Batman: Gotham By Gaslight - 10 Ways It Could Save DC's Animated Films
10. A Fresh Artistic Direction
The aforementioned New 52 animated features weren't necessarily terrible, but they were pretty bland, and the fact they followed so many brilliant adaptations probably didn't help matters either.
Point being, before all this animated universe buffoonery occurred (there's only one real one anyway, and it's now defunct), Warner Animation had built a reputation on producing unique, high quality animated films that boasted a great feel and an even greater cast. Adaptations of Darwyn Cooke's The New Frontier and Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns, for instance, mimicked both those artists' styles perfectly, a process that lent those films a poetry in motion type feel that elevated them above previous animated features.
Other releases, like Batman: Bad Blood and Throne of Atlantis, boasted a uniform art style that, while immediately identifiable, was nowhere near the level of quality their predecessors were. Granted, they never adapted a particular storyline from the comics, but that's the point! These adaptations were great because it gave fans a chance to see their favourite stories reimagined through a different medium, and Gotham by Gaslight is doing just that.
It may not boast Mike Mignola's style beat for beat, but it's definitely got the gothic aesthetic down to a T.