Farewell to Brave & the Bold

Last Friday was the last episode of the final season of Batman: The Brave & the Bold...and I am heartbroken. How can something be so hilarious, and still make me so sad? I remember when they were first proposing this series, and being so excited that it was going to be a "fun" version of Batman instead of the usual dark and grim omnipotent Batman. This was a look back to the Silver Age, when a lot of comic fans were actually kids, and comics were cheap and fun entertainment. I still love my comics of course, but they are rarely fun, and they certainly aren't cheap.

What sealed the deal for me of course, was the fact that they decided to go with Guy Gardner as the "go-to" Green Lantern, instead of Hal or John. The list of second and third tier heroes was just mind-boggling. Booster Gold, Fire and Ice, Blue Beetle, Jonah Hex...B'wana Beast. B'wanna Beast, for God's sake! And for villains, in addition to the Joker and the Penguin and such, they had such luminaries as Gentleman Ghost, Lashina, and Gorilla Grodd.

It was insane. Aquaman became cool. There was a Justice League, but it was the JLI, not the JLA. The Justice Society showed up and were a bunch of cranky old geezers. Catwoman, Black Canary, Huntress also showed up, even Robin showed up. And Green Arrow was his old obnoxious self. It was delightful.

It was so delightful, that even my Sweet Babboo, got hooked. He wouldn't actually come out and admit it, but he always made a point to remind me that "that silly show is on" on Friday evenings,and he always watched. He may not have had any idea who these people were...but he does now.

But it's all over now, and whatever shall we do? The new Batman will inevitably be out, and inevitably it will be a whole lot darker. That's ok, I suppose, but dang it, I'm going to miss "MY" show. I'm looking forward to the Green Lantern show, and others, but I still wish that there was a place for ALL of them.

Thanks Batman. You were outrageous...and we'll miss you.