The best thing that I can say about Batman: Caped Crusader is that it is successful in achieving Bruce Timm’s stated goal of creating a new Batman cartoon that does not rehash Batman: The Animated Series. The legendary animator apparently turned down offers to try and continue the classic series – a difficult prospect even before the death of Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill’s retirement from voicing The Joker. However, this new cartoon may go a step too far in trying to twist the mythology in new directions.

The first season presented Gotham City as a moral cesspool where the corruption ran down from the top. There were good people trying to fix things, but they were far outnumbered by the bad. The season ended with crime-boss Rupert Thorne arrested but at the cost of D.A. Harvey Dent’s life.

The second season opens with Thorne’s disappearance after being acquitted of all charges. His operations are taken over by his lieutenant, Eddie Nygma. As Nygma goes mad with power, Batman tries to contain his activities. At the same time, a mysterious pale man working behind the scenes starts building towards unknown ends…

As in the first season, most of the episodes of Batman: Caped Crusader Season 2 stand on their own. This is both a blessing and a curse. The anthology format suits the superhero genre well. However, it also has the effect of making everything tied into the larger plot seem tacked-on. Thankfully, the writing is solid across the board and there’s not a single dud episode in the bunch. (Small wonder given the writing team features a number of Batman comic writers!) However, the best episodes are those with the least time devoted to setting up The Joker and the season finale.

My personal favorite was “The Spectral Hand,” in which J.M. DeMatteis presents a take on The Spectre more in line with EC Comics or The Shadow than Batman. (There’s even a neat visual gag where Bruce Wayne’s scarf rides up as he looks over a crime scene to make the reference clear.) Another treat is “Sudden Fear,” in which the show’s version of Harley Quinn makes herself into Batman’s unwanted ally, trying to take down the newly introduced Scarecrow.

However, not all the show’s changes ring true. The biggest offender here is Eddie Nygma, who is far from the cunning mastermind Bat-fans hoped to see. This Riddler earned his gangster name for his habit of “riddling” people with bullets. Regardless, there’s something engaging about Ronan Raftery’s manic performance, which evokes a more murderous Frank Gorshin.

The show’s take on The Joker, once he shows up, is equally likely to hit or miss. I am personally not opposed to the irony of a Joker who has no sense of humor. But presenting one who does not smile and speaks in a soft monotone is an odd choice. Again, however, I must note that Matthew Needham gives a certain sense of style to the villain. Then again, the Noir fan in me is a soft touch for dropping references to “M,” as this Joker whistles “In the Hall of the Mountain King” while going about his dirty work.

As before, the show’s biggest weakness is its version of Batman. It has been commented before that various Batman adaptations have focused more on his villains than the man behind the mask. That is true here, but what little we see discourages wanting to know this Batman better.

Batman: Caped Crusader is a bit more realistic in portraying Bruce Wayne as a child of privilege, who sees Alfred the Butler as a servant rather than his foster father, to the point of calling him “Pennyworth.” He is also more inclined to see criminals as targets for vengeance rather than victims of circumstance. I had thought the show was building toward him being humanized after the first season, but there is still far more dark than knight in this Batman.

The irony is that for all Batman: Caped Crusader tries to capture the feel of a 1930-1940s detective movie, a lot of its changes seem born of the zeitgeist of today. And I don’t mean the petty complaints about diversifying the cast. I mean revamps of the villains that seem more post-modern than pulp.

The show’s take on the Mad Hatter, for instance, is a media maven who uses her platform to convey misinformation to make the public “want what I tell them to want.” Then there’s the Terrible Trio of corrupt executives behind Triad Industries who steal the technology of a noble rocket scientist to line their own pockets. The stories involving these villains are solid, but don’t ring true to the show’s aesthetic.

Ultimately, Batman: Caped Crusader looks and sounds fantastic. But it is more style than substance and the core of it lacks the heart that defines the Dark Knight, at least to me. No episode better showcases this than “Her Dark Reflection,” which revamps the sadly underused Rose and Thorn. Batman all but quotes Joker’s philosophy from “The Killing Joke,” saying that all it took was “one bad day” to turn a mousy florist into a murderous femme fatale. That idea is so antithetical to Batman that I can’t believe he said it and a Batman who believes that is not a Batman I have any interest in watching.