We’ve known for a month that Batman: Gotham By Gaslight would be the next Warner Bros. DC Animated Universe release, and now we know we only have to wait until February to see how the Elseworld’s tale is adapted.
Batman: Gotham By Gaslight takes place at the turn of the century as America’s continued industrial revolution is to be showcased at a World’s Fair hosted by Gotham City. But while the world prepares to witness the glittery glory of Gotham’s technological advances, there is a killer loose in the city’s darkest shadows. Preying on the city’s women, this killer is as precise as he is cruel. As Police Commissioner James Gordon tries to calm the fears of Gotham’s citizens regarding the butcher called Jack the Ripper, the masked vigilante Batman enacts his own detective work – with the help of confident, capable Selina Kyle – to stop the Ripper’s murderous spree. Witness a world in flames as the notorious serial killer’s controlled savagery meets the calculated stealth of the Dark Knight.
Batman: Gotham By Gaslight | Digital Trailer | Warner Bros. Entertainment
It’s Batman vs. Jack the Ripper in an Elseworld’s adventure that imagines the Dark Knight over a hundred years ago in a turn-of-the-century Gotham.COMING FEB…
Bruce Greenwood returns as Batman. He is joined by Jennifer Carpenter as Selina Kyle, Scott Patterson as James Gordon, Anthony Head as Alfred Pennyworth, Yuri Lowenthal as Harvey Dent, John DiMaggio as Chief Bullock, William Salyers as Hugo Strange, and Grey Griffin as Sister Leslie. Those with a keen ear will also hear voice actors Tara Strong, Bob Joles, David Forseth, Chris Cox, Lincoln Melcher and Kari Wuhrer make appearances in the movie.
Batman: Gotham by Gaslight is an adaptation of the 1989 Elseworlds one-shot by Brian Augustyn and Mike Mignola. Elseworlds tales are those where heroes are taken from their usual setting and put into alternate timelines and realities. While Batman has been the focus of many of the Elseworlds titles, Robin, Catwoman, Superman, the Justice League, the Justice Society, Green Lantern, the Teen Titans, and more have all been featured in the series.
Probably the most interesting change we can see so far is the movie distances itself from Mike Mignola’s recognizable style. I don’t think we’ll see hard shadows and squared off fingers that made the graphic novel such an iconic piece of comic book art in 1989. It would have been very interesting to see WB embrace the artist’s style in this animated movie, but hopefully people will hunt down the source material.
Batman: Gotham by Gaslight arrives on Blu-ray and DVD on February 6, 2018, but if you are a digital viewer, the movie will drop on January 23, 2018.
