A new homage to the caped crusader

Batman is yet again the star of an- other cartoon series which debuted this summer. Produced by Warner Bros (WB), this cartoon is already a hit with the audience. Dave Bullock is the man who has worked his entire life on 2D hand drawings for shows like Superman: The Animated Series, Batman Beyond, Teen Titans and such. For him, the shift to CG animation is completely out of his comfort zone and yet he is relishing the challenge.

Beware the Batman is WB’s latest offering and despite there being a number of shows dedicated to the Dark Knight, Dave says, “The idea is that there’s always a new generation coming up and this is that generations chance of getting to know the character first hand. From the test materials that I have seen, this is going to be so far the best batman show till date.”

The cartoon marks WB’s second attempt to use CG to explore a franchise of DC comics after the short lived Green Lantern: The Animated Series.

Bullock has had to step up his game and be onboard with all the latest technology. He said that there were major changes in production. He commented, “There has been a lot of new technology implemented and with the advancement in recent years, we’re able to create these animatics and watch them and get a quick idea of how the episode will shape up.”

Fans of the Caped Crusader how- ever have been skeptical about the change but Bullock is of the opinion that once the initial shock fades, they will grow to love the show. He opined that, “Some of the guys who’ve seen Batman in video games over the years may have an idea of where the show is headed. Players had the opportunity to see Bat- man’s cape fan open in CG as he glided into a pose. The show is going to capture a lot of moments like that.”

CG has the benefit of getting more subtleties into the shots. Very subtle reflections, shadows and such things can be given great detail. Over the course of developing an episode certain parts of the storyboard had to undergo through a bit of revision but Bullock feels that flexibility can lead to interesting results.

He concluded by saying, “It’s the type of business a story can bring to a sequence that adds dimension to Batman as a detective, then shot and lit the right way it can look sneaky and Noir, the very tones that Batman encompasses.”