'Batman: The Brave and the Bold' rounds out Batman Month on CartoonClack. Does this nod to the Silver Age of comics hold its own?

The last edition of CartoonClack’s Batman Month is here. We left off with The Batman, which was not as popular as the DCAU Batman continuity but still lasted 4 seasons and over 50 episodes. The show did find it’s pacing in the later seasons when there was a definite lean towards lighthearted humor mixed with the action. I think it’s clear that DC’s animation department wanted to avoid copying Batman: The Animated Series because the Batman series that premiered in November of 2008 brought the goofy back to the Batman universe. Yes, we’ve come to Batman: The Brave and the Bold!

You might have noticed a little trend in these articles, namely that after Batman: The Animated Series ended I was immediately skeptical of any other Batman cartoon. Well, I was the same for Brave and the Bold. Look, I was younger and not as wise as I am now at the grand old age of 26. Realize that for Brave and the Bold, the first news-pieces I saw for it described it in the vein of Schumacher’s Batman movies … that was not the best parallel to give me.

But the big difference between Batman and Robin and this show (which ran from 2008 — 2011 with 65 episodes) is that this show is actually incredibly funny … good funny, that is. The 22ish minute run time is just enough time to tell a tight, goofy story in a charming way. It doesn’t grate on you in the same way a two hour movie of this would. But more than that, the writing is just solid. It’s writing in a very particular style, but they did the style well and with deliberation. It even took the chance on a normal basis to have a character step back and comment on how ridiculous a situation was. In other words, the show and the audience is in on the joke and the joke is legitimately funny.

Unlike the other three shows featured during Batman Month, there aren’t many (or any) ongoing story lines. The large majority of the episodes are one shots. This makes the show incredibly difficult to analyze, at least difficult to analyze in the same way as the other shows I’ve reviewed this month. So, let’s talk about the main character a little and then I’ll go into a few of my favorite side characters, a few of my favorite episodes and how they fit into the whole series … sound good?

Similarly to The Batman, Brave and the Bold‘s Batman is like the rice in fried rice … it’s the main aspect of the dish and is certainly a good part of the dish but the different ingredients accompanying it are what stand out. You can certainly eat the white rice on its own, but the extra stuff gives it flavor. While the villains aren’t bad (depending on the episode), for me it’s really the sidekicks and superhero team-ups that make this show unique and fun. It was a clever move by DC — Batman is easily one of the most recognizable and popular superheroes, so bringing in the audience with this recognizable character and then introducing these various lesser known characters is smart.

What also works for the character that we haven’t seen in the other shows I’ve reviewed is this Dark Knight is rarely shown as Bruce Wayne … he still is Bruce Wayne and we do see him in civilian clothing sparingly, but his onscreen persona is almost entirely as THE BAT. Quiet, contemplative, bad ass but also a throwback to the Silver Age so he’s also pretty heavy on the puns. Most of the puns actually play like CSI: Miami one-liners, so his deep, grizzled straight man voice just makes the puns funnier. If you’ll believe it, he’s voice by a very serious Diedrich Bader of Drew Carrey fame.

But like I said before, Batman is the canvas of this show — let’s check out the paint.

Photo Credit: Warner Bros.