2. BATMAN THE ANIMATED SERIES (1992-1995)

I believe this to be penultimate meeting of smart writing, great animation, character development and genius execution. Batman The Animated Series was so good, so compelling that it transcended genre to become something bigger than just a cartoon. It was so well written and understood the character of Batman so completely that a lot of the cartoon was worked into the lore of the comic books, which never happens. In fact show creator Paul Dini still writes Batman comics to this day.

In my opinion Batman was the catalyst for most of the high content animated work we see today. DC’s animated movies, Marvel’s “Ultimate” films, all of it can be traced back to the incredibly brave work done by the people behind Batman The Animated Series. The show was masterful at creating dark tones and really viable story arcs in a world largely bogged down by one-episode arcs. You also had cliffhanger season finales, which was a brand new concept to cartoons during that era.

Look at what all was gleaned from the Batman series as well. This was the birthplace of Harley Quinn a character so beloved these days it’s hard to think of The Joker without her. The show also launched the Superman series, JLA and JLA Unlimited. All four of these shows were tied together through events and story arcs and all of that started with Batman The Animated Series.

I also have to take my hat off to Kevin Conroy, the best Batman there has ever been. Sure Christian Bale was great as the flesh and blood version but he was no more the Batman than Conroy was. In fact I think all of us wish Bale had studied Kevin Conroy’s voice instead of that Cancer ridden Clint Eastwood he attempted. Then there was Mark Hamill’s Joker who was evil and sinister but still OK for kids to watch. I’m still in the dark on how he managed to pull that off. Batman The Animated Series is as good as episodic television gets, no matter if it’s animated or live action.