Batman Returns to Camp With ‘Brave and the Bold’
I just caught an episode of ‘Batman: The Brave and the Bold‘. I am a lifetime Batman fan, and have watched him evolve for what seems my entire life. After Frank Miller‘s ‘Dark Knight Returns‘, Tim Burton‘s Batman films, Batman: The Animated Series, and the current bat-film franchise, I thought that we had moved past the Adam West era of campy Batman. Turns out Warner Bros. animation wanted to give it another try with ‘Batman: The Brave and the Bold’.
I like this series. I’m not the typical ‘That’s not how the character should be!’ type of fan. Especially when it comes to Batman, I can pretty much deal with any incarnation that doesn’t have Joel Schumacher’s name attached to it. So a return to a more fun Batman isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes he gets so mopey that even I want to scream: “I know! You’re parents died! I get it! But you’re a grown man now, so snap out of it!” I like to go back to the time when Batman fought villains on typewriters and robots from other dimensions.
‘Brave and the Bold’ does just that. The episode I caught featured Plastic Man and Gorilla Grodd and took place mostly on Dinosaur Island. Did it add something to the Batman mythos? Not really. Was it fun? Hell, yes. That’s what we sometimes forget in our self-absorbed fanboy minds: these characters were invented in the name of escapism. They’re meant to be fun. Welcome, ‘Brave and the Bold’, and thank you for reminding me what Saturday morning used to be.
-Justin
P.S. Anyone else see the Dick Sprang influence?
Dick Sprang drew a heck of a Batman, apparently Warner Bros. Animation noticed.
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Tags: Batman, Dark Knight, DC Comics, Frank Miller, Warner Bros. Animation
