Classic DVD review: The Batman, The Complete First Season
In an attempt to provide even more value for your money here at Nerdage, I’m going to try a new feature, in which I provide a DVD review or movie review that I wrote prior to the founding of the blog. I’ll provide updates on availability, if needed, and even provide a note on if my opinion has substantially changed since the original release. I’m going to kick it off with “The Batman: The Complete First Season,” which is still available on DVD. While I don’t think “The Batman” ever eclipsed the excellent “Batman: The Animated Series,” I did think it took some hard knocks from fandom for being something different. I enjoy it, and think some of the episodes are excellent. It’s not the first animated Batman you should buy — but the creators did make a worthwhile cartoon.
- Matt Price
“The Batman: The Complete First Season”
“The Batman” takes place early in the career of Bruce Wayne, in about his third year of fighting crime. The 13-episode season of this animated show chronicles his early meetings with the Joker and other supervillains.
Following the successful “Batman: The Animated Series,” many Bat-fans have found fault with the more anime-influenced “The Batman.” “The Animated Series” had a noir sensibility that took the best aspects of the comics interpretation.
Following such a long-running, on-model interpretation of the character, “The Batman” creators went in a different direction. Former comic-book artist Jeff Matsuda, producer and art director of the series, says in a special feature that he designed this Batman to have more of a “boxer” look, as it’s early in his career, and he was more likely to use his fists. They also returned the yellow circle around the bat symbol and shortened the ears on Batman’s cowl. The Joker has the look of an escaped mental patient, with crazy hair, overlong sleeves and no shoes.
Some adjustment will be needed for those used to Kevin Conroy’s Batman interpretation, but Rino Romano ably fills the cowl with a younger voice.
Extras: The best extra in this DC Comics Kids Collection release is “New Look, New Direction, New Knight,” featuring the show’s creators giving a behind-the-scenes look at the series.
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