Batgirl Begins: Part One

Give it a chance
I know the rules state that as a male in my mid 30's I'm required to dislike any animated Batman outside the Timm/Dini universe. I held up my part of the agreement at first. I gladly purchased every DVD from the first episode featuring Manbat all the way to the Batman Beyond S2 and Justice League "S2" sets that came out recently. I'm already planning on getting the fantastic last season of JLU as well. I am as absolute a fan of the Timm/Dini universe as any other fan I've met. But, I broke the rules and began to like The Batman series. It isn't only fantastic, it sets a new kind of standard in animation quality for a serialized show. The Batman's animation is consistently and reliably stunning. The style of the animation helps create a DVD picture quality that is so good, it is what I often use to demonstrate my home system to friends. But, there is more than just great production values to the show. They have clearly been very thoughtful in coming up with fresh designs for...

"Aw, dude! You just broke the superhero secret identity code!"
In his 5th year of crimefighting, Gotham's grim loner at last gets a superhero sidekick. And it's not Robin. There's a definite infusion of girl power as Season 3's first two episodes unveil the origin of the plucky but extremely raw Batgirl. The rest of the season lays out her journey from undesired, unproven nuisance to Batman's well-regarded, in-the-loop sidekick. With the departure of Detective Ellen Yin, Batman's former hush hush ally in the Gotham constabulary, we get to see more of Batgirl's dad, Commissioner James Gordon, who, in Season 2, made his debut and reached an accomodation with the Dark Knight. Here, we see the Batwing, as well as the new, fairly awesome Batmobile. We say goodbye to the eerie theme song of the first two seasons and hello to the more upbeat and guitar-strummy new theme music, although I do lament the loss of the fun and freaky "Baaatmaaan" which can be heard at the end of the original theme.

Producer/Art Director Jeff Matsuda's distinct...

A step in the wrong direction
Well, last night I finally completed my tour of The Batman by finishing Season 3 (directly after having finished 2 and 1). As others have stated, Season 3 pales in comparison to Season 2 but not for reasons expected. The writing actually matures a little bit over the past two volumes. We are treated to a more in depth look at the relationship between Bruce and Alfred as well as Batman and Catwoman's love/hate thing. Unfortunately that is where the pluses end- The first flaw is a total overuse of Joker. With a rogue gallery as deep as Batman's, there is really no excuse for reusing an enemy over and over like this. Granted, he has his humorous moments, the fact is Joker brings too much chaos and unpredictability to the formula for me. He is interesting in small dosage but The Batman starts to feel like a broken record with how many times the Joker's ridiculous schemes get squashed.

Next up is the made-up villains. Prepare to witness a fair share of either made up...

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