Batman TAS: Watching my stories
Taking a break from my crusade against Jason Rodriguez tonight. Molly and I've been watching the Batman - The Animated Series Vol. 3 DVD set.
Hot damn, this is good stuff.
I miss the great Clayface and Joker episodes from the earlier sets, but they're replaced here by the overdue appearance of Ra's Al Ghul (who gets about four episodes this time around). His first appearance is written by Denny O'Neil, which is about as legit as it gets, and the guy they got to do his voiceover, David Warner, does an absolutely perfect job, a voice-to-character fit that's every bit as good as Mark Hamill's awesome Joker. Hell, he's even got a completely apeshit laugh to compete with.
There are also a few great Harley Quinn episodes, and it's interesting to watch them this time around knowing that they invented the character for the show - she was so seamlessly built into the "Batverse" (Christ I'm a dork) that I never questioned where she came from. She brings a great element of humor to the series, and her episodes are markedly energetic and fun.
One thing gets me thinking... there's an episode here called "Showdown," which starts out as a Ra's Al Ghul episode and ends up flashbacking to an old Jonah Hex western tale. It kicks ass, but there's not enough Ra's, and it starts the gears moving... we've seen the "last" Ra's Al Ghul story (and honestly, I thought Rucka kinda dropped the ball on that one), but how about some more of the early stories? I'm sure the first one, the origin tale, has been done already and I just haven't read it. But if the guy's been alive for six hundred years, how many other cool stories must he have?
I never figured myself to be the sort with a "Batman story" or a "Wolverine story," if you know what I mean. But maybe I should reconsider... 'cause damn, that's a seriously untapped wellspring of story possibilities.
Hot damn, this is good stuff.
I miss the great Clayface and Joker episodes from the earlier sets, but they're replaced here by the overdue appearance of Ra's Al Ghul (who gets about four episodes this time around). His first appearance is written by Denny O'Neil, which is about as legit as it gets, and the guy they got to do his voiceover, David Warner, does an absolutely perfect job, a voice-to-character fit that's every bit as good as Mark Hamill's awesome Joker. Hell, he's even got a completely apeshit laugh to compete with.
There are also a few great Harley Quinn episodes, and it's interesting to watch them this time around knowing that they invented the character for the show - she was so seamlessly built into the "Batverse" (Christ I'm a dork) that I never questioned where she came from. She brings a great element of humor to the series, and her episodes are markedly energetic and fun.
One thing gets me thinking... there's an episode here called "Showdown," which starts out as a Ra's Al Ghul episode and ends up flashbacking to an old Jonah Hex western tale. It kicks ass, but there's not enough Ra's, and it starts the gears moving... we've seen the "last" Ra's Al Ghul story (and honestly, I thought Rucka kinda dropped the ball on that one), but how about some more of the early stories? I'm sure the first one, the origin tale, has been done already and I just haven't read it. But if the guy's been alive for six hundred years, how many other cool stories must he have?
I never figured myself to be the sort with a "Batman story" or a "Wolverine story," if you know what I mean. But maybe I should reconsider... 'cause damn, that's a seriously untapped wellspring of story possibilities.
posted by Sean Maher @ 10:18 PM
1 Comments:
At 10:14 AM,
Sean Maher said…
Josh Richardson has been telling me how good the Clone Wars cartoon is. But I've got almost zero Star Wars loyalty, so it's been a tough sell, and anyway I can only watch TV on DVD 'cause my television sucks.
Samurai Jack, though, is new to me. Sounds like an Oeming book...
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