Like seriously I didn't expect this series to get so dark and go for a more serialized storytelling style and I honestly really love it. I've mentioned before that I'm a huge fan of WFA and a big part of that was that it's a series that REALLY emphasized the fact that the Batfamily, you know, a family.
It honestly amuses me whenever I read filmmakers like Tim Burton and Christoper Nolan say that they don't understand why Batman would ever have sidekicks and say that they add nothing to his character and as of right now S3 of WFA is the perfect counterargument to that mindset.
This season of WFA sees the long awaited first appearance of The Joker who is introduced by kidnapping and seriously injuring Duke aka The Signal. While Duke is able to escape Batman hearing that Joker is back causes him to fear for his families safety and orders them to turn in their masks and to not go out caping until he's dealt with Joker. Obviously none of the kids follow Bruce's orders and continue to investigate and try to capture The Joker.
In the most recent issue when Bruce runs into Spoiler and Red Robin (Yuuummm) he gets angry at them for disobeying him and saying that that they are getting in his way and preventing him from dealing with Joker. However, what we're seeing is that Bruce is getting in his own way and causing himself problems because instead of working with his family to take down Joker like he did with the mob boss at the end of Season 2 by working alone Bruce is already stretching himself thin.
Also, by cutting himself off from his kids Bruce is unaware of issues that are happening with them that he could have helped with. For example Jason's aka Red Hood's PTSD gets to him and he goes out on his own to hunt for Joker only to get into a fight with an entire bar of evil minions.
Jason is able to recognize that he's in no condition to help and needs to leave Gotham to clear his head which he and everyone else might have been able to realize sooner had Bruce not cut himself off from his family. No doubt this is going to also bite Bruce in the ass later when he's unable to find one of his kids.
What makes this work so well is we've had over 100 issues before this season to get to know these characters. To see them in more relaxed environments and fighting alongside each other while still seeing them deal with their personal demons and take on criminals and Supervillains and just be a family. We've seen Bruce's love for his kids throughout the series and as such we come to understand why seeing Duke get hurt and Joker's message to Batman that he would hurt down and kill the rest of his children is causing him to act the way he is.
This is what comic books SHOULD be doing. Let us get to know these characters, set up their relationships and establish a status quo so we can see how things are suppose to normally go. THEN shake things up once we've gotten use to how everything works.
Last week I said that if I was hired to write a Batman series I would adapt Wayne Family Adventures and stryke made the brilliant suggestion of having it be done in the Steven Universe style of having 10 minute episodes. Seriously stryke, that was a great idea I love it and will be stealing it.
And as I said there I would have that be done for the first season at least before doing a more serious story like what is being done right now. Because the shock of seeing this series become more like a traditional Batman story is shocking yet feels completely natural because the darker elements of the Batman Mythos weren't removed they were just not the focus and still showed up.
Cass's backstory about how her father emotionally abused her, her being unable to stop reading someone's body language and how that could cause her to hurt someone's feelings. Jason's suffering from PTSD, Kate's history of being dishonorably discharged from the army for being a lesbian and how she fell into depression as a result and Nightwing have to comfort a child who lost her parents.
Thus when we come to season 3 it doesn't feel odd that the series has a tone shift because this is a family that was brought together through tragedy and have to contend with it do to being the Knights of Gotham.
In other words, this season is off to a great start and I can't wait to see it continue.
