Easton, Pa. ? Outside Tommy Castillo’s bedroom window is a rolling horse pasture where Appaloosa mares frolic with their young – not at all like gritty Gotham, the fictional city that Castillo sees with his mind’s eye as he draws the adventures of the Caped Crusader.

Castillo seems a bit out of place in the sleepy eastern Pennsylvania countryside. After all, his richly detailed paintings and drawings of dragons, zombies, wizards and other fanciful creatures have made him a brand name in the horror and fantasy genres. But the solitude allows him to focus on bringing his own dark style – and a sense of loss – to the world in which he is now immersed, the world of Batman.

Known in the comic book trade as a penciler, Castillo gives life to the 22-page scripts created by Batman’s writers at DC Comics, drawing the crime fighter, his enemies and their universe before an inker and a colorist complete the work.

While millions see the new movie “Batman Begins,” a smaller but fiercely loyal fan base continues to snap up the comic books where Bruce Wayne and his alter ego first began appearing in 1939.

Castillo, whose “Batman” work can be seen in DC’s Detective Comics and Legends of the Dark Knight series, has made his mark on the characters, reimagining the Riddler and making Batman grittier and even more shadowy. He is currently illustrating a story featuring Batman nemesis Killer Croc.

Comic book illustrator Tommy Castillo demonstrates his style in his Easton, Pa., home studio.

It has been an unlikely journey for the 34-year-old master of the macabre, whose troubled youth in Keansburg, N.J., was marked by constant fighting and a three-hour stint in the “Scared Straight” program at East Jersey State Prison.

Castillo didn’t even know he could draw until high school, when a badly broken foot at age 17 ended his professional BMX cycling career. Stuck in the first-floor art room because he had no way to get upstairs, Castillo discovered his passion with the help of an art teacher who recognized potential in the depressed young man.

It took years of struggle before he finally landed the gig of a lifetime. One of a stable of pencilers who works on Batman for DC Comics, Castillo says he feels like “Charlie going into the Willy Wonka factory.”

Castillo can relate to Bruce Wayne, who deals with the loss of his murdered parents by transforming himself into the cowl-wearing crime fighter. “When I’m drawing Batman, I’m really thinking about loss,” he says. “I don’t see him as an angry guy, I don’t see him as a vigilante. I see him as someone who lost all the things he loved and this is how he’s trying to deal with it.

“I just focus on my loss, things that I’ve had to give up,” he says.

Country refuge

Indeed, Castillo has had his share of misfortune. The broken foot forced him to walk with a cane for five years. Unable to stay physically active, he gained a tremendous amount of weight. He has since lost nearly 130 pounds to get down to a normal, healthy size.

There were emotional wounds as well. Castillo’s wife left him for his best friend several years ago, he says. After constantly seeing them together, he finally moved from New Jersey to Pennsylvania last August, renting an apartment in a 200-year-old farmhouse at the end of a country lane. There, he has made a suitably weird home for himself, installing a knife-throwing range in the yard and placing menacing figurines on the front porch.

“It would be fantastic if a dragon landed in my yard today and picked up a horse and ate it,” Castillo jokes. “I would be like, ‘Look at that. I told you! I TOLD you!”‘

He works out of a 10-foot-by-10-foot studio packed with comic books, “Star Wars” figures, toy guns and various other pop culture trinkets.

Even when he was younger, Castillo sought refuge in the make-believe. He got his love of horror and fantasy from his father, with whom he spent hours watching thrillers and scary movies, including “The Exorcist,” when he was only 7.

Horror writer Brian Keene first noticed Castillo’s work on “Batman” and “Toe Tags,” a DC comic book series written by zombie movie director George Romero (“Night of the Living Dead,” the upcoming “Land of the Dead”). Keene, whose books include “The Rising,” counts himself a fan, so much so that he and Castillo plan to work together on a graphic novel. They hope to follow in the footsteps of longtime collaborators Stephen King and Bernie Wrightson, the noted horror illustrator.

“In the world of today’s comic books, 90 percent of the art out there is influenced by the Japanese anime style or the (‘Spawn’ creator) Todd McFarlane look of the ’90s. Tommy’s stuff is neither,” Keene said. “It is unique.”

Castillo was discovered by DC Comics editor Bob Schreck four years ago after his sketchbook, “Dragons Myths & Mayhem,” was published. Rodney Ramos, an inker who has worked with Castillo on Batman, said the artist held himself back when he first started drawing the superhero.

“He was trying to conform a little bit, stick to the Batman look in the books. I said, ‘No, you got to do the stuff you’re doing in your other work and bring it to Batman. Just play with it some more.’ His style just finally crossed over,” Ramos said.