Gotham High: The teen Batman TV show that almost happened

[Paste Pot Pete]

Wait...this is real? I thought it was someone's deviantart folder.

 

[RustyCage]

Wait...this is real? I thought it was someone's deviantart folder.

That's the impression it gives me too.

 

[Batman713]

Wait...this is real? I thought it was someone's deviantart folder.

It's real:

Once upon a time, artists Jeffrey Thomas and Celeste Green made a poster of the Joker and Harley Quinn as if they were high school students. They sent it to DC. They were then hired to develop their Gotham High as an animated series. Which eventually died

 

[mcallima]

Hilariously awesome pictures, and an interesting idea. But man, am I awfully glad this never happened.

 

[Cain]

Would've love to have seen this. Could've been better than Clone High.

 

[Paste Pot Pete]

LOL remind me to send in my doodles to DC. Didn't think it was that easy.

 

[Travesty]

LOL remind me to send in my doodles to DC. Didn't think it was that easy.

While you may not like the concept, you have to admit those are some quality designs.

 

[Paste Pot Pete]

While you may not like the concept, you have to admit those are some quality designs.

They're cute enough, but nothing special. I was quite serious in my first post; seems like I've seen dozens of concepts like this on deviantart and the like. Just sarcastically expressing my surprise that DC was that impressed, heh.

 

[Enriquespy]

Well, I would had seen this show only if Joker killed people anyway...
Every version of the joker should be murderous, that what I say. And It would have made the show quite edgy.

 

[Timstuff]

This project sounds like it was trying to take Batman and turn it into Spectacular Spider-Man. Averted fail. (not that Spectacular Spider-man isn't a great Spider-man show)

 

[AnorexicBatman]

You people have no sense of fun. This could have been awesome provided it was played up as a comedy series as opposed to serious like IRON MAN: ARMORED ADVENTURES

 

[Two-Face]

Man this would've looked terrible glad this didn't happen.

 

[Majik1387]

You people have no sense of fun. This could have been awesome provided it was played up as a comedy series as opposed to serious like IRON MAN: ARMORED ADVENTURES

Agreed.

No one wants their Batman to have fun anymore.

 

[BatmanBeyond]

It had the opposite effect on me. It reminded me of how embarrassed I was as a kid to see Batman being stretched out of shape for such shallow reasons. It was so painfully obvious that the new writers were out of relevant ideas, and weren't terribly concerned about being relevant in the first place, so they were throwing the character at every whimsy they could to continue to cash in. That cheap, corny approach to writing is a huge part of what caused general society to shun and shake their heads at comics for so long. Comic book fans like us were basically considered moronic children if we admitted to reading them.

We've seen the 'dark, gritty' Batman so much in the last 20-30 years because writers launched a revolution against all that had been done to abuse the character previously. Because they cared about the integrity of good, meaningful writing - about the industry, and it's fans, being taken seriously. Unfortunately, all that abuse actually caught on with some kids and spawned what is now considered an accepted 'interpretation' of the character.

Brave and the Bold, while it plays the harp of people who actually liked that stuff back then for whatever reason, is also an admission of 'Well, we know Batman TAS kicked *** and we can't match up to or continue those ideas successfully, plus they pretty much did everything, so let's just back into the opposite direction and bastardize everything they established there for the sake of still making something with the name 'Batman' on it, and maybe referencing another era of the comics will be deemed okay and find us a cult following'. That's the impression it gives me (although, there were a couple of episodes that took moments to flirt a bit with fans of a more serious take on Batman). It's overall a self-conscious, willful mockery of something much greater and more meaningful.

Maybe I have a stick up my arse, but I can't stand that kind of approach to writing or creating, and would prefer the character just be left alone and untarnished instead of downright parodied. Frankly, Batman & Robin (the film) springs to mind.

But I digress. Different people enjoy different things. To each his, or her, own.

This.

Add my voice to the ones that are glad this didn't take off. Batman is not supposed to be fun, it's supposed to be dark and gritty.(IMO, of course) And while the designs are cute and at times hilarious, no...just no.

 

[Bathead]

Agreed.

No one wants their Batman to have fun anymore.

I don't mind a fun Batman, but this still looks to me like a horrendous idea. I'm glad it didn't happen.

 

[tomstoyz2]

Oh man, thank God they NEVER made this!!!

 

[RustyCage]

Agreed.

No one wants their Batman to have fun anymore.

Batman can have fun without being thrown into a contrived, stupid as **** concept. I dunno why people don't understand this. Doing something ******ed and campy is NOT the definition of the word 'fun'. It can be done other ways. And it has been.

I felt like the banter with various characters in Nolan's movies was very fun. I still smile when Bruce jokes back and forth with Alfred or Lucius upon repeat viewings.

He doesn't have to be put into a nonsense high school based kids show or sputter crap like 'I'll get drive thru.', or become a degrading parody otherwise, to be fun.

 

[BatmanBeyond]

Batman can have fun without being thrown into a contrived, stupid as **** concept. I dunno why people don't understand this. Doing something ******ed and campy is NOT the definition of the word 'fun'. It can be done other ways. And it has been.

I felt like the banter with various characters in Nolan's movies was very fun. I still smile when Bruce jokes back and forth with Alfred or Lucius upon repeat viewings.

He doesn't have to be put into a nonsense high school based kids show or sputter crap like 'I'll get drive thru.', or become a degrading parody otherwise, to be fun.

Agreed. I really loved those moments in Nolan's movies as well.

 

[FCEEVIPER]

Man this would've looked terrible glad this didn't happen.

Agreed.


But sadly I would have watched this train wreck never the less, just to get my daily Bat-fix.

 

[GlasgowBat]

Brave and the Bold is hilarious, whilst still reading as a love letter to the character. This just........ nah.

It looks to me like the joke would have been funny for, say, an episode, but after that, it would be irritating. That's the difference here.

 

[Bat-Mite]

I would have watched this just to see how it turned out. At least I can recognize the characters, unlike in SOME shows (*cough*The Batman*cough*).

 

[ironman29758]

I would have watched this just to see how it turned out. At least I can recognize the characters, unlike in SOME shows (*cough*The Batman*cough*).

how were The Batman characters unanimated:
Joker-green hair, white permant skin, red lips.act like Batman 1966 live action tv series, Batman(1989)
JLA: Darker version of the silver age Barry Allen/Flash, Hal Jordan/Green Lantern, Hawkman/Katar Hol,Green Arrow and Superman
Robinick Grayson from all ages only less campy
Batman:exactly like Batman:Year One only learning how to be a team member, work with the police, etc
Penguin:seems similar to movie Penguin
Clayface:first one understandable, 2nd one combination of first one and Matt Hagen
Poision Ivy:teenage version of grown Poision Ivy
Catwoman:combo of Catwomen
and there are more but