Batman and my nephew.

Hey everyone.

I need your opinions about something that’s going on between me and my 7-year-old nephew, but first, let me tell how it all started.

Although he is more interested on Marvel stuff, he recently got incredibly intrigued in the character a few days ago, when he watched me play Arkham Origins. He then started to ask about every single thing he saw and in the end, he wants me to introduce him the character. I’m going to have to do it, because my brother is a very busy man and he barely spends time with his son and I have all the time in the world. Here’s where I want to hear your opinions, about how I’m going to show him who’s Batman.

Here’s my plan. I don’t want to just show him the modern interpretations of the character; I want to give him a summarized and generalized idea of how Batman was and has been through the years. I think the old films are the best way to start, which I think it’s perfect. Many people say that each film is an homage to an era-specific Batman and I want to go in this order: 1st) Batman [1930s], 2nd) Batman: Forever [1950s], 3rd) The 2-Hour long commercial [1960s] and lastly Batman: Returns [1990s]. If he likes them, then I’ll show him the Animated Series, it’s better than any other cartoon aired in Cartoon Network nowadays. I’ll then show him the modern Batman with the Nolan films and the Arkham series.

So what do you guys think? Is it a good plan or am I just exaggerating.

Well...I am a HUGE Batman fan so I cannot not chime in on this. You are missing one important aspect to Batman, prior to the 1989 movie, which you've dubbed "the 30's". Before the Joker and all his now infamous rouges gallery Batman fought real crime. If you can find it there is an old black and white series that depicts Batman fighting against real criminals with none of his classic rouges. Batman Begins sort of fits into this era too for something more modern. There are also the animated films, Batman Year One which would be great to put in there.

My concern is that you said he is 7 years old. Some of those movies may not be suitable for a child that young, especially Batman Returns (heavily sexually suggestive) and Forever. The Nolan movies might be a bit too heavy for a child that young as well.

The animated series would be my preferred way to start. And so not to rot his brain too much on movies and tv, there is a book out called the Essential Batman Encyclopedia, that gives Batman's history over the years, origins of his allies and rouges, the batsignal, etc. It's is an encyclopedia though so there is more text than pictures, though there is a picture nearly on every page. For something more colourful there is also a book titled, Batman The World of the Dark Knight, which tells his history from the inception to the new 52 reboot, which in my opinion would be perfect. It even has a diagram of his batsuit and utility belt, all kinds of fun stuff and is full colour.

Just my opinion.

Heh, this sort of thing really draws the big Batman fans out of the woodwork.

Sci-Fi has the right idea. From my perspective; Batman is a mature character. He's not really for the kids so much once you get down into the darker (and in my opinion, the best) parts of his stories. For example I wouldn't let a 7yr old anywhere near some of the graphic novels where Batman is dealing with Victor Zsasz... they're far too violent and explicit for a child. The same goes for some of the more sexually suggestive things they've done both on screen and in the graphic novels. (Poison Ivy anyone?)

The original animated series from the Bruce Timm DC Universe is absolutely spot on for kids. I still enjoy it to this day. With circa 100 episodes of that to watch... he'll get to enjoy a huge amount of Batman without running out of material for a while. There are also some movies set in this universe... Mask of the Phantasm, Deep freeze, Mystery of the Batwoman (not so great, but enjoyable.) You could potentially even throw in the animated mini-movie World's finest... you'll find out if he likes or loathes Superman in the process.

In terms of looking at interpretations of the character... I wouldn't suggest showing everything anyway... I mean, he's developed soooo far from the vision Bob Kane originally had for Batman... it almost seems ridiculous. But if you want to slowly introduce him to that, you'll want to do it over the years. He may have lost interest by the time he reaches the sort of age where you think it's appropriate to show him the Michael Keaton Batman movies. The Nolan series is toned down to a certain extent to try and let kids see it... so I suppose you could let him see those. Though I think those films are pretty hit and miss when it comes to actually being good quality Batman stuff. But again, that's probably because of my opening thought... I think Batman as a character is not designed for children.

The new Batman games were very much aimed at the mature audience. The designers led by Sefton Hill (or Sefton Burns as he became known) spent a lot of time talking with the fans to ensure that Batman Arkham Asylum really reflected the characters as well as possible. They did the same again when they released Arkham City, even going so far as to get Paul Dini to write and release a prequel graphic novel which charts the change from the end of Asylum, through to the beginning of City. (Note they did not work on Arkham Origins.) When I met Sefton, he was very clear that the games were all about delivering the Batman experience. Taking his strength, but never losing sight of his overall weakness (that he's one man, and only needs one man to be able to take him down.) You could potentially let him play the original Arkham Asylum in a year or two?

If you insisted on getting him a graphic novel, Sci-Fi suggests rightly around Year one. Dark Victory by Jeph Loeb would probably be ok too. I've never come across the encyclopaedia before but it seems like a good recommendation from what's written. You could also consider a Batman board game... but they won't really tell you much about the characters. Arkham city escape is rubbish, so avoid that. Gotham City Mystery is good though. Either that or the Batman Gotham City strategy game. While you play a villain in that, it does give a good deal of theme around Batman as a sort of... force of nature

Plenty of stuff to consider. But I'd stick with just the animated series for at least a few years. Generally speaking, I don't think I'd introduce Batman to anyone younger than 12 or 13 because the concepts (esp of some of the villains like Joker, Zsasz, Hush and Poison Ivy) simply aren't appropriate for young children. That's just my opinion. Hope some of this has been helpful!

Well, thanks for the responses guys.

I’m not even a casual comic-book collector, so I guess the animated series will do for now.

Yesterday, I dedicated the entire day to watch a few episodes, and films, from the show and I got to say, the show still holds up pretty well. Also, most of what we know of Batman nowadays (the characters, the stories, etc.) came directly or was inspired by that series, so this IS the best way to start.

Today, I saw the Burton films and I don’t think I’ll be showing him those yet. Those films were definitely made more for, at the very least, teenagers. I also don’t think he’ll understand them; they’re a bit too complicated for a 7-year-old, story-wise at least. Even if he saw them, I don’t think he’ll mind the dark themes and violence, me and my brothers saw them before we hit puberty and got out just fine.

As for the Schumacher films… ha-ha… NO. I also made the stupid decision of watching them, right after the Burton films. I had not seen them for a long time and I forgot what they were about, so curiosity killed me again. I don’t know about you guys, but I managed to forgive Forever a bit, simply because it was a new direction for the franchise and whenever something new is tried, it’s always open for criticism and we all know they didn’t learned from their mistakes, so their other “movie” can take its bat-nipples and bat-asses and forever freeze in hell (lame joke intended).

Again, thanks for the responses guys.

My god, soon as I saw this I thought of Sci! He'll probably contain all the info you need really.

^

AnonymousMe said:

Well, thanks for the responses guys.

I’m not even a casual comic-book collector, so I guess the animated series will do for now.

Yesterday, I dedicated the entire day to watch a few episodes, and films, from the show and I got to say, the show still holds up pretty well. Also, most of what we know of Batman nowadays (the characters, the stories, etc.) came directly or was inspired by that series, so this IS the best way to start.

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Uh, not really. There were characters incorporated from the animated series into the comics, Harley Quinn most notably, but the comics themselves had already taken a more serious darker turn. Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns is mainly credited with that. The animated series was influenced by Burton's films and Superman cartoons from the 40's. There were many episodes taken from/influenced by the comics (mainly from the 70's).

Not sure if you are planning on Mask of the Phantasm, though an AWESOME movie it may be something to hold off on until the kid is 9. It is a little heavier with people actually being killed off. Fun fact, the movie was originally intended for direct to video release, Warner Bros (the geniuses they are...) decided to give it a theatrical release which caused it to be rushed into theaters with little promotion. It bombed in the box office (see how smart they were) though the film is hailed by fans as one of the best Batman movies. The Phantasm is one character I wish they would introduce into the main comics, though the character does have a few easter eggs in the Arkham games.

Glad you rewatched the movies, maybe in a few years you can introduce him to Burton's Batman. As for Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy, that would be best to wait until he's a teenager. Those movies are much more darker and heavy on realism as opposed to fantasy. Plus the scene with Two-Face and Gordon's family, that scene was a bit much even for adults to take, not to mention the Joker's hostage scenes. I remember hearing a lot of gasps in the theater and some people even crying. I told my mom about that scene and she gasped and never wants to see it now, lol. Plus the Dark Knight Rises, with Batman getting his ass handed to him by Bane, a lot of kids don't like to see their heroes taken down like that.

Wow Sci-Fi, seriously? Gasps and crying? Man do I feel sorry for you. I bet you did not watch the film comfortably with all those sissies around you. Yeah, I admit, it was heavy stuff, but it wasn’t something to make people traumatized. Movies have done even more disturbing scenes in the past that pale in comparison to Ledger’s Joker, yet they act as if they’ve never seen it before. Even Mufasa’s death was a hell of a lot more traumatizing.

About the third film, whenever there was a scene involving Bane, I could not take it seriously; all because if that voice he had. The stadium scene, in particular, was so hilarious that I had no choice but to laugh out loud (I didn’t watched it in theaters, only on DVD).

Hey, I have a question for you about the Batman Animated Series, what the heck is up with Season 4? My nephew has started watching it, but I was just going through a few episodes from each season and the fourth one seems… like… out of place; visually, at least. Everyone looks different and even other DC characters are appearing. What’s up with that?

AnonymousMe said:

Hey, I have a question for you about the Batman Animated Series, what the heck is up with Season 4? My nephew has started watching it, but I was just going through a few episodes from each season and the fourth one seems… like… out of place; visually, at least. Everyone looks different and even other DC characters are appearing. What’s up with that?

Click to expand...

The 4th season changed the art/animation style in order to make it fit in with the Superman animated series. This was the first move towards starting to unify the Bruce Timm DC animated universe into the same style. I think it was in preparation for the World's Finest storyline. Anyway, in changing the animation they also moved things along slightly. They skipped out Jason Todd and went straight to having Tim Drake as Robin. Dick Grayson became Nightwing and they Barbara Gordon as Batgirl (probably because there would be no reasonable way to explain her becoming Oracle that would be suitable for kids.)

If you want to explore more of the Bruce Timm animated DC universe that includes Batman, there are the Justice League and Justice League Unlimited series which followed on. The animation style is more like the 4th season again, but it's tweaked a little. They went back to adding a little more detail. If you want to follow on from that again, there's the Batman Beyond series where Paul Dini takes up his pen to write some more excellent Batman animation. Batman Beyond was so successful that it actually made the leap from animation to graphic novel. I'd highly recommend the original Justice League from the Bruce Timm universe. It's excellent.

If you wanted to stick exclusively with Batman... then Batman Beyond would be the way to go. It explores the future where Bruce is now an old man on medication for heart conditions, walks with a cane and so forth. Terry McGuinness takes on the mantle of Batman, guided by Bruce who helps him with thinking/building things in the batcave. It went on for 3 seasons and also had a couple of crossovers with Justice League Unlimited and had a movie (Return of the Joker)

Honestly I think the best way to do it would be to dress up in a Batman costume and kick his 7-year-old ass. Or kick someone else's ass while you are dressed as Batman. Either way he needs to know that Batman kicks ass.

I wouldn't throw him in at the deep end of it with "boring" black and white films and series. He is only young so what's cool to him is somewhat different to what is cool to us. Start him off on the easy stuff, even if he doesn't fully understand it, he'll forever remember it and investigate further into the more vintage side of it when he's older. I'd go for the animated series, graphic novels and the Burton films, tbh.