Okay, so even objectively, Batman: The Animated Series wipes the floor with The Batman like Hell I’m here to argue that. Rastafarian Joker was also a challenge.But now that both the DCAU and The Batman are but memories distanced by years and a multitude of newer cartoons and straight-to-video animated films clogging our DVRs, I think it’d be a good idea to discard the bitterness of the Bat-Embargo and judge The Batman against its holy brethren of the 1990s, Batman: The Animated Series, a bit more objectively. The fact that it ran concurrently with the last season of Justice League Unlimited, resulting in the infamous “Bat-Embargo” surely didn’t help (the Bat-Embargo prevented Batman’s supporting characters and villains from appearing in JLU as The Batman had exclusivity rights to them). Perhaps its greatest hurtle during its initial run, though, was just the fact that it was the successor to the DC Animated Universe and that meant it was going to have a lot of guys in their early twenties who were going to hate it simply for existing. Listen to the latest episode of our weekly comics podcast! The Batman wanted to be both kinds of shows and while it did strike that necessary balance from time to time, mostly it was a whole lot of nonsense and Greg Weisman phoning it in while waiting for that Spectacular Spider-Man gig to come along. On one hand, it wants to be a gritty and intelligent look at the psychological aspects of Batman’s adventures with daring plots and grim consequences, but then it also wants to be a fun and lighter take on the character where he eats enchiladas, pilots a giant robot and has kung-fu battles with the Penguin. Sandwiched between those two wildly different interpretations of the Dark Knight, The Batman certainly does feel a little awkward for it. “Oh, everyone loves The Animated Series for its dark, sophisticated and groundbreaking storytelling and everyone thinks Brave and the Bold is so adorable with its little pre-title vignettes and all the crazy Silver Age ideas and obscure characters! But what about ME? Everything’s always MARSHA! MarshaMarshaMARSHA!”
Coming out after Batman: The Animated Series but before Batman: The Brave and the Bold, it suffers from chronic Middle Child Syndrome.
You gotta feel a little sorry for The Batman.
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