Wonder Woman and Green Lantern team up with Batman in new Brave and the Bold episode

‘Scorn of the Star Sapphire’

Preview

This Friday, Wonder Woman makes her debut in Batman Brave and the Bold on Cartoon Network. The short pre-titles adventure is heavily influenced by the Linda Carter Wonder Woman TV series and even features her gent in danger, Steve Trevor and the familiar signature tune. One of the timeless icons of superhero mythology, Wonder Woman was nearly adapted for the TV screen again by Ally McBeal creator David Kelley, but luckily nothing came to pass there. From the 40’s to the 70’s and beyond, Wonder Woman is a symbol of independence and strength for children and adults and is one of the most instantly recognizable characters in comics.

Maybe Warner Bros. will figure how to best present her one of these days, but in the meantime this short clip is quite good.

In her satin tights, fighting for your rights…

Also in this episode Batman and Hal Jordan work to take down Green Lantern’s greatest enemy, Star Sapphire. With his big screen debut just a few weeks away, it’s surprising that it has taken so long for Hal Jordan to make an appearance on the Brave and the Bold cartoon (he has been preceded by fellow Lanterns Guy Gardner and G’Nort), but maybe it’s all in the timing.

Batman: The Brave and the Bold’s new episode ‘Scorn of the Star Sapphire’ premieres tomorrow night on the Cartoon Network

Batman: The Brave and the Bold – “Legend of the Dark Mite!”

Batman: The Brave and the Bold
Episode 19: “Legend of the Dark Mite!”

I don’t think I have ever witnessed anything quite as insanely inventive as the latest episode of Batman The Brave and the Bold. After a brief mini-adventure teaming Batman up with Ace the Bat-Hound (that’s right, they brought in Ace) against Cat-Man (yes, Cat-Man too), it became clear very quickly that this was going to be an odd cartoon.

Written by veteran Batman animated series scribe Paul Dini, the episode features Batman’s biggest fan from the fan from the 5th Dimension, Bat-Mite. A magical imp determined to prove to the world just how great his hero can be, Bat-Mite interrupts the dark knight detective’s evening by pitting him against his most dangerous foes. Bat-Mite has the ability to do anything he wishes and has the attention span of a child, making him a real threat to Batman.

A series of super villains are spontaneously plopped before our hero, plucked from their own activities, completely oblivious to the situation. Eventually, Batman attempts to steer Bat-Mite’s decisions and suggests the unlikely villain Calendar Man. Not satisfied with CM’s caliber of threat, Bat-Mite amps up the villains abilities, making him capable of creating any creature connected (even vaguely) to a holiday.

Things get a bit out of hand as Batman eventually faces biker Santa Clauses, killer Pumpkin-hurling jack-o-lanterns and rabid Easter bunnies. It gets so absurd that Bat-Mite is forced to consult the attendees of the 2008 San Diego Comic Con (including the cast and crew of the Brave and the Bold series). While all of this is very fun, it’s not until Batman suggests that Bat-Mite become Batman and fight crime himself that the episode hurls itself off the edge of sanity.

Paying homage to one of my favorite Looney Tunes episodes, the Great Piggy Bank Robbery (which was also an homage to Dick Tracy), Bat-Mite is overwhelmed by Batman’s rogues gallery in a nightmarishly vivid sequence more at home in Yellow Submarine than a kid’s cartoon.

One of the most bizarrely enjoyable cartoons I’ve seen in decades, this one was a real treat.

Batman: The Brave and the Bold – “The Color of Revenge!”

Batman: The Brave and the Bold
Episode 18: “The Color of Revenge!”

The Dynamic Duo (all growed up)

The moment has finally arrived when Robin is co-starring on Brave and the Bold. As is fitting, the story tells the tale of how awkward their partnership is. The teaser adventure features Batman and Robin in the early days foiling one of Crazy Quilt’s crimes. The team is coordinated and cheerful in their banter (much like the 1966 TV series that is paid homage to throughout the entire episode).

The main adventure is a follow up to the first, taking place years later after Robin has grown up and taken on the role of defender of his own city, Blüdhaven. Respected by the police and locals, Robin enters the fray in a redesigned costume (comic book fans will notice that it’s the Wally Wood designed Earth-2 costume) against Solomon Grundy. When Batman arrives, the pair unexpectedly clash as Robin is far from happy to see his former mentor. Robin’s resentment is only rivaled by Batman’s obliviousness to it, making Robin’s frustration rather pointless but more justified at the same time.

To be fair, once your boss makes you wear little pixie boots and underwear without pants as a uniform there is no way you can regain your dignity, is there?

Jeffrey Tambor does a brilliant job voicing the villain Crazy Quilt who is an ironic callback to the 66 TV program (ironic in that he was never in the show yet personifies the type of super villain seen in the series). Crazy Quilt’s plot to steal the exact same device he failed to nab years ago is hardly inventive, but the episode is really about the relationship between Batman and Robin, so… that’s fair.

I can’t get over the fact that throughout the adventure Robin keeps trying to get Batman to recognize that he is a grown man and no longer a sidekick yet Batman refuses to see him as anything else. In fact, Batman sees nothing wrong with it, really. The moment where he offers Robin a ride in the Bat cycle’s sidecar is just a key definition of their relationship and Batman’s inability to see that his ward has grown up… albeit awkwardly.

Batman is messed up… in many ways.

Another fantastic episode in the Brave and the Bold series, “The Color of Revenge!” is sure to please purists and newbies alike.

Well done!

I hate to sound like a broken record but it really is a crime that DC Comics is so convoluted that anyone who either enjoys this episode or is wistful for Batman comics has no real outlet in the monthly comics unless they want to buy the series targeting kids… that no one will likely read. With Batman absent from all current DC Comics and Robin kicked out of his own series and in some kind of contest to take over the mantle of the bat, the bat-verse is strictly for the fans who have weathered the Batman R.I.P. storm and that’s really unfortunate.

Batman: The Brave & The Bold – Mystery in Space!

Batman: The Brave & The Bold
Episode 14:
Mystery in Space!

Adam Strange, Batman and Aquaman plan their next move

The first episode of the second season of Batman: The Brave and The Bold stars the unlikely pairing of Aquaman and Adam Strange as costars in a sci-fi epic adventure. But before we get to that story, the ‘teaser’ adventure with the Question has got to be mentioned. I’m a big fan of the Question. I started reading about him during the late 1980’s Denny O’Neill/Denys Cowan series and worked my way backwards to the Steve Ditko version, but he has always held a unique place for me as a comic book character. A statement on Ayn Rand’s objectivism, the Question is a blank-faced crime fighter who firmly believes that we all are responsible for our own actions and destinies. So don’t expect him to save a crook from a burning building just because he’s a hero. The crook’s actions placed him in that predicament. He is where he belongs. In any case, the version of the Question we get in this brief installment is more or less a trench-coated crime fighter on the trail of the villainous ‘Equinox,’ a character I am sure we will hear more from in future episodes. This felt very similar to the Kamandi teaser adventure, something for the comic book fans out there who loves this hero. Given how much of a large role the Question played in the later seasons of the Justice League, however, we may see him again.

The episode them moves on to the main story involving Batman answering a call for help from Adam Strange. Adam Strange is a sci-fi super hero of the 1960’s, an Earthman who travels to the distant planet Rann by use of something called the Zeta Beam. Batman is looking for just such a beam to transport him to Rann when he bumps into Aquaman. It has been established that Batman is more than a little annoyed by the boisterous behavior of the King of the Seven Seas in this cartoon series, so it comes as a surprise when Aquaman is found moping around the beach where Batman expects the Zeta Beam to strike. Determined to snap his aquatic pal from his funk, Batman insists that they team up to solve the outer space problem and the duo are whisked away to the adopted planet of Adam Strange.

It turns out that a nasty race of lizard-like Gordanians are attacking Rann and looking to use a nasty doomsday device to destroy the planet. At first Aquaman is reluctant to do much of anything and his crestfallen attitude finally drives Batman to insist the he spill what’s bugging him. It turns out that shortly before the crime fighters met up on the beach, Aquaman had just witnessed a whaling ship making off with its cargo. Failing to save the whales in time, Aquaman now doubts his ability to do anything. Pretty heavy stuff for a kids cartoon!

However, when Adam Strange is transported back to Earth by the unpredictable Zeta Beam, Aquaman decides to get over his self-doubt. A renewed Aquaman then devises a very risky plot to defeat the Gordanians and save Rann once and for all.

The episode was a lot of fun and it was very interesting seeing the logic of the Zeta Beam played out on the screen. I’m also a big fan of Adam Strange so it was a real treat to see him on the small screen with Batman. It seems that there is very little that this series cannot do. One of the most wildly imaginative cartoon series on the air, I cannot wait to see what comes next.

Next week the Flash teams up with Batman to fight Scarecrow and the Silver Banshee for the teaser while the main adventure is a trip top the past to partner up with the Demon in the 19th Century.

Batman: Brave & the Bold ‘Game Over for Owlman’

Batman: Brave & the Bold

Episode 13: ‘Game Over for Owlman’

The second part to this two episode finale finds Batman returning to his own dimension just in time to get arrested by Gotham Police for being a crook. For those of you who missed last week, the evil Owlman hopped over to ‘our’ dimension and battled Batman only to get his cowl handed to him by the caped crusader. Owlman rotted in a jail cell in the bat cave while Batman hopped back to the Owlman’s dimension to clean house in a dimension where the heroes he knew and trusted were villains. It turns out that time became distorted due to Batman’s journey, allowing Owlman the opportunity to not only escape his jail cell but also imitate Batman as the world’s most successful super villain. Chased by Green Arrow, Red Tornado, Blue Beetle and the other comrades in arms, Owlman pulled off fantastic crimes dressed up as Batman.

This leads to many problems for the real Batman as he must avoid capture by the police and his friends at the same time. The added complication arrives when he meets an unlikely ally, the Joker. The two embark on a hilarious attempt to thwart Owlman’s crime spree. Batman discovers that Owlman has found a secret data stash in the Bat Cave containing doomsday protocols in case any of Batman’s fellow heroes went rogue. Armed with some of the most meticulously planned deathtraps around, Owlman attempts to take each hero down one by one. Joker claims to really be getting the hang of ‘this hero thing’ as he tries and out-think Owlman’s master plot.

The real treasure here is the Brave and the Bold version of the Joker. Much of this animated series has been inspired by artist Dick Sprang’s take on the Batman mythos and the Joker is no exception. A wild and woolly character, this version of the Joker pulls off a fake hand to reveal a hand grenade hidden in his sleeve. Veteran voiced actor Jeff Bennett makes a character that has become associated almost exclusively with Mark Hammill his own in this episode, making me hope for more to come next season.

Not content with an all-out battle between heroes and villains, the episode concludes with an army of Batmen from alternate realities who vanquish the evil doers each in their own unique way. The vampire Batman (a reference to Kelley Jone’s Red Rain design) was great but I was especially tickled by the Wild West Batman who pulled batarangs out of his gun holsters. It’s that attention to detail that makes this series’ humor so perfect.

I cannot help but think how ironic it is that this episode aired on the same weekend that the grim and gritty Watchmen saw its release in theaters. Not to knock the movie, but this could very well be the perfect antithesis to the film and its brooding cynical nature. Comic books are a vast and comprehensive medium. I find it heartening that it is a medium capable of such extremes.

A fantastic episode featuring flawless animation and some memorable quips, this is probably my favorite story so far. A real classic!

I cannot wait until next week’s episode featuring the Question and Adam Strange!

Recommended:
Showcase Presents Brave and the Bold Vol. 3

Batman: The Brave and The Bold – Dawn of the Dead Man!

The 7th episode of this series delivered a long standing wish of mine, the animated version of Kamandi. For those not in the know, Kamandi was a sci-fi series created for DC by Jack Kirby in the 70’s after he cut ties with Marvel Comics. The comic was without a doubt the maddest creation readers had ever witnessed from the King of Comics. In a post-apocalyptic world, the last boy on Earth struggled to survive with all manner of walking, talking animals on his trail. It remains my favorite Kirby creation to this day and so it brought a manly tear to my eye to see the concept animated, even if only as a pre-credit sequence.

What a great opener!

Of course the main story concerned the character of Deadman struggling with his place in the cosmos. A character first introduced by my personal hero in the world of comics, Arnold Drake (also creator of the Doom Patrol), Deadman was a murder circus acrobat trying to solve his own murder in the guise of a ghost. Viewers may recognize Deadman from his brief appearance in the Justice league cartoon. A rough around the edges reg’lar guy talking character… I always get a laugh out of Deadman. The very idea that an ‘average guy’ dies and becomes an agent of Rama Kushna who must is absolutely amazing.

The character we are introduced in the Brave and the Bold cartoon is at the very beginning of his afterlife existence, however. A confused spirit, Deadman meets Batman after the caped crusader is buried alive by the Gentleman Ghost (making his second appearance in this series). Using a Tibetan meditation technique, Batman is able to leave his body and search for help to unearth him in the scant two hours before his coffin runs out of oxygen. Batman finds his rival hero Green Arrow and the team up becomes a four-way event. This episode was lots of fun (again) and had a lot to offer. Written by J.M. DeMetteis, the plot was noticeably thoughtful and introspective without being dull. The inclusion of four heroes at once didn’t even cause the program to become crowded, much to my surprise.

In short, another great cartoon.

Next week, Blue Beetle and Blue Beetle.

Batman: The Brave and the Bold- Enter the Outsiders

Batman: The Brave and the Bold

Episode 6: Enter the Outsiders (review)

The pre-credits sequence with B’Wana Beast will no doubt go down in the annals of cartoons as a show-stopper. The obscure character melds a spider and a horse into a leaping beast in order to follow the trail of the recurring villain Black Manta (what an odd choice on behalf of the production team to bring this guy back so much!). The sequence is full of action as Manta’s gigantic assault craft fires volleys of missiles after B’Wana Beast and Batman trying to make good his heist of an armored car. Honestly, this is the kind of inventiveness that cartoons have been missing for years. I have no doubt that this episode would cause nuclear explosions in a child’s brain.

A character created by the mad comic inventor (Grant Morrison only WISHES he were this creative) Bob Haney as an oddball hero of the jungle with mystical powers. I’m still beside myself that this character has been animated at all, never mind twice in my lifetime (he also appeared in the ‘This Little Piggy’ episode of JLU).

The main story involves both the Outsiders and Batman’s mentor, Wildcat. Wildcat is introduced as a ‘past his prime’ hero who owns a run-down gym offering boxing lessons. The inclusion of R. Lee Emery (of Full Metal Jacket fame) as the voice behind Wildcat is both endearing and hilarious. The gruff no-nonsense voice combined with the pronounced lisp (Wildcat appears to have no upper lip) makes for a truly memorable character that I hope we get to see again.

The conflict in this episide comes from the Outsiders. A team of fringe heroes from the 1980’s of DC Comics, the Outsiders were formed by Batman to do the work that was somehow outside of the Justice League of America’s realm of responsibility. Unbridled by political ties or moral questions that seemed to handicap the JLA’s effectiveness in Batman’s eyes, the Outsiders was able to accomplish so much more than any other team. Consisting of Geo-Force, Metamorpho, Katana, Black Lightning and later Halo, this team was a real oddball group of heroes that were beneath even third-tier status. The series promoted all of these characters to a newfound popularity to the point that even Batman was not necessary for the comic’s success.

This animated version is completely different, however and serves an entirely different purpose that is so perfect that I wonder why it had not been done in the first place. A group of displaced teens, the Outsiders are found by the surly underground villain known as Slug who fuels their resentment of the surface world that has no use for them.

Mainstays Metamorpho, Balck Lightning and Katana are on hand as the core team and are as visually stunning as they are enjoyable as characters. The teens are on a rampage against the ‘norms’ of the world, attacking shopping malls and music shops. The team seems to making a strike against normalcy in an effort to get noticed and send a clear message from their master, the Slug, that their day in the sun is over. The freaks are here to stay.

Wildcat and Batman enjoy an uneasy alliance to bring a stop to this destructive activity. The team up is awkward since Wildcat is so clearly beyond his prime and holding up the progress of the case. This is complicated further by Batman’s fondness of Wildcat that causes him tpo be over protective of the oldster.Wildcat, on the other hand, finds that the Outsiders bring out the mentor in him to an even greater degree and he is determined to save them from their wicked ways.

One of the best episodes of the series to date, Enter the Outsiders develops a new team that hopefully we will see in a future episode.

Next week: Kamandi!

Recommended:

Showcase Presents: Batman and the Outsiders, Vol. 1
Batman and the Outsiders: The Chrysalis

New Batman Brave and Bold Trailer

Don’t break your neck on the switch from slick to retro as the latest Batman animated series arrives in a couple of months.

A team-up program directed at a younger audience, Brave and the Bold clearly takes hints from the 1950’s Batman that fought spacemen and turned into a human fish when the story demanded it. And if you think this a bad idea, Grant Morrison (current writer of the hit Batman series) disagrees with you. Grant is clearly heavily influenced by the tripped-out Batman adventures of the 1950’s that many fans and creators wish to ignore. In fact, I think that Grant is the first modern writer to attempt to fit them into continuity… good luck with that.

DC Comics is a very unusual universe of characters that can be used as light-hearted or dark-edged ideas. Done right, either works. But I have to admit that this could be the funnest, most stripped-down take on the DC Universe that I’ve ever seen since the Filmation series.

A shame that the current DC Comics are a battle-field of blown up limbs and hyper-violence… but at least we have the Showcase collections, right?

So don’t let what has come before jade your vision and enjoy this wacky program. I think you’ll be glad that you did.

Batman Brave and the Bold premieres on the Cartoon Network this November