Okay, okay... I know I started my Superman: The Animated Series: Volume 1 review in a similar fashion, but hey, it?s da truth!!!
Batman: The Animated Series: Volume 2 is amazing because it has such consistently high quality in writing, art, and animation. The box set of the second season is complete, packaged well, and contains enough extras to keep even the most murky fan of the Dark Knight satisfied. The package consists of 28 action-packed episodes across four discs. As with the first season, they take a page out of the darkest moments of the original comic books while reinforcing the macabre feel of Tim Burton?s feature films. The packaging is above average, incorporating custom artwork and an embossed Batman figure fairly leaping off of the front.
The box set?s audio commentaries span four episodes, playing over ?Robin?s Reckoning,? ?Heart of Steel,? ?Almost Got ?Im,? and ?Harley and Ivy.? Bruce Timm, Eric Radowski, Kevin Altieri, Paul Dini, and Boyd Kirkland contribute. Anyone who wants to know more about the technical and creative processes it takes to produce such a show will be entranced. Bat fans will be in a bat trance while listening, especially the anecdotes about how Robin?s character was strengthened for the few appearances he makes.
There are three featurettes to watch. ?Robin Rising? details how Robin, and his alter ego Dick Greyson, must continually be remade to appeal to new generations of fans. ?Gotham?s Guardians? highlights various good guys who take a bit of the strain off of the cowled crusader. These include Alfred, Commissioner Gordon, and Batgirl (who makes a cameo in one episode). While it?s good to emphasize the positive, how about a little stuff on Joker, Penguin, Harley Quinn, and/or Poison Ivy? Maybe the DVD folks are saving the best for later, or even last...
The final featurette is ?Voices of the Knight.? It allows the series? voice actors to strut their stuff, and these include such luminaries as Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill, and Adrienne Barbeau. Even Hamill, who has done enough voices over the past decade to qualify for his own crowd scene, freely admits that he and the other actors realized pretty quickly that the program was turning into something very special.
Batman: The Animated Series: Volume 2 is more than special. It?s dark without being overbearing, serious but able to poke fun at itself sometimes, and just quirky enough to make each episode its own little sparkling gem. Hopefully Volume 3 is just around the corner. Watch for the image of the bat whenever it?s projected into the Game Vortex. The Dark Knight won?t be far away.
