If I haven’t said it before, then I will now: Insight Editions are quickly becoming one of my favorite book publishers. They’re constantly putting out great content, be it interactive books for kids to collections of comic art to spotlights on comic creators. This October, they’ll release what may be their best book yet when Batman: The Definitive History of the Dark Knight hits shelves.
Written by Andrew Farago and Gina McIntyre and featuring essays from Michael Keaton, Denny O’Neil, and Kevin Conroy, this book will cover the… well, entire history of the Caped Crusader across pretty much every medium. Comics? Check. Television? Check. Films and video games? Double-check, chums. Over more than 400 pages, the book will have interviews, never-before-seen photographs from feature films, animation cels, and sketches, along with a 40-page film treatment from Batman co-creator Bob Kane.
Insight Editions have released a first look at some of the book’s content along with a nice, hefty press release, so check it out below.
Per Insight Editions:
INSIGHT EDITIONS PRESENTS
BATMAN:
THE DEFINITIVE HISTORY OF THE DARK KNIGHT
IN COMICS, FILM, AND BEYOND
Written by Andrew Farago and Gina McIntyre
Foreword by Michael Keaton
Preface by Dennis O’Neil
Introduction by Kevin Conroy
____
The Caped Crusader. The Dark Knight. The World’s Greatest Detective. Bats.
Since his 1939 debut in the pages of Detective Comics, Batman has become an icon, instantly recognizable the world over. Through the years, Gotham City’s guardian has been interpreted in so many radically different ways that we all now have our own Batman. To some, he’s the colorful Caped Crusader who dispatches villains with a POW! To others, he’s the grim Dark Knight hell-bent on avenging the death of his parents. And to others still he’s made of LEGO, has great abs and likes to eat lobster thermidor!
In celebration of the Dark Knight’s 80th Anniversary, this deluxe volume tells the complete story of Batman and the many forms he’s taken across comics, TV, animation, film, video games and beyond, to present a compelling portrait of one of the most recognizable and versatile characters in the history of fiction. Covering the complete history of Batman in vivid detail, the book features exclusive commentary from the key creatives who have been instrumental in building the Dark Knight’s ongoing legacy, including Neal Adams, Tim Burton, Paul Dini, Steve Englehart, Mark Hamill, Grant Morrison, Julie Newmar, Christopher Nolan, Denny O’Neil, Joel Schumacher, Scott Snyder and Zack Snyder.
Along with taking readers on an unparalleled journey into the creation of the most memorable Batman moments in the character’s eighty-year history—from the “Knightfall” comics arc to Tim Burton’s films and the Arkham video game series—the book offers incomparable access to the DC and Warner Bros. archives to deliver an avalanche of never-before-seen visual treasures that are guaranteed to blow the minds of Batman fans everywhere.
Filled with exclusive insert items (more info on next page), Batman: The Definitive History of the Dark Knight in Comics, Film, and Beyond, is the ultimate exploration of a true legend whose impact on our culture has no limits.
This book contains new writing and never-before-seen content, such as:
- A foreword by Michael Keaton, who played the Caped Crusader in Tim Burton’s Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992).
- A preface from Dennis O’Neil, a legendary Batman comic book writer and editor.
- An introduction by Kevin Conroy, the voice of Batman in Batman: The Animated Series, and countless other Batman properties including the Arkham Asylum video games.
- Interviews with Christopher Nolan and the other key creatives behind The Dark Knight
- Never-before-seen photography and concept art from the Tim Burton films Batman and Batman Returns
- Sketches, animation cels and storyboards from Batman: The Animated Series and other Batman animated shows, including The Batman and Brave and the Bold.
The book also unearths a lost gem of Batman lore: a rejected 40-page film treatment submitted to WB by Bob Kane, Batman’s co-creator, in 1986, called The Return of Batman.
Comprehensive, compelling and filled with previously unseen treasures, Batman: The Definitive History of the Dark Knight in Comics, Film, and Beyond is the ultimate guide to our most legendary Super Hero.
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS:
Andrew Farago is the curator of San Francisco’s Cartoon Art Museum and the author of The Complete Peanuts Family Album, Totally Awesome: The Greatest Cartoons of the Eighties, and the Harvey Award–winning Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Ultimate Visual History. In 2015, he received the prestigious Inkpot Award from Comic-Con International. He lives in California with his wife, cartoonist Shaenon K. Garrity, and their son, Robin.
Gina McIntyre is the New York Times best-selling author of Stranger Things: Worlds Turned Upside Down. Her other books include Guillermo Del Toro’s The Shape of Water: Creating a Fairy Tale for Troubled Times, The Art of Ready Player One, and Star Wars Icons: Han Solo. Her writing has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the Hollywood Reporter, and Entertainment Weekly. She lives with her husband and daughter in Riverside, Illinois.
Batman: The Definitive History of the Dark Knight will be available for purchase on October 22.
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