So, what’s this blog about?
Hopefully, it’ll feature a complete series of reviews for a certain Batman cartoon you may know from your childhood. A show that traces the Dark Knight’s many awesome adventures through Gotham City, sporting many inimitable takes on his famed rogues gallery. I speak, of course, of…
Wait, wait! Put the tomatoes down! I’m not done yet!
Yes, The Batman. The show 22-minute toy commercial that turned the Joker into dreadlocked Tarzan, the Penguin into Spongebob, rolled back every inch of development Mr. Freeze had gotten in the past ten years, prevented Justice League Unlimited from using (most of) Batman’s rogues gallery, and made Batman himself (gasp) eat nachos.
Why this show and not some other, superior Batman show? Excellent question.
1. Batman: The Animated Series has about a zillion retrospectives devoted to it already, and I honestly don’t think I could add anything new. The Batman has The World’s Finest (who devote themselves to reviewing pretty much every DC cartoon) and that’s about it. Fair warning, though – I will be bringing up B:TAS quite a few times on this blog, mostly for comparison purposes.
2. I used to be reflexively defensive of this show when I was little because – like it or not – it was my childhood Batman. Now that I’m older and wiser, even I have to concede that B:TAS is objectively the superior show, but I retain a soft spot for this one, and I think it’s underrated in a variety of aspects.
2a. For the record, I find B:TAS vastly overrated in several aspects and oh God please don’t kill me. I have a family to support.
3. It’s not made by Filmation and it’s not Beware the Batman, what more do ya want?
So put on your cape and cowl, get that utility belt on nice and tight, and bring some nachos if you’re so inclined. ’cause you know what?
Manhattan below Fourteenth Street 