17 July 2012

New Beware the Batman Secrets Revealed


Honestly, I am a little nervous for this show though I suppose the same could be said for The Batman (which was so-so) and Batman: The Brave and the Bold (which was mostly superb). Its not that I oppose the idea of a new Batman series, nor do I want a retread, but it just seems like its an odd duck of a series so far. 



Maybe its the CG, or the anthropomorphic Toad, or the choice of Katana instead of Catwoman or Robin. Maybe its that the pitched No Man's Land inspired series sounded so much more compelling at first blush. In any case, I am hoping to be and open to being blown away in the same way I was by Green Lantern: The Animated Series for which I also had a healthy amount of skepticism. 



In any case, the Comic Con DC Nation Panel provided some new nooks at the series which mostly did not alleviate my concerns, but they did make be a little curiouser. I have to admit, as much as I hate the look of Mr. Toad, I love the idea of he and Pyg being played as Wint and Kidd from Diamonds are Forever. Professor Pyg also has potential to be a very dark villains, but I am not sure if that will be the direction the series goes. 


Among the other lesser known villains to be featured are Anarky, Humpty Dumpty, and Magpie.


In other words, its almost like Batman vs Mother Goose. Look, one of the things I liked about Brave and the Bold was the attention to lesser knowns, but hopefully Beware the Batman does enlist some reasonable villains. Fine, skip Penguin and Riddler. Even pass on the Joker if you must (though he really needs at least one showing - he is the Joker after all), but why not include Black Mask, or Killer Croc, or the Ventriloquist,  Its hard to take Batman seriously if he can't even beat a Toad man.


Another thing I do like about the series is that it looks to focus on the Outsides, a team previously highlighted in Brave and the Bold consisting of Katana, Black Lightning, and Metamorpho. So far at least 2 of the those heroes are planned and I really like this redesign of Metamorpho - much less silly than his traditional look.


One last hope that I hold out is that the series incorporate the recent Court of Owls story arc. Sure its new, but its very good and also meets the requirement of featuring a lesser known villain in the new Owlman. I really do hope this is great, and the teaser does look pretty slick, but until I see some real footage I ain't gonna count any chickens.







Credit to Matt H @mdawg957 for capturing most of these images at the panel.

3 comments:

  1. Wow, Magpie is pretty darn sexy there. Ironically, we'll see a Professor Pyg action figure long before (if ever) a Magpie action figure.

    I too will hold off on the chicken counting!

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  2. I asked about a line based on this show during the DC/Mattel panel and it comes down to how this show does... but I would think prototypes are in the works.

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  3. I am getting angry with other people this show will stink because of no Joker, or Two-Face or Penguin. It still seems cool. Same with Kevin Conroy or Mark Hamil just because there the best doesn't mean a new version can't be good.

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