Tim Sale | Batman

"Batman is a psychotic who scares people; he draws on superstition and the power of darkness. He's disturbed -- he's never recovered from the murder of his parents -- he's never been able to let that go, it's the primary thing that drives his life.

"Bruce and Batman are both just eight years old. I don't think either one of them is mature. I think in some ways he's the least mature character of them all."

Dark Victory

Thirteen issue maxi-series, 1999-2000
with Jeph Loeb, Gregory Wright and Comicraft

"I never wanted to do Robin. I hated Robin. Batman having a sidekick is not how I saw the character, but Jeph has always wanted to include him, he had always wanted Batman to have a partner, and so he pointed out the parallels in their origins and how poignant they were and how poignant we could make them. And, to his credit, he was right and we did.

"Our Batman and Robin are not pals. They care for one another, but they irritate each other, and I understood that relationship having lived with a girlfriend and her young son. Jeph knew that and wrote it that way and that's why it works for me, I think. Jeph was able to relate it as something real, which is what he does when he's at his best."

The Long Halloween

Thirteen issue maxi-series, 1996-1997
with Jeph Loeb, Gregory Wright and Comicraft

"There was something on every page of The Long Halloween that I looked forward to drawing. And I'd been so used to slogging my way through scripts. When we finished The Long Halloween, Jeph and were driving to a signing together, and I said to him, 'It may never be this good again.' I think Jeph took it as, 'Okay, so you're basically telling me that's it. We can never work together again -- don't say that, we got more stuff to do!' And my point actually was just how much of a joy it had been, because of how much I enjoyed working with him -- because he had given me something on every page that I could look forward to drawing."

Haunted Knight

Three Halloween special issues, 1993-1995
with Jeph Loeb, Gregory Wright and Todd Klein

"I did the Madness Halloween special right after Deathblow, and I ended up drawing Batman with this huge body and this little pinhead because of the way I had been drawing Deathblow. I was trying to bring a certain power to Batman that I thought I had learned to do with Deathblow, but I just wasn't really able to see what it actually looked like because it looked different inside my head. I'm always finding my way like that -- I'm hopefully trying to grow and do things a little differently, more assuredly, but still looking to figure things out."

Design for San Diego Comic-Con canvas bag promoting Dark Victory.		Sketch for inside cover of Dark Victory #1.	Alternate version of Dark Victory #9 page 1.
Sketch for inside cover of Dark Victory #13.		Pencil sketch for the Dark Victory hardcover jacket.	Early pencil design of the Long Halloween TPB cover.
Pencils for an unused Haunted Knight TPB cover.	Long Halloween promotional illustration.	Sketch for cover of Dark Victory #13.