COOKE, Darwyn

PERSONAL:

Born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

ADDRESSES:

Agent—c/o Author Mail, DC Comics, 1700 Broadway, New York, NY 10019.

CAREER:

Writer, illustrator, graphic designer, and animator. Worked in advertising; art director for magazines, including Chatelaine.

WRITINGS:

(And illustrator) Batman: Ego, DC Comics (New York, NY), 2000.

(And illustrator) Catwoman: Selina's Big Score, DC Comics (New York, NY), 2002.

Storyboard artist for television series Batman and Superman; designer of title sequence for Batman Beyond; writer/illustrator for "Catwoman" comics series.

SIDELIGHTS:

Darwyn Cooke was doing production design and animation for commercials when Warner Bros. placed an ad in a trade publication announcing that they were looking for people to work on the Batman television series. Cooke sent them a demo and was soon a storyboard artist for the show's last season; he also contributed to a number of Superman episodes that were being produced at the time and designed the title sequence to Batman Beyond, which the studio used as a trailer on their Web site. Cooke is also the writer and illustrator of the graphic novel Batman: Ego, which features the sinister Joker and which provides a glimpse into the psyche of Bruce Wayne through flashbacks to his childhood and career and questions what drives him to be Batman.

Emru Townsend of Critical Eye online asked Cooke what it is like to be working on "Batman." Cooke said, "It's certainly thrilling, but you've got to approach it with a certain amount of caution.… Batman is, I think, the greatest character that's ever come out of this popular medium, because he's a real guy. I could always relate to that as a kid. Actually, they asked me for my resume when I started working here, and I sent them down these drawings I did of Batman when I was six, with some crayon. It's great to be working on the character. I've gotten a big kick out of it. It's like a dream come true, from that perspective."

In addition to working on the "Catwoman" comic series, Cooke wrote and illustrated the graphic novel Catwoman: Selina's Big Score. Set in the 1950s, the novel reflects the feel of that period through Cooke's use of trains, gangsters, and Las Vegas. The story reveals how Selina Kyle attempts to score Mafia money that has been shipped to Canada in trade for heroin in order to bankroll her continuing fight for justice. The story features Stark, Selina's James Coburn-lookalike former lover and mentor who was double-crossed by Selina years earlier. Gay League online reviewer said both characters "are a complex mixture of ruthlessness and relatively noble and even selfless impulses."

Randy Lander commented on the novel for Fourth Rail online, noting parallels between Stark and Slam, Selina's new significant other. Lander called the book "a rocket ride, a Hollywood-style big-budget block-buster with the smarts of L. A. Confidential, the style of The Usual Suspects, and the action and tension of The Score. But …this is no light bit of fluff; Cooke has underwritten this story of a big heist with some important character moments, and the result is a terrific read, every bit as good as I've come to expect."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Library Journal, November 1, 2002, Steve Raiteri, review of Catwoman: Selina's Big Score, p. 66.

ONLINE

Critical Eye,http://purpleplanetmedia.com/ (May 30, 1999), Emru Townsend, interview with Cooke.

Fourth Rail,http://www.thefourthrail.com/ reviews/snapjudgments/ (August 5, 2002), Randy Lander, review of Catwoman.

Gay League,http://www.gayleague.com/ (January 21, 2003), Margaret, review of Catwoman. *