Bruce Timm Shares His Thoughts on Superhero Fans Complaining
Artist Bruce Timm has led the development of several of the beloved DC animated TV shows that many of us grew up watching. Some of these shows are Batman: The Animated Series, Superman, Batman Beyond, and Justice League.
As great as many of these shows are, some of the decisions that were made in bringing them to life didn't sit well with superhero and comic book fans at first. This is something that hasn't changed. Fans love to complain about stuff, especially when things change in the adaptation process from comics to the screen.
Timm understands this, and in an interview with Screen Rant he shares his thoughts about about being in the line of fire of all the complaining, and how he felt about it, saying:
"I’ve had some experience with this, with people being resistant to change. Back when we did the Justice League show, the first season, fans weren’t loving it. The second season they loved it. We fixed all the problems with the show. They were totally on board. And then we pulled the rug out from under them and changed the show completely. We added like 50-some odd new characters and called it Justice League Unlimited. No more two-part episodes. I knew the minute we did it that everybody was going to be freaking out.
"And I didn’t care. I figured they were going to watch the show anyways just so they’d have something to bitch about. And then, ultimately, they’ll love the show. We did the same thing with Batman Beyond. When we first mentioned, “Oh yeah, we’re going to do a futuristic teenage Batman,” those are three words that nobody ever wanted to hear in the same sentence. Again, everybody was really skeptical. But they ultimately embraced the show.
"I am as intrigued as anybody else [to see Suicide Squad’s Harley Quinn]. But, at the same time, I try to be impartial because I know I have more invested in it. And again, I’ve been on the other end, too. I mean we’ve taken characters that, in the comics, were really different and did something different with them in the animated shows. So I know what it’s like to take a character that you think is one thing and you make it something else.
"Our version of Mr. Freeze was something that nobody had ever really done… that’s now become like the default setting for Mr. Freeze. But with a character like Harley, I always just have to remind myself: 'Yeah, you know, I’ve taken liberties with other characters, so more power to them. They can do with that character whatever they want.' I just hope it’s good. That’s all I care about."
Timm makes a lot of solid points here. It's hard to argue with him, especially when he says, "I figured they were going to watch the show anyways just so they’d have something to bitch about. And then, ultimately, they’ll love the show." I myself have been guilty of that with a few things. It's funny to me how we fans can react to certain things. It's just a part of the geek culture and who we are. We can't help being passionate about the things we love!
His latest project is called Justice League: Gods and Monster Chronicles, which you can read more about here.