Bruce Timm has been a prominent animator for DC comics for many years, designing characters for Batman: The Animated Series, Batman Beyond, Justice League, and Justice League Unlimited, to name a few. You might have seen him when he drew Conan O’Brien’s character, “The Flaming C.” At New York Comic Con 2011, Bicentennial Dan and Ticelli Bot got to sit down with them at a roundtable discussion about his latest work in Batman:Year One and Justice League: Doom.
Unfortunately, Timm’s interview was cut shorter due to time constraints.
Q: Last year you were mentioning something that you were working on that was big and secret that you weren’t really able to talk about.
BRUCE TIMM: Oh, that was probably The Dark Knight Returns. That’s probably what I was alluding to, it was nothing beyond that.
Q: Are you able to reveal any secret projects now?
TIMM: No, afraid not. I think everything’s been announced that I’m allowed to talk about, up to Dark Knight 1 and 2.
Q: How involved were you in getting Lauren Faust for Super Best Friends Forever and the Aardman Batman shorts?
TIMM: Oh, not at all.
Q: Are you going to be working with them at all?
TIMM: We’ve been talking with the producers on the DC Nation doing maybe possibly some stuff for them, but I’ve got to figure out a way to squeeze it into my schedule.
Q: When you’re looking for new projects that are within the DC Universe, is it difficult to deal with that wealth of riches that you have to choose from in the source material, or do you have a mental list of things that you say, “I’d really like to go back and do this if they gave me the opportunity.”
TIMM: It is kind of a broad question, and hopefully I can answer it in a way without insulting tons and tons of people, but…I wish there was more really strong source material like All-Star Superman or Batman: Year One for us to adapt into movies. There really aren’t. There’s a lot of good comics over the entire course of history, but in terms of finding a really well-known comic like Batman: Year One or Dark Knight Returns that’s not only a great comic but also famous and has its own name-recognition value, there aren’t that many of them out there. Is there a Dark Knight equivalent for Aquaman or for Green Arrow? No, there really isn’t. So there may be good stories out there, but they’re not on that same level. It definitely makes it easier when there’s a story like Batman: Year One or Dark Knight or All-Star Superman or The New Frontier. Something that’s really that strong and you can read the comic and go, “OK, I can totally see how that would work as an animated film.” There aren’t really that many properties out there that are like that.
Q: So it could work as a very successful story, but it might not translate into your area.
TIMM: Well, as a good example is Justice League: Doom. I read the Tower of Babel storyline when it first came out, and there were things about it that I really really liked, but for years everyone kept asking, “Oh, when are you going to do Tower of Babel? when are you going to do Tower of Babel?” and it doesn’t really work as an animated movie because there’s things that get up that don’t really pay off, it doesn’t have a movie structure to it, and it doesn’t really have a super larger-than-life quality to it. But then we were talking about it again just a couple of years ago, and going back and rethinking about the book because it’s a really, really strong idea for a movie: the idea that Batman has these contingency plans on how to take down the Justice League if they’d ever gone bad, and then those plans fall into the wrong hands and the villain actually puts those plans into action. It’s a really good, strong story motivator, so we felt like we could do something of our own with it. We’re always adapting ideas and things from the comics, but it may not always be a literal adaptation.
Q: Does DC’s relaunch do anything to you guys, or is it completely separate?
TIMM: It doesn’t really have anything to do with us. They’ve told us, “Don’t even worry about trying to make all the changes that they’ve made in the comics true in the animation.” At least not yet.
Q: This might be a silly question, but since Superman’s been in the animated universe, he never has the shield on the back of the cape. Is that just for aesthetics, or is that an animation issue?
TIMM: It’s just an animation issue. The shield is hard enough to draw on a flat surface. You try to draw it on a wrinkly surface….you know, a lot of people…(laughs) to me, I think it is kind of a silly question, because a lot of people are like, “I can’t believe they never put the shield on his cape!” and it’s just like, “Who’s looking at the back of his cape?” He’s got it on the front. It’s fine.
Q: It’s just something that I’ve noticed, but it doesn’t take away…
Q: I never noticed it before.
TIMM: Yeah, it’s just…I always forget that he even has it on his cape. I don’t think of him that way. To me, it’s just a red cape. He doesn’t…I don’t know. It’s funny.
BICENTENNIAL DAN: The DC Animated Universe has been going for 20 years. How does it feel to be the person behind the iconic versions of characters to an entire generation?
TIMM: Good. (laughs) I guess. That was a short answer.
BigShinyRobot would like to thank Bruce Timm for taking time to participate in this roundtable interview, as well as all the other members of the press and the coordinators. Batman: Year One is on the shelves and Justice League: Doom comes out next year. Don’t forget to check them out!