I finally picked up the final volume of Batman: The Animated Series the other day (volume 4) and started thinking about where I would go next. If you’re not familiar with the Bruce Timm universe (also refered to as the DC animated universe, or the DCAU), you may not realize just how many shows he’s responsible for, and that he and his staff are so good at establishing and recognizing their own continuity that every series is considered to be in the same canon; all of these shows have crossovers into the others. There are 14 years of continuity, starting with Batman: TAS in 1992 and ending with Justice League Unlimited in 2006.

Being the big sucker I am for complex, long-spanning continuity (Star Trek, Buffy/Angel, etc.) I eventually want to pick up every DVD box set in the DCAU. In case you didn’t know just how much of this canon existed or didn’t even realize it went beyond Batman: TAS, I thought I’d post a list of every show and available DVD box set, to give you a sense of just how much you’ll have to spend and how much shelf space you’ll need to clear if you want to embark on the same journey as I am. Bruce Timm revolutionized animation and story telling in the medium, and though Batman: TAS remains the best show in the canon (in my opinion) the others are certainly worth watching as well.

Batman: The Animated Series

There are four volumes. The fourth is actually a second Batman “series” (originally broadcast in “The New Batman/Superman Adventures”) that takes place in the same continuity and with the same voice actors, but the visual style is updated and it’s set two years later in order to focus on Batman’s partners, so Dick Grayson is now Nightwing and Tim Drake is the new Robin; Batgirl is also a series regular, when she only occasionally appeared previously, and not until the third volume.

Superman: The Animated Series

The Superman animated series came after the original run of Batman. The final season includes some crossover episodes with Batman, including the three-part “Batman/Superman World’s Finest” episode, also available as a DVD movie.

Batman Beyond

Here’s an idea that I immediately bocked at when I first heard about it back in the 90s, but it turned out to be in the same vein as Batman: TAS. Yeah, it’s futuristic and a new guy in the Batman suit, but Bruce Wayne, though an old man, is still calling the shots, and it’s as much about him as it is about Terry. If you watched Batman: TAS but didn’t give Beyond a chance, I advise you to take a chance on it.

Justice League

This is the next logical step after the Batman and Superman shows. Batman and Superman finally in a regular series together, with Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Hawk Girl, and Martian Manhunter. It’s a different dynamic with an ensemble cast and a wider array of villains but it definately holds true to its roots.

Justice League Unlimited

Similar to “The New Batman Adventures,” this is the same show with a new title. The theme for the final two seasons is basically to see how many of DC’s superheroes could be brought into a single show. There are tons and tons of guest characters, a lot of previously-unseen heroes getting their own episodes. I’ve seen very few of these, but some have complained that so many characters bogged stories down a bit. However, I’ve also heard that the end of the final season has a pretty extensive plot arc to wrap up the series. This is the final show made for the DCAU.

There are two lesser-known shows that are also part of the DCAU, made around the time of the Batman revamp episodes and then Batman Beyond. Static Shock was an original character that Bruce Timm gave his own series. I have never seen it, but I do know that while it was originally a stand-alone show, later epiodes have crossovers with other heroes and villains from the DCAU. It lasted for four seasons but so far only one volume has been released. The other is The Zeta Project, a series about a sentient robot and a spin-off of Batman Beyond (another show I’ve never seen). It ran for two seasons and has yet to be released on DVD.

Movies 

There have also been a number of stand-alone, animated movies in the Bruce Timm universe. The first, and most popular, was the excellent Batman: Mask of the Phantasm from 1993. The most noted next to it is Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker.

Gotham Girls

There is also a three-season series of web shorts made in flash animation starring the ladies of Gotham called Gotham Girls, which ended in 2002. They can still be viewed online, and were also included as an extra on the Birds of Prey boxset just this year. I’ve watched these– they’re mostly comedic shorts and I found them to be a little too silly, but the third season is a big arc and more serious, so it’s worth watching.

Since 2006, Bruce Timm has been producing direct-to-video DVDs for DC, mostly based on graphic novels. These are all completely contained continuities and not part of the DCAU. So far, they’ve been very good and worth watching (with the exception of the most recent Batman Gotham Knight, which I’ve reviewed here). The other two are Superman: Doomsday and Justice League New Frontier.

This is obviously a lot of television to try and buy, but if you’re adventureous, most of it’s out there now. All of these available boxsets can be found on Amazon.com, Suncoast, Hastings, and your local Target or Wal-Mart stores may still carry at least some of the Justice League Unlimited sets, since they were the most recenly released. I’ve been buying mine for between $20 and $30 apiece. If you just want to see some of these episodes, they’re all available for rent on Netflix. Good hunting!

LLAP

-Cap’n Logan

Beware Minor Spoilers

Just when I thought I’d seen everything that could be done with DC superheroes in animation, along comes New Frontier. I’ve been a fan of Bruce Timm’s animated shows since Batman: The Animated Series and I’ve been anticipating this new one-shot, direct-to-DVD movie ever since Superman: Doomsday was released last year. Timm promised an even better movie this time around and he really wasn’t kidding. New Frontier has excellent characterization, beautiful stylized animation unlike anything we’ve seen from this team before, and the right voice cast to really sell the Cold War era feel. It was worth it just to hear Lucy Lawless as Wonder Woman and David Boreanaz playing Green Lantern, but it has a lot more going for it than just a voice cast full of stars.

New Frontier is based on the graphic novel (which I confess I haven’t read and hadn’t even heard of before this project). It’s set in the 1950s and the government is starting to lose faith in its superheroes, being paranoid that some of them are communists. Batman is basically a fugitive and the government sets a trap to catch the Flash. A giant, frightening being that calls itself The Center threatens the world and after a number of interesting, individual subplots, some which help to set up the villain and others which give us the origins of a couple major heroes (Green Lantern and Martian Manhunter) many of the heroes come together along with the government, putting aside their differences, to stop The Center.

The villain is the weakest part of the movie. I never really got where it came from or what exactly it is. It’s a huge circular, living island with mind control powers and it can create dinosaurs. I can’t say it wasn’t original– I’ve never seen anything like it– but I didn’t get it, either. I think the idea is that the movie isn’t about the villain. It just needed something for all the heroes to fight against. A little contrived, but that’s okay because it let the movie really take its time fleshing out its characters. There are no big villain monologues and no master plan revelations. Just a lot of wonderfully fleshed-out subplots that bring everyone together as a team to fight a big monster. The individual stories are what are really interesting– Flash trying to decide whether to keep fighting evil even though everyone’s against him and it puts his family at risk, Hal Jordon trying to prove that he isn’t a coward even though he had to kill someone in Korea out of self defense, and J’onn posing as a private detective and working with Batman while trying to fit in on Earth.

Visually, it uses modern animation techniques to heighten a fifties style. It looks a lot like the earliest Superman cartoons but with more color, more detail, and more realism. It goes one more step in that direction than Batman: The Animated Series did, and I would have loved to see this on the big screen.

What really kept it fresh was that it wasn’t about Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. They are there and they are great, looking and sounding like serious, fifties versions. Superman is wearing a very early costume where his symbol is just an “s” rather than a Kryptonian symbol, Wonder Woman has her invisible jet, and Batman has a very small cave where he looks at newspapers on microfiche and classic comic versions of the batmobile and the batplane. But they’re really just there to look like the leaders and help focus the plot– the real heroes in this movie end up being some of the “lesser” heroes. Batman is really just there to use his detective skills to find the Center and Superman is put out of commission so early he doesn’t even really get to help save Earth!

This movie is really about Green Lantern and Martian Manhunter, both of whom are invented from scratch here and are very identifiable. Their origins are done more-or-less the same as in current comic continuity, but with a fifties twist. If you’re like me and know a lot about Batman and Superman but not a lot about some of the other Leaguers, this movie clearly explains both the Lantern and the Manhunter and makes them very human characters (or Martian, in Manhunter’s case). Lantern and Manhunter are the characters who really go through a major change by the end.

Good and evil are pretty black and white in this film, but it’s set in the fifties. Superman only has to give one big, stirring speech to make everyone work together once the monster starts terrorizing the city. This isn’t especially realistic but I appreciate how the narrative handles being both a modern movie and a period piece. It tells a Cold War story in a modern way but with all the fifties plot points. I want viewers to be surprised by some of the techniques so I won’t give any more away, but I will say that this is a different take on these characters than I’ve ever seen, and it was a pleasant change. The movie ends with a famous Kennedy speech (which is where the title comes from) which sets up the future of the Justice League, and that montage itself is practically worth the price of the movie.

LLAP

-Cap’n Logan