Following a storied series of Bat-cartoons — starting in the ’90s with Bruce Timm’s tech-noir Batman: The Animated Series and ending last year with the diversely surreal Batman: The Brave and the Bold — Beware The Batman will be a tag-team effort from Teen Titan ‘s anime-minded Sam Register and the futuristic Batman Beyond ‘s Glen Murakami. The show is primed to land on TV as part of Cartoon Network’s 2012-13 slate.
Aside from the sleek CGI look, which you can see in the video above, Beware The Batman ‘s most notable element will be its revamped rogues gallery. Instead of dated villains like Penguin and impossible ones like the puppet Scarface, the Dark Knight will be going up against Grant Morrison’s depraved Professor Pyg and Alan Grant and Norm Breyfogle’s anticapitalist Anarky, a character that has struggled to resurface after the cancellation of the Anarky comic book in 1999.
There’s no date set for Beware The Batman to show up on Cartoon Network’s DC Nation programming block, but watching Anarky’s television debut in the wake of the Occupy movement will be one great reason to check out Beware The Batman. The villain, always a wellspring of potential, is even more relevant now that Anonymous is haunting the powers that be with Guy Fawkes masks in deference to comics’ most popular anarchist (from Alan Moore and David Lloyd’s V for Vendetta).
Apolitical Bat-geeks will likely enjoy how the Dark Knight’s new animated series builds upon Timm’s superheroic foundation, which has become the industry benchmark for superhero toons. Check out the teaser above and let us know in the comments section below what you think of Batman’s CGI skin.
