Batman: Clenched Teeth.

According to DVD Times, Yoshiaki Kawajiri is directing the Deadshot portion of the upcoming straight-to-dvd anime tie-in Batman: Gotham Knight. This is cause for much celebration! What's Gotham Knight? It's basically the Animatrix for Batman, released mid-July to boost marketing presence for The Dark Knight. The anthology is made up of six animated shorts, and are written by comic luminaries such as Brian Azzarello and Greg Rucka; as well as Blade Trinity director (and Dark Knight jettisoned scriptwriter) David Goyer. We'll gloss over that last one.

Director credits were remarkable by their absence in pre-release shilling - every segment (despite widely divergent art styles) got lumped with a Bruce Timm credit. Do Warners think these people have no currency? They do in my house! Lets hope AOL are a little kinder with final cut than Anchor Bay were with Kawajiri's animated Highlander movie.

Anyway, who's Kawajiri? Why not check out the short that made his name? Tense vegetable-men racing hyper-Formula Zero space cars; from the Neo Tokyo / Manie Manie anthology: The Running Man.

Mr Kawajiri forged a career delivering occult hyper-violence classics, usually featuring a laconic forever man. Highlights include: Ninja Scroll, Wicked City, and Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust. Expect cold blues, stinging pinks and fraught, bubbling meta-men.



Deadshot apparently sees Batman up against the firearms dripping titular assassin. Expect teeth shattering machismo and navel gazing on the application of guns.

Extra love for the technologically aspirational: the blu-ray release of Batman: Gotham Knight features four best-eps from the 1990s Batman: The Animated Series: Heart of Ice - the debut of the Mike Mignola redesign of Mr Freeze, and a sympathetic backstory by Paul Dini, this episode won an Emmy. Legends of the Dark Knight includes a portion adapted from Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns, and swipes at Joel Schumacher's 'efforts'. I Am The Night sees Bruce Wayne struggle with the Batman persona, and the positively apocalyptic Over The Edge sees the Gordon / Batman relationship dissolve into violence. Treats one and all.