BATMAN: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD - SEASON ONE, PART TWO

If you’re not too happy with the annoying teenaged superheroes of the new DC cartoon Young Justice – what if Superman had an annoying teenaged clone? - then there is always Batman: Brave & the Bold . . .

This Cartoon Network series may be ostensibly aimed at younger children in the six- to ten-year-old age bracket, but older comic book fans will find a lot to appreciate as well.

And by older, we do mean OLDER. Guys in their forties and fifties who used to read comics would probably want to watch it with their kids. Brave & the Bold is inspired by the silly, light-hearted Batman comics of the same name dating from the ‘Sixties, long before Alan Moore reinvented the character as the brooding caped vigilante which proved the inspiration behind the most recent Christopher Nolan movies. Along the way there are also shy nods to the popular Adam West TV show.

These fans will simply delight at the vaguely remembered comic book characters such as Kamandi, OMAC, Plastic Man, Freedom Fighters, Bat-Mite, Challengers of the Unknown and the Doom Patrol who are dragged from the mists of obscurity to make appearances.

Campfest? Perhaps. But with the exception of the occasional dud episode the light-hearted tone of show is difficult to dislike and some of the episodes are genuinely funny. The animation is bright with, er, bold lines. The animators have taken more than Kamandi from the Jack Kirby book of animation.

THE DISCS: Thirteen 20-minute episodes are spread over two discs. No extras. To be honest we’d prefer complete season box sets instead of splitting them up like this, but a two-disc set such as this one is preferable to single discs.

WORTH IT? Maybe it’s a marketing ploy by Cartoon Network to get dads who haven’t grown up themselves yet to watch shows with their kids, but Brave & Bold is worth checking out.
 

- James O'Ehley, with additional reporting by Rob Vaux