Animated Batman

Okay, I'm a huge Batman – it's true. I've got to say though that while my appreciation for the character was born in 1989 when I saw Tim Burton's eponymously titled Batman, my love for the character blossomed in 1992 when Batman: The Animated Series was unleashed upon an unsuspecting public. I skipped the comics at first; okay, I admit it (that came later with The Dark Knight Returns, Batman: Year One, The Killing Joke and, latterly, Hush to name but a few high points). But it was the animated series where I earned my Batman apprenticeship.

Now I, like many fans of the Dark Knight, have deep affection for this show. Let's face it – it's a masterpiece: dark, compelling, dramatic. It oozes style, art deco class and gothic noir, and the storylines (with a few notable exceptions) were fantastic. Once the series built up a head of steam and started garnering a few awards and some well-deserved popularity, feature-length movies were inevitable.

Imagine then, my dismay (and I'm getting to the point now, folks, so thanks for sticking with me this long) when I read some fairly tepid reviews of IGN.com.

Now, I don't know how long said reviews have been up there but how anyone can claim to be a Batman fan and post them is beyond me (no pun intended for fans of the genre).

Mask of the Phantasm was the first of four tie-in movies and it is an excellent feature. I don't know all the bally-hoo of it being rushed through production and being hamstrung with a less than cinematic budget; what I do know is that this film if pivotal in the Batman Animated Series pantheon of stories. It is a classic with a tough and compelling storyline that sees Batman re-live the pain of his past and confront the ghosts of his present. It's dark: really dark, and in one excellent scene, the Bat is on the run from Harvey Bullock and a squad of Gotham S.W.A.T cops, who are convinced he's responsible for a spate of crime boss murders happening in the city. This is good stuff, and comes highly recommended, I would say. Mark Hamill, as he is in the regular episodes, is stunning as the Joker (whom we also get to learn a little more about, before he became all clown-ified).

Next came Batman & Mr. Freeze: Sub-Zero. I'll concede that this movie does have some dodgy CGI that looks so incongruous it's embarrassing but believe me, this is a top movie. Freeze is a great character (when he's not being mauled by Arnie) and this feature really plays up to his background and the tragic circumstances of his affliction. Cue a storming finale on an exploding oil rig and you've got a classic. Again, I would highly recommend it. Both movies really stand up to repeat viewing.

The Batman Superman Movie followed. Okay, the title is pretty derivative but the feature is fantastic. This is probably the pick of the bunch, to be honest. It sees Batman and Superman meet for the first time in the animated universe. It's not long before they trade blows (in and out of costume) as an intriguing game of oneupmanship commences in full force. Throw in Lex Luthor and the Joker (teaming up, no less) and the two heroes must put aside their differences and work together. Again, there's a lot of great action in this and the story is good too, though lacks the darker edge of the earlier BM movies due to Supe's red, white and blue presence. The 'movie' is actually a pair of episodes from the second season of the Superman Animated Series, entitled 'World's Finest' and it really plays up to the comic book parallels. Incidentally, the third season of the Superman show is well-worth a watch, too, as there are several great episodes that include the Batman in them.

Lastly, we have Mystery of the Batwoman. Okay, this one did leave me a little disappointed. A different team got involved and the stories became less noirsh and lost the dark milieu that makes Batman so great. On the upside, both Bane and the Penguin feature in their fourth season revamp from the regular animated series. The story, however, was a little lack lustre and the paper-thin twist didn't really add any much needed drama. The focus here was on the love interests of Batman/Bruce Wayne and not the brooding, borderline psychopath cum detective that we all know and love.

Okay, rant over. If you are a fan of the Bat and like animation then, frankly, Bruce Timm is a legend and you should check out at least the first three of these movies. I plan to post later about the Batman Beyond series (known as Batman of the Future in the UK) and the Return of the Joker. I'll also probably deviate into the Justice League and Justice League Unlimited series, too (I've got a copy of the Darwyn Cooke inspired Justice League: New Frontier coming in the post, so after I've watched that will be as good a time as ever).