Currently, there are behind the scenes books 
for T.V. shows, video games, and movies. It is nice to know that I am not alone in my desire to peer behind the curtain to see how the magic is created. These “Making of…” books offer great insight on how a particular project was crafted. The Art of The Batman from Abrams Books is a great look at how this film was created from concept to screen.
Batman has been around since 1939 and in that time there have been many versions of the Caped Crusader. He went from a dark figure to a psychedelic, campy superhero and then back into darkness. Directors such as Tim Burton managed to make Batman dark whilst still keeping him on the light side. Joel Schumacher went so far into camp that it was just plain bad. It would appear that the darker, “Dark Knight” is the most popular version of Bob Kane’s hero with the Christopher Nolan trilogy raking in approximately 3 billion dollars worldwide. Christopher Nolan did an excellent job in my opinion. The Dark Knight was a great Batman movie. Matt Reeves, much like Nolan, grounded Batman in reality, which I think worked well. The one thing I have to admit, as much as I am not a big fan of Robert Pattinson, he owned that role. Pattinson put the Goth back in Gotham!
I was very impressed with The Batman. One of the things I liked about this movie was the look of the overall film. As many of you know, the look of a film sets the tone. The dark look of Gotham City made you feel the hopelessness that the residents of Gotham felt. Despite all of the rain, Gotham would never be clean; nothing could wash away the despair that the city wore like a shroud. The city itself was a character in the film. The very look of the city helped to pull you into the story.
The Making of the Batman is broken into 7 chapters; each chapter is dedicated to a particular character. For example the chapter titled, “Vengeance” is devoted to Batman. What I particularly like was the use of (for lack of a better term) picture in picture comparing concept art with the constructed set or prop. It is interesting seeing it go from the initial sketch to reality. My favorite section was seeing the concept art for the Batmobile compared to the finished product. This Batmobile is the most believable of any of the Batmobiles so far. This new Batmobile is just a muscle car on steroids.
The chapter on the Riddler was just filled with photos of his apartment where you can study the newspaper clippings on the wall in front of his desk. It is amazing just how much detail went into something that you could barely read in theaters but now you can take your time if you are so inclined. You can also read a couple of his diary entries as if this was real evidence from a real crime scene.
The Making of the Batman was written by James Field with the forward by director Matt Reeves. This oversized book measures 9.5 inches x 12 inches and is 224 pages of geeky goodness.
The Making of the Batman is available now and retails for $45.00 USD and can be found wherever fine books are sold. The Making of the Batman is a perfect companion to the movie and would be an excellent addition to your Batman library.
