Glen Murakami

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Glen Murakami
Glen Murakami by Gage Skidmore.jpg
Murakami at the 2019 San Diego Comic-Con
NationalityAmerican
OccupationAnimator, director, producer

Glen Murakami is an American animator, director and producer best known for his work on Batman Beyond, Teen Titans, Teen Titans Go!, Ben 10: Alien Force and Ben 10: Ultimate Alien.

Animation[]

Murakami originally wanted to be a comic book artist. His friend from junior high and high school, Keith Weesner, got a job working on Batman: The Animated Series as a background artist and informed Murakami when they were hiring artists at Warner Bros. Animation.[1] Murakami was given a storyboard test, which he failed. But seeing his drawing talent, he was hired anyway.[2]

Working closely with Bruce Timm, Murakami worked as a character designer and storyboard artist from 1991 to 1993.[3] From 1995 to 1999, Murakami worked as Art Director on Superman: The Animated Series and The New Batman/Superman Adventures.[3]

Batman Beyond[]

Murakami was promoted to producer for Batman Beyond and won an Emmy Award in 2001 for his work on the series.[3] In addition to producing, he also was credited for story on the movie, Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker.

Teen Titans[]

In 2002, according to Murakami in an interview in 2012, Sam Register, Senior Vice President of development at Cartoon Network at the time, wanted a show that was based on the comics, Teen Titans, and brought Murakami to help create the series based on the comics, the Teen Titans, [1] being the series creator, (Along with Sam Register) and developer. [1] [4] After a decade working on shows produced by his friend and mentor Bruce Timm, Murakami produced the Teen Titans without Timm, which was his first series without him.

In addition to creating and producing, he was also character designer on the series. Murakami approached the show with an unusual design style, setting them apart from the rest of DC Comics animated programing. The show's style was dubbed Murakanime or "Americanime".

The popular series ran for five seasons, 65 episodes and concluded with the movie Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo in 2006.

Ben 10: Alien Force and Ben 10: Ultimate Alien[]

Following Teen Titans, Murakami teamed up with writer Dwayne McDuffie to revamp a series for Cartoon Network's Ben 10 franchise. Murakami served as executive producer on Ben 10: Alien Force, which ran for three seasons and 46 episodes.

Immediately following Alien Force, Murakami and McDuffie revamped the follow-up series, Ben 10: Ultimate Alien.

Beware the Batman[]

In 2011, Warner Bros. Animation announced that Murakami would be executive producer on a computer-animated television series Beware the Batman.[5]

Comics[]

Murakami illustrated the Star Wars comic Death Star Pirates - originally published in issues #16 through #20 of the Star Wars kids magazine in 1998 and later collected in Star Wars Tales Volume 2 by Dark Horse Comics.

He also drew a cover for Teen Titans Go!, and wrote and drew for stories in Batman Adventures and Batman: Mad Love and Other Stories, winning an Eisner Award for his work in the Batman Adventures Holiday Special.

Awards[]

  • Eisner Award - Best Single Issue - 1995 - 'Batman Adventures Holiday' Special (with Paul Dini, Bruce Timm, Ronnie del Carmen, and others)
  • Annie Award - Outstanding Individual Achievement for Production Design in an Animated Television Production - 1999 - Legends of the Dark Knight - 'The New Batman/Superman Adventures'/Outstanding Achievement in a Daytime Animated Television Production - 2001 - 'Batman Beyond' (with Jean MacCurdy, Alan Burnett, Paul Dini, and others)
  • Emmy Award - Outstanding Special Class Animated Program - 2001 - 'Batman Beyond' (with Jean MacCurdy, Alan Burnett, Paul Dini, Bruce Timm, Hilary Bader, Stan Berkowitz, Rich Fogel, Robert Goodman, Curt Geda, Butch Lukic, Dan Riba, James Tucker, Andrea Romano)[3]

Influences[]

Murakami's influences include Jack Kirby, Alex Toth, John Byrne, Gilbert Hernandez, Jaime Hernandez, and Dave Stevens.[2]

Filmography[]

Writing[]

Year Title Credited as Network Notes
Writer Producer Developer Showrunner

1999-2001

Batman Beyond No Yes No The WB

2003-2006

Teen Titans No Yes Cartoon Network

2013-2014

Beware The Batman No Yes Cartoon Network

References[]

  1. ^ a b c "Glen Murakami Five Seasons" Archived 2012-02-05 at the Wayback Machine, Five Seasons of Murakanime
  2. ^ a b "The Critical Eye | Bruce Timm and Glen Murakami" Archived 2017-07-14 at the Wayback Machine, Interview at The Critical Eye, September 17, 1999.
  3. ^ a b c d "Glen Murakami >> Animation, Comics, Awards" Archived 2015-02-11 at the Wayback Machine, Glenmurakami.com
  4. ^ Talkin’ 'Teen Titans ': "Glen Murakami Raps About His Latest Superhero Series
  5. ^ Sam Register @ MIP Jr: "Beware the Batman"; "Super Best Friends Forever"; "Tom & Jerry"; "DC Nation" News

External links[]

Retrieved from ""