30 Days of Scans, Day 11: Favorite Elseworlds/Multiverse/etc.

[ebailey140]

Sure, it's not perfect. It's so Batman and Superman centered that others got a bit shafted. For that matter, things didn't go so well for some Batman characters (Just ask Tim Drake). Still, it's positives far outweigh it's negatives, and aspects of it would find their way into the main DCU.

Ladies and gentlemen, the DCAU.



It started simply enough. In the wake of Tim Burton's Batman films, a cartoon was developed, combining the look and style of the films with the Bronze Age Batman comics. How it would develop would mainly be the work of Bruce Timm and Paul Dini.




Before long, the popularity of the series led to a Superman spin-off, which drew inspiration for it's design from the classic Fleischer cartoons of the 1940s.



This led, naturally, to a Justice League series.



The DCAU was so popular that elements of it would be incorporated into the main DCU, including such characters as Harley Quinn.



Renee Montoya, who is now the Question.



Livewire.



Roxy Rocket.



Others include Mercy Graves, Lock Up, and Sewer King. Another character introduced in the DCAU was Nora Fries, wife of the man who would become Mr. Freeze. Mr. Freeze had been considered so useless in the comics that he was killed off in a random and disrespectful manner. The animated series made him so pupular that he was not only brought back, but given the tragic origin from the DCAU.



Another element from the DCAU that found it's way into the DCU was the Bruce/Diana thing.



Oh, Bruce... You're not afraid of what your enemies would do to her, but what she would do to them. The Joker wouldn't survive too many encounters with Diana.





The Toyman is an example of designs and personalities of established characters in the DCU being turned into their DCAU ones. Another example was Batgirl.





The DCAU Barbara Gordon Batgirl became the DCU one, as we see in this scene from Batgirl: Year One #7, by Scott Beatty, Chuck Dixon, and Marcos Martin.





Notice the look of that series is a cross between the DCAU and Batman: Year One.

Some accused Dixon of writing the young Babs like Stephanie Brown. What he was actually doing was writing her like Paul Dini did in the cartoon. Not that Dixon didn't notice the similarities between Steph and the young Babs, having Dinah comment on it when Babs was being irritated with Steph. Dini and Timm cemented the image of Batgirl.

So, the DCAU is, in a large way, the reason Stephanie is now Batgirl.

Comments

[falseaesop]

The DCAU also gave a lot of love to C and D list characters most of the public had never heard of, giving them spotlight roles in episodes of JLU. But even before that no one outside of comic readers would have recognised Zatanna.

I love the DCAU.

"I am vengeance, I am the NIGHT! I. AM. BATMAN!"

[rdfox]

This. To the point where, when Dini and Timm had Fifi playing "Scentanna, Mistress of Musk" in the Tiny Toons short "Just-Us League of Supertoons," I thought she was an original creation to shoehorn the show's resident skunk into the short. Once I found out that Zatanna wasn't an original character for BTAS, it made a whole lot more sense. (And the gag credit that episode *still* didn't make sense until I found scans_daily...)

I credit the DCAU with my having been more interested in DC stuff than Marvel stuff from the time I got into comics--I knew a version of the characters already, so I wasn't nearly as confused as if I had jumped into Marvel's pool. (Somehow, the X-Men series never caught my eye, probably because I was about 13-14 when both it and BTAS hit, so while Batman was on just after I got home from school, the X-Men series was on on Saturday morning, when I was busy sleeping in...)

[morgana006]

When you list the characters DCAU that became DCU, the gender ratio becomes obvious.

[thatnickguy]

The DCAU is, in my mind, the perfect rendition of the DCU. My favourite version of Superman is from it, as is Batman. We might miss some character development for anyone who didn't get their own show, but the way they were treated remained true to their iconic forms.

Fortunately, that legacy has remained relatively true with the animated movies. Some are hit and miss, but overall, they're great stuff. I've enjoyed every one of them.

[falseaesop]

DCU Supes got pretty dark a few times, especially during the Cadmus arc, Captain Marvel offering the contrast from his iconic boyscout status to the pragmatc hero he had become.

Honestly though I liked the flawed Superman. Of course by flawed I don't mean "Irredeamable" flawed mean a man that sometimes can't live up to his own image even thoguh he tries and always fights the good fight.

[thatnickguy]

Same here. I never liked the idea of Superman being a TOTAL boy scout. Leave that for Captain Marvel. I like the idea that he has a reputation to upload is tries to live up to it. Feels like a struggle that's just right for him.

[shadowpsykie]

three words
City of Cardboard....

[belphegor1982.livejournal.com]

It's "world" of cardboard, actually, if my memory's right, but yeah - this sequence is easily one Crowning Moment of Awesome :o)

[thatnickguy]

*sniffle* Goddamnit, you just HAD to post the episode with Superman's "death", didn't you?

The music, the delivery of the lines. EVERY time, I start welling up.

[shadowpsykie]

iw as like, oh come on, i remember that episode and yeah it was good, but....

.... and then i saw the clip... and it made me its bitch....

*sigh* Hawkgirl's look, and then wonder woman's "man tears" ... and then batman's holding his boy friend's best friend's torn cape thinking "Not going to happen"

[shadowpsykie]

also, did you notice? Empathic Enviroment! :)

[belphegor1982.livejournal.com]

Well, since rain is hard (time-consuming, anyway) to do in cartoons, you gotta have significant!Rain :D

[thatnickguy]

Sorry for the triple post, but...well, I'll just leave this here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDBxlOfJnoQ

[anothermoviegeek.blogspot.com]

Jeffery Combs as The Question: best casting in the DCAU ever.

[thatnickguy]

Close, but Gilbert Godfried is my first choice for best casting. =D

[anothermoviegeek.blogspot.com]

That one was a little too on the nose for me.

[blackruzsa]

I grew up with these cartoons and loved every one of them to bits.

MY CHILDHOOOOD.
Also, I note Renee Montoya has the same voice as Hawkgirl in the JL and JLU series.

[shadowpsykie]

who is also the mom on wizards of waverly place... would love to see that referenced on that show... "Oh look a Mace..."

[rdfox]

Montoya had two different voices over the course of the DCAU's fifteen-year run. According to IMDB, it's Ingrid Oliu here, not Hawkgirl's Maria Canals. (Oliu voiced her for the first season of BTAS; Liane Schirmer took over after that.)

[arilou_skiff]

How do you embed videos like that?

[icon_uk]

You can only do it on actual posts, not replies

When you make a post, copy the "Embed Media" code that Youtube and most site will provide for each clip, and then, here, use the "Embed Media" option on the posting form (It's the one that looks like a CD/DVD) paste the youtube code into the field provided and it'll embed the video for you.

[irrelevant]

I love you for this post. Thank you for a marvelous tribute to the best Elseworld ever. ♥

And thank you for pointing out the direct correlation between DCAU Babs, and BYO Babs. When I read the comic, the parallels seemed blatant to me, but maybe that's because I'm a huge DCAU fan.

The DCAU will always be my One True Batverse.

[jelly_ace]

Except for the whole Bruce/Babs ship, the DCAU will always hold a large place in my geeky little heart.

[shadowpsykie]

yeah at first look it was kinda cute... then it was like... mmm no.....

[rdfox]

Which, of course, is exactly why it happened. "Lots of fans see that and just go, 'Oh, that's just completely wrong,' which is exactly why we did it." --Bruce Timm

[fifthie]

"Many people considered this stupid idea to be stupid. So we did it! And it was stupid."

Hmm.

[leorising]

Whoa, so many wonderful clips, thanks so much for putting this post together. I saw most of the Batman stuff, but had to let my cable go to local only afterward. I never got to see the Supes stuff, or the JLA. I see I really missed out on some great cartoons, and I thank you for the exposure! In particular, I'd always wondered where the Diana/Bruce thing got its start.

Maybe the library has DVD's of these...

[silverzeo]

Best cartoons o f the 90s-00s, thy title belongs to DC Animated.

[retro_nouveau]

Wow, I didn't know Roxy came from the DCAU also. Now I want to see Volcana come over, too.

DCAU!Kara has it all over New Earth!Kara. I also love that Babs and Kara were the same age in the DCAU.

The DCAU might have been the reason for Steph becoming Batgirl, but I still think Steph is so, so unique.

[swatkat]

This is adorable! I think I'm going to have to watch these.

[psychopathicus_rex]

May I just say that the original 'Justice League' intro is one of the all-time best superhero opening themes EVER? I mean, seriously, I get a lump in my throat and a tear in my eye every single time I see it, generally around the time Wonder Woman shows up and starts fending off bullets. It could be part of a superhero recruitment campaign. It's PERFECT.

[shadowpsykie]

having Dinah comment on it when Babs was being irritated with Steph

when did this happen?

[ficticons]

Fascinating stuff. I had no idea Mr. Freeze's story was a retcon based on the Animated version!

I like how Renée looks and sounds in that clip of her; I really really like that Batgirl video; and Bruce's "I'm a rich kid with issues. Lots of issues" is lovely for the fact that it's a kind of admission you're not likely to get out of him in any other 'verse. I also like, as retro_nouveau has pointed out, the fact that Kara and Barbara are the sameish age here. Looks like they work well together and are friends here, both of which are really great.

I agree that it had parts I am not to keen on - particularly, out of what you've got here, the rather "grr angry warrior woman!!" portrayal of Diana - but overall it looks awesome.

[belphegor1982.livejournal.com]

For me, the DCAU is my childhood (Bats the series - awesome!) and my young adulthood (started watching JLA when I went away to college), and re-discovering it a year or so back in its original English version (the French one was good, but lacked in cast coherence and a lot of the jokes were lost) was great. DCAU!Wally is my favourite Flash, and the Flash and Substance episode basically introduced me to my favourite villains ever, so... Thanks, Mr. Timm and Mr. Dini!

Good times :o)