Originally intended to be released on Cartoon Network and HBO Max, "Batman: Caped Crusader" eventually ended up being picked up by Amazon. Bruce Timm was approached to do a follow-up to the revered "Animated Series", he wasn't interested in any direct sequel, but instead wanted to offer an re-magined take on the material, setting the narrative in a 1940's noir setting--a perfect setting for Gotham's greatest detective. The show was developed alongside James Tucker, and ultimately Matt Reeves and J.J. Abrams joined as producers, with Ed Brubaker heading up the writing team for season one, with Hamish Linklater voicing Batman. The series goes through a number of rogues gallery, offering some revisionist takes on some characters along the way, building a compelling atmosphere and exploration of the characters, given the limited ten episode run (with a second season in development).
Joining the adventure is German composer Frederik Wiedmann, no stranger to animation, having scored "The Dragon Prince" on Netflix, and several of the DC direct-to-video animated features. Wiedmann and the producers wanted the music in the root to be firmly rooted in the period setting and style, created something new, not beholden to previous franchise composers. Specifically he looked at Golden Age composers like Steiner, Korngold and Herrmann, with some jazz influence added in a few scenes, but all filtered through a more subtle and modern lens that wouldn't read as 'cartoony'. While the music is not as instantly memorable and action-packed as one might normally associate with the Dark Knight, the music works well at setting a mysterious and eerie mood. Batman receives a central theme, with each episode's villain getting their own theme or motif as well, each capturing their character well. Overall the score is perhaps more subtle than expected, but well conceived and executed.
Season 1
WB/Watertower Music put out the soundtrack album for streaming, featuring about ninety minutes of original score. The piece of art for the cover was perfectly solid, but I thought the choice of text placement was quite an odd choice, so I created six alternative options. Covers 1-5 all use official imagery, with the final cover using a piece of fan art.
Cover 1 uses the main poster, a fantastically moody piece of hard-boiled noir. Required little editing, just deciding on placement of text and title.
Cover 2 is my edit on the official album cover. I kept the same base art, just painted out all the text on the album cover and slid the art up a bit in the frame (stretching out the bottoms of the lower buildings to give space for my text). Subtle differences mostly, but I think this is a much more logical use of the same source art than having the title shunted off into the corner and having "Season 1" in giant lettering.
Cover 3 uses a cool promotional piece of art by Puerto Rican illustrator Juan Ramos. This is a tricky one to fit text onto, both because of the giant text on the marquee itself, and because of the diagonal angle. In the end, the only main edit of the art was moving the placement of the moon to sit more comfortably in the gap available between Batman and the top text line.
For Cover 4, I took a screenshot from the opening credits sequence, which is in moody black and white, for those who might prefer something more minimal.
Cover 5 is a still from the finale of the show, doing their variation on "TAS"'s iconic rooftop silhouette shot. I brought in both sides of the image (the buildings to his extreme left and right), which is using an even crop would have been barely visible, in order to more tightly frame the image. Just needed to cut out each side, slide both towards center as desired, re-align with the roof edge, and then cutout and blend back into the existing sky as needed.
Finally, Cover 6 uses a terrific piece of fan art created by French illustrator Julien Rico Jr., to which I simply had to expand the sides to keep as much of the art intact as possible.
Season 2
Back for its sophomore season, the show continues firm in its noir stylings, with an even heavier dose of mob crime. A few villains return from the first season, and the show alternates between giving minor characters a chance in a sun but also tackling major players in Gotham's vogue gallery. Some additions are a bit uneven, while others are quite successful, but either way the show seems very confident in its given lane, and continues to excel in creating a haunting world and alluring tone that offers enough to set this vision of the character apart, and throw in some fun twists and turns, while still honoring the lore and detective aspects.
Cover 1 uses the key art created by comics illustrator Mitch Gerads, my alternate on the official album cover. Fairly similar, just changed up the text placement to a more logical style.
Cover 2 shows Gotham at night, a piece by artist David Merritt, who helped paint the backgrounds in the show.
Cover 3 uses another illustration by Mitch Gerads, in partnership with Derek Charm, the show's lead character designer. This piece was used for the cover of Illustration Magazine. To make space for the title, I had to shift things in the bottom of the image, I isolated the villains at the bottom, placed them at less of a canted angle, and specifically cut out and shifted Harley down to better accommodate the title in the middle of the image, and also shifted the moon down just a bit to have the top text read better.
Cover 4 uses a publicity still from the show.
For Cover 5, I took a low resolution still of the Joker, enhanced it, and then since the character is a flat 2D style, I went in and manually recreated some of the shapes to clean up the image a bit, and also added a bit more headroom on top. I then swapped out the background sky. A slightly different challenge, rarely have I worked with pure 2D animated imagery, but I love the moodiness of this shot, and highlighting the Joker's impending presence in the second season.
Next, Cover 6 uses a piece of fan artwork created by Romanian illustrator Flaviu Pop. This might have been created for the first season, but I found it now, and thought it would be fun to include.
Finally, Cover 7 uses an illustration by Mexican designer Rodolfo Reyes. This piece was a commission to advertise for the show, but for some reason wasn't selected for the final marketing, nevertheless it is a stunning piece that highlights Reyes' bold deco style.
Hope you enjoy, and let me know your favorites!
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