Review by Craig Byrne
On August 17, Warner Home Video released their first larger collection of the animated series Batman: The Brave and the Bold. The series, which first aired on the Cartoon Network, is the latest in a line of many Batman cartoons. It’s about as different as you can get from the gothic Batman: The Animated Series or the wild redesigns of The Batman.
Instead, Brave and the Bold aims for a younger crowd, and it is very successful at doing it. It’s kind of a “gateway drug” into the DC universe with characters ranging from the Blue Beetle all the way to Jonah Hex and Kamandi making appearances. It’s a lot like the classic Brave and the Bold team-up comics, just without the pretty Neal Adams or Jim Aparo artwork.
Although, again, this is aimed at children (so you can expect some things to be a little silly), it doesn’t “talk down” as much as even the dated Superfriends did… although to Superfriends’ defense, that’s just how things were done back then and they had nostalgia working for them. And even with that said, there are a few episodes on this 13-episode collection that have some fantastic material.
My personal favorite episode on the set is “Fall of the Blue Beetle,” which tells the story of the man who had the Blue Beetle scarab before Jaime Reyes. This episode also features Will Friedle as the voice of Jaime – you might remember him as Cory Matthews’ older brother but more people might recall his work as the lead voice in Batman Beyond. Another one I like a lot is “Dawn of the Dead Man!,” a story involving – you guessed it – Deadman, who is voiced by someone familiar to Smallville fans – Michael Rosenbaum. Both of those episodes specifically showed me that live-action TV series for either Blue Beetle or Deadman would be a thrill to watch. (If any BATB writers are reading this for whatever reason, I DID catch the Tom Baker and Colin Baker reference! Well played!)
The first collection ends with a two-parter involving alternate worlds and an alternate Batman which I found to be far superior to the recent direct-to-DVD Crisis on Two Earths feature.
The only warning I have is yes, there are some bits that are silly. Aquaman, in animation style and presentation, is especially silly, and this is a world where Batman can travel through time, testify before a judge, smile, and hang out during the daytime. But again, this is aimed at a younger audience – it just happens to be enjoyable for older viewers too.
Speaking of the animation style – this series seems to be heavily influenced by the early Silver Age comic book style, particularly that of artist Dick Sprang. Some characters such as Green Arrow even maintain their early 1960’s look which is interesting to see.
Batman: The Brave and the Bold isn’t for everyone, but I certainly enjoyed it, and I can almost guarantee if you have a kid, particularly a boy, they’d like it a lot too.
Unfortunately, there are NO extras to speak of on this set. Character bios at the very least would have been good to have here.
You can order Batman: The Brave and the Bold (and support this site!) by going to Amazon.com. Additionally you can visit the Kids WB! site at http://www.kidswb.com/whv
