Why "The Crapman" sucks Part 1
I must admit to not being very good at predicting the quality of cartoon series based on comic books. I thought Justice League was going to fizzle out in the first season, I thought Teen Titans would be good, I thought X-Men Evolution would be bad. And when I heard about a new series about a younger Batman starting out in his career, I was hopeful.
Indeed, the first pre production pieces looked very good, certain Frank Miller-esque qualities were visually apparent in these images. The pre-released information, the small bites that were available, about a corrupt mayor further stirred interest.
Then, when the images of their version of the Joker hit the 'net, I felt my hopes quickly spiral out. Upon watching the first episode, I felt several deafening sensations of pain. The first major mistake I saw was in picking the character designer for 'Jackie Chan Adventures' to do the series.
Not to say that Jeff Matsuda(SP?) isn't a talented artist, or that I didn't enjoy JCA, far from it. It's just that his art wasn't any different FROM JCA. A lot of the character extras look like random Jackie Chan characters, a chinese mob boss from a certain episode looks exactly like a chinese mob boss from a JCA episode. It draws too many comparisons between the shows.
Which brings me to another point: Batman: The Animated Series. Let's be frank: Everyone has warm memories of this series from the 90's, and quite frankly, the series has aged well over the years, not losing its charm as some series does after viewing it again after 10 years(IE Fox's X-Men Series). Any new sort of Batman cartoon would no doubt draw comparison with B:TAS. And let's be honest, B:TAS put a high benchmark up there that few series could touch.
So how do the people working on this new series respond to what they know will be comparisons? By insulting the people that will make these comparisons. Sam Register, who is the EP of the new series, delivered a rather stinging remark, calling the fans of the old B:TAS '25 year old men that live in their mother's basements'. (see here)
Overall, the message is clear: They don't want comparisons or criticisms to the old series. They want it to stand on its own merit. Unfortunately it doesn't have much in the way of that. The whole concept of this new series is to make everything younger and hipper and 'extreme'.
Hmm, where have I seen this concept before...?
Indeed, the first pre production pieces looked very good, certain Frank Miller-esque qualities were visually apparent in these images. The pre-released information, the small bites that were available, about a corrupt mayor further stirred interest.
Then, when the images of their version of the Joker hit the 'net, I felt my hopes quickly spiral out. Upon watching the first episode, I felt several deafening sensations of pain. The first major mistake I saw was in picking the character designer for 'Jackie Chan Adventures' to do the series.
Not to say that Jeff Matsuda(SP?) isn't a talented artist, or that I didn't enjoy JCA, far from it. It's just that his art wasn't any different FROM JCA. A lot of the character extras look like random Jackie Chan characters, a chinese mob boss from a certain episode looks exactly like a chinese mob boss from a JCA episode. It draws too many comparisons between the shows.
Which brings me to another point: Batman: The Animated Series. Let's be frank: Everyone has warm memories of this series from the 90's, and quite frankly, the series has aged well over the years, not losing its charm as some series does after viewing it again after 10 years(IE Fox's X-Men Series). Any new sort of Batman cartoon would no doubt draw comparison with B:TAS. And let's be honest, B:TAS put a high benchmark up there that few series could touch.
So how do the people working on this new series respond to what they know will be comparisons? By insulting the people that will make these comparisons. Sam Register, who is the EP of the new series, delivered a rather stinging remark, calling the fans of the old B:TAS '25 year old men that live in their mother's basements'. (see here)
Overall, the message is clear: They don't want comparisons or criticisms to the old series. They want it to stand on its own merit. Unfortunately it doesn't have much in the way of that. The whole concept of this new series is to make everything younger and hipper and 'extreme'.
Hmm, where have I seen this concept before...?
Ahh, that's right! Part 2 to come tomorrow.
posted by ComicToonsThatSuck at 7:01 PM
3 Comments:
well, you did stretch part of the interview a bit, but a better idea is to provide some photographic evidence of the different assertions you did. for example, you say a chinese mob boss looks exactly alike? provide examples. it throws your assertion much farther.
Sadly, there is no screenshot gallery for Jackie Chan Adventures available.
http://www.worldsfinestonline.com/WF/thebatman/episodes/06catbat/20.jpg However this is an image from the episode in question of 'The Crapman'.
I totally agree with the poochi anaology.
We didn't need a 'new' or 'hip' batman.
they ruined it. Thankfully, I have Batman begins to watch on dvd... that restored my love for the character somewhat.
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