Something that people forget about the Adam West Batman series is that it perfectly reflected what the Batman comics were like at the time. It wasn’t until later that they got darker. It is camp, but so are the comics from that era. It’s reputation as being ‘bad’ or ‘silly’ are only really in comparison to what the series became thanks to The Dark Knight Returns.
7 Likes
I never understood the “bad” Argument for this Show. It’s very clear that this Show has a self awareness of how silly it can get, but silly doesn’t mean bad. If anything, this Show respects its source material much more than later Adaptions of Comic Superheroes, which will do a scene with a more comic appropriate costume and be like “Oh how silly, IMAGINE anybody liking this?!”. While far away from my personal favorite Version of the Batman, the Show deserves so much more respect.
7 Likes
Oh I agree.
I’ve seen/heard enough people talk about stuff where silly does equal bad.
Side note. I think the valence between camp and dark/gritty is the Burton Batman movies.
7 Likes
Great example! With Batman, one thing I noticed throughout its many adaptions is how well it can work with different tones. While I do love and think a balance between a more lighter/campy and dark/gritty Batman is the preferred Way to go, with so many Movies and Shows you got a huge variety to chose from, which makes it only more a shame that a lot of people seem to have the Idea that the Dark Knight Trilogy is only way for Batman to go, which I just disagree. (I do like the Trilogy and really enjoy The Dark Knight, but as a Batman Adaption it ranks much lower for me personally).
7 Likes
So DC talk: Superman is in my top 5 favorite characters of all time. I literally wrote my senior thesis in college about Superman. Because of that love, I get really protective of the character. I really hope that the new movie does as much justice to him as it looks. Casting looks absolutely phenomenal. I have a lot of trust for James Gunn though. Anyone who says “here are the stories I am taking inspiration from” and then references relatively deep cuts to the GP like For All Seasons is someone who knows what he’s doing.
7 Likes
Finally got around to watching it yesterday. Really enjoyed it! A fun, yet very different Take on Batman, where I was happily surprised that he isn’t the sole Focus. It being an assembly cast was really fun. All the Flashbacks are very lovely and flesh out the whole dynamic and builds up the “Return” of their Teacher really. As I am used to with those DC animated Flicks, the Animation is pretty good and offers some stellar Fight.
Had a blast watching it. Also, really liked the Soundtrack, while far from the best Batman Adaption, this is a fun Movie with a different Vibe to the beloved Caped Crusader, which is always fun!
2 Likes
Has anyone else watched Creature Commandos? Is it even available to watch in the UK?? I thought it was a great start to James Gunn’s new DC universe with a lot of fun world building. It was definitely your traditional Gunn fare, with a group of morally grey misfits and underdogs coming together to save the day, with a good dose of humor, needle drops, over the top violence, and tragic backstories(the flashbacks are probably the best part of the show). This didn’t take away from my enjoyment of the series, as Gunn is very good at what he does, with a proven track record of the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy, The Suicide Squad, and Peacemaker. The performances were also really good, especially David Harbour and Indira Varma(!) as The Monster and The Bride, and I hope we get to see some of these characters in live action eventually. Excited for season 2, which hopefully won’t take 2 years to make, and to see James Gunn do something different for Superman later this year, which looks really good from what we’ve seen so far.
4 Likes
Here in the UK, I’ve seen 0 publicity for this series, and I have no clue where to watch it.
A shame, as it’s something that interests me.
3 Likes
Yeah I haven’t seen much promotion for it in general, which is weird considering it’s the official start to this universe, so you’d think that DC/Warner Bros. would want as many people to watch it as possible. It’s already been renewed for season 2 and I’ve consistently seen it on the top shows on Max, so it must be somewhat popular, but that might also be artificial inflation. Maybe they’re hoping that people will go back to this after seeing Superman, the projects do share at least one character, and maybe it will be streaming somewhere in the UK by then 
.
4 Likes
I am not sure if it’s available in many countries, at least over here it isn’t available, which is a great shame since I very much look forward to watching it. (Also it has India Varma in it, which is a big plus in my books).
Excited to eventually get around to it, hopefully it won’t take as long as it did with Peacemaker, which was amazing.
I am going boldly guess they didn’t market this show so much, because WB’s main Focus are their theatrical releases rather than Shows or Streaming exclusive Material. While the Start of a new DC Universe, Gunn has stated many times that Superman would be like the big first step in this Universe, so I am going to guess their Marketing focus will be on that one first.
At least it seems to have gone well with the Audience seemingly, which is a good Sign!
2 Likes
I don’t think the filmmakers seem to look back far enough for comic-book storylines to adapt. For instance, I’d love to see an animated movie based on the ‘Sand Superman’ saga that ran from issue 233 to 242. If someone could be found to recreate the ‘Swanderson’ art style of Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson for such a film, that would be fantastic too.
In 1971, I was absolutely captivated by the story of Superman’s strange doppelganger. I could barely contain my excitement as I waited for each new installment to turn up on the spinner-rack. Decades later, the story remains a firm favourite. I’m sure that with a couple of tweaks it could be successfully updated for a modern audience.
6 Likes
So I have seen a lot of talk about a potential 'Sgt. Rock" Movie in development at DC Studios. (Yeah, I haven’t heard about the Character either, for those who don’t know that Character, he’s basically a Soldier Type of Character. Don’t know much else, but not really a Character with superpowers or anything supernatural about him, as far as i know.) And for some reason, a lot of the Comments about this Project are fairly negative and mainly: “Who asked for this?”, “Nobody wants this” and so on.
…Why? Don’t get me wrong, I do totally understand where this thought is coming from. Making a Movie about such an obscure Character like that before a new Wonder Woman sounds a bit stupid. But I really don’t understand the Mindset of “Nobody asked for this”.
Personally, I am more interested if DC is focused on just giving creatives the Freedom to tell an interesting Story, especially if it’s removed from Superheroes. With ‘Sgt Rock’ you will probably get a War Movie and while I am not the biggest Fan of those, I am interested on the base solely on the fact that their approach is to tell different genre stories that happen to be in the same Universe rather than the Marvel Approach of building a connected Universe. (Nothing against Marvel, but after a while I kinda lost track and feel for the most part disinterested in most of their upcoming projects). I don’t know, maybe it’s just me, but I find this approach far more appealing, especially since you seemingly don’t have to watch all Movies or Shows in that new DCU, which I am sure could be helpful for many, who don’t want to keep track EVERYTHING in a Cinematic Universe.
And besides, I am sure if they know what Budget to give that Movie and with the Potential of Daniel Craig (known for James Bond and the Knives Out Movies), I am sure it could do well box office-wise. Perhaps I am a bit protective, since I do always root for DC, despite their last attempt with the DCEU being very messy (not to mention that for me the Snyder DC Approach fell flat).
Anyway, that was all of my rambling, if anybody has any thoughts about it, feel free to share them here!
6 Likes
First time I hear about it. Surprised they went with one of their old “we were not always focused on superhero comics” characters. As always, hoping for a good story. We will see how it goes. 
The news reminded me of the book “Super Soldiers” by Jason Inman. Some may know him as Jawiin from his YouTube channel. He served in the US military, which, as far as I understand, was a very important chapter of his life. So, the book has a unique perspective. And, of course, there’s also a chapter about Sgt. Rock. Will reread.
3 Likes
Yeah surprising but also not at the same time. I feel like Gunn is smart using a non Superhero Character, similarly as the planned “Swamp Thing” Film, which is described to be a horror flick. It makes sense to expand on the horizon and show that DC has not only Superheroes, making films focused on serving for different kind of Genres will certainly help for the Future. Especially if they do indeed do some smaller Budget Movies.
Haven’t heard of “Super Soldiers”, but sounds fascinating! Will make sure to look it up and find out more about it!
2 Likes
James Gunn has talked a few times in interviews about how the only requirement he has for a project to move forward is that he knows it will be good. I think this is an amazing way to build this new universe, focusing more on characters and the story that the filmmakers want to tell over some overarching villain or plot. The Sgt. Rock(who briefly appears in Creature Commandos) and Swamp Thing films especially sound like ideas that the filmmakers behind them came to Gunn with and got the green light for due to their passion for them.
4 Likes
Yeah, I’d agree! Honestly also the best approach moving forward, and it’s not like Audiences are against Superhero or Superhero adjacent figures being in totally different Genres from the typical Action/Sci-Fi/Fantasy Corner. Movies such as Logan and The Dark Knight are so beloved for that very reason.
And I do just like the Thought of making a Universe with such unique Stories and Voices, like I think this will benefit his Universe in so many ways!
Very excited and hopeful for this new Universe!
5 Likes
After having owned a Copy for a very long time, I finally decided to read “A Death in a Family” (the Batman Comic) and what a weird Oddity really.
I think there are some great points in that Story and I do really like it when it focuses on Jason trying to find his birth Mother, the Ending for his Character is pretty tragic, and I do like the bits we see afterward with Batman not coping well with it at all. The Art is pretty solid and in some Panels utterly great, I do miss this kind of look from older Comics at times honestly. That said… this Story isn’t fascinating whenever we explore Joker’s Plan beyond killing Jason. Not to mention that this# was a Comic which ending fate for Jason was done via Vote, which makes it even odder. A fascinating read really, but far away from the truly great Batman Comics from old or new.
5 Likes