DC's animation arm has long been one of the strongest parts of the comic publisher's empire. As far back as Batman: The Animated Series up through recent projects like Crisis on Infinite Earths, DC has been able to consistently bring its best characters to life in animation for a long time, now. In recent years, DC has begun to branch out, though. They're still adapting comics like Batman: Year One and the like into animation, but projects like Harley Quinn and Suicide Squad Isekai have branched out into original animated storytelling and comedy. The latest of these is Kite Man, Hell Yeah!, a spinoff of the aforementioned Harley Quinn. The first season just finished, so it's time to look back at it and see what worked and what didn't.

Kite Man, Hell Yeah!

Kite Man was one of the stand-out characters in the first couple of seasons of Harley Quinn. He stood out as emblematic of the show; a deep-cut character portrayed but genuinely and irreverently. His meme-inspiring catch line gave way for an oblivious, overly confident, but always genuine character who acted as an excellent foil for Poison Ivy's journey of self discovery. Along with Clayface and Bane, Kite-Man has consistently been the funniest supporting character on the show. So it makes some sense, right? A spin-off set around the show's most viral character.

So why didn't I like it very much?

It's not a bad show, but it doesn't measure up to the high bar set by the show it spun off from. It is, literally, derivative of Harley Quinn insofar as Kite Man's show was derived from Harley's, but it feels like a byproduct of that show rather than a creation inspired by it.

One of my favorite things about Harley Quinn is that, around every corner, the show is reminding us that it remembers things about DC that we've forgotten or never knew. The show constantly drops little jokes and visual gags that dig deeper into DC lore than most fans are willing to go. Kite Man, on the other hand, is mostly characters from Harley Quinn. One of the big needle-drop moments is when Frank the Plant appears in an episode. The biggest new addition to the cast is Malice Vundabar, one of the New Gods of Apokalips; otherwise we're spending most of our time away from Kite Man with Bane, the Queen of Fables, and Lex Luthor. It doesn't mine many fresh ideas from DC.

That wouldn't be an issue if Kite Man and Golden Glider, the show's protagonists, had enough going for themselves to carry the show on their backs. But they just don't. As much as I love Kite Man, he's a supporting character, and it feels like it frequently throughout the show. The only things he has going for him are that he likes Golden Glider and craves attention from his father. Golden Glider's whole thing is that she can't control her powers, but again they don't do much with that, either. These ideas are okay, and a strong story could elevate them, but the show never finds the story that will do that.

At times, it feels like an idea the team behind Harley Quinn came up with so that they would have a place for ideas that didn't work in the bounds of the original show. They wanted to do more with Bane and Kite Man, so they came up with another show.

There are funny moments, to be clear. In an early episode, Darkseid shows up for a few minutes, voiced by Keith David, and drops some hilarious lines. Bane is still a consistently funny character. But even then, the show pushes Bane to his limits as character who has enough going to carry storylines. The Harley Quinn: A Very Problematic Valentine's Day Special was about all Bane needed.

And that's what it comes down to--none of these characters can really bring enough to make a show work on their own, and even as an ensemble cast it just isn't quite enough for eight episodes. Kite Man is barely a criminal; he's just a guy who has been raised to be a bro, but who really just wants to be a good boyfriend, and that's all they have going. It's sweet, but it's not very interesting.

If Kite Man gets a second season, I'll still be tuning in because I like these characters and I'd like to see the writers figure out a way to make them fun. But right now, optimism is the primary driver keeping my interest.