Scott Beatty is an American author, comic book writer, and superhero historian actively published since the late 1990s. He is a distinguished alumnus of Juniata College (B.A. English/Creative Writing) [1] and Iowa State University (M.A. English/Creative Writing).
Scott Beatty (also credited as Scott M. Beatty, Scott Matthew Beatty, and Scotty Beatty) has authored hundreds of adventures for many of comics' most iconic characters including Batman and Robin tales for DC Comics, as well as The Phantom, Buck Rogers, and Sherlock Holmes for Dynamite Entertainment.
Beatty has also contributed comic book stories to Antarctic Press, Crossgen Comics, Dark Horse Comics, IDW Publishing, and Marvel Entertainment.
Beatty co-wrote the critically acclaimed and bestselling Robin: Year One , Batgirl: Year One , Nightwing: Year One, and Joker: Last Laugh miniseries for DC. Beatty's and Dixon's Batgirl: Year One —the middle arc of their Batman "Sidekick Trifecta" at DC—was named Best Miniseries of 2003 by Wizard: The Comics Magazine and is considered the definitive Batgirl origin story. In 2009, Batgirl Year One was adapted into a nine-episode Motion Comic featuring animation voice-over actress Kate Higgins in the role of Barbara Gordon/Batgirl. It was later made available as a DVD with the Motion Comic of Batman Adventures: Mad Love featuring Harley Quinn, as well as on YouTube and streaming platforms. On its 20th anniversary, DC Comics published an all-new softcover collection of Batgirl: Year One on September 26, 2023.
Beatty's "Regnum Defende"—a two-part *Year One* styled origin of Batman's valet Alfred Pennyworth as an agent of the British Secret Service—was one of the stories which inspired DC Entertainment's Pennyworth streaming television series that lasted three seasons beginning on Hulu and concluding its run on HBOMax.
In addition to his comics work, Beatty has authored more than a dozen encyclopedic books about superheroes including DC Comics' Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Catwoman, Justice League of America, and Marvel's Avengers. Beatty's *Ultimate Guides* for UK publisher Dorling Kindersley in the early 2000s defined the standard for all genre character and movie guidebooks to follow. Beatty's technically accurate The Batman Handbook, a literal how-to guide on how to be the Dark Knight, was a top-selling title for Quirk Books.
Outside of comic books, Beatty has written G.I. Joe and Transformers animation for Hasbro, Inc.
Before he became a full-time freelance writer, Beatty launched ToyFare magazine as its founding Editor for Wizard Entertainment, publisher of Wizard: The Comics Magazine and other best-selling pop culture magazines, and guided it through its first two years of publication.
Beatty's novels have included prose adaptations of his own Sherlock Holmes: Year One (Dynamite), in addition to the young readers hardcover Batman: Scarecrow's PanicPlot (DC/Capstone) and Tron Uprising: The Junior Novel (Disney).
More recently, Beatty's Loot Crate exclusive Star Wars Adventures: Destroyer Down graphic novel was the top selling comic book of 2017 with nearly a half-million copies shipped to LC subscribers.
In his role as superhero and pop culture scholar, Beatty has appeared on E! Entertainment Television and Prism Films documentaries, and is a frequent guest on comic book, graphic novel, and superhero podcasts. He is frequently called upon to write introductions and essays for superhero books and collected editions. Beatty wrote the forewords for DC Comics' The Brave and the Bold – The Bronze Age Omnibus Volume 3 and Batman in the Silver Age Omnibus Volume 1.
DC Comics released Beatty's Nightwing: Year One - The 20th Anniversary Edition slipcase hardcover on August 6, 2024.
On September 3, 2024, DC published Beatty's Robin: Year One, Batgirl: Year One, and Nightwing: Year One in The Batman Family Year One Box Set, collecting all three popular graphic novels in a single set for the first time.
Beatty's animation writing credits include the following webisodes first aired on Hasbro internet sites, including "The Hub":
Beatty's writing credits include a variety of superhero encyclopedias, children's books, and young adult offerings:
Beatty's writing credits include hundreds of stories from the following publishers:
Beatty's writing credits for Antarctic Press include the following:
Beatty's writing credits for Crossgeneration Comics include the following:
Crossgen Comics Deutschland (German Language Reprints)
Beatty's writing credits for Dark Horse Comics include the following:
Beatty's solo and collaborate writing credits for DC Comics and its Wildstorm imprint include the following:
Beatty's writing credits for Dynamite Entertainment include the following:
Beatty's writing credits for IDW Entertainment include the following:
Beatty's writing credits for Marvel Entertainment include the following:
During his comic book career, Beatty has co-created the following characters listed A to Z with writing collaborators and artist co-creators noted in parentheses following each:
Richard John "Dick" Grayson is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly in association with Batman, Teen Titans and Justice League. Created by writer Bill Finger and artist Bob Kane, he first appeared in Detective Comics #38 in April 1940 as the original and most popular incarnation of 'Robin', Batman's crime-fighting partner. He is the eldest child of Bruce Wayne, Batman's alter ego, the first child to be adopted by Batman. In Tales of the Teen Titans #44, the character, after becoming an adult, retires his role as Robin and assumes the persona of Nightwing. Grayson has donned the cape and cowl to replace Wayne as Batman; his most notable spell followed Wayne's supposed death in Final Crisis, and sees Grayson adopt Damian Wayne, Bruce's biological son and his adoptive younger brother, as his Robin.
The Batman Adventures is a DC Comics comic book series featuring Batman. It is different from other Batman titles because it is set in the continuity of Batman: The Animated Series, as opposed to the regular DC Universe.
Charles Dixon is an American comic book writer, best known for his work on the Marvel Comics character the Punisher and on the DC Comics characters Batman, Nightwing, and Robin in the 1990s and early 2000s.
"Batman: No Man's Land" is an American comic book crossover storyline that ran for almost all of 1999 through the Batman comic book titles published by DC Comics. The story architecture for "No Man's Land" and the outline of all the Batman continuity titles for 1999 were written by cartoonist Jordan B. Gorfinkel.
Douglas Mahnke is an American comic book artist, known for his work and penciling books including The Mask, JLA, Batman, Final Crisis, and Green Lantern.
The New Batman Adventures is an American animated superhero television series based on the DC Comics superhero Batman, which aired on Kids' WB from September 13, 1997 to January 16, 1999. Produced by Warner Bros. Television Animation, it is a continuation of Batman: The Animated Series (1992–1995) and the third series in the DC Animated Universe. It was followed by Batman Beyond (1999–2001). The series was revamped from BTAS, replacing its art style with streamlined designs to allow for more consistent animation and maintain similarity with the simultaneously running Superman: The Animated Series (1996–2000), with episodes airing on Kids' WB under the title The New Batman/Superman Adventures.
"Bruce Wayne: Fugitive" is a storyline that ran through the Batman comic books in 2002. The story directly follows the "Bruce Wayne: Murderer?" story.
Dustin Nguyen is a comic book artist. He has worked for DC Comics and WildStorm since 2000. He is currently the artist on his and Jeff Lemire's creator-owned Image Comics series, Descender, for which he won the 2016 Eisner Award for Best Painter/Multimedia Artist.
"War Games" is a 2004-2005 major storyline comic book story arc published by DC Comics that ran in its Batman family of titles, Detective Comics, Legends of the Dark Knight, Nightwing, Batman: Gotham Knights, Robin, Batgirl, Catwoman, Batman, and Gotham Central. The storyline, which was published from October 2004 until January 2005, was preceded by a prologue that appeared in Batman: The 12 Cent Adventure.
Kelley Puckett is a comic book writer. He is notable for having co-created DC Comics characters Cassandra Cain and Connor Hawke.
Cameron Stewart is a Canadian comic book creator. He first came to prominence when he collaborated as an illustrator with writer Grant Morrison, and he went on to illustrate Catwoman and co-write Batgirl. He won Eisner and Shuster Awards for his self-published mystery web comic Sin Titulo, and received an Eisner nomination for The Other Side.
Joker: Last Laugh is a crossover storyline published by DC Comics in 2001.
"War Crimes" is a comic book crossover storyline published by DC Comics. The event ran during the month of August 2005 in the Batman and Detective Comics series, and is the sequel to another Batman crossover, War Games. While originally released by itself in trade paperback format, the later trade paperback release in 2016 would have this event as part of Batman: War Games Vol. 2.
Originally created in 1967, the fictional comic book character Barbara Gordon has been adapted into various other forms of media. The character has appeared in both live action and animated television series and films, as well as in video games in her alter-egos as both Batgirl and Oracle.
Andy Clarke is a British comics artist who came to prominence working at 2000 AD and became known to a wider audience with his later work at DC Comics, notably the 2009 volume of R.E.B.E.L.S. and various Batman-related publications.
Phil Noto is an American painter and comic book artist who is known for his work on such titles as Jonah Hex, X-23, Uncanny X-Force and, more recently, Black Widow. His work on The Infinite Horizon with Gerry Duggan earned him an Eisner nomination for Best New Series. Noto has also worked as a concept artist for video games such as BioShock.
"Batman: Death of the Family" is a 23-issue comic book story arc first published by DC Comics in 2012 featuring the fictional superhero Batman and his family of supporting characters. The arc spans several titles featuring characters of the Batman family including: Batman, Batgirl, Batman and Robin, Catwoman, Detective Comics, Nightwing, Red Hood and the Outlaws, Suicide Squad, and Teen Titans. The story involves the return of Batman's archenemy, the Joker, and his plan to destroy all of the people Batman has come to rely on over the years: the multiple Robins, Batgirl, Catwoman, Alfred Pennyworth, and Commissioner James Gordon. The title is a reference to the classic Batman story arc "A Death in the Family" (1988), in which the Joker murders Jason Todd.
Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League – Gotham City Breakout is a 2016 American animated superhero comedy film based on the Lego and DC Comics brands, which was released on June 21, 2016 in Digital HD and on July 12, 2016 on Blu-ray and DVD. It is the sixth Lego DC Comics film following Lego Batman: The Movie – DC Super Heroes Unite, Lego DC Comics: Batman Be-Leaguered, Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League vs. Bizarro League, Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League – Attack of the Legion of Doom and Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League – Cosmic Clash. Some actors from various DC properties reprise their respective roles, including Nolan North as Superman, Grey DeLisle as Wonder Woman and Troy Baker as Batman. The film received positive reviews, with praise for the action, although the consumerism was criticized.
Batman: White Knight is an American comic book published by DC Comics. The eight-issue limited series, written and illustrated by Sean Murphy, began monthly publication in October 2017 and concluded in May 2018. In the series, the Joker is seemingly cured of his madness and sets out to become a politician under his real name of Jack Napier, seeking to change his public image as a "villain" and save Gotham City from Batman, whom he views as the real enemy of the city.