Batman: The Animated Series

Sorry Chris Nolan, but your Batman barely compares.

My DVR is full of cartoons. It is probably one of a few things in my adult life that 7-year-old me would be proud of.
 

I had a special relationship with cartoons as a juvenile, one I will most definitely be touching on often as I continue to update this blog, but there is one in particular that always stands out in my mind - “Batman: The Animated Series.”

In some ways, it’s become a fad of people to list this as a game changing series, but it’s hard to argue with the statement. Series co-creator Bruce Timm’s artwork and series served as an inspiration for many DC Comic-based series throughout the remainder of the 1990s and the early 2000s, and in many ways it set up the landscape for super-hero based animation, in movies and TV, that is still seen today. But for me, it was an introduction to superheroes.

My love of cartoons is shadowed (and complemented on many levels) by my love of comic books. Of course my tastes have changed since I first met the Dark Knight, but it was Batman who got me into the medium in the first place.

And during that time in my life, it was almost impossible to get my fix of Batman. Be it in the form of the movies which were ridiculously popular (even 7-year-old would have been excited to see “Batman Forever” and “Batman and Robin”), the toys and even the reruns of the 1960s series which I vividly remember watching during one particular summer. I also used to watch “Jake and the Fatman” because as a kid I thought the show was called “Jake and the Batman,” and always just assumed he would be making an appearance at some point or another (I was more than disappointed when my mother finally explained it to me).

Batman also happened to be the star of one of the first comic books in my possession. Like my Ghostbusters obsession, comics were a hand-me-down from my cousins who passed on a copy of War Machine issue 2 and the last two-issues of the “Secret Origin of Batman.” Neither of these books have held up well (in story-telling or condition), but are still in my collection as my firsts.

Today my appreciation of Batman is maybe less than it was a kid. As stated before, my tastes in comics have changed, and today I tend to read more mature series and when I want my comic book fix I go across the aisle to read Fantastic Four or the Avengers. But I still have a special love for “Batman: The Animated Series.” My DVD shelf holds the first season and, as stated earlier, a good portion of my 80 percent full DVR contains episodes of the series (for Saturday mornings of course).

Unlike some of the other cartoons (and live-action dramas) on that DVR, the series has held up marvelously. I even pop on DVD episodes with commentary tracks and just listen to what the creators were thinking, and almost across the board, you can tell they did not just put together a series to sell action figures and tie-in picture books - it was not just some kid’s show. And if it were not for that attention to detail and quality, comic books may not have been one of my favorite pastimes into adulthood (I suppose I’d probably be writing a blog about the latest sportsmatch or something if that were the case).

So this post will go against the grain, and instead I will just thank 7-year-old me for finding something that I still appreciate so much today, and hopefully I’ll be able to introduce to my kids in the future when they are 7.