Batman’s back
I was a great admirer of Batman: The Animated Series, which ran from 1992 until 1995, originally on the Fox Network. It was dark and moody, with great voices and a knockout art deco graphic design inspired by old Max Fleischer cartoons. Some of the same creative talent which worked on that series has gone on to work on the sequel “Batman Beyond” as well as animated versions of Superman and the Justice League, all of which were well-done, but none of which ever reached the creative heights of “Batman: The Animated Series.”
I had every reason to be suspicious of The Batman, a new animated series done by completely different hands for the Kids’ WB network (I suspect it will be shared with corporate cousin Cartoon Network at some point). I had seen a screen shot somehwere and it seemed to be much more caricaturish than the elegant film-noir look of “The Animated Series.” I recall dismissing it as a condescendingly kid-friendly version.
But I was sitting here on a New Year’s morning, with nothing to watch, and noticed a listing for “The Batman.” I checked it out.
Wow.
The look of “The Batman” is, indeed, more stylized than “The Animated Series.” But it doesn’t come across as childish or cartoonish, and it has little touches that suggest a great reverence towards the work of Frank Miller. It’s certainly more realistic-looking than “Samurai Jack”, and I don’t think of that as childish!
Like the forthcoming live action movie Batman Begins, “The Batman” is about a young, relatively new Batman; I believe what I watched this morning was the first episode, and it includes Alfred remarking on Bruce Wayne’s third anniversary as Batman. Partly because of Bruce’s youth, Alfred in this version is much less shy about advising him.
One change which may offend comic book purists is that in this version, there is no James Gordon (yet, anyway). Batman is pursued by a pair of detectives, Ellen Yin (voice of E.R.’s Ming-Na) and Ethan Bennett (Steve Harris). Bennett, who seems to be a surrogate for Gordon, is a childhood friend of Bruce Wayne’s. He does not know that Bruce is Batman, but — unlike his partner and the Chief of Police (Edward James Olmos!) — he is sympathetic towards Batman.
Rino Romano’s voice work as Batman is fine, although he sounds quite a bit different from (and younger than) Kevin Conroy in “The Animated Series.” And, while I liked Mark Hammill’s Joker voice in “The Animated Series,” Kevin Michael Richardson does an even better, more nuanced job, in my opinion.
This is definitely worth a look if you have any interest at all in Batman.
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