Pardon Me, But They Were Here *First*

This might not be of interest to many of you, but it's something I heard about the other day and it's been stuck in my craw ever since:

The Kid’s WB, producer and owner of freshman cartoon series The Batman, has placed an embargo of sorts on its older (and IMO, better) cousin, Justice League Unlimited. JLU is not allowed to use any of the villains in the Batman Rogues’ Gallery, so as not to conflict with their potential use on The Batman.

Now, JLU is only the latest in a quality line of spin-offs from Paul Dini and Bruce Timm’s collaborative masterpiece; Batman: The Animated Series. Over a dozen years ago, the two put their heads together; and with the help of Kevin Conroy and other talented voice-actors, revolutionized super-hero comics. They demonstrated that kids could pay attention to an actual plot, appreciate a great score, and enjoy better animation than anything you’d find on The Jackie Chan Adventures.

Batman: TAS and its spin-offs have remained more or less consistent both in continuity and quality. They’ve had any and all the characters in the DC Universe at their disposal, and were even responsible for creating some new ones (like Harley Quinn). For their resources to be pared so abruptly feels a lot like an insult, and I’m not even affiliated with them.

If Nocturne ever came about, and at some point down the line an affiliate wanted to take away character rights from an older, more experienced, higher-quality line of stories, I’d be right pissed off about it. It’s not as if The Batman is even breaking new ground. I saw the first few episodes. They weren’t ‘taking new chances’, they were watering down a premise. They’ve taken established, quality characters and turned them into pale reflections of themselves. And if there's any doubt to Justice League's claim to the characters, it's *still* being produced by Bruce Timm. Kevin Conroy is still doing the voice of Batman, like he has for the last 12 years. It's the original team.

If it sounds like I’m taking this all too seriously, you’re probably right. But I grew up watching Batman. Now it’s catching abuse from a poor cousin who can’t share his toys. It just galls me that the first-come, first-served rule isn’t working the way it ought to.

Jerks.