Warner Bros. Animation is producing a new Batman animated series, entitled The Batman, which will air on the top-rated Saturday morning Kids' WB starting next fall.  The series will be rerun on the Cartoon Network approximately six months after its debut on the Kids' WB.  The series will take place in the third year of Batman's run as a crime fighter in Gotham City and will involve the Caped Crusader first meetings with a number of his most famous adversaries including, the Joker, Penguin, Catwoman, Mr. Freeze, Riddler, and Man-Bat. This version of Batman chronicles the life of the famous crimefighter as a young man in his mid-twenties living in a swinging bachelor pad.  The Edge, guitarist for U2, will provide the theme song for the new series.  Venerable Batman alumnus Adam West will voice the role of the mayor of Gotham, and the supremely sexy Gina Gershon should be 'purrfect' as the voice of Catwoman.

The graphic for the new series released by Warner Bros. Animation certainly looks stylish.  It should be interesting to compare The Batman to rich visual tradition of earlier Batman animated series, which featured the talents of among others, Bruce Timm and Paul Dini.  Previous Batman animated series also spawned comic books, action figures, and statues -- a pattern that is likely to be repeated once again.