Daniel Dockery tells the story of how this remarkable cartoon came to TV, how it changed TV, and how it changed Batman, rather profoundly, some 55 years after Bill Finger and Bob Kane created Gotham City. I Am the Night: The Ultimate Unauthorized History of Batman: The Animated Series is not just the story of BTAS; it's also the story the Batman property and TV animation in the nineties. There's a lot about Gargoyles, X-Men, and Tiny Toons, which makes the nooks that Dockery doesn't adequately explore a bit more frustrating. For example, there's very little about the boldly, and unsuccessfully, redesigned final season of the Animated Series, and nearly nothing about Batgirl, who becomes a pretty major character in that season.
The few topics that I wanted Dockery to explore better really stand out because he covers so many other facets of the Animated Series with exceptional thoroughness: the series' initial aesthetic, its writing, its cast, its introduction of Harley Quinn and Arlene Sorkin's unbeatable performance of the character, Bat-actor Kevin Conroy's personal life and professional background, Mark Hamill's unforgettable Joker, the come-and-go role Robin played on the show, the Mask of the Phantasm feature film, Shirley Walker's music, and even Tim Burton's Batman films with depth. Dockery's analyses of the series' themes are spot-on, too, from the way he felt the writers deepened the villains, especially Mr. Freeze, to the way they never got a handle on the Penguin. So despite leaving me wanting more here and there, I Am the Night was still a very satisfying read overall and compelling enough to make me down the whole thing in a day.
