BEATTY, Scott 1969–

PERSONAL: Born 1969. Education: Iowa State University, M.A.

ADDRESSES: Home—PA. Agent—c/o Author Mail, CrossGen Entertainment, Inc., 4023 Tampa Rd., Ste. 2400, Oldsmar, FL 34677. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Worked as an English teacher, radio personality, and magazine editor.

WRITINGS:

COMIC BOOKS

(With Chuck Dixon) Robin: Year One, four volumes, DC Comics (New York, NY), 2000, published in one volume, 2002.

(With Chuck Dixon) JLA, Terror Incognita, DC Comics (New York, NY), 2002.

(With Chuck Dixon) Batgirl: Year One (collection), DC Comics (New York, NY), 2003.

WITH OTHERS; "RUSE" SERIES

Criminal Intent, CrossGen (Oldsmar, FL) 2002.

The Silent Partner, CrossGen (Oldsmar, FL), 2003.

Criminal Intent, CrossGen (Oldsmar, FL), 2003.

OTHER

Batman: The Ultimate Guide to the Dark Knight, Dorling Kindersley (New York, NY), 2001.

JLA: The Ultimate Guide to the Justice League of America, Dorling Kindersley (New York, NY), 2002.

Superman: The Ultimate Guide to the Man of Steel, Dorling Kindersley (New York, NY), 2002.

Superman, the Animated Series Guide, Dorling Kindersley (New York, NY), 2003.

Wonder Woman: The Ultimate Guide to the Amazon Princess, Dorling Kindersley (New York, NY), 2003.

Batman, the Animated Series Guide, Dorling Kindersley (New York, NY), 2003.

Batman Beyond, Dorling Kindersley (New York, NY), 2004.

Catwoman: The Visual Guide to the Feline Fatale, Dorling Kindersley (New York, NY), 2004.

(With others) The DC Comics Encyclopedia, Dorling Kindersley (New York, NY), 2004.

SIDELIGHTS: Scott Beatty, who has written for a long list of popular comics series, said in an interview posted at his Web site that he "grew up loving DC Comics…. For me, the DC bullet stood out like a beacon on the newstand."

Beatty's first work for DC was for a "Batman" comic-book series; for many of his projects, including Robin: Year One and Batgirl: Year One, he has shared writing duties with Chuck Dixon. Batgirl is the alter ego of librarian Barbara Gordon, the daughter of Gotham City's police captain. Her father rejects her idea of becoming an officer, and the FBI says she is too short to be an agent, but Barbara is determined to fight crime. Barbara's father has received help from Batman, and in an attempt to add further embarrassment, Barbara wears a Batman-like costume to the department's masquerade ball. When Barbara foils the attempt of villain Killer Moth to crash the event, the Moth dubs her "Batgirl." Emily Lloyd reviewed the collection for School Library Journal, calling it "a joy from start to finish, with smart, barbed dialogue, a dense plot, exuberantly drawn action, and impressive characterizations."

Beatty has written a number of guides to the most popular series' characters, including Batman: The Ultimate Guide to the Dark Knight. Beatty's Bat topics include Bruce Wayne, Wayne Enterprises, Batman's utility belt, the Batcave, Batmobiles, Alfred, Robin, Catwoman, the Penguin, and other characters.

Another long-time DC hero is featured in Superman: The Ultimate Guide to the Man of Steel. Superman has been featured by DC since 1938, and Beatty covers his entire history, with the majority of the information covering Superman post-1986. A time line lays out Superman's origins on the planet of Krypton, his childhood in Smallville, his job as a reporter for the Daily Planet, and his friends and his enemies. Illustrations from both the original comics and more recent works compliment the history.

Female characters are covered in Wonder Woman: The Ultimate Guide to the Amazon Princess and Catwoman: The Visual Guide to the Feline Fatale. In addition to her cat costume, transportation, and weapons, Catwoman's sometime relationship with Batman is documented, making this volume also of interest to Batman fans. Karen T. Bilton noted in School Library Journal that, "unlike previous books in the series, this title has overtly sexual images."

When Mark Waid left the comic-book series "Ruse," Beatty was chosen to replace him as writer. Although publisher CrossGen markets the series as a cross between X-Files and Sherlock Holmes, "Ruse" is actually a closer match to the televison series The Avengers. Instead of John Steed and Emma Peel fighting evil against a quirky cold war backdrop, "Ruse" features Simon Archard and his assistant Emma Bishop in a quasi-Victorian England setting wherein Druidism is a recognized religion and the gargoyles perched along the sides of buildings are living creatures. A Publishers Weekly contributor, reviewing the second "Ruse" collection, The Silent Partner, called Simon and Emma "exceptionally clever, attractive people who make witty jibes at each other while jumping off trains and tumbling down mountains."

By the time Beatty came on board with Ruse, the series had won five Eisner awards. He took over completely from Waid in the third volume, Criminal Intent. In this go-round, Emma and Simon are separated for much of the time, and in one issue a pair of children fend off the evildoers. A Publishers Weekly reviewer who called Criminal Intent "good-natured fun" wrote that "this work deliberately exaggerates the cliches of melodramatic pop fiction right up to the edge of self-parody."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, January 1, 2002, Carolyn Phelan, review of Batman: The Ultimate Guide to the Dark Knight, p. 827; August, 2002, Carlos Orellana, review of Superman: The Ultimate Guide to the Man of Steel, p. 1942; May 15, 2004, Tina Coleman, review of Catwoman: The Visual Guide to the Feline Fatale, p. 1613.

Library Journal, September 1, 2002, Steve Raiteri, review of Superman, p. 152.

Publishers Weekly, May 26, 2003, review of Ruse: The Silent Partner, p. 51; August 11, 2003, review of Ruse: Criminal Intent, p. 260.

School Library Journal, September, 2002, Tim Wadham, review of Superman, p. 240; January, 2003, Douglas P. Davey, review of JLA: The Ultimate Guide to the Justice League of America, p. 146; January, 2004, Douglas P. Davey, review of Batman, the Animated Series Guide p. 110; April, 2004, Emily Lloyd, review of Batgirl: Year One p. 186; September, 2004, Karen T. Bilton, review of Catwoman, p. 237.

ONLINE

ComicBookResources.com, http://www.comicbookresources.com/ (August 1, 2001), Beau Yarbrough, "Scott Beatty: Profiler of the Bat" (interview).

OrcaFresh.net, http://www.orcafresh.net/ (February 26, 2005), Tim O'Shea, "Creativity Doesn't Exist in a Vacuum" (interview).

Scott Beatty Home Page, http://www.scottbeatty.com (February 26, 2005).

SilverBulletComicBooks.com, http://www.silverbulletcomicbooks.com/ (February 26, 2005), Michael Deeley, "The Ultimate Guide to Scott Beatty" (interview).