'Gotham High': The Bat-Toon That Almost Was

I really wish it was... but it isn't...



The Bat franchise is no slouch when it comes to animated series, having over, like 10 different versions and Bats appearing in just as many other heroes cartoons. I know, I know... I should research more, but whatever, you get the idea. But when I saw this show that almost was featuring Batman...err... Bruce Wayne in a way you've never seen him before... Ever. Seriously.


Newsarama reports:

What if Bruce Wayne never got privately tutored or went to boarding school but attended a regular public high school instead? And what if those halls were filled with teenagers plotting the demise of the student body or scheming to steal bake sale profits? Well, you’d have something called Gotham High.

We don’t usually hear about the failed or passed over projects being developed by networks but every once in a while someone reveals a gem that fell through the cracks. Seemingly spotted first by Nerd Bastards, the brainchild of Jeffrey Thomas and Celeste Green, Gotham High (or what we assume would have been called that) is the unrealized animated series that fell through DC’s hands. Saved By The Bat Signal anyone?

Thomas and Green revealed their secret project last week on their blog. They were approached about a year and a half ago to create a series based on an illustration Thomas made depicting The Joker and Harley Quinn as high school students. They sent their ideas, including several other outstanding drawings to DC but it wound up, in their words, getting “lost in the sea of all the other Batman related projects in the works.” And I think it’s a damn shame because Thomas is an amazing artist and the synopsis sounds like it had real potential.

The plot is as follows, “We all go through incredible changes as teenagers: growth spurts, bad skin, a sudden insatiable need to uphold justice and avenge your murdered parents.... Well, that is if you’re Bruce Wayne. As if being a freshman at Gotham High wasn’t tough enough, Bruce’s insomnia and technological fascinations are taking their toll. Instead of spending his time studying, he has begun to obsess over an emerging personality trait: Batman. But under the watchful eye of his guardian and steward, Alfred Pennyworth, Bruce is forced to put his intelligence to good use: graduating high school. But given his classmates, can Bruce survive Gotham High?”


So despite this series completely blowing off any hope of remaining canon, or really any resemblance to the history of the Batman comics, I'm totally down for it. No idea why, but the thought of a psychopathic TEENAGE Joker is pretty much the most awesome thing ever conceived. Here's a list of the characters from Newsarama that would have been featured judging by the pics : 


Bruce, Batgirl, The Riddler, Penguin, Scarecrow, Clayface, Killer Croc (one of the more unusual students of Gotham high to be sure), Catwoman, Two-Face, The Joker, Harley Quinn, Bane, Poison Ivy and Mr. Freeze.


The whole idea came about due to the one drawing of Joker and Harley Quinn as teens, which pretty much says it all. This show could have either been an awesome Saturday morning watch, or a travesty of epic proportions, but we'll never know.