Batman Credits Special Thanks to These DC Comics Creators

Last week, Warner Bros. released the official credits of The Batman, and as with all superhero movies, there’s a “Special Thanks” section for the comic book creators who made the character what he is (but won’t be making any money from it). In the case of The Batman, it’s a long list, likely indicative of the many and varied sources that filmmaker Matt Reeves drew upon when trying to create a Batman story that felt both familiar and unique. The creators of the list range from early Golden Age comic book artists to those who worked on the New 52 reboot.
Although the list is all over the place, you can definitely pick up a few details. stories like Batman: Year Zero, Batman: The Long Halloween, Batman: Year One and Batman: Gates of Gotham are very well represented. The same goes for 1970s detective-themed stories, from creators like Dennis O’Neil, Neal Adams, Steve Englehart, and Marshall Rogers.
Listed alphabetically and taken from the film’s official credits released by Warner Bros., here’s a look at who received “special thanks” and why:
neal adams is a legendary comic book artist with definitive runs on Green Lantern/Green Arrow, Dead manand Batman. It was Adams, along with writer Dennis O’Neil, who reimagined Batman as a serious, grounded night warrior after the campy silliness of the Silver Age.
Jim Aparo is an award-winning artist who has worked on The brave and the daring, batman and the aliensand Batman for years, drawing stories like “A Death in the Family” and “Knightfall” before passing away in 2005.
Brian Azzarello is an acclaimed comic book writer whose resume includes 100 balls and the relaunch in 2011 of wonder woman, on which much of the film is based. His foray into writing for Batman has spawned a number of influential stories, from detective Batman: Broken City to blows Joker and Batman: The Damnedwhich he wrote for artist Lee Bermejo.
Lee Bermejoas shown above, is the best-selling artist Batman: Damned and The Jokeras well as Lex Luthor: Man of Steel and Before Watchmen: Rorschach.
Ed Brubaker was a longtime Batman writer who also tackled Gotham Centerthe comic widely seen as the inspiration for Matt Reeves’ next film The Batman spin off Gotham PD for HBO Max. It was Brubaker and artist Darwyn Cooke who reinvented Catwoman and gave her the leather costume and goggles that have now been her standard for years.
Greg Capullo is the best-selling artist of dozens of Batman issues during and after DC’s “New 52” line-wide relaunch. He and writer Scott Snyder were responsible for Batman’s “Zero Year” story, which provided The Batman with many visual elements, including pieces of the costume and Batman on a motorcycle imagery.
Bronwyn Carlton is a novelist and comic book writer who has worked on Batman titles during “No Man’s Land,” an influential 1990s story that saw Gotham City cut off from the rest of the world by an earthquake. She also ran catwoman.
Darwyn Cooke is one of the most beloved comic book writers and artists of the modern era. Besides comics itself, he has worked in animation, notably on batman beyond. In 2000 he wrote the acclaimed story Batman: Egoand would go on to develop Catwoman’s new look with writer Ed Brubaker as part of their run on her book.
Chuck Dixon was the final Batman 1990s writer, working with luminaries like Dennis O’Neil and Jim Aparo to create dozens of popular stories, including the “Knightfall” storyline that inspired The dark knight rises. He also wrote a long popular series on catwoman with artist Jim Balent, which helped revitalize its popularity and flesh out its backstory.
Steve Englehart is a comic book writer whose 1970s are set Detective comics helped reshape Batman for a wider audience almost as much as Neal Adams, but who gets far less credit for it. Working with artist Marshall Rogers, Englehart created beloved Batman stories and delved into the “Dark Detective” part of his personality. There’s a valuable resource at 13th Dimension that examines the Englehart/Rogers race in detail, complete with retrospective interviews with Englehart.
Gary Frank is a well-known comic book artist whose best-known works mostly deal with the Superman family of characters, super girl for Superman and the Legion for Apocalyptic clock. Along the way, however, he and writer Geoff Johns did the modernized origin story. Batman: Earth 1. the earth one The line of graphic novels seemed to be initially designed to serve as inspiration for film and television adaptations.
Edmond Hamilton was a science fiction writer who turned to comics for a time during his career, writing Superman and Batman stories in the 1940s through 1960s. He wrote for Batman, Detective comicsand the Batman/Superman team book The best in the world during his career, and one of his stories (“The Clash of Cape and Cowl” in The best comics in the world #153) was the source of the widely used internet meme that shows Batman slapping Robin.
Fun fact: Hamilton was married to science fiction writer Leigh Brackett, who worked on The Empire Strikes Back!
Bob Haney was a prolific Silver Age writer credited with creating the Teen Titans. He wrote on the Batman team title The brave and the daring for years and helped co-create DC villains like Copperhead and Eclipso.
Kyle Higgin co-wrote the story “Gates of Gotham” with Scott Snyder, as well as creating Nightrunner, a French Islamic superhero who was “The Batman of Paris.” He wrote for night wing after DC’s 2011 relaunch, and later served on the creative team on eternal batman.
Geoff John is one of the best-selling comic book writers of the modern era, having penned stories like darkest night, Infinite Crisisand Breaking point. His run on Shazam! was the basis for the film adaptation, and he (along with artist Gary Frank) helped modernize Batman’s origins in Batman: Earth 1a trilogy of graphic novels.
Staz Johnson is an artist who worked briefly on Detective comics in the mid-1990s before leaving this title to undertake long races on robin and catwoman.
Steve Lieber is a comic book artist best known for his work on the graphic novel White veil with writer Greg Rucka. The two would team up for a race on Detective comics.
Jeph Loebthe former head of Marvel Television and Smallville veteran, wrote some of the most influential Batman stories of the modern era, including Batman: Hush and Batman: The Long Halloween. Both have been adapted into animated films, and The Long Halloween is one of the biggest influences on The Batman.
David Mazzuchelli was the artist of the famous Batman: Year One with writer Frank Miller, who despite numerous rewrites over the years continues to be the gold standard when it comes to telling Batman’s origin story.
Trevor McCarthy is a comic book artist best known for his work with DC. He has worked on Batman titles as well as Batman: Eternal, night wingand the Scott Snyder/Kyle Higgins collaboration Batman: Gates of Gotham.
Frank Miller is the definitive Batman writer and artist of the 1980s. His Batman: Year One and Batman: Return of the Dark Knight are the most frequently cited Batman stories in the character’s publishing history when it comes to film and television adaptations.
Graham Nolan is a cartoonist who worked for years on the Batman titles alongside writer Chuck Dixon. The pair not only co-created Bane together, but helped reinvent many of Gotham’s villains.
Irv Novick was a cartoonist who worked from 1939 until the 1990s. During this time he worked on the first issue of The brave and the daringhelped create The Ten-Eyed Man, Duela Dent and The Electrocutioner, and drew the issue in which writer Frank Robbins revealed that Alfred’s surname is Pennyworth.
Dennis O’Neil was a writer and editor whose contributions to Batman cannot be overstated. From working with Neal Adams on the definitive 1970s run, to editing Bat titles throughout the 1990s, to co-creating Ra’s al Ghul (with Neal Adams) and Azrael (with Joe Quesada), the imprints O’Neil’s finger prints were on nearly every major Batman story. from the 1970s to the turn of the century.
jerry robinson was one of the first Batman artists, working on the Bat family of titles throughout the 1940s. He is best known as the co-creator of Robin and The Joker.
Marshal Rogers is the fan-favorite artist behind one of the most beloved races on Detective comics. Working with artist Steve Englehart, he drew stories that helped redefine Gotham, The Joker, and more. He also redesigned the Deadshot character, giving him the look that made him recognizable in suicide squad.
Greg Rucka is the author of dozens of comics and graphic novels, including Stumptown, White veiland The old guard. While at DC, he had an acclaimed run on Batman titles, helping to shape the character through stories like Bruce Wayne: Fugitive. Rucka, who has also written mystery and thriller books, leaned into the “detective” part of Detective comics during his years on the title.
Tim Sale is an acclaimed comic artist responsible for Batman: The Long Halloweena book that not only influenced The Batman but was at one time considered for direct adaptation.
Jack Schiff was a comic book writer and editor primarily active in the 1940s through the 1960s. He worked on dozens of Batman stories as well as Batman newspaper strip, but is best known as the writer who introduced the Bat-Signal.
Scott Snyder is the best-selling writer of dozens of Batman issues during and after DC’s “New 52” line-wide relaunch. He and artist Greg Capullo were responsible for Batman’s “Zero Year” story, which provided The Batman with many visual elements, including pieces of the costume and Batman on a motorcycle imagery.
dick gushes was one of the most influential early Batman artists, working with writer Bill Finger to create many villains for Gotham City, including The Riddler himself. He also created the popular villain Firefly with France Herron.