Review: Batman: Caped Crusader animated series excels in dark, weird take on Gotham City

The latest Batman animated offering is more adult-oriented in its dark, art deco and weird take on Gotham City as we review Amazon Prime's new series.

I’ve often considered what kind of Batman comic or TV show I’d create, and the Amazon Prime series Batman: Caped Crusader couldn’t come any closer. This animated series is set in the 1940s, has a noir feel, lacks outlandish elements, and tells episodic stories in the same vein as Batman: The Animated Series. The writing is excellent, portraying Batman’s earliest adventures as if they come straight off the pages of the first issues of the Golden Age comics.

Here are my top takes from the Batcave (spoilers ahead):

• The villains they chose are perfect. A female version of Penguin, Clayface, Onomatopoeia, Firebug, Harley Quinn (sans Joker), Catwoman, Gentleman Ghost, Nocturna, and eventually Two-Face are grounded villains who fit into the time period. Even Gentleman Ghost and Nocturna, while supernatural characters, give the series a spooky element that fits into the 1940s noir tone. And no, the female Penguin didn’t seem off at all. In fact, Oswalda comes off as an even creepier version of the classic villain. I’m glad Joker, Riddler, and Ra’s Al Ghul didn’t appear (well, except for that last-minute cameo). I’d love to see Scarecrow from this universe.
  

• I was concerned about seeing Detective Bullock as a villain, but teaming him up with Flass, a man who is a traditional scumbag in other media, seemed to work well here against the straight-shooting Renee Montoya as a corrupt Gotham police force.

• The diversity seemed… off? Without being politically incorrect, a lot of characters were re-imagined as Black or Asian. Commissioner Gordon, Barbara Gordon, Harleen Quinzel, Renee Montoya, Flass, and other random characters were in this group. Renee is the only non-white person from the comics, and I understand the Gordons as this is a nod to Matt Reeves’ The Batman movie and the written-off Batgirl movie. In some scenes, it became overly noticeable. I'm not one of the complainers who claim its gone "woke", but when your attention is not on the story, but on the race or gender of a character maybe the creators should stick a little closer to the source material.

• I didn’t like the characterization of Barbara Gordon, who is reimagined here as a public defender (lawyer). From a story point, I understand how this new role made her relevant to the plots of many of the stories, but I found that I had to keep reminding myself who she was.
  

• I loved the inclusion of classic DC characters like Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen (from the Fleischer cartoons), Eel O’Brian (Plastic Man), and Jim Corrigan, who had a twist that caught me completely off guard. The King Tut appearance was cool, as well.

• My favorite episode was the Harley Quinn debut episode that featured her patients in strange, hypnotic-iduced guises, including an adult baby. This series was clearly written as an adult-oriented animated series, which also includes a great deal of violence and occasional foul language.
  

• The episode with the young “future-Robins” fell flat. Maybe it was because Tim Drake was once again left out, while the Robin I hate even more than Damian, Carrie Kelley, came off as a hero. Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, and Stephanie Brown also turned up as orphans. It felt off and forced.
  

• The cars and their movement seemed different in a very good way. Possibly the animation, but it made them feel like the hulking beasts that 1940s-era cars must’ve felt. The Batmobile itself reminded me of the haunted, killer car in the movie The Car.
  

• The designs of the buildings, clothing, and overall aesthetics of Gotham City are the exact same art deco that made Batman: The Animated Series so iconic.

• The voice actors are all very capable in their roles. While Kevin Conroy will always have a permanent place in my head as the voice of Batman, Hamish Linklater has just enough influence that I almost forgot it wasn’t the late, great Conroy.
  

The ten-episode first season went by way too fast. Why Warner Bros. Discovery sold this off to Amazon makes me wonder about the stewards of the DC Universe. The spiritual successor to the number one DC-animated series, and they pass on it? Oh, well, let’s bring on the second season!