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Rapid Review: Batman - The Brave and the Bold

The Cartoon Network's new Batman: The Brave and The Bold cartoon premiered on Friday -- and it's well worth checking out.

(Theme music owes a bit to The Tick, I think, but it's not that tongue-in-cheek.)

As discussed in this Wired interview, it's the first time in decades that we've seen a lighter Batman -- not the driven, disturbed and haunted vigilante of the breakthrough Batman: The Animated Series or the "Dark Knight" of the new batch of Batman films.

The show will team a solo Batman with a different DC comics character each episode -- and it looks like they're going to the back-benches with some of the people who will be showing up. The first episode "Rise of the Blue Beetle!" is light enough for kids, but it's not junk-food. Adult comic fans, sci-fi geeks and kids-at-heart of all ages will also enjoy the show's wit and imagination.

Reminds me a bit of what they did with Superman Adventures some years ago - taking essential elements of the property and telling really great pop stories with them.

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Tags: Comics, Cartoons, Rapid Review

Posted by Joe Killian on Sunday, November 16, 2008 at 3:39 pm

What do you think?

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Chris Lowrance (imported)

November 17, 2008 - 4:53 pm EST

I'm just amazed they made the Blue Beetle look cool for the first time in...

Huh. Was the Blue Beetle ever cool?

Joe Killian (imported)

November 17, 2008 - 7:51 pm EST

That's actually a design for the character that comes from the new comic.

After they shot the old Blue Beetle in the head the new kid got a costume that was infinitely cooler.

But the old costume was just a tweaking of the costume from the 1940s -- and still pretty close to the one from the 1960s. I frankly don't think the 1980s redesign was a big step forward.

It's funny how Batman, Superman and Captain America's costumes are all from the first half of the 20th century and none has really changed that dramatically -- and yet there are characters whose costumes just continue to get stranger and uglier. I guess there's something to be said for getting it right the first time.