pitched them a bunch of ideas about what I would do, and they bought it. They bought me, and took me. BRUCE TIMM: Sean came in and… let’s just say there were creative differences pretty much from day one. DAN RIBA: The very first thing that [she] brought up to Bruce and Eric was that, “Of course, the Batcave’s going to have to have a recycling bin.” And they kind of laughed and realized, “Oh, my gosh, you’re serious!”

SEAN CATHERINE DEREK: I look back laughing. I didn’t realize it was such a big deal to ask for a recycling bin. I’d been an environmentalist from the get-go. It just seemed so incredibly obvious that we needed to do something. At Hanna-Barbera, I went to the media to get the city to pick up all the paper we were using for scripts. They didn’t want to pick it up. It wasn’t as big as NBC. I caused a huge stink and I got ’em to come and get it. Another one of Derek’s suggestions also fell on deaf ears: a pet dog for Batman and Alfred. SEAN CATHERINE DEREK: And the dog! The two things that apparently frazzled everybody. I just thought Bruce Wayne had enough dark angst, and I really thought it would be fun to give the dog to Alfred. So he’d have someone to talk to other than to himself when he did asides. I just thought… it was a kids’ show. In my mind, it was a kids’ show, and that was my big mistake. Because that wasn’t the intent!

Comic artist Kevin Nowlan’s early sketches for Penguin (who was remade into the Danny DeVito/Batman Returns look) and Man-Bat. Courtesy of Heritage. © Warner Bros. Characters TM & © DC Comics.

Derek faced a tough situation going into Batman: The show was officially in production, but still didn’t have a full-time writing staff. One prospective writer, Paul Dini, was working on Tiny Toons and was hesitant to join Batman. BRUCE TIMM: [Paul] was excited about doing the show, but at the time, he kind of fell under the magical spell of Steven Spielberg. It was realizing that the second season of Tiny Toons was going to happen, and that could be really good for his career, to be attached to that show, and to kind of get in good with Spielberg. So he was reluctant to fully jump on board the Batman show. PAUL DINI: That was mainly my own stubbornness and comfort level. With Tiny Toons, I thought, “We’re on a

Batman: The Animated Series 25th Anniversary Issue • BACK ISSUE • 5

Every version of Batman has had its Batmobile, and the car from Batman: The Animated Series ranks among the most memorable and long-lived. It was integral to the series, appearing in nearly every episode, and featured prominently in the opening credits. The animated Batmobile largely used the same platform as the 1989 movie Batmobile. It had an elongated wheelbase, a long nose, and a small cockpit with sliding canopy set over the rear wheels. However, given the “dark deco” theme of the animated series, it also drew some styling cues from 1930s sports roadsters. Instead of having a turbine intake like the movie car, the animated Batmobile had a more conventional slatted grille that formed a raised ridge incorporating the engine cover. The six (or rarely, four; see image at right) exposed manifold pipes on each side of the hood further evoked classic roadsters. The car was fitted with concave wheels and low-profile tires. The only concessions to typical Batmobile styling were scalloped “Bat-wings” incorporated into the rear wheel arches. As BTAS existed in a fairly ambiguous time period— steam trains and autogyros coexisted with cellphones and computers—the Batmobile could have been designed anywhere from the 1930s to the 1990s. Most other vehicles in the series, including the police cars, appeared to be from the ’30s or ’40s, and many had similarities to long-gone automobile marques such as Cord, Pierce-Arrow, and Cisitalia. Like all Batmobiles, the BTAS car featured a number of defensive and offensive gadgets, including front and rear grappling lines, tire slashers, flamethrowers, and ejector seats. (If all these sound copied from James Bond’s cars, note that Green Arrow’s Arrowcar had an ejector seat in the 1940s, 20 years before the Bond films!) The Batmobile also had an autopilot function, and could be summoned or controlled by a transmitter in Batman’s belt buckle. There was a retractable shield fitted to the car, although this was much less extensive than the heavy cocoon fitted to the movie Batmobile, and only covered the wheels and windshield. In some episodes, large, rectangular metal plates extended from the underside of the parked Batmobile, in order to camouflage it as a garbage skip. In the BTAS episode “The Mechanic,” it was revealed that the Batmobile was actually constructed by Earl Cooper, a former motor company executive who had been blacklisted as a whistleblower for revealing a new car as a deathtrap. After Batman rescued him from some company bully boys, Earl was hired to build a new car for Batman when the original Batmobile developed problems. Batman supplied Earl with a hidden garage where he and his daughter Marva built and repaired Batman’s vehicles. However, by using

by M

ike Pigott

To the Batmobile! The Dynamic Duo race to their super-car in this 1992 painting by John Calmette, from the Little Brown and Company BTAS tie-in book Batman: The Joker’s Apprentice. Courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com). TM & © DC Comics.

32 • BACK ISSUE • Batman: The Animated Series 25th Anniversary Issue

Mighty Miniatures (top) Ertl’s BTAS vehicles and figures, as seen on the backside of a blister card. (inset) Kenner’s TNBA Batmobile. (bottom) Hot Wheels’ BTAS Batmobile, and its “Battle Damaged” version. Toy scans in this article are courtesy of Mike Pigott. Batman and related characters TM & © DC Comics.

stolen car parts invoices, the Penguin’s men managed to deduce that Cooper was building a Batmobile and forced him to install a remote override that the Penguin could control. While Penguin was able to manipulate and crash the car, Earl had built in an escape device that allowed Batman and Robin to eject on seats that transformed into hang-gliders. There had always been some ambiguity over the Batmobile’s power source; it was shown as having a fiery jet exhaust, but the sound effect was that of a V-8 piston engine. This was cleared up in “The Mechanic” by explaining it had a conventional motor with a jet turbine for an additional speed boost. The episode also established that Cooper was responsible for providing the Batcycles, although the designer of the Batwing and Batboat was never revealed.

A NEW BATMOBILE

After a two-year hiatus, BTAS was revived in 1997 as The New Batman Adventures. Many off-screen changes had taken place, including Dick Grayson becoming Nightwing, and Batman being partnered by Batgirl and a new Robin. The heroes were all given makeovers, and many of the villains were given new looks. Also appearing was a new Batmobile, together with new versions of the Batboat and Batplane. All three vehicles were extremely modern, and lacked the retro look of the previous designs. Batman’s new car was much more typical of Batmobiles from the comics, including a Bat-head motif on the grille. It was a fast-looking black coupe with raised ridges along the sides that flowed into large bat-wings over the back wheels. While it still had a rear-set sliding canopy, it had more realistic proportions than its unfeasibly long predecessor. There were a number of improvements, including a computer uplink from the Batcave, heads-up displays, a bulletproof windshield, self-repairing tires, and compartments that could fire rockets or oil slicks. There was no origin story for this car, although it was probably built by Earl Cooper; at the end of “The Mechanic” he commented that he had “an idea for a new Batmobile.” Although TNBA only lasted a single season, the new Batmobile was seen in the 2003 spin-off film Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman, and in Justice League from 2001 to 2004.

DIECAST BATMOBILES

Not long after the debut of BTAS, a range of tie-in diecast vehicles was released by American toy company Ertl. Based in Iowa, Ertl was best known for model tractors, but had moved heavily into the character-toy market after British manufacturers Corgi and Dinky went into liquidation. Ertl produced six vehicles from Batman: The Animated Series 25th Anniversary Issue • BACK ISSUE • 33

Batmobile Blueprints Blueprints for Eaglemoss’ BTAS and TNBA Batmobiles, with the BTAS version inset. Batman TM & © DC Comics.

the series, all of which were around Hot Wheels size. The vehicles were the Batmobile; the rocket-shaped Batboat; the Batwing, which was a much simplified version of Batman’s plane from the 1989 film; a Batcycle with a faired-in front wheel; a slab-sided Gotham police helicopter; and Bruce Wayne’s limousine, a beige-colored classic car loosely based on a 1930s Cord 812. The models were solidly made, although none had interiors and most had painted windows. As was Ertl’s usual practice, there was a non-prototypical bat-logo printed on the four Bat-vehicles. There were also six diecast figurines produced: Batman (in two poses), Robin, Catwoman, Joker and Penguin. All the models were packaged in colorful blister packs with a free sticker. In 1997, a new range of models was released based on TNBA, this time by Kenner Toys. There were four vehicles in this set, plus four metal figures. However, only one was a new casting; these were largely re-releases of the Ertl models. Possibly the molds were sold to Kenner when Ertl lost the franchise, or more likely the manufacturing was sub-contracted out to Ertl. The new model was the redesigned Batmobile. It was a reasonably accurate model, although fitted with low-friction mag wheels and with painted windows. The other models were re-releases of the Batwing and Batboat, which were not used in TNBA, as they had been superseded by more modern versions. The fourth model was the Batcycle, now modified with the addition of a Batgirl rider figure. The four figurines were Batman, Robin, Penguin, and Joker, all with a different paint finish. A boxed gift set was produced, including all models except for the Batcycle and the Penguin, but with an exclusive car: the Joker’s car, actually Bruce Wayne’s limo painted white and covered in Joker decals.

LATER MODELS

The franchise for DC Comics toys was later acquired by Mattel, and several Batman toys soon appeared in its Hot Wheels line. In fact, in 2010 a whole range was devoted to Batman and his various vehicles from TV, film, comics, and cartoons. These were made in a nominal 1/50 scale, which was larger than regular Hot Wheels cars. One of these was the 1992 Batmobile from BTAS. It was finished in gloss black, with separate manifold tubes and blue-tinted windows, and realistic concave wheels, but unfortunately the grille was not highlighted. Presumably to get more mileage out of the casting, a second version was produced a year later. This was a “Battle Damaged” example, which was adorned with fake bullet holes along the sides. Most recently, the BTAS Batmobile has been produced in the larger 1/43 scale by Eaglemoss, a British publisher specializing in partwork collections. This collection again features a wide range of Bat-vehicles from different media, which come presented on a base with a clear cover and an appropriate 3-D backdrop. The BTAS Batmobile is an excellent model, although it is meant as a static model as the wheels do not roll. It has chrome concave wheels, gray pipes and grille, and an opening canopy that reveals a detailed interior. Eaglemoss also produced a model of the TNBA Batmobile from 1997. Undoubtedly the best-ever model of this vehicle, it had realistic spoked wheels, and a Bat-head shield on the grille. MIKE PIGOTT is an Australian writer based in London who specializes in diecast models and pop culture. His work appears in every issue of Diecast Collector Magazine, and he has also featured in Collector’s Gazette and Diecast Model World.

34 • BACK ISSUE • Batman: The Animated Series 25th Anniversary Issue

by P h i l i p

Yo u n g m a n

The early 1990s was a time of great upheaval for some of H OUR STORY BEGINS… DC Comics’ classic characters. Superman had long hair, It all started in Denny O’Neil’s office. After viewing a rough cut of the premiere episode of Wonder Woman had red hair, and Batman had a new heir, and by 1993, the only place readers could find BTAS, DC Comics VP Dick Giordano floated the idea of a the classic Bruce Wayne Batman every month miniseries based on the show to Batman group was in The Batman Adventures. editor Denny O’Neil and his assistant editor Scott Regarded as one of the finest animated Peterson. The pair agreed, except for one series of all time, it is only fitting that problem—O’Neil already had a full load on Batman: The Animated Series itself would his plate and wasn’t going to be able to take on the task. After a brief discussion, inspire one of the greatest comic-book adaptations of all time. it was clear the young assistant editor was Three days after the premiere of going to be entering the “big leagues”— Batman: The Animated Series (BTAS) as he described it in the text page of on FOX, The Batman Adventures (TBA) TBA #1 (Oct. 1992)—and one of his first arrived on comic-book-store shelves. priorities was to find a creative team. Sporting a striking cover by Ty Templeton that featured the Penguin H TEAM-BUILDING looming large over the Gotham “Kelley Puckett and Ty Templeton were scott peterson skyline, the issue gave many their absolutely my first and only choices for first look at the world of the animated TBA,” Scott Peterson recalls. “Because Dark Knight. we started working on the comic long before any of the Originally conceived as a miniseries, TBA would episodes aired, and we weren’t allowed to send scripts soon outgrow its status as a tie-in, establish its own or the story bible or model sheets or anything like that voice and identity, and, by way of subsequent spin-offs, out, I needed a writer who was already familiar with the enjoy a run which continued long after the final new look and feel of the series. That meant there were really animation episode aired. only a handful of comic-book writers who were available,

Welcoming Committee Original Ty Templeton wraparound cover painting to the 1993 trade paperback Batman: The Collected Adventures vol. 1. Courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com). TM & © DC Comics.

Batman: The Animated Series 25th Anniversary Issue • BACK ISSUE • 35

Superman & Batman Magazine remained popular throughout its run, and things were going along well— until Marvel Comics purchased Welch Publishing. “It wasn’t feasible to have our content branded by them, so we had to pull our magazine out of their subscription services,” says Kochman. “We decided to make our last issue as deluxe as possible and go out with a bang. They also peeled away our editorial resources at Welch to help create the non-comics pages, so we decided to do an all-comics issue to fill out the magazine.” The result was issue #8, featuring a full-length Justice League tale written by Roger Stern, with pencils by Ty Templeton and inks by Rick Burchett. However, that was not quite the end. The magazine’s premature cancellation would produce one final surprise in the form of “Cruise to Nightmare,” an unpublished Poison Ivy story by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm, with colors by painter Mark Chiarello. “I had a relationship with Bruce and Paul going back to my first days at DC, when I was working on a number of tie-ins to the Animated Series,” Kochman explains. “I think I asked them to contribute for the first issue and kept asking them until they were able to fit it into their schedules. By the time they did, our last issue had

wrapped up, so we had that leftover inventory story. Years later, editor KC Carlson saw a copy of it somewhere and asked if he could include it in the upcoming Adventures in the DC Universe #3 (June 1997).” H

STANDING APART FROM THE CROWD

HIT ME WITH YOUR BEST ONE-SHOT

Despite laying the groundwork for a wider DC Animated Universe, for the most part TBA existed in its own world, and except for a couple of obvious exceptions, there weren’t even a lot of guest-stars. However, this was not mandated from above, but rather a conscious decision on the part of Scott Peterson, who had already taken steps to ensure the title stood out on its own. “I think I had pretty free reign as far as using other characters, but I didn’t actually really want to,” Peterson says. “I was hesitant to use big-name characters, such as the Flash or Green Lantern or whomever, before the show did—I didn’t want to contradict anything they’d later do, and I didn’t want to usurp their—authority isn’t quite the right word—I just didn’t want to step on their toes. So, we could have used Wonder Woman, say— assuming the Wonder Woman editor was okay with it— but I just didn’t think it would have been a cool move. So, no, I didn’t really have much interest in using established DC characters—if anything, I was just the opposite. I felt like the show had already given us so much to play with, why try to use other characters which might end up confusing things down the road somewhere?” As the book neared the mid-point of its second year and Batman set off in pursuit of Ra’s al Ghul in #17 (Feb. 1994), the first TBA one-shot hit the shelves. It was a little project called Batman Adventures: Mad Love. While Harley Quinn had made her debut on the small screen, it was this Eisner Award-winning one-shot that would finally reveal her origin, filling in many of the more explicit details the animated series had not—or could not have—addressed. “Even though The Batman Adventures was specifically aimed at a younger audience, I think we were able to do some things in the comics that would not have gotten past the TV censors,” says Bruce Timm. “We got a tiny bit of pushback from the editors at DC over ‘adult content,’ but the actual Comics Code people had no problem with our stuff, that I can recall—whereas every single episode of the animated series involved many, many, many notes from the broadcast standards and practices folks.” According to Timm, the story behind the one-shot was particularly straightforward: “Paul Dini and I were having lunch with Denny O’Neil at the San Diego Comic-Con—my memory is that he casually suggested that if Paul and I would like to do a Batman comic someday, we should give him a call—or maybe we floated the idea ourselves and he said, ‘Sure, anytime.’ Anyhow, a few months later, we came up

When Editors Go Bad TBA’s Threatening Three were based upon DC Comics group editors (top panel, left to right) Denny O’Neil, Archie Goodwin, and Mike Carlin. Original art page by Parobeck and Burchett from issue #20 (May 1994), courtesy of Heritage. TM & © DC Comics.

42 • BACK ISSUE • Batman: The Animated Series 25th Anniversary Issue

Love Psychotic Style Uh-oh. Mistah J’s not happy with Harley on this page from Batman Adventures: Mad Love. TM & © DC Comics.

with the idea for Mad Love, contacted Denny, who put us in touch with Scott Peterson, and we were off to the races—literally as simple as that!” While it may have been “as simple as that,” the finished work is anything but. Highly deserving of its praise and awards, the story explores the complex relationships between Harley and the Joker, and Batman and the Joker, far more deeply than had been possible on the animated series. In a book full of standout moments, the scene where Batman admits to the Joker mid-fight that Harley came closer to killing him than he ever did—and the look of fury on the Joker’s face after Batman derisively calls him Puddin’—is worth the price of admission alone. While this was the first time either Dini or Timm had worked on the spin-off, it would certainly not be their last—in fact, they would return multiple times over the next decade, working on projects both together and separately. Outside of these official assignments however, they did not exert any influence over the books. “We didn’t have any direct input on the comics,” Timm says. “DC never solicited our opinions on what they were doing, nor would we have had time to give them notes if they had—I learned very early on not to get my nose bent out of joint if they did something in the comics that we would never have done—my own personal way of dealing with it was to consider only the animated episodes themselves as true ‘canon’— which means that even Mad Love wasn’t purely canonical until we adapted it for the animated series.

“MY NAME… IS TWO-FACE.” H

SUPER FRIENDS

The Batman Adventures #25 (early Nov. 1994) played host to the biggest guest-star of the entire run—the Man The Batman Adventures continued of Steel himself. With Superman: The Animated Series still two years away, the portrayal of Superman and Lex to build upon its strengths Luthor would be in keeping with their appearances during its second year featuring bruce timm a return of Batgirl—teaming up as established in the Superman & Batman Magazine— with Robin for the first time—and Courtesy of Comic Vine. that is, an animated take on the then-current mainreturns of the Scarecrow, the Threatening Three, and stream DC Universe continuity, hence Superman’s long hair and the Man-Bat, among others. Among all of these returns presence of Lex Luthor II. though, is a first appearance. Bruce Timm offers his thoughts on the appearance: “We tried really While in early issues—as was the case in early episodes hard in the early days to keep BTAS grounded in as ‘real’ a world as of BTAS—Harvey Dent had played a minor role, Two-Face possible. Sure, there were man-bats and mad scientists and killer robots, had yet to make an appearance. That would all change in but no space aliens—thus, no Superman—also, the only DC heroes we #22’s (July 1994) excellent “Good Face, Bad Face.” With used as guest-stars were characters we could rationalize somewhat. the team delivering a truly threatening portrayal—Dent even For example, Zatanna was more of a stage magician than an actual manages to intimidate the Joker—the story fits in early in his sorceress—we had zero interest in having Superman guest-star in BTAS. transformation as Bruce Wayne struggles to save his friend’s “When we did eventually do the Superman series (and later, crossed fractured psyche after he escapes from Arkham Asylum. over with the BTAS continuity) we fought really hard to keep Superman Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the story, though, is a in his ‘classic’ look—DC at the time was insisting that Superman’s new detail offered about Two-Face’s use of the coin. Literally long-haired look was permanent, not just a passing phase—but (A) I putting his life on the line, Batman takes a chance that Harvey is didn’t believe it and figured he’d be back to his old hairstyle sooner still somewhere inside Two-Face, which is why he needs the coin— than later, and (B) I disliked the long-haired look intensely. “Did I know they were going to have Superman show up in The he won’t let Two-Face’s actions define him. While Two-Face argues that it is just a theory, Batman’s hunch pays off and Two-Face Batman Adventures? I guess so, but whether I heard about it from collapses, unable to choose whether or not to shoot Batman the folks at DC or just through the grapevine, I don’t recall. Did they without a flip of his coin. While it does not redeem him, the consult me on what he should like in the ‘animated style’? Nope, story offers the character a glimmer of hope. I don’t think they did. Batman: The Animated Series 25th Anniversary Issue • BACK ISSUE • 43

Unlimited Iterations (top) Yet another stylistic take on DC’s pantheon, as seen on Ben Caldwell’s cover to Justice League Unlimited #1 (Nov. 2004). (bottom) The Atom took center stage in issue #3. Art by Carlo Barbieri and Walden Wong. TM & © DC Comics.

that our comic-book introduction of Booster might be in conflict with what the show was going to do. It was decided that the comic story would be shelved. “When the TV episode finally aired,” Jones continues, “it turned out that their version of Booster was completely compatible with ours and there was no problem with publishing the comic, except that by this point the comic had not only been re-branded from Justice League Adventures to Justice League Unlimited, the stories had been reduced from 22 pages in length to 20. Our completed Beetle/Booster story wouldn’t fit in the current version of the book! It wasn’t until the Justice League Unlimited TV show was coming to an end, and the tie-in comic with it, that DC was motivated to make use of inventory stories that they’d already paid to produce. They solved the length problem by cutting two pages from the story. I wasn’t happy about the cuts, but I was happy that at least the bulk of the story finally was to be seen by an audience! “It was great getting to work on characters I love so dearly,” Jones says, “and the Justice League animated versions are such classic depictions of those characters. The stories were pretty great overall, too. It was just a real pleasure to work on. The only thing that frustrated me during that time is that I didn’t get to draw more of them. I’d gotten to draw some of the DC Comics big-gun characters previously, but a lot of that was in the context of fiveand ten-page short stories for the anthologies like 80-page Giants and Secret Files that DC Comics was doing a lot of at the time. In that format you’re trying to pack so much into so few pages that all your creative energy just goes into squeezing everything onto the page. This was the first chance I had to draw these characters in stories where they really got to breathe, and even though I was having to follow the animated series style sheets rather than do my own interpretations of the characters, the Bruce Timm designs were so go good it really wasn’t a hardship. Though I have to say, the proportions of the characters are really extreme, with most women being wasp-waisted and the men looking like they have football pads on their shoulders. What’s scary is when you’ve drawn enough of that style that it starts to look normal!” May 13, 2006 was the original broadcast date for “Destroyer,” the final episode of Justice League Unlimited. The comic version of JLU finished in the August 2008 cover-dated issue #46 with a story centering around the Green Lantern Corps. While this was the official finale to the DC Timmverse adaptations, Bruce Timm and those involved with the Batman, Superman, and Justice League cartoons went on to continue working with the World’s Greatest Superheroes in comics, video games, and animation. However, it’s Timm and Dini’s work on the DC animated series that is remembered most fondly by fans. Their comic-book counterparts expand on that corner of the DC Universe and is as equally cherished by people of all ages whether they are diehard comic-book and animation nerds walden wong or casual readers and viewers. Whichever of those you may be, you can find Superman and the Justice League’s cartoon exploits on DVD and/or Blu-Ray and iTunes. Superman Adventures, Adventures in the DC Universe, and Justice League Adventures/Unlimited can be found in back-issue bins in your local comics shop or digitally on Comixology. Share them with friends and family. You’ll be glad you did. JAMES HEATH LANTZ is a freelance writer who was heavily influenced by television, film, old time radio shows, and books—especially comic books—growing up in Ohio. The co-author of Roy Thomas presents Captain Video, he has written introductions to PS Artbooks titles, self-published his Trilogy of Tales e-book (Smashwords.com), and reviews various media for Superman Homepage. James lives in Italy with his wife Laura and their family of cats, dogs, and humans from Italy, Japan, and the US.

62 • BACK ISSUE • Batman: The Animated Series 25th Anniversary Issue

Eury

All covers TM & © DC Comics, except The Fly TM & © Archie Comic Publications, Inc. Photo courtesy of the Mike Parobeck Appreciation Society.

by M i c h a e l

He drew in the “animated” style before that term was coined. His figures According to writer and educator Len Strazewski, “Mike was the were deceptively simple, resembling coloring-book art, yet they bristled artist that Brian Augustyn chose for Quest for Dreams Lost, a fundraiser with emotional impact. His storytelling was crisp and accessible, comic for the Literacy Volunteers for Chicago. He drew a storyluring the eye from panel to panel. His art wasn’t flashy at a time framing sequence into which other independent comic when over-rendering and exaggerations were becoming creators contributed pages. Contributors included [creators the norm. He was Mike Parobeck, perhaps best known from] Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, among other for his work on DC Comics’ The Batman Adventures independents of the mid-1980s.” Once Brian Augustyn landed in New York at DC, comic book. Mike’s art brought out the inner child in many an adult comics reader… making his untimely “one of my goals was to find Mike work. He was a death in 1996, just days shy of his 31st birthday, all the junior art director in a Chicago ad agency and I knew more tragic. This issue’s theme and its coverage of he wasn’t happy there. Shortly after I arrived, I managed DC’s “animated” universe allows us this opportunity to convince Mark Waid to use Mike for a Secret Origins to look back at the career of this phenomenal artist. feature,” that assignment being the Dr. Light story in Former DC Comics editor Brian Augustyn was Secret Origins #37 (Feb. 1989), written by Craig Boldman and inked by Ken Branch. “That guy was a fundamental in bringing Parobeck to the company, genius,” remarked editor Waid of the young artist in telling BACK ISSUE, “I first met Mike in Chicago before brian augustyn BI’s Secret Origins article in our last issue. I moved to DC. We were introduced by a mutual While Parobeck would soon pencil additional Secret friend. [Mike] was maybe 21, very shy, but very genuine and sweet. It quickly developed that he was also a very talented Origins stories, he was quickly tapped to illustrate a brand-new monthly series: El Diablo. Appropriating the name of a Bronze Age Western cartoonist with a serious love for comics.” Batman: The Animated Series 25th Anniversary Issue • BACK ISSUE • 63

Early Parobeck Page from an unpublished indie comic, Target, written by Brian Augustyn and illustrated by Mike Parobeck in 1986. (We’ll explore Target in a future issue’s “Greatest Stories Never Told” installment.) Scan courtesy of Paul Mullins. © Brian Augustyn and Mike Parobeck.

eight issues, commencing with a first issue cover-dated April 1991. While Tom Lyle drew all eight covers, Mike Parobeck penciled the interior art for JSA #3 (starring the Golden Age Green Lantern) and #6 (starring the Golden Age Flash and Hawkman). “It was fun and got good reviews,” Len says of the Justice Society mini. “Afterwards, [group editor] Mike Gold asked me if I was interested in a regular JSA series, edited by Brian. Absolutely!” But first came the launch of Impact, with Strazewski and Parobeck’s Fly. “Mike really came into his own on The Fly,” contends Brian Augustyn. “To me, Mike’s art was perfect for Impact’s outreach to new, young readers; fresh, fun, animated, and incredibly accessible. I loved what Mike and Len Strazewski crafted in The Fly—it really evoked the excitement I remembered from my own earliest comics reading. Mike’s vibrant, original art was perfect for comics.” Strazewski tells BACK ISSUE that during production of The Fly, he and Parobeck communicated “constantly. Mike lived about two miles away from me in Chicago and we met for lunch and discussed ideas and even better, he let me see his pencils before he sent them in. They were amazing, and in Mike’s humility, he always said that he just drew my script. Not true. He conceived my script in whole new levels.” Parobeck’s editor also heaps praise upon the artist. “As far as his work ethic [is concerned], Mike was fast, exceptionally reliable, hard working, and endlessly inventive,” Augustyn says. “He was a natural-born storyteller, and improved any story he worked on.” While deadlines did not deter the artist, his own insecurities proved a throbbing Achilles’ heel. “On the downside, perhaps, Mike was also a bit of a perfectionist,” according to Augustyn. “He often drew a page multiple times before he was satisfied. His studio was often littered with discarded pages, most as good or better than work many artists would turn in. Maybe Mike was also less than confident, generally. I know he was never completely convinced of his qualities, and remained ever character, editor Augustyn and writer Gerard Jones envisioned for the DC self-effacing.” Those artistic anxieties were never evident to anyone Universe a new El Diablo, actually Rafael Sandoval, a young city alderman reading The Fly, however. The book was a delight, a lighthearted fly in in a rough-and-tumble Texas town who used his fists and wits to thwart the ointment of an increasingly dark and somber superhero marketplace. street-level crimes such as arson, the narcotics trade, and murders. Once Parobeck was spelled by Al Bigley and Barry Horne on a few issues of “Gerry Jones and I developed the new El Diablo character, Mike was the The Fly as Mike reteamed with his former El Diablo collaborator Gerard first and only artist I had in mind from the start,” Augustyn tells Jones for a four-issue miniseries, Elongated Man (subtitled Europe BI. “At that point, Mike’s art was a bit more ‘serious,’ not yet ’92), launching with a January 1992 cover-dated first issue. as loose and fresh as he would become later, and he was Brian Augustyn reveals, “Elongated Man came about simply very influenced by Alex Toth, Norm Breyfogle, and Jaime because Gerry and Mike wanted to work together again and have fun doing a classical comic-book series. A little Hernandez, working in a black-and-white, illustrative style—and that meshed very well with our real-world Thin Man, a little Dick Van Dyke, a little Plastic Man. Fun.” vision for El Diablo. I pitched the book to the powersParobeck returned to conclude The Fly, drawing its final that-be with Mike attached and we were approved three issues (#15–17), as well as its 1992 Annual. fairly quickly, so I guess he was well received at DC Mike’s next new project starred old heroes: the initially.” Jones and Parobeck’s El Diablo ran 16 issues, ongoing Justice Society of America series mentioned ending with a January 1991 cover-dated final issue. earlier by its writer, Len Strazewski; the series’ premiere Mike Parobeck’s next ongoing assignment was issue was cover-dated August 1992. “Reteaming Len part of a new imprint at DC: Impact Comics (its and Mike on the ongoing Justice Society comic was a bouncy logo screeching “!mpact” across the top natural choice, and we had a blast,” remembers len strazewski of each cover), DC’s 1991 licensing of twice-failed Brian Augustyn. Archie Comics superheroes in a line skewed toward a From the writer’s perspective, Parobeck was the readership younger than the company’s aging target audience. (The Impact ideal JSA artist, bringing to the book “real characters with expression series will eventually be explored in BACK ISSUE.) The initial Impact titles that reflected humanity,” says Strazewski. “Mike could draw action but were The Comet, The Legend of the Shield, The Jaguar, The Web, The Black unlike many others, he could put emotion into a simple conversation.” Hood, and the title assigned to Parobeck, The Fly, with up-and-coming Glenn Whitmore colored Parobeck’s work on the JSA book, and illustrators tapped for the books including Tom Lyle, Grant Miehm, reflects upon the artist for BACK ISSUE: “In 1992, I was blessed to have Rick Burchett, David A. Williams, and Parobeck. colored Mike Parobeck’s work, mainly on Justice Society. Mike’s drawings “As Impact was developing, I wrote a Justice Society of America of my favorite DC characters ever were a beacon of light and fun at a miniseries primarily to provide work for the Impact artists as they were time when the comics universe was submerged in ‘grit’ and ‘grim.’ It is waiting for the launch,” says Len Strazewski. This JSA miniseries ran probably the biggest regret in my career that I never got to meet him. 64 • BACK ISSUE • Batman: The Animated Series 25th Anniversary Issue

Swat’s Up? Mike knocked it out of the park with his art on DC/ Impact’s The Fly. Cover art to issue #15 (Oct. 1992), with inks by Paul Fricke, courtesy of Paul Mullins. (below) The creative team of The Fly, from a 1992 signing: writer Strazewski, penciler Parobeck, and inker Fricke. Photo from Facebook’s Mike Parobeck Appreciation Society. The Fly © Archie Comic Publications, Inc.

DC Breakthrough (bottom left) Mike’s (inked here by John Nyberg) first regular series was the short-lived El Diablo. Cover to issue #11 (July 1990). Scan courtesy of Paul Mullins. (bottom right) Cover to the first issue of the JSA monthly (Aug. 1992). TM & © DC Comics.

Batman: The Animated Series 25th Anniversary Issue • BACK ISSUE • 65