Frank Miller‘s The Dark Knight Returns isn’t just a must-read for Batman fans or comic-book fans.  It’s a must-read for everyone who wants to understand the current state of superhero books and movies.  While its influence has been far-reaching, it wasn’t directly adapted until Warner Premiere took the title and turned it into a two-part animated feature.  The first part was released earlier this year, and now The Dark Knight Returns, Part 2 is due out in 2013.  New York Comic-Con 2012 hosted a panel for the film, and Warner Home Video’s Gary Miereanu, voice casting director Andrea Romano, and executive producer Bruce Timm were on hand to show off some clips, talk about the voice cast, what will and won’t get your animated film an R-rating, a surprising cameo, and much more including other films Warner Home Video has on tap for 2013.

Hit the jump for the recap, and click here for all of our 2012 New York Comic-Con coverage.

While DC may not always knock the ball out of the park with their feature film offerings, it’s fairly safe to say that their Animated Television projects have been almost universally hailed as excellent.  With the Green Lantern Corps getting the spotlight this summer in a feature film, video game, and direct to home entertainment animated film, DC looks to once again storm TV screens with a new 3D CGI series Green Lantern: The Animated Series destined for Cartoon Network.  Comic Con alumnus and DC Animated architect Bruce Timm was joined by series producers Jim Krieg and Giancarlo Volpe in the press room and we were able to talk to all of them.  Watch our video interviews after the jump.

While you may or may not recognize his face, if you have any sort of affinity for Batman: The Animated Series and/or animated DC Comics films in general, then you are definitely familiar with the work of artist/producer Bruce Timm. A longtime staple in the animated DC world, Timm has worked as a producer and character designer for numerous projects including the aforementioned Batman: The Animated Series, Batman: The Mask of the Phantasm, the Justice League television series, and more.

As part of Batman: Year One‘s Comic-Con press day, I had the opportunity to participate in a small roundtable interview with Timm where he discussed a range of topics including the possibility of an R-Rated animated Batman film, The Flaming C (the superhero persona he drew up for Conan O’Brien), and the ways in which Year One is more realistic than Christopher Nolan’s Batman films. Check out the full interview after the jump. Batman: Year One gets released to Blu-ray/DVD on October 18th and, as I mentioned in my interview with Ben McKenzie, is certainly worth your time.

Bryan Cranston, Ben McKenzie, Eliza Dushku, and Katee Sackhoff will provide voice work to Warner Premiere’s upcoming animated adaptation of Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli’s acclaimed graphic novel Batman: Year One.  Heat Vision reports that Cranston will voice a young liutenant James Gordon, while McKenzie is Wayne/Batman. Dushku will provide the voice for Catwoman, and Sackhoff is Gordon’s love interest, Detective Sarah Essen.  The PG-13 feature is set to stick fairly close to the comic with executive producer Bruce Timm revealing, “It a pretty straight forward literal retelling.  Mazzucchelli’s artwork is beautifully composed and we were able to refer to the comic for about 80 percent of the camera setups.”

You can check out the first images from the film after the jump.  Batman: Year One will hit stores this fall but will make its debut at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con.

Creating your own comic book character usually includes a list of “cool” abilities and features like claws, levitation, laser eyes, and a great costume. When Conan O’Brien got his chance to create his own comic book character, he went typical Conan: goofy. Bruce Timm, co-creator and character designer of Batman: The Animated Series and more, gave O’Brien the royal treatment by drawing The Flaming C. However, Timm didn’t stop there. In the latest episode of The Conan O’Brien Show, they premiered footage of The Flaming C spliced into the pilot episode of Cartoon Network’s awesome new series, Young Justice, and hilarity ensues. Hit the jump for the full clip.

Warner Home Video has just released a new clip from the new DC Universe animated movie Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths.  The animated film will be released on February 23 and it’s rooted in DC Comics’ popular canon of “Crisis” stories depicting parallel worlds with uniquely similar super heroes and villains.  The scene WHV released basically sets up the film’s primary conflict with Lex Luthor (voiced by Chris Noth) explaining the plight of his Earth, and attempting to recruit the Justice League to join the battle against the Crime Syndicate.  Hi the jump to check it out.  I’ve also posted the full trailer.

There’s a simple formula for taking material and translating it to a different medium – involve people who not only know the work, but also love it.  I’m not sure how this very simple dictum escapes Hollywood, but all too often it seems to.  Thankfully, we have shining examples like Superman: The Animated Series to show us how it works.  More after the jump.