Batman: The Brave and The Bold – Not supposed to be Batman: The Animated Series.

Fortunately, it’s not The Batman, either.

So I’ve managed to check a few episodes of Batman: The Brave and The Bold and the first thing that came to mind to me was

“Why are people comparing this to Batman: The Animated Series when the show itself is NOT supposed to have the ‘serious business’ incarnation that’s popularized in the current media?”

Because if folks are looking it that way, they’re doing it wrong.

The Brave and The Bold – based on the comic series of the same name – looks into the other form of Batman that was popular during his early days. Before stories got darker and things got serious, that type of Batman fought a ridiculous super villain with an equally ridiculous super power while saying something witty or using a bat modified weapon, defeating the said enemy and saving Gotham City once again. If anything, what I said might likely remind you of the cheesy Adam West live action series more than the comics themselves – but that’s not what The Brave and the Bold totally is.

One of the main differences that TBaTB is that the show doesn’t only focus on Batman himself, but on various other known and not-so well known heroes in the DC gallery as a partner. Kind of like a two person Justice League, but without the other bigger faces such as Superman or Wonder Woman. So folks are getting introduced to a few heroes they’ve never seen before and that may pique their curiosity in learning more about them – like say, Plastic Man, who appeared in Episode 2.

That goes the same in regards to the villains. I mean, we’ve already seen hundreds of interpretations of the Joker, Penguin, Two-Face and various others – so it could be considered a change of pace to see non-Batman villains popping up as Batman’s foil in each episode.

The stories themselves usually tend to go beyond the limits of Gotham City and usually involves some of that classic (and probably cheesy) plot lines that involve both Batman and his sidekick-of-the-week, but it’s still entertaining.

The voice acting in general is solid – Diedrich Bader of The Drew Carey Show does a great job in providing Batman’s raspy voice and deadpan wit and much, much better than Rino Romano was in The Batman.

So I’m quite enjoying The Brave and the Bold. Just remember that this is the type of show that you should not take too seriously (in a good way), relax and watch Batman and friends kick some ass.

This and The Spectacular Spider-Man just show that there are still good superhero cartoons on TV, aside from Bruce Timm and co.’s DCAU series.