Batman: Strange Days Needs To Be Continued On DC Universe

Friends, I really do like the character of Batman – I’ve mentioned before that there are a surprising number of items in my home that back up this statement – with shower curtains, drapes, soap dispensers and of course collectibles. While it is true that it was another DC Comics title that I first collected – which was Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew by Scott Shaw and Roy Thomas, my favorite heroes as a kid were Captain America and Batman. Perhaps thanks to seeing the Caped Crusader on Saturday Mornings helped to cement my love of Batman – it was when the Family Channel began airing the ’66 Batman TV series before the 1989 film was released though that my devotion to the comic book character went into overdrive.

It was also around this time that I started going to the local comic shop, before I would pick up comics at the grocery store – this was after the gas station down the street stopped selling them. Rock Bottom Books was the name of that comic shop and I am proud to say that it continues to be in operation and that 31 years later I still have a box there – even if my pull list has become significantly smaller than back in the day. I bring this up as it was a time where I was able to just walk into the store and pick up Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth by Grant Morrison and Dave McKean or the actual four issues that make up the Batman: The Dark Knight Returns miniseries by Frank Miller and Klaus Janson. I guess what I am trying to say is that it was a very good time to be a fan of the Dark Knight of Gotham City.

It was about to get so much better though, because three years after the cultural phenomenon that was Tim Burton’s film adaptation – we got Batman Returns and more importantly Batman: The Animated Series debuted on Fox Kids. And while I very much love the films by Burton and even more so with what Christopher Nolan brought to the table – there has never in my personal opinion been a better representation of Batman than the version presented in the animated series.

I will tackle that show one of these days on the Pop Culture Retrorama podcast – you can take that promise to the bank – but the reason for this article today is a wish that Bruce Timm’s Batman: Strange Days short would get picked up as a series or movie by the DC Universe streaming service.

Released in 2014 to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the character – Bruce Timm crafted an animated short that not only paid homage to the character’s original 1939 appearance but to the Fleischer Studios Superman theatrical shorts too. With the DC Universe showcasing past Batman animated series… although not Beware the Batman… as well as original animated series like Harley Quinn – how cool would it be to let Timm return to this 1939 Elseworlds idea and run with it?