Two years after Prime scored a somewhat unlikely critical hit with Merry Little Batman, Mike Roth’s animated DC annex is back with a full season, the newly-released Bat-Fam. As you’d expect from the title – which might be one of the only missteps of the whole thing – it’s a show that focuses primarily on the dynamic between Batman (Luke Wilson), and his somewhat ragtag family. And thanks in part to Roth’s past work on shows like Regular Show, Rugrats, and SpongeBob SquarePants, the nostalgic Cartoon Network vibes are immaculate.
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This iteration is led by his son Damian Wayne (Yonas Kibreab) AKA “Little Batman” as of the 2023 holiday release, and includes Alfred (James Cromwell), his niece Alicia (London Hughes), reformed villain Volcana (Haley Tju), the ghost of Ra’s Al Ghul (Michael Benyaer), Man-Bat (Bobby Moynihan), and a cat called Selina Kyle (remarkably, no relation). It’s more of a remixed take on The Addams Family than a typical Batman, Robin, and friends setup, and that actually works to its credit. And assessed on its own merits and what it’s trying to achieve, it’s hard not to really like Bat-Fam.
Score: 4/5
| Pros | Cons |
| It’s funny and the episodic storylines are fast-paced and genuinely entertaining. | The after-school special moralizing is a little on-the-nose. |
| The new versions of old DC characters are great. | Damian occasionally gets a little Scrappy Doo. |
| The art style is suitably weird, and becomes immensely charming. | |
| Patrick Stump’s theme song is brilliant. |
This Is Not Your Typical Batman, But It’s Not A Deconstruction
Most online complaints about anything that dares to be this different in aesthetics tend to focus on the idea that deconstruction is an unnecessary modern trend that should be ignored in favor of celebrating things as they’ve always been. Ignoring the ridiculous blind spots of that particular argument, Bat-Fam actually marries Roth’s quirky visuals with an obvious love for – and knowledge of – DC lore. There’s no attempt to victimize any characters by pointing out their inherent issues, even as certain characters – including Man-Bat – are made more comical.
Comedy also doesn’t mean a trade-off in quality of delivery: the vocal performances are great, with both SNL‘s Moynihan and James Cromwell offering great main cast performances. There’s probably not a Mark Hamill/Joker-level performance in the catalog of villains, but when is there? And Ra’s Al Ghul’s perpetually annoyed ghost is very good thanks to Michael Benyaer, and lots of voice industry veterans pop up (like the irrepressible Fred Tatasciore), rather than the usual celebrity stunt casting.
That said, particularly of note in that respect is Luke Wilson’s Batman, who remains reverential, but who is a different kind of Bruce Wayne than we’ve seen in live-action – largely because he has a son and new associated neuroses. His performance is warm and softer than usual, but with good intent. Wilson again chooses not to employ a Bat-voice, in the interest of avoiding any unnecessary darkness for younger viewers, and the result is a Dad-Bat who still gets all-action when necessary. That will prove an interesting reflection point ahead of The Brave & The Bold, should James Gunn’s DCU creative team actually persist with the same father-son dynamic.
Bat-Fam Works Best As Cartoon Network-Like Throw-Away Fun
Bat-Fam is not deep. It does include some pretty deep cut references to DC lore – a lot of which were quite surprising – but it’s not as meta-textual as you might expect from some of the upcoming DCU live-action shows. But that’s also completely fine: there’s a sort of Dexter’s Laboratory feel to it, thanks to Damian Wayne’s characterization, and the weird family dynamic is – as I’ve already said – a nice nod to The Addams Family with Man-Bat playing a sort of oddball Uncle Fester. That all means it’s funny at times, as well as having genuinely good action sequences.
And a lack of depth doesn’t mean a lack of attention to detail either: the storytelling is great, and at just over 20 minutes, each episode packs in a good amount of caper. There’s a similar vibe to Adam West’s original Batman series in how the “weekly” episodes stack up and reuse villains (obviously, as an all-at-once drop that’s not quite right to say, but the feeling persists), and seeing which DC villains will appear or get name-dropped has a good nostalgic draw to it.
Special mention must also be reserved for Patrick Stump’s pop punk-like theme song, which is a better choice than reusing an old Batman theme (though delightfully, Bruce himself does hum his theme tune occasionally when hyping himself). I have a sneaking suspicion it’ll make it into my Spotify rotation, and again, the quality is testament to the production values that might seem antithetical to Roth’s art style. If you want something different, Bat-Fam delivers, but actually, it’s also delightfully familiar, and considering how inaccessible Matt Reeves’ The Batman universe is for younger fans, it’s about the best DC has to offer for that entire demographic right now.
All 10 episodes of Bat-Fam are available on Prime and Amazon Kids+ now. What do you think of it? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
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