'Batman: The Brave and the Bold' Exclusive Interview with Creators James Tucker and Michael Jelenic

At Comic Con, Buzzfocus had the opportunity to sit down with the creators of the new “Batman: The Brave and the Bold” series. James Tucker (producer) and Michael Jelenic (story editor and co-producer), talked about the new series and shared some extras about the future direction of “The Brave and the Bold.”

What made you come up with the concept of the “Batman: The Brave and the Bold?”

James Tucker: Well we wanted to do something with Batman that hadn’t been done recently. Batman has been really dark and tortured and angst ridden and kind of closed off. We wanted to do something that brought him back to his earlier roots of a friendlier more approachable batman. Still action oriented…bat gadgets the whole nine, something that wasn’t excluding kids.

Especially with the new Batman out now that’s really dark, we wanted to provide an option for kids, and anyone who likes old school Batman.

So do you consider old school Batman more like the Adam West Batman?

Well, elements of him, but even before that. Adam West was just doing what was in the comics at the time. He didn’t create that goofy style. The comics were goofy. We’re not being goofy, but we’re picking and choosing from earlier incarnations that were more action oriented, more fantasy oriented as opposed to the more real world Batman that’s currently being done. It’s really dark and psychological. Batman hasn’t always been treated that way. We’re just going back to the way Batman was done earlier.

Michael Jelenic: One of the reasons we did go with the “Brave and the Bold” concept is just as an opportunity to tell different Batman stories, to get away from what has been done. The “Brave and the Bold” format lets us bring in new characters that we haven’t met before and allows us to take him out of Gotham, and put him in more fantastical environments like space, underwater or the jungle.

Who originally orchestrated the “Brave and the Bold” concept? Did the network first decide to go with a younger route or did you as creators decide to go that route?

JT: Usually what happens is the company Warner says, “There’s a big Batman movie coming out, we need a Batman cartoon.” Sam Register developed it with me and Michael. He came in with the “Brave and the Bold.” He said, “Hey guys what if we try it this way.”

I was all over that because the “Brave and the Bold” was the first Batman comic I ever read. I was like ok I can see how we can do this where it still honors Batman’s roots but is different. Lately, the Batman has gone in this other direction. It’s still valid, but it’s a darker - I won’t say limited, but it skews a lot older than what kids can take. This was a way that to do a Batman I grew up with, that was safe for kids, but also that adults can tap into because they had seen this Batman before. So, it’s kind of going back to an old school version of Batman, just updating it.

MJ: I think superheroes started off as just sort of fun. I mean your dealing ridiculous concepts to begin with. And at some point people said, “Oh let’s see how realistic we can make these ridiculous concepts.”

We’re going back to the root, which I think is fun. So everything about the show we try to make fun. The characters are fun. We have deathtraps. I mean deathtraps are not realistic, they’re supposed to be fun. So, that’s pretty much one of the driving forces for the show, “How do we make a fun show?”

JT: We’re bringing some of the fantasy back into Batman. He had gotten very real world. There’s a wealth of Batman to pick from. You can go with the darker version, you can go with the lighter version, and still make it kick ass.

People read Batman in the 70s and there were dark stories then, but it was also mixed in with other stories.

It wasn’t all about his tortured past. We just come at it from a guy who’s gone through that, losing his parents. What does he do to make the world better? He doesn’t let it pull him down. He tries to make it a better place so that doesn’t happen to anyone else. He’s more of a hero, a pure hero in our show.

Do you think the older viewers, who are more into the “Dark Knight” really dark tales will be turned off by this version of Batman?

JT: I don’t think so. I think we hopefully (laugh) did our job very well and made it more entertaining. If you weren’t aware of Batman before “Dark Knight Returns” it might be hard for you because you don’t know where it came from. Where this version of Batman originates. If you know comic book history then it won’t be any surprise to you. It will look familiar. It’s all in the print, the Batman archives and the Dark Knight archives. Our source material is out there in comics; we’re not making up stuff. I feel confident that anyone who is a real knowledgeable fan will see what we’re doing.

MJ: We come from a perspective that no one interpretation of Batman is more valid than the other. The dark version is valid. Our version is valid. You can like both of them. James and I we enjoy the darker Batman just as much (joint laughter). We like this lighter one. They’re not in conflict. Just different takes.

JT: Our Batman is still Batman, a recognizable Batman. It’s just not one people may have seen recently.

You’ve brought in Plastic Man and the Blue Beatle. Are they core characters in an ongoing lineup or guest appearances?

MJ: We have some core reoccurring heroes. Some you’ll see more often than others. Blue Beatle is one. Plastic Man is one. Aquaman is one.

JT: Now Wildcat.

MJ: Wildcat shows up a couple times. Basically we have five or six characters we see repeatedly. Then there’s other characters we’ll see in one-offs and do one story with them.

JT: At least in the first 26. You go into these shows; you don’t know how the fans are going to really react until the show is on the air. We want to be fluid to what their responses are. If they like someone a lot, maybe we’ll bring them back. If we hadn’t planned on bringing them back, we’ll bring them back. If there’s someone we liked that they can’t stand, maybe we won’t bring them back. The first 26 are like us taking a shot in the dark at what we think will work. And the next 26, God-willing, is when we refine it cause this is the feedback we got.

MJ: One thing we haven’t talked about is the structure. We have a pretty distinct structure to the show. Our teasers are completely unrelated to our main body. We’ll have a teaser that’s just a very short insert, and it will involve a hero and a villain that’s not involved in the rest of the episode. So that lets us see twice as many heroes. In one episode you’ll probably get two heroes and two villains at the very least. So in the first 26 you’ll definitely see more than 26 heroes.

JT: So, you’ll see the heroes in the teaser guest starring, and the heroes in the main body. So basically that’s, I don’t know math (laugh), what is that 42? 52?

MJ: Yeah (laugh). Although there are some reoccurring. So it would be 52, James.

JT: I draw (everyone laughs)

Outside of Batman what is your favorite character to write for?

JT: (to Michael) You like Aquaman.

MJ: I love Aquaman. Aquaman just makes me laugh. He’s voiced by John Di Maggio. He’s hilarious. We don’t make fun of Aquaman, either.

JT: He’s actually really cool.

MJ: Yeah, he’s a kick ass Aquaman. Usually when you have Aquaman, you make fun of the fact that, “Hey you’re on land now and can’t save anybody (playful).”

JT: If you’re like Adult Swim you make fun of Aquaman and make him do a lot of silly stuff. If you’re like Justice League like we did, you make him hard-core. We’re saying this is old school Aquaman, who is comfortable with his body. He likes being king of the sea. It’s basically Aquaman from 1960. He’s not bothered with ecology and how the oceans are ruined. In our world there is no pollution.

MJ: (laughs)

JT: He’s very big very bold… Well “Brave and the Bold.” he’s very big and boisterous. There’s no one he doesn’t like. I think it’s a fun interpretation, but also goes back to his roots.

MJ: Another character I really like is Wildcat. R. Lee Ermey plays him. He’s hilarious. He’s the grizzled veteran. Nothing’s too big a challenge for him. So, he’s full of this confidence, even though he’s this 70-year-old man.

JT: He’s like a combo of Rocky and Burgess Meredith character put together. He still thinks he’s in his prime as a hero, so he has no concept of age. He still thinks he’s 30 while in our world he’s around 80.

Are there any other JSA (Justice Society of America) characters you’re using?

JT: Well we’re using, I can say this, the Black Canary we’re using is the JSA version. Course, we know what Earth 1 and Earth 2 and all that crap…

MJ: But I don’t (laugh)

JT: He doesn’t (everyone laughs). He doesn’t know anything about it. I have to school him.

MJ: I know (laughs). He’s the comic book nerd and I’m the cool guy.

JT: My ultimate goal is to do a JSA type grouping. I worked on “Justice League,” I don’t want to repeat that. In our world there’s the Justice Society. It’s not official yet. We haven’t figured it all out yet. But that’s my ultimate goal is to pick certain heroes that are JSA. And then eventually have them together. We’ll see. I don’t know.

Any future projects coming up?

JT: (laugh) We’re in the middle of this hell. Well Michael has some stuff coming up.

MJ: There’s a bunch of development stuff that’s pretty exciting if it goes.

JT: If you’re a huge DC fan.

MJ: There is a couple of stuff in the works that are pretty exciting.

JT: Even if half of it goes.

MJ: Yeah, there’s some exciting stuff.

JT: There’s a potential series in the works. It’s going to be an exciting time for DC fans, I predict.

Thank you guys for your time!