Superman: The Animated Series? More Like The Man of Steel Magnolias!

[spectralbovine]

After mainlining Batman: The Animated Series last year, I was inspired to continue through the rest of the DCAU (sans Static Shock). I really had no interest in watching Superman since I'm not really into him, but I liked the series a lot more than I expected to.

I feel like this is blasphemy, but in a couple aspects, Superman is better than

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[the_narration]

Oh, those two particular nicknames have been around for ages. They even get used by other superhero characters with regularity.

The Teen Titans also used to call each other really silly stuff, like "Bird Boy" (Robin), "Flat Feet" (Kid Flash), "Green Genes" (Beast Boy) and "Chrome Dome" (Cyborg).

[equustel]

Yay, Superman! This was actually the series my brother and I watched before getting into Batman (previously, all we knew about Batman was that his movies were by Tim Burton and kind of creepy). We loved it. I remember being SO disturbed by Parasite - you have no idea. Whenever his episodes aired I'd have nightmares about them. (I was 10 at the time.)

I've always liked Supes as a character, mostly because he so clearly stands for something. The modern tendency is to make your heroes a bit dark and flawed, so Superman tends to get a lot of flak for being straight-edge, but I think that's part of what generates his pathos - so few people are willing to take on the huge burden of being a blatant Symbol of Hope and All That Is Just. It isolates him, when he's already an isolated character (as you pointed out) - an alien fighting for an ideal that, technically, doesn't even belong to him.

Maybe it's for these reasons that I liked Superman Returns when a lot of people didn't...? It totally took that thread and ran with it

[spectralbovine]

I can see how SV's Lois is actually pretty similar, but this Lois is much sharper and snappier. Plus she gets hilarious lines like "I've gotta start wearing pants!"

[duchessdogberry]

The one downside to JL/JLU is that Lois is sorely under-used. Dana Delany still shows up to do her voice, though (and even did the voice of Lois Lane on the unrelated The Batman cartoon, too), when she does appear.

Once you're done with the DCAU, you should watch Lois & Clark. A lot of the goodwill I have for Clark Kent and Superman comes from that silly show and then carried on to S:TAS. And then was tarnished by various comics and ruined by Smallville.

So, when are you going to start Batman Beyond?

[spectralbovine]

Once I get through the Fringe and Guild DVD extras, I think.

[the_narration]

I've never actually seen this one. It came out during the time when I was ignoring animation as "kid's stuff", and I've never really been big on Superman, so I never went back to check it out later.

Superman villains like Luthor, Darkseid and Brainiac got a lot of face time on JL/JLU, however, I guess because they were sufficiently threatening.

[spectralbovine]

The DVDs are really cheap on Amazon Marketplace. It's worth watching, fun stuff. As I said, I wasn't big on Superman either, and I really enjoyed it.

[the_narration]

I'll add it to my increasingly long "Maybe Someday" list. I'm sure that I could rent the DVDs from Scarecrow.

In the short term, I really should stop putting off watching Starship Operators (which I borrowed from my friend months ago) and Madlax (which I downloaded sometime last year).

You've seen Gargoyles, right? That was the "Holy crap, this is awfully smart and complex for what is ostensibly a kids show" cartoon of the '90s... sort of the Avatar: The Last Airbender of its day.

[spectralbovine]

Oh yeah, I loved Gargoyles. I want to rewatch that one.

[lembeau]

and causes way too much property damage

RIGHT?! That was one of the things that drove me crazy when I watched it back in the day. I was always worried about the people that were on the street at Superman battled with something and caused chunks of buildings to break.

All of this time and I still remember the Mr. Mxyzptlk ep, or at least the part where he gets rid of the little alien by having him write his name in the sky.

I mostly remember how that time after school during Batman and Superman was sacrosanct.

Was there an ep that really stood out to you?

[spectralbovine]

An? There were several! Obviously the Flash and Green Lantern and Aquaman eps because of the guest stars. The AU ep. "World's Finest." The Mxyzptlk ep. The one where Parasite and Livewire team up. The one with the Legion of Superheroes. "Apokolips...Now!" Supergirl! There were a lot of good ones.

[paladin42]

I agree with this list. I'd also have to add "Knight Time" when Supes has to pretend to be Batman. Hi-larious. Supes as Bats after scaring a bunch of criminals: "This is kind of fun."

[spectralbovine]

And Tim teaching him to be more like Batman! That was HILARIOUS.

[ethanvahlere]

I understand what you're saying re the continuity, and that's a good point. However, while I liked the Superman series, I didn't love it as much as the Batman one. Part of it, as you say, is inherent in the character of Superman having to face more larger-than-life villains, but I also thought Batman was better animated.

[spectralbovine]

Oh, no question. B:TAS had a much better style and look to it, and I wasn't a fan of the revamp that matched the S:TAS animation. That being said, the S:TAS style was still good and crisp and worked for the show.

I also felt that the characterizations were more compelling on B:TAS. With few exceptions, the villains aren't as interesting and complex as on S:TAS. You really felt for those crazies in Gotham. The crazies Supes faces are generally just evil psycho alien robots.