What Things Did Other DC Media Do Better Than The Comics?

[Agent Z]

I dunno if I'd give them credit on that front if only because most DC TV shows end up turning their civilians into Superhero support or other Superheroes...although shows like SM&L have been a little bit better on that front.

Most of the characters that become superheroes in CW shows are superheroes in the source material (Vibe, Killer Frost, Black Canary, Speedy). As for superhero support, you get more interactions between the hero a d his supporting cast when they're in on the secret.

[Jackalope89]

Under the Red Hood film over the comic. Not only is it more streamlined (comic would throw in little bits here and there that amounted to nothing), but it did certain parts better. Like the ending. In the comic, Bruce threw a batarang and sliced Jason's throat as he held Joker hostage. Which could easily be fatal. In the film, Bruce pulls off some Matrix move, dodged a bullet, and tossed the batarang into the gun barrel, making it explode, hurting Jason's hand instead.

[John Venus]

Shayera Hol, it's got to be the JLU version for me.

Mr Freeze was done better on B:TAS which was carried over into the comics. I would take his arc in the show over whatever they do in the comics. B:TAS also elevated Clayface, Poison Ivy, Ventriloquist and Scarface, Penguin, Mad Hatter and Clock King from their comic book counterparts as well.

Lex Luthor on JLU is the best Lex bar none.

Zatanna on B:TAS and JLU is better than the version currently seen in the JLD comics.

I prefer the Toyman on S:TAS over any of his comic book versions.

The advantage of media and adaptations is that they can just cherry pick all the best aspects of a character and re work them without having to deal with continuity.

I will go one further and say the giant JLU roster is the best version of the Justice League we have seen in decades. Bringing heroes in as needed instead of trying to fit the same characters into each arc just worked so much better. It let them do smaller stories inbetween the big ones.

This.

The unpredictability of not knowing who is going to be in any given episode plus the feeling that you are watching a 'show within a show', you know what a GA/BC show done with this crew will be like, what a Question show will feel like, what a Flash show would feel like, what a New Gods show might feel like, you got a taste of everything. I wish DC/WB capitalized and built on that. Instead it feels like they want to play it safe and then panic and jump ship if something doesn't go right.

[Frontier]

Most of the characters that become superheroes in CW shows are superheroes in the source material (Vibe, Killer Frost, Black Canary, Speedy). As for superhero support, you get more interactions between the hero a d his supporting cast when they're in on the secret.

I don't think that negates my point because that still means they're filling out the heroes' supporting cast with Superheroes instead of normal people.

I don't think you necessarily get more interaction between the hero and his supporting cast if they're in on the secret unless they don't have a very active civilian life. Otherwise it just skews 80-90% to their hero side.

[Powerboy]

I would say they've developed the most interesting takes on Mr. Freeze in other media. He was pretty much a one-shot done for character until the 1960s Batman show which is actually where he got the name Mr. Freeze and a real name and an origin that gave his origin a connection to Batman.

That caused his revival in the comics. Still, he was a second rate villain at best until "Batman the Animated Series" and the episode "Heart of Ice" which recreated his origin and put him on the map as a respected character.

[Holt]

As I'm sure someone else has said the DCAU version of Shayera was probably the most compelling version of the character. Ditto BTAS' take on Mr. Freeze, and I'd argue Clayface as well.

I always preferred the Judas Contract storyline's handling in the Teen Titans TV show over the actual comic because they removed the statutory rape angle and the really creepy victim blaming angle that was used to absolve Slade.

We've only seen him in trailers so far but I can already tell Idris Elba's portrayal of Bloodsport is gonna be way cooler than any depiction of the character that was in the comics thus far.

[Lee Stone]

What are you talking about? Bart's whole thing is being hyperactive. Wally had none of that in the Young Justice tv show.

In the first season, he felt more like Bart to me by the way he talked and acted.
It may be just the way he was written to sound younger.

[DrNewGod]

Not to let those comics that are badly written off the hook, but in some ways, the comparison isn't fair. Comics and video media have very different audiences, and those differences lend themselves to video media in some respects.

• Comics fans are sometimes less tolerant of distractions from the feats of their favorite costumed characters. The feats in Video have to look good, but they can't consume as much of the total content as you can get away with in comics, and that means a writing team has to come up with something else to keep things moving along.
• Video has a greater need to develop supporting players than comics do.
  • Thought balloons and/or captions work better in comics than their equivalent (voiceover narration) does in video. It can be done in video, but it can get tedious fast if you're doing it in every episode of every show.
  • This means that the main character has to have someone to talk to for exposition purposes and to convey emotion, and if that someone is a cardboard cut out, that also quickly gets stale.
• Video requires a coherent beginning-middle-end story structure.
  • Comic run collections do as well, but there's an assumption that the title will carry on afterward.
  • Even tho Video seasons may plan for next season, they tend to be built around a "next season would be nice, but let's get this one done" mentality. They may tease, but unless they budget for next season is a lock, they tend to only build the cliffhangers so high.
• The audience for Video is simply broader (often including poor, suffering significant others, enduring a show as the price of together time). So Video has to attempt stories that might appeal beyond the hard core comic fan.

[kjn]

The fact that the tv series (or movie) is meant to be finite is one very important piece. But there is another thing, that is hugely important in all creative endeavors: time, planning, and time to plan.

Any type of creative stuff takes a lot longer than just putting words to paper. Exactly how that plays out can vary, but the constant stream of new stuff required for mainstream comics is probably hell on creativity. You don't have the time to let the story just lie mentally fallow for a week or two and then return to it, a very common trick among lots of creatives of various sorts. The role of the editor becomes more to manage the production line than to improve the pitch or the story.

For all that modern TV production is hectic, at least the planning is usually much more rigorous than it is for comics production, and the cast of writers and directors means that you pretty much have to plan and discuss much more.

[DrNewGod]

The fact that the tv series (or movie) is meant to be finite is one very important piece. But there is another thing, that is hugely important in all creative endeavors: time, planning, and time to plan.

Any type of creative stuff takes a lot longer than just putting words to paper. Exactly how that plays out can vary, but the constant stream of new stuff required for mainstream comics is probably hell on creativity. You don't have the time to let the story just lie mentally fallow for a week or two and then return to it, a very common trick among lots of creatives of various sorts. The role of the editor becomes more to manage the production line than to improve the pitch or the story.

For all that modern TV production is hectic, at least the planning is usually much more rigorous than it is for comics production, and the cast of writers and directors means that you pretty much have to plan and discuss much more.

Very good point.

[Ilan Preskovsky]

Batman: The Animated Series was such a perfect, definitive take on the character and his world that it felt like the comics were playing catch up for years afterwards. It's still the best version of Batman even now.

[DrNewGod]

Batman: The Animated Series was such a perfect, definitive take on the character and his world that it felt like the comics were playing catch up for years afterwards. It's still the best version of Batman even now.

I'd rank it #2 behind only the O'Neil and Adams run. Especially in its first seasons, it far surpassed the Burton film, upon which it was intended to capitalize.

[Anthony Shaw]

Batman: The Animated Series was such a perfect, definitive take on the character and his world that it felt like the comics were playing catch up for years afterwards. It's still the best version of Batman even now.

I'd rank it #2 behind only the O'Neil and Adams run. Especially in its first seasons, it far surpassed the Burton film, upon which it was intended to capitalize.

The initial animated version was bronze age Batman from the 1970s, imo. Plenty episodes were based from stories from the bronze age.