Bruce Wayne needs a sense of humor to do his job. Batman, for a very long time, was going to a very dark place.

I wouldn't call the Joker exactly easy to write.

'Batman Beyond' started because we were tossed a curve, because the higher ups at Warner Bros. wanted a different take on him.

A lot of times, female characters - particularly the villains - come off as very one-dimensional. They get the short shrift in that they're only given the snappy comeback, or they're relegated to a very stereotypical role. I want to know what's driving them - that's what's really interesting.

If 'Jingle Belle' harkens back to anything, it's sort of the Harvey Comics. Not really 'Archie,' but more of a teenage version of what Harvey Comics would have become, with the type of fantasy wonderland of her and her various friends.

I get it, cops deal with a lot, but at the same time, we crave justice, and we do want to believe things are going to be all right.

As much as I liked the build-up to Christmas, the week after always socked me with the blues.

You don't have a Batman without Bruce Wayne. Batman is the edge or scary image for Bruce to use.

When it's only you that you can rely on, you're surprised at the resilience you have.

Jeph Loeb has been great to work with, and he's been really supportive of some really bizarre ideas I've had.

There's a different energy to Spider-Man than there is to Batman.

To overcome any form of adversity, to not give up, to not give up on yourself, your dreams, to not sequester yourself away from people - that's the most important thing to do with your life.

Wonder Woman is out there very much defending the right and being strong and being a positive role model.

In those times when a kid first tries to express themselves creatively, it sets them on a different path. Sometimes, that path can be really wonderful and can lead to a career doing some of the things you love. I also think that the price on that is a certain amount of alienation or distance created between a lot of the people around you.

When you're writing for a game - even if you're using very well known characters like Batman and his villains who lend themselves to many different interpretations - you have to keep in mind that you're writing for a different medium. Things are a bit more straightforward than it is for a feature film or a TV show.

Encourage your kids to be creative. When you see them tracing a character from TV or a comic, say something like, 'That's nice. Now how about you create a character yourself?' Keep kids curious and excited about creating.

As much fun as it is gaming, I have so much to do that I've had to get away from them. I still enjoy them. When I go to a friend's house and they have a game on, I'll happily join in and play.

There are some short stories in R. Crumb comics that are just wonderful and touch me in ways no other comics do.

With 'Tower Prep,' Cartoon Network wanted to go into a new area where no other kids' programming was going. There were a lot of kids' sitcoms on the air, but they wanted to really go with more of like an adventure/drama feel.

The Joker is a tremendous vehicle for talented actors. Cesar Romero's was a bubbly, lunatic criminal. Nicholson did him as a vain, preening manipulator. Heath's performance of the Joker was remarkable, too. His was a low-simmering crazy street clown. Joker can be played all these ways, and they're all true.

Most female characters have either been the temptress - like a Betty Boop type - or the victim - like an Olive Oil type.

I really didn't have any plan for her other than the henchgirl role, who was better at getting laughs out of the other gang members than the Joker was. I gave her the name Harley Quinn because I thought Harley was a fun name for a girl, and a lot of 'Batman' character names have a bit of a pun to them, like E Nygma.

It's wrong to become a bully yourself or to take it out on other people, and in my case, I just retreated to a place where I was safe. And that place was my imagination, books, and television.

There's a sort of eternal, indefinable 20th century quality to 'BTAS.' We never really pegged the decade, but it's anytime in the 20th century, so I often harkened back to things from the '40s or '50s.