Batman, Superman, & Beyond Fresh Question #1

[Nightwing]

Oh look at the time, it's new FQ time! You WFers sure love them thought provoking question's don't ya. Well here's one I'm sure you'll eat up. Batman has had an extreme history in the animated department. BTAS set the stage on a very high pedistal for Batman's animated life. And, because of that, our critiques of whatever comes next in animated history have been extremely intricate. Could this plus our ultimate undying devotion to Bruce be a topic of reason why we criticize Batman Beyond as we do? Let's find out:

If Batman Beyond only came out as comic only, meaning no cartoon, would the formula for how we treat it have been any different??

Note: This thread has been altered due to the Board changes!

[Shriek]

If it was written by the same crappy writers I wouldn't of ever liked BB. The show was the only reason why I liked it.

But I still own every comic.

[James]

Originally posted by Nightwing

If Batman Beyond only came out as comic only, meaning no cartoon, would the formula for how we treat it have been any different??

We had it really, in the form of the Dark Knight Returns. Yeah, the central character was Bruce rather than an apprentice, but many of the concepts were similar and it did rather well did it not?

I'm not saying that Batman Beyond is as mind blowing, but with such a similar story, I think it would have been lost in the wings of The Dark Knight Returns.

I think what BB does which appeals do viewers is what TDKR did - take Bruce and age him. I think BB without Bruce would have flopped. Granted, the relationship between Bruce and Terry is vital to BB, but much is our fascination with an aged Wayne. I think if TDKR had not been done, a comic called BB would have been a storm. However, without TDKR, there would be no BB, so in comic form it would have achieved no more than any other 'elsewhere' graphic novel.

[Tim Drake]

Yeah I agree make whats BB so good is Bruce. And while I have many issues of BB. They are pretty crappy at times. The show was much more consistent. The only comic based on the animated series that compared to the show was Batman Adventures.

[Karkull]

My main problem with Batman Beyond (besides the quality of the writing) was that, at the time it came out, it appeared that they were grooming Terry to replace Bruce as the Batman with the toylines and the marketing deals. I know it sounds a little silly, but Hollywood execs do tend to try and replace older, respected franchises with "hip" new ones that lack the nuances and flavor of the classic depictions.

For example, I interpreted Smallville's "no flights, no tights" rule as the WB wanting to redo Roswell with a recognizable franchise, but not with a classic representation of the character. Remember when they were doing a new Superman movie? They essentially said the same thing: they didn't want him wearing the costume and they didn't want him to fly. They wanted to use Superman without actually using Superman.

Back to the topic: I wouldn't mind if they did a Batman Beyond comic book. They might actually get the chance to flesh out all those cool-looking villains that they never embodied with much personality. We might even see more into Terry's relationship with Bruce. We might even see Terry take over following Bruce's death...

...but it probably won't happen. After all, doesn't the new Batgirl series pretty much take this formula of "new person in the tights, older person behind the keyboard?"

[James]

It would be nice to see BB shaped into a more adult storyline - a job only the comics are likely to achieve.

All the elements are there to make BB a grittier and mature concept - I think the potential could make for a great book.

Get rid of the toon based book and give it a go Mr D.C! :D