Do you remember The Batman? It was a cartoon that aired on WB Kids in the mid-part of the 2000’s. The Batman faced the problem of living in the shadow Batman: The Animated Series, considered by everyone and their grandmothers to be the best Batman cartoon ever. Although different in terms of specific plot details (Batgirl coming before Robin, Clayface having a pretty great character arc, Dracula) The Batman still felt incredibly similar to Batman: TAS. Functionally, both were cartoons about Batman facing his classic rouges gallery (with the occasional D-lister) in a gritty style. The Batman had some seriously great episodes, but since it was most of the same characters who had been done before on a show that everyone considers untouchably brilliant it’s fallen into some relative obscurity. The redesigns for every character were pretty great, but it just ended up hammering the point home that The Batman was kind of just The Animated Series with a new paint job. So, when making a new cartoon about Batman they knew they had to be different. They couldn’t do a “Batman vs. Weekly Classic Villain” show like every one of Batman’s TV iterations had been. They had to make something different in order to avoid the general apathy The Batman got.
You could say… they had to Beware The Batman.
But no they made The Brave and the Bold first and that was awesome. But now that it’s cancelled, the creators of the new Batman show have even more of a challenge. How do they take on the Dark Knight, a character who’s been adapted arguably too many times, and make a show distinct from the sacred cow that is The Animated Series? By making the show you want. And what the creators behind Beware The Batman want, is the coolest, slickest, and most creative reinvention of Gotham City in a long time.
Well, maybe it’s not a complete reinvention. Restyling is more like it. The basics are all still there. Bruce Wayne is Batman, Jim Gordon is a lieutenant so the audience knows this is early Batman, and Alfred remains the dutiful butler. However there are some slight differences. Gotham City itself isn’t the doomed “Are we going through a crisis or is the sky just red because of pollution” Gotham from basically every cartoon adaption. Alfred took a cue from the “Earth One” book of badassery and is a hard-as-nails former MI6 agent who’s dedicated to protecting Bruce at any cost. It’s like if Michael Caine, in The Dark Knight Rises had stayed to try and beat the crap out of Bruce with a baseball bat while he slept as part of training instead of walking out and coming back at the end of the movie to cry. Speaking of character changes, this Bruce Wayne seems to have a very particular choice when it comes to discussing his nocturnal activities. Bruce almost never says “I”; it’s always “We.” He considers Bruce Wayne and Batman to see separate personas but he’s also straddling the line between them. It’s a pretty interesting departure from the “Nah, Batman’s the real man and Bruce Wayne’s the mask” situation that most people accept. Also, the partner, as far as can be seen, will be Katana who gets maybe a full minute of screen time here. Now as distracting as it may seem to forego the Robins and have Batman mentor Katana, mentoring is not the game here. Katana’s situation with Bruce is a great deal different than previous sidekicks, and it’ll be incredibly interesting to see it play out. All these character changes show that the sensibilities towards the characters are being subtly changed to show sides of them that have never been seen before, or at least not fully explored.
And if the main characters are being subtly changed, the normal villain lineups are being completely blown out of the water as the first episode as Professor Goddamn Pyg and Mister Toad. Now you may be thinking, “Professor Pyg?! I thought this show was for children? How are they going to translate that lovable drug-addled, face-cutting-offing, kidnapping-a-minor-to-a-chair-and-stripping-for-them, rascal?!” And the answer is by making him an eco-terroist with a gentlemanly English game hunter vibe who sounds like the noises Alfred Hitchcock’s voice makes while snogging Will Ferell’s impression of Sean Connery who also rides around in an old timey buggy with a genuine cannon that comes out of the hood. In short, he is incredible. A complete reinvention of the comic’s most messed up character that may actually be more enjoyable than the original version. The same can be said for Mister Toad who’s gone from Circus of the Weird boss to Pyg’s partner. Their relationship is just a delight and reminiscent of Mr. Wink and Mr. Fibb from Codename: Kids Next Door. If Beware the Batman has any breakout stars, it’s them.
Continued belowOf course, the newly realized characters wouldn’t mean much if they weren’t at play in a beautiful environment and the animation is where Beware might gain the most criticism. Batman’s head looks weird. Squished almost. Other than that though, there’s a lot of great work done with the 3D graphics. It doesn’t take itself too seriously, as can be seen by Pyg and Toad’s radical Cannon-Buggy, but it’s definitely one of the darker renditions of Gotham, at least artistically. There’s some really great style done too, in terms of special effects. The opening scene in which Batman faces down a couple of thugs holds its place as one of the coolest uses of the Batarang in a fight ever. Though, if one wants to truly appreciate Beware The Batman’s style, they must look at the opening introduction which actually didn’t come packaged with this episode which is a shame because it is the coolest got dang thing ever.
Seriously, watch that thing and try not to tell me it ain’t the slickest shit this side of a water slide running on melted butter. The colors are black and red, colors easily identifiable with The Animated Series followed by nothing like The Animated Series. Katana swinging her ninja sword around, Alfred posing as “The Man from B.U.T.L.E.R.”, and that catchy as hell theme song by The Dum Dum Girls, who make me so thankful to the creators of the show for telling me about. Plus,that smooth shot where the shadow moves across Bruce’s face and gives him the mask sets up the subplot about Bruce’s identity problems pretty stylishly. This is new. Beware the Batman is dark like The Animated Series, but has some goofy aspects that Brave and the Bold did while proving to be as stylish as The Batman, and all the while never feeling too derivative of any of it’s predecessors.
I saw a lot of complaints before the series premiered that said Beware the Batman was sacrilege for not having the classic characters, Robin, or a frail butler Alfred. That a show that strays too far from the formula could never work. And they could be right. Maybe this show falls flat on its face once it runs out of good ideas for villains and throws in a lazy Ten Eyed Man arc or something. That could definitely happen. But for now, Beware the Batman is a brave new direction for The Caped Crusader, and is a Batman cartoon unlike any you’ve ever seen. Don’t Beware the Batman. Accept it.
Final Verdict: 9.2 – Watch PLEASE.
