Animation Guild | We are 839 Digital Magazine
Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1525032
James Tucker developed many of Caped Crusader's characters, including this artfully revised version of Penguin. credit the show as the reason they got into animation. "Bruce Timm's Batman rocked the animation world and inspired not only me but a whole generation of designers," says Lead Character Designer Bertrand Todesco. From the start, Executive Producer Timm wanted Batman: Caped Crusader to be a "straight-up period piece," he says, unlike BTAS which he describes as having a "quasi- retro look." With Tucker coming on as Co-EP, they began shaping a series that would cling tightly to a 1940s noir look and feel. Tucker says they found inspiration in old versions of Batman, from the 1940s Columbia serials to the 1960s live-action series with Adam West, whose glass map—along with bookcases, file cabinets, and a microfiche machine—helped them furnish a Batcave that could no longer be filled with state-of-the-art computers. But a more obvious revamp is the characters. Tucker, who came up through the animation ranks as a Character Designer, among other crafts, was asked by Timm to do early development work. "I was like, wow, I get to do '40s Batman, which I hadn't really gotten to do in my career," he says. He leaned into his love of vintage noir movies and their characters. Case in point: Penguin, the first character he designed, pays tribute to Marlene Dietrich's androgynous tuxedo look. Storylines were created before they started drawing to inform the development of the visuals. For Harley Quinn this meant: "Thematically, the main thing we wanted to do from the very beginning was to make sure she was not just [the] Joker's girlfriend." Timm says there's nothing wrong with the original character, but she has more agency now. In addition, in Caped Crusader, her personalities are flipped. The clownish Harley Quinn has become creepier, while the ever-serious psychiatrist Dr. Quinzel is a bit more fun—even in the therapy sessions with Bruce Wayne providing insights into his deep repression. As for Caped Crusader's weirder, more standoffish than usual Batman, they used a technique that came from a criticism of BTAS this page: Among the many changes for Harley Quinn, she is now of Asian American descent. opposite page (top): Timm looked back at original Bob Kane designs, including the ears, when reworking Batman/Bruce Wayne; (bottom) Timm says, "We felt like we really needed to make a strong effort to make sure that Catwoman [and other characters] not look like their BTAS versions." F E AT U R E 20 KEYFRAME