Batman: Gotham by Gaslight (Animated Movie)

[Kai "the spy"]

CBR| Batman: Gotham by Gaslight Is Next DC Animated Film

The next direct-to-video DC Comics-based animated feature has been revealed to be an adaptation of the ’80s Elseworlds story Batman: Gotham by Gaslight (via ComicBook). The news was revealed in a list of special features for the home video release of the preceding animated feature, Batman and Harley Quinn. The list notes that the release includes “A Sneak Peek at DC Universe’s Next Animated Movie: Batman: Gotham by Gaslight.”


The first-ever DC Comics Elseworlds story, Gotham by Gaslight was written by Brian Augustyn and drawn by Hellboy mastermind Mike Mignola, with inks by P. Craig Russell. The story features a Victorian-era take on Batman that’s on the hunt for serial killer Jack the Ripper. The one-off story spawned a sequel, Master of the Future, written by Augustyn and drawn by Eduardo Barreto.


The synopsis for the comic book version of Batman: Gotham by Gaslight is the following: “In an age of mystery and superstition, how would the people of Gotham react to a weird creature of the night, a bat-garbed vigilante feared by the guilty and the innocent alike? The very first Elseworlds tale re-imagines the Dark Knight detective in Victorian times and pits him against the infamous murderer Jack the Ripper.”

I never read the comic book, but I've only read good things about it. Seems like a nice choice for an animated feature, as this seems a perfect venue to adapt Elseworlds.

 

[kirk55555]

It seems interesting, and its not just another "New 52 movieverse" animated movie, so that's good.

 

[Turtletrekker]

I have read the original comic, and consider it one of my favorite DC stories. The movie should be good if they don't take too many liberties (I'm looking at you, The Killing Joke).

 

[JD]

I'm a little disappointed they're doing another Batman movie, but I've heard good things about the comic, so this does have potential.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

I read the graphic novel when it came out. A really nice take on the Batman story. I really must find another copy of this.

The beauty is, it's an alternate timeline thing, so there's no treading on canon (if you can have canon in a comic).

 

[Turtletrekker]

Being as this is a story of Batman versus Jack the Ripper, I hope they push the boundaries of PG-13 on the visuals. I don't think I need it to be R-rated, but this is a story where the blood is actually story-appropriate.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

I always kind of hoped they'd do a live action version of this someday. Have we gotten to the point in the movies yet where they could pull off an "Elseworlds" type of project?

 

[Turtletrekker]

^ I imagine that the current "shared universe" trend would have to wear off before the studios would start risking their money on standalone projects like that.

That said, I would love to one day see a live-action adaptation of "Captain America: Truth- Red, White, and Black".

 

[Skywalker]

Gotham by Gaslight is one of my favorite Batman stories. I hope the movie does it justice!

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Being as this is a story of Batman versus Jack the Ripper, I hope they push the boundaries of PG-13 on the visuals. I don't think I need it to be R-rated, but this is a story where the blood is actually story-appropriate.

I don't think it needs to be R-rated. PG-13 should suffice. I can't see a need for the story to be more graphic than the Batman vs. Dracula film, which I felt was very successful at hinting at the dark things happening just off the frame.

The one thing that's imperative, in my view, is maintaining a Mignola-esque look. Screw-On Head looked like a Mignola comic brought to life, and Gotham by Gaslight needs to have that moody, atmospheric Mignola feel.

The story will probably need some expansion to fill out a feature length, and I think Gotham by Gaslight can do that more organically than The Killing Joke did. Add a red herring suspect or two, and since the story is dealing with a serial killer, add another murder or two.

I would love to one day see a live-action adaptation of "Captain America: Truth- Red, White, and Black".

As would I, and I could see it fitting easily into the MCU.

 

[Kai "the spy"]

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[Allyn Gibson]

The preview leaves me feeling disappointed. Gotham By Gaslight is a distinctive work, and this doesn't seem distinctive at all. It seems like more of a riff on Gotham By Gaslight, taking the bare idea (Batman vs. Jack the Ripper) and running with it in a different direction.

 

[Christopher]

I always kind of hoped they'd do a live action version of this someday. Have we gotten to the point in the movies yet where they could pull off an "Elseworlds" type of project?

Evidently, yes. They've just announced that they're developing a Joker origin movie that's not part of the DCEU, and they're rumored to be developing a live-action Superman: Red Son adaptation.


As for the GbG trailer... Yeah, it doesn't look quite as Mignola-esque as it could. Basically filtering Mignola's designs through the DC Animation house style. Also, it sounds like they're keeping Jason O'Mara as Batman, the first time he's played the role outside of the ongoing animated movie continuity. At least, it sounds like him to me, although he's using a different characterization. Selina's voice sounds familiar, but I can't place it. It's odd that the featurette doesn't tout the voice cast, like they usually do.

The preview leaves me feeling disappointed. Gotham By Gaslight is a distinctive work, and this doesn't seem distinctive at all. It seems like more of a riff on Gotham By Gaslight, taking the bare idea (Batman vs. Jack the Ripper) and running with it in a different direction.

Well, GbG is the same length as The Killing Joke (a 48-page prestige-format graphic novel), so they'd have to add 25-30 minutes of new material to expand it to feature length. Evidently they've done that by creating a whole new subplot for Selina (although they've had pretty poor luck with original subplots for female characters so far). I suppose they could've combined GbG and its sequel Master of the Future in one movie, but they're different enough in story focus and tone (MotF is a riff on Jules Verne) that maybe they prefer to do them separately. (The bit about the preview of the Gotham World's Fair suggests that they're already planning on doing MotF as a followup.)

 

[marillion]

Not sure how I feel about this... GbG is my favorite Batman story... I bought it when it first came out and wore out my copy... I've always wanted it to be adapted into a movie/animation, but this just leaves me feeling..... cold.. It looks TOO clean.. Too much like the current animation.. I want it to look old and gritty like the source material... I'm sure I'll buy it, and frankly, the subplot idea with Selena doesn't bother me...

I'd love to see them adapt the graphic novel that had Batman meet Houdini... But here again, so much of the beauty of that story was in the artwork...

 

[Christopher]

and frankly, the subplot idea with Selena doesn't bother me...

The idea is fine -- the question is, will the execution be any good? The idea of expanding The Killing Joke to give Barbara more agency and point of view was theoretically a terrific one, but the execution went disastrously wrong, by most accounts.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

GbG is the same length as The Killing Joke (a 48-page prestige-format graphic novel), so they'd have to add 25-30 minutes of new material to expand it to feature length. Evidently they've done that by creating a whole new subplot for Selina (although they've had pretty poor luck with original subplots for female characters so far).

As I said earlier in the thread, the story would need some expansion, and that could be quite easily done -- another murder or two, another suspect or two. The impression I get from this featurette, though, is that they've decided to take another approach, by doing more fan-service-y things, like making Dick Grayson and Jason Todd Gotham City guttersnipes or introducing Hugo Strange as an Alienist. (No, an alienist doesn't study aliens. It's what late-19th-century psychiatrists were called, in particular those that worked with the police.) Or, adding Selina Kyle. None of these characters were, to the best of my recollection, in the original story.

I'm honestly somewhat worried about the inclusion of Selina Kyle because I suspect that she would be threatened by the Ripper in some fashion. A potential victim. Given that she appears to be playing an actress or even a singer (shades of Irene Adler, I suppose), Selina as a Ripper victim would be very ahistorical as the Ripper targeted Whitechapel's prostitutes. Selina appears to have some social status in 1889 Gotham, something that none of the Ripper's victims had.

I suppose they could've combined GbG and its sequel Master of the Future in one movie, but they're different enough in story focus and tone (MotF is a riff on Jules Verne) that maybe they prefer to do them separately. (The bit about the preview of the Gotham World's Fair suggests that they're already planning on doing MotF as a followup.)

They kept showing pages from Master of the Future, and there was a shot of an exploding Zeppelin, so I think Gotham By Gaslight (the film) may be drawing from both graphic novels.

 

[kirk55555]

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I was interested, then I saw Bruce Timm in the video I can't wait for Batman to find Jack the Ripper by following Jack's farts, or for Selina to screw Jack the Ripper (or maybe even Batman screw Jack) because Timm likes adding stupid, pointless sex stuff to everything now. Hell, I'm calling it now. "Jack" the Ripper is actually Victorian era Barbabra Gordon in disguise, and Timm will use this to continue his Bruce/Barbara fanfic saga because he is obsessed with having them screw each other.

On the other hand, I like the art style of the movie. Mignola's stuff isn't all that good in most contexts in my opinion (it literally only works for Hellboy comics, and even then the Hellboy animated movies were smart enough to not use Mignola's style because it would look terrible in animation), so I'm glad of the change. But, on the other hand, the voice acting leaves a lot to be desired. It does sound like O'mara as batman, and O'Mara is easily the worst recurring Batman voice actor outside of, say, Superfriends or those 60s/70s Batman cartoons.

I never bothered to read the comic (I barely knew it existed), so I have no connection to it. I'll watch it, but Timm working on it is a really bad thing at this point and if it manages to even be watchable I'll be shocked.

 

[Kor]

I agree with other comments. The animation doesn't look gritty enough.

Kor

 

[Allyn Gibson]

I was interested, then I saw Bruce Timm in the video I can't wait for Batman to find Jack the Ripper by following Jack's farts, or for Selina to screw Jack the Ripper (or maybe even Batman screw Jack) because Timm likes adding stupid, pointless sex stuff to everything now. Hell, I'm calling it now. "Jack" the Ripper is actually Victorian era Barbabra Gordon in disguise, and Timm will use this to continue his Bruce/Barbara fanfic saga because he is obsessed with having them screw each other.

Assuming the film goes with the same solution the original graphic novel does, then, no, the Ripper isn't Barbara Gordon. The solution, frankly, was the weakest part of Gotham by Gaslight; there aren't enough characters for there to be credible suspects (which makes some sense, since Bruce Wayne himself is a credible suspect in the graphic novel, as he's convicted in court of the crime), so figuring out whodunnit is painfully easy.

On the other hand, I like the art style of the movie. Mignola's stuff isn't all that good in most contexts in my opinion (it literally only works for Hellboy comics, and even then the Hellboy animated movies were smart enough to not use Mignola's style because it would look terrible in animation), so I'm glad of the change.

Try Epic's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser (collected by Dark Horse Comics about ten years ago); that, more than Gotham by Gaslight (which, IIRC, preceded Fafhrd), made me a Mignola fan. I later discovered Cosmic Odyssey (same era) and was blown away by it. I love Hellboy, but I really want to see Mignola do another DC project.

 

[JD]

I'm not familiar with the comics so coming in fresh this seems like it could be really cool, but after seeing the overall reactions to their last few Batman movies, I'm a bit more pessimistic than I usually would be.