I find these superhero toy parodies of the PC/Mac commercials fairly odd yet engrossing. It started as a Marvel vs. DC Comics thing. It’s a tiny internet meme, but one who’s appeal seems tapped into a very dry geeky humor. We’re talkin’ champagne dry here.
So Hellboy’s been added to the mix, except he’s with Dark Horse Comics (Milwaukie, OR!). It would have been nice if they made a Hancock toy and he could have shown up all drunk and then it would have featured every superhero from this summer, excluding Wall-E of course. Maybe the creators of this could work on that.
By James Furbush | February 18th, 2008 | 11:48 am PST
DC Comics has decided to bridge the gap between Batman Begins and this summer’s follow-up The Dark Knight with a direct-to-DVD anime styled Batman adventure.
The Gotham Knightwill follow six intertwining Batman adventures (from six different writers and animators). Among those writers participating are David Goyer (Batman Begins), Josh Olson (A History of Violence), Greg Rucka (Gotham Central), Brian Azzarello (100 Bullets), Jordan Goldberg (The Prestige), Alan Burnett (Batman: Mask of the Phantasm); with the whole shegang overseen by director Bruce Timm. Timm, who may recall, was responsible for what is revered as the purest incarnation of the Batman character ever - Batman The Animated Series. [opening segment]
The promo below really plays up Batman’s detective roots, which has been sorely lacking in all of the bigscreen adaptations of the character. However, it still makes it a point to indulge in the infamous rogues gallery. Christian Bale will be voicing this animated character.
Difficult to tell from the promo what the stories will be or if they’ll be any good, but the animation looks very cool. I’d actually be in favor of doing a bloody and violent cartoon rendition of Batman with this style of animation.
The animation for this series is being handled by three of Japan’s most popular animation production houses, which will create different looks for each short. These three companies are Production I.G. (Ghost in the Shell, Blood: The Last Vampire), Madhouse (Metropolis, Paprika, Vampire Hunter D), and Studio 4°C (Mind Game, Tekkon Kinkreet, The Animatrix).
The DVD will come out sometime close to the July 18 release of The Dark Knight, but you can look forward to more info on February 26 when DC’s latest animated project Justice League: The New Frontier hits stores. It contains a sneak peek featurette on Gotham Knight.
Darwyn Cooke’s 2004 DC Comic book chronicled the early years of the Justice League, which was supposedly formed during the back drop of the years leading up to the JFK administration.
I believe the illustrations for the book were done by Alex Ross, who really creates these timeless, mythological looking characters, very reminiscent of the golden days of comics. Hopefully, that style will carry over to the movie. The voice talents are impressive as well with Kyle Maclachlan as Superman, Lucy Lawless as Wonder Woman, David Boreanaz as Hal Jordan (The Green Lantern), Jeremy Sisto as Batman and Neil Patrick Harris as The Flash.
Pretty dope. This one hits the direct to DVD market in the Spring of 2008.
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