I love grim, moody, Gothic, psychological, serious Batman stories. They're great. Really!
But, I have also have some affection for the Dick Sprang era stories where the emphasis was on daring super-hero action, detective work, and villains that were more colorful than crazy or evil. Batman is the Dark Knight, but he's also the Caped Crusader. I'm digging the test footage. This might be fun.
Posts: 6689 | Registered: Jan 2005
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I think Robin as what I'm guessing is supposed to be Robin Hood is pretty hilarious. Personally I think I'll always prefer the 1990's eta darker animated series because it's partially what I grew up on.
But this DOES look a lot more kid friendly and fun.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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That's not Robin, that's Green Arrow, the top "archer-as-super-hero" guy in the DC Comics-verse. He's heavily based on Robin Hood, naturally.
Also turning up are Plastic Man (the original stretchable super-hero) and the current Blue Beetle, a kid with an alien-mystic scarab thing going on.
Villains seen include the Gentlemen Ghost, Gorilla Grodd, Kanjar Ro and...oh my gosh. Kite Man. What, they couldn't use the Rainbow Raider?
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What about Hawkeye? Where does he rank in the pantheon of archer heroes?
I kind of thought for a moment that it might be the Green Arrow, since they had mixed so many other character in to that little trailer, but the whole Robin thing just jumped out at me.
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Hawkeye was Marvel's top "archer as super-hero guy" until Brian Michael Bendis decided to kill him off in the most ridiculous manner possible, then resurrect him as a freakin' ninja dude.
(It's even stupider than it sounds.)
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Excuse me, but isn't the Kid's WB series, The Batman already a lighter more kid friendly series? That series is fine for a younger audience. This is several steps too far in my opinion.
Why can't they do the opposite? I want a darker more mature Batman animated series. Something that they have to air after 10:00 pm. Something like the Gotham Knight shorts.
Posts: 1569 | Registered: Dec 2004
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All ages could enjoy Batman: TAS. That show debuted when I was 8 and I loved it. I still think it's awesome in my 20s. And I know that I'm just one of legions who feel that way. This looks like it will appeal to a significantly smaller age range, like 5-7. Let's face it, Batman is a semi-insane vigilante who launched a terror based war on crime after he watched his parents get gunned down in front of him. Why must this character be made "kid friendly"? Why not make Spawn kid friendly?
*sigh* I miss the cartoons of my youth...
Posts: 1569 | Registered: Dec 2004
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The cartoons of your youth are on DVD, if you check Amazon.
Listen, I loved the Dini-Timm animated series. Loved it obsessively. If you ever meet porcelain girl, she can confirm this. (Sis loved that show too) It is indeed awesome.
However, it's far from the only possible interpretation of Batman. And really, the Dini-Timm version was based more on Bob Kane -Bill Finger's original mysterious, dark detective and Dennis O'Neil-Neal Adam's obsessed but pure crimefighter than he was on Frank Miller's borderline insane grim n' gritty brawler. (Though undeniably, there are elements of that too.)
From the late 1940s to the mid 1960s (minus the bizarre science fantasy stories only Grant Morrison likes to remember), the Dick Sprang square-jawed, smart and noble super-heroic caped crusader was the real Batman. Then he got replaced the campy-pop Adam West Batman, but let's not go into that...
My point is, all those takes are the "real" Batman. He's a broad enough character to exist in multiple interpretations.
Spawn isn't like that. Spawn is the exact same character he was when Todd MacFarlane created him: A piecemeal amalgam of every "kewl" 90s anti-hero stereotype in the universe. He's just not a very flexible character.
Why must they make Batman kid friendly? Because he's one of the most recognizable, popular fictional characters in the world. The Batman comic book line is still struggling with the result of three decades of aiming their stories almost exclusively at older readers: An aging, jaded, shrinking fan-base.
They want to convert 'em when they're young. Posts: 6689 | Registered: Jan 2005
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Yeah, I hear you. But sometimes it just feels like "kid friendly" now means devoid of substance.
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From the look of the test-footage, they're aiming more for purely escapist action and adventure with cool super-heroes and larger-than-life villains. That can be either great or lame. I trust the producer and creative folk in charge of the show...they did a great job on Legion of Super-Heroes. I'm willing to give their "fun" Batman a try. Posts: 6689 | Registered: Jan 2005
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The Blue beetle gets his powers from the same amulet that the original beetle used for his powers. (from shazam not aliens)
Posts: 1574 | Registered: May 2008
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"The Blue Beetle scarab, previously believed a piece of magic, is in fact a tool of war of the Reach, an ancient race of cosmic marauders."
By the way, the new Blue Beetle series is very enjoyable (the first trade a little less so, but the second and third are great).
Edit: From World's Finest, a list of known/rumoured heroes and villains to appear in the show: Heroes Batman Green Arrow Blue Beetle Green Lantern Corps Aquaman Flash Red Tornado Atom Plastic Man Huntress Black Canary Dr. Fate (rumored) Fire Deadman Jonah Hex Metamorpho Bat-hound Robin Adam Strange Booster Gold & Skeets Wildcat Kamandi Bat-Mite (rumored)
Villains Black Manta Ocean Master Gorilla Grodd Gentleman Ghost Cavalier (rumored) Clock King (rumored) Kite Man Zebra-Man
Posts: 254 | Registered: Apr 2005
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