Entertainment by Design: Batman the Animated Series

Simple. Clean. Mood-setting.
That fingerfull of frosting before you dive into the cake.

From Warren Ellis:

Regarding his "micro-series" GI JOE: RESOLUTE and dealing with Hasbro:

The idea was, as I understand it, that bringing in a writer with absolutely no nostalgia for the property would give them the tone they were looking for. I think they were happy when I presented them with the initial list of characters I was going to just kill. And then the list of things I was going to blow up.

The people at Hasbro were actually remarkably supportive. And I did apologise after shouting at them those times. And they did give me one of those conversations that you never really expect to have when growing up:

HASBRO: No, Warren, you cannot wipe Beijing from the face of the earth.

ME: Shit. (pause) What about Moscow?

HASBRO: Wiping Moscow from the face of the earth would be fine.

Paul Dini Breakfasty Goodness...

Paul Dini breaks down the template for the modern animated theatrical feature at his blog King of Breakfast.

Sarcasm aside, understanding that this is what the animated feature has devolved into allows you the opportunity to play with the parts a bit and reassemble it into a story that "... seems familiar, but in a new way..." (to use Exec-speak).

(Hat tip to Heidi and rockin' illustration by Darwyn Cooke)