The Brave and the Bold

Batman: The Brave and the Bold
Cartoon Network

It’s always nice when something manages to surprise you in a good way and I’m very pleased that the new animated series from DC Comics and Warner Brothers Animation Batman: The Brave and the Bold has managed to do just that. Perhaps the biggest surprise for me thus far has been Diedrich Bader whose taken up the part of Batman’s voice actor for the series. Initially when I heard he’d be filling the bat boots this time around I was extremely unimpressed, in fact it was for that reason more than anything else that I didn’t look in on the series until a few weeks ago. It’s hard to explain why exactly but Bader’s voice just works for this incarnation of the caped crusader, it manages to capture the weight of the character without being too gritty or serious either.

One of my favorite things about the show though is that it doesn’t revolve around characters it’s younger audience will immediately recognize for the most part. It’s bringing lesser knowns to a new generation of young fans who will be kept rapt to the screen and just maybe that will keep a few of the old guard alive in the coming years. The most modern face from DC to make it’s way into the show is the newest incarnation of the Blue Beetle, Jaime Reyes who is still just starting out as a hero and finds himself fighting shoulder to shoulder with legends. Although I’ve never cared for his comic book incarnation very much he fills the rookie role well here and has made multiple appearances in the first season of the series.

With a rotating lineup of partners, the only constant from one to the next being Batman himself, the audience get to see a ton of faces to date including Adam Strange, Aquaman, Black Canary, Bronze Tiger, B’wana Beast, Deadman, Dr. Fate, Elongated Man, Etrigan, Fire, Jay Garrick the Flash, Jonah Hex, Plastic Man, Question, and Red Tornado. The heroes aren’t the only new old faces you’ll be seeing though the villains are every bit as varied in their roster. Black Manta, Brain, Cavalier, Chemo, Clock King, Gentlemen Ghost, Joker, Kite Man, Scarecrow, Sportsmaster, and Top have all made appearances as well as many other villains.

The show has a great sense of humor that a younger audience will enjoy while not dumbing down the stories or the characters in ways that would turn more mature viewers off to it. I’ve even found myself laughing out loud on more than one occasion at the deadpan humor of Batman. This is a lighter side of the character we don’t see very often and it’s good to see him throwing out one liners as well as batarangs again.

Speaking as someone whose been trained as an artist I can’t just ignore the artistic style and direction of the show, it’s brighter and less bogged down in realism then past efforts have been. It’s a throwback to an older DC style that hasn’t been seen in quite a while and in most cases it works quite well still. However every once in a while there’s a redesign that just doesn’t quite work, the Outsiders look like they were trying to be modernized for example and it’s off putting. Another example of this is Red Tornado who gains a pair of very odd looking triangular shoulder pads that seem to have been added out of nowhere.

Now that the first season is finished and the second is only into it’s first few episodes I’d highly recommend giving it a chance to anyone but especially fans of the super hero genre both young and old. I’m especially looking forward to seeing Booster Gold in some future episode.