Welcome to a Happy DC Universe

Please note that this is a piece on my own experience with superhero media. My experience was very limited in the 1990s and 2000s and was often drawn from early incarnations of the characters shown on TV. I started reading the comics more in the 2010s.

In an era where Marvel has taken over (thanks to Disney) and the latest X-Men animated series has taken pop culture by storm (pun loosely intended), it seems that Marvel is currently winning the long standing rivalry between them and DC. My first introduction to Marvel was through the Spiderman movie from 2002 and the animated series X-Men Evolution. I was aware of other animated Marvel shows from the 1990s, but they weren’t often on the kids channels as reruns. 

Though both the Spiderman movie and X-Men Evolution TV series had their dark moments (Uncle Ben dying and learning Nightcrawler’s origin were both traumatic for little me), they were overall lighthearted and fun. Those properties are what I associated with Marvel for a long time and wasn’t familiar with other heroes like Captain America, Iron Man, or Deadpool.

I was much more familiar with DC heroes.

The 1992 Batman the Animated Series (which introduced me to Kevin Conroy as the best Batman) along with the 1989 movie were some of the first superhero properties I watched. Plus, with my dad being a fan of Scooby Doo, Justice Friends, and the 1960s live action TV show, Batman popped up a lot. Sure the older versions were lighthearted like Marvel, but it was the dark and brooding 90s incarnation that caught my attention. That didn’t mean that these versions didn’t have their fun moments. The animated Batman is still one of my favorites, even if his story ends more on the tragic end, and that series joined up with Superman the Animated Series to bring us Justice League and Justice League Unlimited, Batman Beyond, and a ton of crossovers with the amazing Static Shock. 

Sure, there were dark moments (like what happened to Tim Drake and Richard Grayson), but overall things were still pretty light hearted going into the mid-2000s with Teen Titans (minus any of that “go” nonsense).

And if you’re wondering how I can say all this without mentioning the comics, well… I wasn’t yet a comic book reader. In fact, the only graphic novels I was familiar with, at this time, were the Asterix ones my dad had from the 60s and started bring back from Europe for me to read (I didn’t see an Asterix book in the United States until the early 2010s). My sibling read Tintin. 

Superheroes were fun to young me. They could be dark and brooding, but they still smiled and laughed. They had friends and trusted people. Their villains were evil, but never to the point where the good guys lost hope.

Again, wasn’t reading the comics at this time. I had no idea who Jason Todd or how he died. I was only familiar with the Teen Titans version of Slade, not the comic book one. I didn’t know about Bane breaking Batman’s back. The animated series wasn’t allowed to kill anyone, but a child was tortured to the point of insanity on my screen.

And then “Batman Begins” hit theaters.

Suddenly broody superheroes were all the rage. It was quickly followed by the incredible “Dark Knight” and “Dark Knight Rises”. Both had huge body counts, intimidating villains, and high stakes without a happy Batman insight (probably because he didn’t have a Robin dressed as a traffic light to make bad puns while taking down bad guys).

You can even see how it influenced the early “Iron Man” and second iteration of “Spiderman” (the Andrew Garfield version) movies. However, they still maintained some level of fun. It wasn’t until I saw “Avengers” in 2012, that I felt that superheroes were being shown as fun again in theaters.

And while, Marvel (now owned by Disney) had taken Superheroes in a more fun adventure direction, 2010s DC cinema seemed to think that dark and gritty was the only way to go for more “realism” (or that’s the argument I’ve heard). By this point, the CW’s Smallville had ended and the “Arrowverse” was taking off. DC fans, luckily, still had fun adventures with DC Animation, but even that had gotten darker and grittier when not explicitly made for teens and kids (Young Justice was fantastic and was canceled because allegedly the “wrong” demographic liked it more than than the targeted one, it was later resurrected for two more seasons). 

DC fans may have liked “Wonder Woman”, but they hated “Batman v. Superman”. “Suicide Squad” was a mess and the less said about “Justice League” the better. DC did have a cool take with “Titan” and “Gotham” has the right mix of Batman 1989 and the 1992 animated series, but they seriously botched the ending.

And then the 2020s came and fans were given the light and joy that is My Adventures with Superman. Superman was suddenly fun again. He was young, inexperienced and hopeful. He wasn’t carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders and he wasn’t fighting with any other hero. He was a dork on a mission to fit in apnea become a reporter. Of course he had to save cats in his down time, he’s a good guy. 

The second season is coming out soon and it’s like I’m back in time on a Saturday morning watching Justice League or Static Shock again. I’m excited and happy and, above all, hopeful.

More recently, I’ve become familiar with the Webtoon Batman: Wayne Family Adventures. It is everything I want in a BatFam (what the fans have dubbed Bruce Wayne’s growing collection of children and Gotham based superheroes) media. And it’s officially a DC publication!

Bruce is a tired single dad raising a gaggle of feral children while Alfred tries to keep everything somewhat stable. It is a must read for anyone who has ever wanted Bruce to finally find some measure of happiness. There’s a YouTuber who has been narrating the comic and, though I don’t love all the voices, it does add an extra layer to the experience. Some are calling it the best Batman comic to come out in a long time. 

I’ve talked before about the Scooby Doo and Batman crossover comics. The webtoon is similar in tone in that it’s a lighthearted adventure. However, the difference is that the webtoon is a bit more mature. It doesn't shy away from topics like Jason’s PTSD, Tim being a disaster bi icon, and the fact that Bruce makes mistakes, lots and lots of mistakes. He even has a mug that says “World’s Okay-est Dad”. 

I hope that DC listens to fans and understands that fans want a balance of fun adventure with the angst. We don’t want “Teen Titan Go”. We want 2000s “Teen Titans”. We like campy Batman villains that are actually threatening (“Gotham” has some seriously scary moments, but still has time for 1960s antics). Superman is a dork. He believes in Santa Claus (who actually does exist in the DC universe) and his costume was made by his mom. We really enjoy Harley Quinn post Joker breakup (she and Ivy are a truly iconic queer couple). 

A lot of us grew up with fun superheroes who dealt with tough topics, especially those of us who are products of the 1980s and 1990s.

So, please DC, let your heroes be happy.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you like hearing from me.

Until the next week.

Welcome to Scooby Doo Meets Batman

 Guys, I have fallen down a rabbit hole and I do not want to dig myself out. I recently learned that DC has been writing comic books and mid-grade level books featuring the Scooby Doo meeting Batman and helping him solve crimes.

These are everything my inner child needs right now.

Cross overs are nothing new, in fact Scooby Doo first met Batman and Robin in the 1972 episode “The Dynamic Scooby Affair” from the show “The New Scooby Doo Movies”. This Scooby Doo series was nothing but crossover episodes with some of my favorite guests being the Addams Family and the Harlem Globetrotters. There were two Batman crossover episodes, but the first one (Dynamic) was the one most often replayed. 

Scooby Doo and Batman are nostalgic for me. Scooby Doo was a popular rerun block on the newish Cartoon Network in the 90s before getting a reboot run in the early 2000s. “What’s New Scooby Doo” was my jam in the 2000s and it coincided with the live action movies that came out in 2002 and 2004 respectively. I’ve somewhat kept up with the more recent Scooby Doo series - “Mystery Inc.” being the standout - and enjoyed watching the characters evolve over time. 

Batman was also an animated series in the early to mid 90s that shaped my understanding of the character. It was released shortly after the 1989 Batman movie. “Batman the Animated Series” along with a few other animated DC superhero (known by fans as the DCAU or DC Animated Universe) shows eventually became “Justice League” and “Justice League Unlimited” (or JLU). The DCAU also had a few cross over episode with my favorites being anytime Static Shock showed up - another standout early 2000s show.

However, Scooby Doo never made it to the DCAU. Though Warner Brothers owned both franchises by the 2000s, it wasn’t until a “Batman Brave and the Bold” movie that Scooby and the gang meet Batman and his friends again. A crossover movie that was released in 2018. That’s almost 50 years of them not interacting.

You may be thinking, but does Scooby Doo fit into the Batman and DC universe. The latest portrayals of the Dark Knight have been dark and edgy - way different from the more lighthearted Scooby Doo universe. Brave and the Bold doesn’t count because that series was for little kids, while The Animated Series and JLU were a lot darker with older teens in mind.

To which I counter: have y’all seen “Zombie Island” or “Witch’s Curse”? Those Scooby Doo movies have a very similar aesthetic as The Animated Series. Yes, Scooby Doo tends to err on the lighter side, but they are still dealing with criminals who dress up in costumes to do crime. Kind of like how super villains dress up in ridiculous costumes and do crimes in the DC universe.

In fact , I would argue that Scooby Doo’s villains fit in well with the villains running around in spandex of the DC universe (particularly the Flash’s Rogue Gallery, but that is neither here nor there). Why wouldn’t greedy land developers try to scare people away in silly costumes, if really bad guys are already terrorizing the general public in silly costumes.

Therefore, Scooby Doo and the Mystery Gang are a logical addition to the DC universe. 

The Scooby gang just doesn’t need to dress up because they don’t have the same tragic backstory Batman does.

Anyway, I bought both volumes of the recently released Batman & Scooby Doo Mysteries along with a mid grade novel that is very easy to solve if you are even fair-weather fan of Batman. They’re a lot of fun and feature a lot of the Batfamily, including Red Hood, Spoiler, Bluewing, Nightwing, Batwoman, and Ace the Batdog. 

However, the timeline is a little confusing. I’m not certain which Robin is in most of the stories. If there’s pants on the Robin it’s Tim or Damian, no pants and it’s either Dick or Jason. I’m pretty sure Jason is the Robin at one point, but it’s hard to tell. Also, there’s a fun “Pup Named Scooby Doo” issue that establishes that the Scooby gang is about five years younger than Batman (even Red Herring gets a mention), but this timeline is tossed out the window because I totally spotted Duke in the Batfamily reunion. Bruce is around 40 when Duke shows up in the current DC timeline, which would make Scooby one really old dog (maybe he too took a dip in the Lazarus Pits or he learned the secret of immortality from Alfred). 

Maybe it doesn’t really matter. Scooby was already an old dog in “Zombie Island”, so I can’t really complain. He’s also a talking dog - magic has got to be involved somehow.

The crossover comic series is a lot of fun and I can’t help but hear Adam West’s voice (despite my preference for Kevin Conroy) in Batman. The latest TV crossover did happen on the Scooby Doo series “Guess Who” in the episode: “What a Night for a Dark Knight” which was the final time Kevin Conroy would play my favorite version of Batman opposite my favorite Joker, Mark Hamel. Sadly, Mr. Conroy passed away in November 2022.

It was Mr. Conroy’s death that prompted me to return to the DC universe. Scoobytopia may have bought my attention to the latest Scooby Doo and Batman crossovers with his YouTube video “When Scooby Doo! Met Batman”, but it was Matt Baume’s video “The Gay Actor Who Bought Batman to Life: Remembering Kevin Conroy” that brought me back to Batman. 

For an entire generation of kids, myself included, Kevin Conroy was Batman. I still have a hard time accepting a different voice actor. We lost him too soon.

Scooby Doo and Batman are a part of American culture. Each decade seems to have a new series on TV or direct to consumer movies to watch. Both have their graphic novel universes and their live action movies. I’m happy that these s characters continue to grow and evolve for the next generation.

And most importantly, that a talking dog is still alive solving mysteries well past the point any dog should still be alive.

Until next week.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope y’all like hearing from me.

Welcome to Nostalgic Cringe

Apparently someone this week sent out into the Internet an article about how awe full the 90s show "Friends" is. I only found out about it because it’s been in my Twitter trends for the past couple of days.

I vaguely remember watching friends. I think I found it funny, but it’s been so long that I don’t really remember. I just know I watched the show if nothing else was on. I don’t think I’ve even seen the series finale, which shows how much I cared.

I do know that the author of the original article is right about one thing, "Friends" has some seriously dated and cringe moments. Like to the point where I can’t watch a 5 minute clip without pausing.

I can take guesses about why "Friends" has somehow managed to stay relevant going into the 2020s, but really I think it comes down to a nostalgia for a time that never really existed. It’s the same reason I get sucked into watching "Leave It To Beaver" with my dad, or why I just binged 5 seasons of "Murder She Wrote". These shows take place in an idealized world, in places that never really existed, to distract us for an hour or so from our inadequate lives.

Quality of these nostalgic shows may vary. Aging into the 2020s is not always applicable.

For example, I finally sat down and watched every episode of the Original Star Trek series. I came out of that binge with a few thoughts. 1. It is such a product of the 60s - from the clothes to the hair to the crazy colors. So freaking 60s. 2. The sass is strong with this show, especially if it's Spock or Chekov doing the sassing. They have some of the best comebacks in the series.

And finally, 3. there are so many cringe moments in this show. I don’t want to call out any particular scene or episode (though "Plato’s Stepchildren" was tough for me to sit through), but there were a lot of cringe moments that had me thinking “this wouldn’t be done today”.

Do I think that people shouldn’t watch the Original Star Trek Series? No, I think people should keep watching (and learning) from this show. It’s entertaining as all get out, even if some of it hasn’t aged very well and is definitely a product of the 60s.

Rewatching "Star Trek: The Next Generation" occasionally gives me similar feels as my take on the Original Series. It’s great when it’s great, Q is a hilarious villain, and there are some cringe moments that make me question certain production choices. Like who in their right mind let’s a child have a very important position on the bridge? There were better ways to have had Wesley be involved in the series.

The same can be said of most TV shows and movies. It’s hard to make something timeless. I can totally tell the difference between the 60s "Batman" show, the 90s animated show, and the Chris Nolan movies of the mid-2000s and know exactly when they were made based on the technology and aesthetic. My only exception (which others may argue with me on) is the first Tim Burton "Batman" movie from 89. Okay yes, the women’s hair totally have an 80s vibe, but so much of that "Batman" world was styled to be a mash of 40, 50s, 60s, and 80s aesthetic as to be uniquely timeless.

Another show I loved as a child and have been rewatching for mindless nostalgia is "Sailor Moon". Thankfully someone managed to update and fix the first awful dubbing I had as a child. It’s a lot better than the 90s, but that doesn’t mean that it’s aged well. "Sailor Moon" is totally a product of the 90s and there are some major cringe moments that I didn’t pick up on as a kid, but find super awkward as an adult.

NO ITS NOT. IT'S WORSE!

The biggest cringe moment (at least right now) for me was the relationship between Usagi’s (Serena in the original dub) friend Naru (original dub Molly with a thick Boston accent) and the villain Nephrite. Naru is a middle school girl, 14 max. Nephrite is an adult. At first he totally takes advantage of Naru’s crush on him, as any villain would, but by his down fall he genuinely claims to love a MIDDLE SCHOOL CHILD. And not love as in “I-think-of-her-as-my-daughter” love, this is supposed to be interpreted as romantic love.

So much cringe.

And this doesn’t even cover the slightly less cringe romantic relationship between the lead Usagi (again a middle schooler) and college student Mamoru (Darien in the first English dub). Their relationship is seriously messed up at times.

However, I still love the show, cringe and all.

Though there have been shows and movies that I've gone back and tried to watch for nostalgia reasons and been completely turned off by their cringe factors. "The Mighty Morphing Power Rangers" may hold a special place in my heart, but I can't for the life of me get through a whole episode in one sitting anymore.

So is "Friends" as terrible as the author of the article made it sound? I don't know, I haven't watched it in a while and I don't plan to any time soon. It's definitely a product of the 90s and should be viewed as such. Times have changed, "Friends" has not.

Hopefully the next sitcom to define a generation is the timeless treasure we deserve, but I doubt that.

Do you guys have a show or movie you find nostalgic, but also a little cringe?

If you say no, you're either too young to feel nostalgia or you're lying.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me.

Until next week.

Welcome to the Misunderstood Villain

This week's topic came about for a couple of reasons:

1) I saw the play "Wicked" - which was awesome

2) I started watching the latest incarnation of "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego" - rebooted by Netflix

3) A conversation I had at dinner last week with a group of amazing writers regarding our treatment of some of history's greatest heroes...or were they really villains?

It's that conversation that's been getting the wheels in my head turning. We were mainly discussing how Alexander the Great (or the Bastard depending on where you're from) has been turned into a bit of a hero in our modern retelling of his conquests. In reality, he killed a lot of people and there are some places today who still hate his memory. Heck, Alexander built a land bridge to reach a well fortified island which refused to surrender to him and, when he finally reached the island, he proceeded to murder everyone there.

But the way Hollywood puts it, he was an amazing guy who was trying to unite the world, flawed, but still repetitively cool. The same treatment happens to a lot of conquerors. We definitely have a fondness for the Roman Empire, despite the fact that they pretty much enslaved everyone they conquered.

However, since history is written by the winners, we get to hear all about the greatness of some of history's worst people in the best light. They weren't ruthless invaders out to murder and enslave, they were trying to unite their people and gather more resources.

One of the writers in the group even brought up the idea that some of our greatest monsters in modern history could one day get this type of treatment. I really hope not, but that doesn't mean it's not possible.

Anything is possible.

Especially since Hollywood and other medias really like the misunderstood villain trope right now.

This trope has popped up a lot recently (along with the bait and switch villains, but that's another blog post/rant). We see it in the play and book "Wicked", there was the recent re-imagining of Sleeping Beauty by Disney where Maleficent was really the good guy all along, and you have the countless retelling of fairy tales told from the villain's perspective.

This isn't a bad trope and it occasionally goes hand in hand with the equally interesting villain redeemed trope.

I'm just starting to see it over and over again.

When this trope is done well, it's really good and interesting. I love Zuko's character arc in "Avatar the Last Airbender" and "Wicked" is great (so long as you don't think too hard about some of the inconsistencies between the original book and movie). I freaking loved "Wicked".

But I'm starting to feel it's becoming overdone.

In recent years we've had loads of examples of the misunderstood villain, my personal favorite being Loki in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. There's also the characters in the Disney remakes (I've already mentioned Maleficent, but also the Red Queen in Alice in Wonderland), Lucifer in Supernatural, and multiple Batman villains (minus the Joker) like Mr. Freeze and the Penguin.

Again, it's not a bad trope. It just needs to be done well.

"Wicked" is an amazing book and play. I can totally believe that the Wicked Witch of the West got her reputation by defying the wizard and wanting to be a freedom fighter instead, just not in the context of the original book. For one thing she wasn't green and another she isn't even that much of a protagonist. The original Wizard of Oz book is more or less a road trip with obstacles story with the Wicked Witch of the West briefly appearing around the midpoint of the story before Dorothy kills her.

The wicked witch I remember

Her character in "Wicked" is so far removed from her character in the book, I wouldn't believe they were related at all if I didn't have a story synopsis tell me they are.

Now I'm watching the re-imagining of "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego". As a kid, Carmen Sandiego was a bad guy. There was no questioning this and the members of ACME were the good guys putting a stop to Carmen's horrible plans. In this version, she's a spunky teenage white hat thief trying to get back at the real bad guys who raised her. I think it's a really entertaining show and fun character, but I'm having a hard time equating her with the villainous character I grew up with.

I understand what's going on with these stories. People like retelling stories with characters they're familiar with (which is probably why we've seen so many versions of Sherlock Holmes) and hearing a story I'm familiar with told from a different point of view is a lot of fun when done well.

Batman is remade all the time. Sometimes he's campy and fun, other times gritty and serious. My personal favorite version of Batman is from the "Animated" universe which lead into the "Justice League" cartoon series. There he was a good balance of serious and humorous. However, that version could never be mistaken for the "Dark Knight" Batman or the live action TV show version.

It's fun to see characters and stories in new ways. Real life isn't always as straight forward as we want it and people can recall the same events very differently. Sometimes villains aren't villains, they're scapegoats or people in the wrong place at the wrong time.

There's a song in "Wicked" that goes into this a bit called "Wonderful" sung by the Wizard. It really drives the theme home that Elphaba is being scapegoated by the real villains of the story. They're rewriting history so that she's not a freedom fighter but a terrible wicked witch.

I love "Wicked", Tom Hiddleston as Loki, and even the Supernatural version of Lucifer.

But there are some villains that I don't think deserve this makeover.

A certain serial killer is getting the Hollywood treatment. I highly doubt the movie is going to make him out to be some misunderstood individual, this guy was pure evil. It's just that there are some people who might idolize him and the movie might show him in a more sympathetic light than he deserves. I don't know for certain that it will, but the

It's one thing if it's a fictional character getting these makeovers, but I don't like the idea of a real life villain getting one. The families the above mentioned serial killer's victims are still alive and still have to live with the horrible things that happened.

These villains don't deserve the "misunderstood" treatment.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me.

Until next week.