DC Collectibles is releasing a new 6" action figure line based on Batman: The Animated Series and
series creators Bruce Timm and Paul Dini spoke with USA Today about the classic cartoon and the stories they created that are now considered part of the Batman lore. Timm and Dini's take on Mr. Freeze in particular, is an aspect of the 90's show that's now being adapted in modern shows and video games. Said Timm:
"In the comics, they never did anything with him other than he was the gimmicky freeze guy. He was kind of a joke. Anytime they trotted him out, people would just go, 'Oh no, that was the old Adam West show. We don't want people to be thinking about that. We're trying to be serious about these comics.' [In the carton, Victor Freeze's wife is in suspended animation following a cryogenic accident, which leaves Freeze] literally cold inside, supposedly dead to emotion. It was a 'cool' take on Mister Freeze, and that was the template on how we treated all of the characters."
Most likely the shows biggest contribution to DC Comics, Harley Quinn has gone on to become an integral part of Gotham and Joker stories in particular. On Quinn, Timm and Dini stated:
"[DC has] taken a lot of cues from what we did on the animated series, but at the same time everything we did on the show, the DNA came from the comics."
Recently, Timm met current Batman writer Scott Snyder at ECC and was surprised to learn that the latterwas such a huge fan of his work.
"At first I was taken aback. "I don't really think of it in those terms, and I read his comics and didn't really see a lot of Batman animated influence. But what it is was he was of a certain age when he watched that show, and it had a level of depth and dramatic heft that possibly other versions of Batman didn't have."
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