There are multiple ways to enter reading I Am the Night: The Ultimate Unauthorized History of Batman: The Animated Series. Die hard BTAS fans, those who have seen a few episodes, and those sheltered people like myself who have never seen an episode. I know, depressing, right? But as someone who only has select knowledge of the series, I Am the Night by Daniel Dockery was a grand exploration of the show that pushed me even more to watch the series in its entirety.
At a time when televised cartoons―especially within the superhero genre―were often over-looked, Batman: The Animated Series introduced an entire generation of soon-to-be Batman fanatics to the caped crusader. The series triumphed into what is largely considered one of the best superhero cartoons of all time, and the best depiction of Batman mythology in any format.
But the road to genre-defying and genre-defining success was hardly guaranteed. Along the way, co-creator Bruce Timm and his team of artists at Warner Bros Animation battled a landscape that was often antithetical to their aims with Batman. Internal struggles led the writing team and the network to debate everything (literally everything) about how best to depict Batman―from whether or not the eco-friendly hero would have a recycling bin in the Batcave to how many women he was allowed to kiss onscreen.
Growing up in the 1990s I was a fan of animated superhero television, but my attention was on X-Men: The Animated Series rather than the Batman: The Animated Series. Without having seen an episode of BTAS, I do know that it is truly the definitive animated comic book show of my generation, if not ever. Even though I was a huge fan of the X-Men series, over the years it has been widely known that DC has had a foothold on the animated side of comics over Marvel. So I have been planning to watch BTAS, just never got around to it, but you know what helped nudge me forward, I Am the Night: The Ultimate Unauthorized History of Batman: The Animated Series.
I Am the Night is a narrative history of the popular television program, but also touches on those shows to shape BTAS and the world of animation in the 1990s. Dockery doesn’t dive super deep, but deep enough into X-Men, Gargoyles, the other DC animated shows, as well as kicks things off discussing other Warner Bros. animated tv shows that helped get BTAS even on the air. Dockery provides exclusive discussions and some behind-the-scenes insights that has never been shared.
As Batman: The Animated Series features Batman, who would’ve thought?, Dockery also touches on the 1989 Batman film as well as its sequels to give us a glimpse of where the studios where going and why things went the way they did. This made for more of a deeper discussion on Batman on screen as a whole during this era, not just BTAS. What outside factors also attributed to the success or failure of projects, episodes, or storylines that I had no idea about in the first place. As a non-viewer of the show, my viewing experience (starting this week) will be a bit different knowing what went into making the show outside of physically writing, animating, and acting.
I Am the Night: The Ultimate Unauthorized History of Batman: The Animated Series is an outstanding source for those biggest Batman fans as well as those just getting started with BTAS. Daniel Dockery dives right into the world of BTAS and what it took to make what has been one of the most definitive animated comic book shows of all-time. Dockery tells the story behind the story, giving even more credence to what has become a historic cartoon series and films.
I Am the Night: The Ultimate Unauthorized History of Batman: The Animated Series is available at bookstores everywhere from St. Martin’s Press. The audiobook, narrated by Tim Campbell, is available via Libro.fm!
