Rapid Review: Batman - The Brave and the Bold
The Cartoon Network's new Batman: The Brave and The Bold cartoon premiered on Friday -- and it's well worth checking out.
(Theme music owes a bit to The Tick, I think, but it's not that tongue-in-cheek.)
As discussed in this Wired interview, it's the first time in decades that we've seen a lighter Batman -- not the driven, disturbed and haunted vigilante of the breakthrough Batman: The Animated Series or the "Dark Knight" of the new batch of Batman films.
The show will team a solo Batman with a different DC comics character each episode -- and it looks like they're going to the back-benches with some of the people who will be showing up. The first episode "Rise of the Blue Beetle!" is light enough for kids, but it's not junk-food. Adult comic fans, sci-fi geeks and kids-at-heart of all ages will also enjoy the show's wit and imagination.
Reminds me a bit of what they did with Superman Adventures some years ago - taking essential elements of the property and telling really great pop stories with them.
Comments (2)
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I'm just amazed they made the Blue Beetle look cool for the first time in...
Huh. Was the Blue Beetle ever cool?
Posted on November 17, 2008 4:53 PM
That's actually a design for the character that comes from the new comic.
After they shot the old Blue Beetle in the head the new kid got a costume that was infinitely cooler.
But the old costume was just a tweaking of the costume from the 1940s -- and still pretty close to the one from the 1960s. I frankly don't think the 1980s redesign was a big step forward.
It's funny how Batman, Superman and Captain America's costumes are all from the first half of the 20th century and none has really changed that dramatically -- and yet there are characters whose costumes just continue to get stranger and uglier. I guess there's something to be said for getting it right the first time.
Posted on November 17, 2008 7:51 PM