The upcoming HBO Max animated series Batman: Caped Crusader has just gotten a huge shot in the arm as fan-favourite and acclaimed comic book writer Ed Brubaker joins the series as its head writer and executive producer. The news was revealed by The Hollywood Reporter, which includes a first look at concept art for Batman in the series.
Batman: Caped Crusader comes from Batman: The Animated Series co-creator Bruce Timm, J.J. Abrams and The Batman director Matt Reeves with animation producer James Tucker as co-executive producer. Timm, Abrams and Reeves will serve as executive producers alongside Brubaker for the first season, which has been revealed to run 10-episodes. Timm also will be the showrunner and lead the writer’s room with Brubaker.
Brubaker has had a long career in comics, particularly with Batman and his corner of Gotham City in the DC Universe. He created the series Gotham Central, which focused on the detectives and police under Commissioner Gordon and the varying ways they viewed how Batman, his allies and villains affected the city. He wrote for both the Batman and Detective Comics titles, but his run on Catwoman is some of his best known and beloved work as he and the late Darwyn Cooke revamped Catwoman’s look and supporting characters and made the series a gritty crime drama as Selina Kyle plotted elaborate heists and had a very consequential conflict with Black Mask.
Outside of DC, Brubaker has developed his own crime thriller series Reckless, Fatale, Criminal and The Fade Out. He has also worked for Marvel in an eight year run on Captain America, being a co-creator of The Winter Soldier and writing through Steve Rogers’ apparent assassination and eventual return, as well as his work on Daredevil, The Immortal Iron Fist, Secret Avengers and Uncanny X-Men.
“Here’s something few people know, but the original Batman: The Animated Series was one of the things that made me want to write superhero comics in general, and Batman in particular,” Brubaker said to THR. “If not for what Bruce Timm and all the talented writers and artists did with that show, things like my revamp of Catwoman with Darwyn Cooke (who worked on BTAS) and Gotham Central with Greg Rucka and Michael Lark, would never have happened. So when Bruce Timm offered me the chance to come work on this new reimagining of Batman with him, James Tucker, J.J. Abrams and Matt Reeves, I jumped at it.”
Brubaker also teased the look and tone of Batman: Caped Crusader, saying “Their vision for the show, with a slightly more pulpy take on the character, and a new way of looking at the world of Gotham, set in the past but viewed through a modern lens really sold me, and so far every part of it has been a blast to work on. I can’t wait until the rest of the world can see what we’ve been building the last few months in the writers room. All I can say is, it’s not what anyone is expecting … but in a good way.”
Ricky Church – Follow me on Twitter for more movie news and nerd talk.
