TC205_OYL_TitansGo:TC205_OYL_TitansGo
5/16/08
10:17 PM
Page 192
teen titans go!
Glen Murakami Introducing The Titans To Murakanime
[Following the cancellation of the Teen Titans animated series, Bill Walko conducted the following interview with the show’s producer and guiding force, Glen Murakami, about all five seasons of the program, plus the path which the producer took to lead him to Titans Tower. Originally conducted in 2006, what follows was first published online at www.titanstower.com.]
Timm said that Glen was a crappy storyboard artist.” But I really had absolutely no animation experience, so on Batman, I got all my training in animation. One of the really cool things about working with Bruce is that he didn’t play by the rules. He knew how he wanted Batman, and he knew that he wanted it different, so I think he let me do a lot of cool things—a lot of different things—probably more than I would have done anywhere else.
TTC: Glen, thanks for taking some time to talk about your history with Teen Titans. Can you tell us a bit about your background, and how you started working in animation?
TTC: During Batman: The Animated Series, the writers and producers approached Robin as a much more mature and capable character. Was that something that appealed to you?
GM: I just kind of stumbled into it. I always wanted to be a comic book artist. For years, I heard it was really difficult to get into animation. It was a small group that was hard to get into, so I never really thought about it. I liked anime and cartoons and stuff, but it didn’t seem like something I could get into.
GM: I wasn’t as involved with the stories on the previous Batman series. I was just starting out. I was primarily a character designer. Even on the revamp [The New Superman/Batman Adventures], I was more art director than being involved with the writing on the show. But I did talk with Bruce about Robin being more of a teen sidekick.
I considered myself more of a comic book guy, but then a friend of mine got into animation and started working on Batman: The Animated Series, a guy named Keith Weesner, who was a background designer. I was friends with him through junior high school and high school. He kind of stumbled into it, too. He heard they were hiring artists over at Warner Bros., and he showed Eric Radomski his portfolio.
I think the reason Bruce [put] Robin in college was because that was the current continuity of the comics, and he also gave him that Neal Adams designed costume. I felt that the dynamic between those two characters wasn’t as interesting because Robin was so much older. I just think when you have a younger Robin, the contrast between him and Batman is more interesting. That’s why we had the younger Robin when we did the revamp.
Eventually, I was able to show my portfolio to Kevin Altieri, Eric Radomski and Bruce Timm. At the time After working on the first Batman, we got a chance they said they were looking, and they had me to streamline everything, so when we came back An early design of the Titans by Murakami. take a storyboard test. They took one look at with The Batman Adventures, we varied Robin’s Teen Titans TM and © DC Comics. the storyboard and said, “Well, you’re not a age, Batgirl’s age, Nightwing’s age. We made it very good storyboard artist, but we’re looking for people, so we’ll more of a “Batman Family.” That was interesting and different take a chance, and bring you on and train you.” Bruce did say that from what had been done previously. We still had their I can draw. personalities to play with. TTC: Right. Bruce Timm recalled that story on one of the DVD commentaries of Batman: The Animated Series.
TTC: At one time, Fox was considering a Robin solo series with his adventures at college. You even did some designs for that series. How far along was that developed?
GM: Yeah. [laughs] I like how the story gets retold: “Even Bruce 192