My favorite costumed superhero - Batman!
Nov. 14th, 2010 12:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
olivia_suttonHi all,
I know -- long time no post. I've been really busy with work. Anyway, my recent DVD watching has included catching up on the DC Animated Universe movies (produced by Bruce Timm for WB). I had actually first started watching the DCAU a few years ago - due to a recommendation from a friend who knew I was a DC fan and I also managed to catch some episodes of Justice League on Boomerang (without ads!). I ended up buying seasons 1 and 2 of Justice League on DVD, followed by seasons 1 and 2 of Justice League Unlimited. I also, over time, bought and collected Batman the Animated Series. I liked both Justice League and Batman, well, because they did virtually everything right for animated superhero series -- they brought in a lot of stuff from the actual comic books, including characters, etc. The voices, both regular and guest, were great! I still think Kevin Conroy is, like, the best Batman ever. But I didn't really at that time get any of the movies, partly do to lack of money, and partly because I did get Batman: Gotham Knight (the Anime' movie) and didn't really care for it.
Anyway, over the last week or two, I've collected most of the DCAU movies and Batman Beyond. The movies were all good and some were really good! Of the movies I thought Green Lantern First Flight was excellent (I've always liked the GL books), and Superman/Batman Public Enemies also rocked my world! (It was based on one of the books in the Superman/Batman graphic novel series - which I'm addicted to. Now, a word of explaination -- Superman/Batman is NOT slash like most of us on LiveJournal would think of it. And, I still can't believe the folks at DC didn't realise what they were saying with that title. The Superman/Batman graphic novels are stand alone stories that featuring both Superman and Batman working together. Some are short story collections. But the best part of the graphic novels are the alternating thought bubbles for Bruce and Clark -- sometimes they are thinking the exact same thing, and at other times, the exact opposite. The writers do a very good job of showing Clark thru' Bruce's eyes, and Bruce thru' Clark's. Which is fun. It's also nice to see the genuine friendship of the characters which in other graphic novels and books is often shown to be more rivalry and even at times - outright hostility (e.g. Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns).) Wonder Woman was good, Nathan Fillion did a great job as Steve Trevor, but I really wish they had gotten Susen Eisenberg who voiced Wonder Woman in Justice League and JLU to play her in the movie. (And Jonathan Frakes to play Ares again!).
But it was Batman: Under the Red Hood that completely blew me away!!! I totally, totally loved it. Now I should probably point out that A Death in the Family is still my favorite Batman graphic novel. And Batman: Under the Red Hood starts with the end of that book. Now, it quickly seems to take a sharp left turn into AU territory, tho' I did get a copy of part 1 of the Under the Hood graphic novel, so I could see where the story came from. The movie is also, besides all the angst, a darn good mystery -- and Batman also works best when there's some sort of mystery. Neal Patrick Harris does a wonderful job as Nightwing, better than the voice actor who play Dick Grayson/Robin/Nightwing in the original Batman: The Animated Series (and sequels). However, although Bruce Greenwood does a good job as Batman - I missed having Kevin Conroy playing the part. DCAU is doing one of the most important stories in the Batman canon - the death of Jason Todd, and an AU aftermath, and Conroy - the man who's played Batman the longest in any format - isn't offered the role? Why?! But that's my only complaint. The animation was incredible (at times I even forgot I was watching animation).
OK -- so now with that background, into my analysis of Batman.
Batman had always been my favorite costumed superhero for a lot of reasons. For one thing -- Bruce is just "this guy" - he's not an alien from another planet, he wasn't bitten by a radioactive spider or exposed to Gamma radiation. He's just a guy turning his own personal tragedy into an attempt to do something good for his city. Which makes it a bit more realistic than other superhero books. Now you still have the over-the-top villains, and futuristic tech, but Batman is much more down-to-Earth than most comic books.
Second - I've always been a fan of mysteries, including film noir/hard-boiled detective fiction. And Batman, in concept, is closer to Dashiell Hammett than Superman or most other super-heroes. True, most traditional detectives don't run around in capes, masks, and tights catching bad-guys -- but you could easily take Bruce's backstory (the death of his parents) and make him a private detective or cop and it wouldn't really change the story or Bruce's personality. After all, one of Batman's titles is "The World's Greatest Detective" and DC did, originally, and still does, stand for "Detective Comics".
The other thing is that Bruce's whole entire motivation is that he wants to see that what happened to him, never happens to another child. He's not motivated by vengeance. If Bruce was motivated by vengeance he would have found the guy who killed Martha and Thomas Wayne and killed him -- then a few years later found the guy who hired the guy to kill Thomas Wayne and killed him too. But, never in canon, or in any of the "slightly non-canonical" graphic novels does Bruce ever seek out strict vengeance. He's out there protecting Gotham and it's citizens. He gets angry with the various Robins when/if they go over the line (esp. Jason Todd). Bruce also doesn't use guns - and turns over the bad guys he catches to the police. Not exactly the vigilante he's sometimes portrayed as.
So, you have an angst-ridden, hero - often suffering from horrible Survivor's Guilt and PTSD, but who still attempts to turn that into something positive - I find that inspiring in a superhero. Bruce has his faults - which make him more human too. (Superman, for example, always seemed "too perfect" - not only completely invulnerable to anything bar Kryptonite, but as a person/character Clark always seemed to perfect. Please don't flame me.)
I also just watched all three seasons of Batman Beyond too. Now I had seen Justice League as I mentioned - so I knew a bit of the continuity. But I hadn't actually seen Batman Beyond.
I actually liked it. I really liked Terry McGinnis. He seemed a lot more of a stable Batman (or Batman junior) than Bruce, and even more stable than a lot of the Robins. Terry, after all, had a mother, a younger brother, a girlfriend, and a best friend who knew his secret in Max(ine). Bruce had Alfred and later Dick Grayson to keep him sane. Eventually, he'd lose both. One of the things I did find annoying about BB was they never explained what happened to Dick. I'm assuming Alfred died of old age. But Nightwing? Did he die on the job or what? Because, despite their problems and arguing once Dick grew up, became his own man, and changed his persona to Nightwing - he'd be there for Bruce in the midst of anything really bad. In A Lonely Place of Dying (the graphic novel sequel to A Death in the Family - Alfred calls Dick when Bruce starts to get really out of control in the wake of Jason's death.) So, why no flashback episode or explanation of what happened in Batman Beyond? Because, as mad as Dick sometimes got at Bruce, at some point Dick would always go back.
Which is why - I wish at times that BB had been 42 or 45 minutes instead of 22. Tho', looking at S 3 -- the two parters weren't that great, both kinda' fell apart in the second half. But it would have been nice to have more character interaction between Terry and Bruce. In the first season, some of the best bits were when Terry started to demand that Bruce open up a bit. In S2 and 3, hints are dropped than Bruce has opened up, but I would have liked to see that.
Still, I'll be eagerly looking forward to see what happens next in Timm's DCAU.
--Olivia
I know -- long time no post. I've been really busy with work. Anyway, my recent DVD watching has included catching up on the DC Animated Universe movies (produced by Bruce Timm for WB). I had actually first started watching the DCAU a few years ago - due to a recommendation from a friend who knew I was a DC fan and I also managed to catch some episodes of Justice League on Boomerang (without ads!). I ended up buying seasons 1 and 2 of Justice League on DVD, followed by seasons 1 and 2 of Justice League Unlimited. I also, over time, bought and collected Batman the Animated Series. I liked both Justice League and Batman, well, because they did virtually everything right for animated superhero series -- they brought in a lot of stuff from the actual comic books, including characters, etc. The voices, both regular and guest, were great! I still think Kevin Conroy is, like, the best Batman ever. But I didn't really at that time get any of the movies, partly do to lack of money, and partly because I did get Batman: Gotham Knight (the Anime' movie) and didn't really care for it.
Anyway, over the last week or two, I've collected most of the DCAU movies and Batman Beyond. The movies were all good and some were really good! Of the movies I thought Green Lantern First Flight was excellent (I've always liked the GL books), and Superman/Batman Public Enemies also rocked my world! (It was based on one of the books in the Superman/Batman graphic novel series - which I'm addicted to. Now, a word of explaination -- Superman/Batman is NOT slash like most of us on LiveJournal would think of it. And, I still can't believe the folks at DC didn't realise what they were saying with that title. The Superman/Batman graphic novels are stand alone stories that featuring both Superman and Batman working together. Some are short story collections. But the best part of the graphic novels are the alternating thought bubbles for Bruce and Clark -- sometimes they are thinking the exact same thing, and at other times, the exact opposite. The writers do a very good job of showing Clark thru' Bruce's eyes, and Bruce thru' Clark's. Which is fun. It's also nice to see the genuine friendship of the characters which in other graphic novels and books is often shown to be more rivalry and even at times - outright hostility (e.g. Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns).) Wonder Woman was good, Nathan Fillion did a great job as Steve Trevor, but I really wish they had gotten Susen Eisenberg who voiced Wonder Woman in Justice League and JLU to play her in the movie. (And Jonathan Frakes to play Ares again!).
But it was Batman: Under the Red Hood that completely blew me away!!! I totally, totally loved it. Now I should probably point out that A Death in the Family is still my favorite Batman graphic novel. And Batman: Under the Red Hood starts with the end of that book. Now, it quickly seems to take a sharp left turn into AU territory, tho' I did get a copy of part 1 of the Under the Hood graphic novel, so I could see where the story came from. The movie is also, besides all the angst, a darn good mystery -- and Batman also works best when there's some sort of mystery. Neal Patrick Harris does a wonderful job as Nightwing, better than the voice actor who play Dick Grayson/Robin/Nightwing in the original Batman: The Animated Series (and sequels). However, although Bruce Greenwood does a good job as Batman - I missed having Kevin Conroy playing the part. DCAU is doing one of the most important stories in the Batman canon - the death of Jason Todd, and an AU aftermath, and Conroy - the man who's played Batman the longest in any format - isn't offered the role? Why?! But that's my only complaint. The animation was incredible (at times I even forgot I was watching animation).
OK -- so now with that background, into my analysis of Batman.
Batman had always been my favorite costumed superhero for a lot of reasons. For one thing -- Bruce is just "this guy" - he's not an alien from another planet, he wasn't bitten by a radioactive spider or exposed to Gamma radiation. He's just a guy turning his own personal tragedy into an attempt to do something good for his city. Which makes it a bit more realistic than other superhero books. Now you still have the over-the-top villains, and futuristic tech, but Batman is much more down-to-Earth than most comic books.
Second - I've always been a fan of mysteries, including film noir/hard-boiled detective fiction. And Batman, in concept, is closer to Dashiell Hammett than Superman or most other super-heroes. True, most traditional detectives don't run around in capes, masks, and tights catching bad-guys -- but you could easily take Bruce's backstory (the death of his parents) and make him a private detective or cop and it wouldn't really change the story or Bruce's personality. After all, one of Batman's titles is "The World's Greatest Detective" and DC did, originally, and still does, stand for "Detective Comics".
The other thing is that Bruce's whole entire motivation is that he wants to see that what happened to him, never happens to another child. He's not motivated by vengeance. If Bruce was motivated by vengeance he would have found the guy who killed Martha and Thomas Wayne and killed him -- then a few years later found the guy who hired the guy to kill Thomas Wayne and killed him too. But, never in canon, or in any of the "slightly non-canonical" graphic novels does Bruce ever seek out strict vengeance. He's out there protecting Gotham and it's citizens. He gets angry with the various Robins when/if they go over the line (esp. Jason Todd). Bruce also doesn't use guns - and turns over the bad guys he catches to the police. Not exactly the vigilante he's sometimes portrayed as.
So, you have an angst-ridden, hero - often suffering from horrible Survivor's Guilt and PTSD, but who still attempts to turn that into something positive - I find that inspiring in a superhero. Bruce has his faults - which make him more human too. (Superman, for example, always seemed "too perfect" - not only completely invulnerable to anything bar Kryptonite, but as a person/character Clark always seemed to perfect. Please don't flame me.)
I also just watched all three seasons of Batman Beyond too. Now I had seen Justice League as I mentioned - so I knew a bit of the continuity. But I hadn't actually seen Batman Beyond.
I actually liked it. I really liked Terry McGinnis. He seemed a lot more of a stable Batman (or Batman junior) than Bruce, and even more stable than a lot of the Robins. Terry, after all, had a mother, a younger brother, a girlfriend, and a best friend who knew his secret in Max(ine). Bruce had Alfred and later Dick Grayson to keep him sane. Eventually, he'd lose both. One of the things I did find annoying about BB was they never explained what happened to Dick. I'm assuming Alfred died of old age. But Nightwing? Did he die on the job or what? Because, despite their problems and arguing once Dick grew up, became his own man, and changed his persona to Nightwing - he'd be there for Bruce in the midst of anything really bad. In A Lonely Place of Dying (the graphic novel sequel to A Death in the Family - Alfred calls Dick when Bruce starts to get really out of control in the wake of Jason's death.) So, why no flashback episode or explanation of what happened in Batman Beyond? Because, as mad as Dick sometimes got at Bruce, at some point Dick would always go back.
Which is why - I wish at times that BB had been 42 or 45 minutes instead of 22. Tho', looking at S 3 -- the two parters weren't that great, both kinda' fell apart in the second half. But it would have been nice to have more character interaction between Terry and Bruce. In the first season, some of the best bits were when Terry started to demand that Bruce open up a bit. In S2 and 3, hints are dropped than Bruce has opened up, but I would have liked to see that.
Still, I'll be eagerly looking forward to see what happens next in Timm's DCAU.
--Olivia
