Batman: The Animated Series- 25 Years Later

Last Tuesday marked the 25th anniversary of the premiere of my favorite animated series of all time, which should surprise no one to be Batman: The Animated Series. And while I didn't have time to get up a post on that day, I decided to hold it back until today, as today marks the 25th anniversary of one of my personal favorite episodes, "Joker's Favor," the episode that introduced one of the series most enduring legacies: Harley Quinn. So today, we say happy birthday to Harley, and we look back on 25 years of the animated series that changed the way people looked at "kids" cartoons, and specifically how it helped foster the already growing devotion of one pre-teen to all things Batman.

I remember the first time I read anything about the upcoming Batman cartoon. In those long ago pre-internet days, you got your comics news on paper, from various periodicals, and the one that had a big feature on the upcoming cartoon was the tenth or twelfth issue of Wizard magazine (it was 25 years ago, cut a guy come slack on not remembering the exact issue number). This was back before Wizard became the slick, glossy embodiment of everything good and ill in comics in the 90s, and was more a price guide with some articles. I remember walking home from a news stand, and stopping dead as I looked at the character models sheets that were published in the magazine: this was a style that wasn't a super slick and "realistic" as comics in the 90s, but was stylized and different, but very cool. I wasn't in love with the clearly Batman Returns inspired Penguin, but everyone else looked great! I liked Batman's costume which was grey and dark blue, something between the classic version from comics of the past twenty years, which had a lighter blue, and the black costume of the Burton films. I even recognized the names of some of the voice actors, although I didn't know this Kevin Conroy who was voicing Batman, or Tim Curry, who was voicing Joker.

The series premiered on a special Saturday morning showing, as the cartoon would normally run Monday through Friday at 4:30 on Fox, back when cartoons were aired on Fox and the WB (or just syndicated Channel 11 before the WB was a thing). That first week, from September 5th through September 12th of 1992, there were actually going to be eight days with eight episodes running, including a primetime, seven o'clock airing on Sunday! This was the kind of buzz you didn't get around a cartoon back in the 90s.

That Saturday morning, I can actually remember sitting down on the floor, closer to the TV than I usually would because I didn't want to miss a moment or a word, and Saturday mornings were primetime for screaming two and seven year old brothers. And when that opening sequence began, with its action and explosions, its mobsters and Batman, it's shadows and substance, I was drawn in entirely. The first episode to air was not the pilot, but "The Cat and the Claw Part 1," probably to capitalize on Catwoman's popularity after the previous summer's Batman Returns, and I was surprised to see a story much closer to what I was just starting to read in the comics than to the still syndicated Batman 1966 TV series: terrorists stealing a chemical weapon, a Catwoman who was sympathetic, and a Batman whose voice was like something out of a dream; immediately I knew that Kevin Conroy was THE voice of Batman.

I'm not going to bore you with a rundown of every episode of the series, but I will say that first week showed exactly what this series could do. "The Cat and the Claw" (part 2 aired the following Saturday morning, wrapping up the initial eight day run) was an action story, akin to classic movie serials, but the rest of the episodes were different. The true pilot, "On Leather Wings" aired on Sunday, and debuted Man-Bat. It was a horror story, with a bat monster, and was truly beautiful to watch; I dare you to look at it and not think it could have been animated today.

Monday's episode was "Heart of Ice," the debut of the animated series Mr. Freeze, whose Mike Mignola redesigned armor is still the gold standard for Mr. Freeze looks today, and more than that, it's a true tragedy, about a good man driven by love to extreme lengths, and the pain he feels at his loss, a story that redefined Mr. Freeze completely. Tuesday and Wednesday was a two part story that introduced Clayface, creating a version of the character with the same name as the second comic book Clayface and a background with similarities to the first, but twists all the animated series own.

Thursday was a complete curveball, an episode entitled "It's Never Too Late," with no supervillains at all, but featuring mobsters! And not funny mobsters, but serious, gun toting mobsters. I remember watching this with a friend who kept waiting for some costumed crook to show up, but I loved it. The episode had heart and pathos, about an old mob boss who was given one last chance to get out of the life. I don't think anything shown in an animated block before had ever strayed so far from the typical toy cartoon model of the 80s so far.

And finally, Friday, came the day I was waiting for: the introduction of the Joker, my favorite Batman villain, to this new version of the Batman mythos. I linked to a piece up above where I wrote about this episode in detail, so I won't go into that here, but other than featuring the story of an everyman trapped between the Joker and Batman, and introducing Harley Quinn, it featured the debut of a voice actor whose Joker would go on to define that character as much as Conroy would define Batman: not Tim Curry, as I had read in that first article, but Luke Skywalker himself, Mark Hamill. It was a perfect week to start off this series, showing it's range, from comedic to tragic, and it's style.

Over the course of 85 episodes, Batman: The Animated Series would introduce most of the great villains and supporting characters of the Batman mythos. We would see the TV/film debuts of villains like Two-Face, Ra's al Ghul, Bane, and supporting characters like Harvey Bullock and Leslie Tompkins, characters who are major parts of the pop culture landscape of Batman now. Not only would we get the surprise superstardom of Harley Quinn, but Renee Montoya was created for the cartoon as well (although she would appear in the comics first due to the longer lead time for animation). And while original characters Lock-Up, Baby Doll, and Roxy Rocket aren't household names, they are still interesting characters, and I personally think Roxy Rocket is one really good story away from being a big hit.

Not every episode was perfect, but give me one series where that is true. What you got though, was a vision. A vision of what Batman can be. I was talking on Thursday to a friend, and we were discussing how there is no platonic ideal of what Batman (or any character who has existed in the public mind for so long) is; everyone has their own interpretation as a creator, and fans gravitate toward one or the other, or create their own head canon. For me, my choice for the platonic ideal of Batman is Batman: The Animated Series. It is a dark knight who is not a psychopath or a fascist. It's a Batman who cares, who exists in this nebulous Gotham City that is somewhere between the 1940s and the now. It's villains are bright or dark, and sometimes both, but aren't a joke. It synthesized aspects from all the previous 50 plus years of Batman into a streamlined, easy to comprehend version of the character that never spoke down to its audience and made them think about right and wrong. It's a world of fleshed out characters like nothing that existed in children's animation before.

That legacy is key to this series. Not only would the rest of the DC Animated Universe not exist, as The New Batman Adventures, Superman: The Animated Series, Justice League/Justice League Unlimited, Static Shock, and Batman Beyond all followed directly on the heals of Bruce Timm's style and vision, but do you think Disney would have been comfortable enough to let Greg Weisman craft his dark fairy tale Gargoyles without precedent for smart kid's TV? Or Fox would have let the X-Men animated series, which appeared about two months after Batman: The Animated Series appeared, push the envelope with some of its darker themes? And series like Avatar: The Last Airbender, Samurai Jack, and other modern action classics all owe a little something to the first show that tried to be more than just a 22 minute toy commercial. This was trailblazing work, this was something different, and something that happens once in a generation.

I mentioned the series that followed in the same universe as Batman: The Animated Series as key to its legacy, but there are other places where the series reached. "Mad Love," Paul Dini and Bruce Timm's one shot comic revealing the origin of Harley Quinn, won an Eisner Award. Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, the feature film that was set in the same world and crafted by the same creators, is a lost gem, and was recently released on Blu-Ray if you haven't seen it, or haven't seen in in a while. DC Direct is in the process of releasing a shockingly comprehensive line of action figures based on all these designs, Funko just released it's second wave of Pop! figures inspired by the series, and both a card game and a dice game were released this year with Batman: The Animated Series themes. And just a few weeks ago, Batman & Harley Quinn, a new animated movie featuring art style and many of the voices of the original series, was released, showing that there's still interest (it's a lot of fun, by the way, and you should check it out).

So, twenty-five years later, where am I? In my heart of hearts, I'm still an 11 year old, sitting on the carpet in front of my family's TV in the living room, listening to those first strains of the theme to Batman: The Animated Series. It still sweeps me away to away to a world of dark heroes and villainous clowns, a world that might not be as black-and-white as the other cartoons that I had loved to this point. It's animation, it's stories, everything about it was something that redefined the way superhero cartoons were looked at, and I'm grateful every time I see a new cartoon that is action and story packed, that these creators made something as special as Batman: The Animated Series.

Recommended Reading for 7/29: Dark Night: A True Batman Story

Paul Dini is a creator I've written about often. This guy writes exciting super hero stories for comics and TV, funny stories of wacky animals and equally funny fantastical people. And as he points out right at the top of his graphic memoir, Dark Night: A True Batman Story, this is none of those. Dini's graphic memoir centers around a brutal mugging he suffered in 1993, and the physical and emotional aftermath of the event. It's an uncompromising and sometimes harsh look at where Dini's life was at the time and where it has gone since. But in the end, there's hope, hope inspired by a vigilante who stands in Gotham City.

Throughout the prologue of sorts, the story of Dini's life until the main events of the main plot kick off, and as it continues, Dini talks to the characters he loves, be they Beanie and Cecil when he is at his youngest, to Batman and his rogues in the main story and into the present. I think any of us who grew up as lonely, weird kids, "invisible kids" as Dini calls them,can relate to these kind of imaginary friends, being easier to talk to and interact with than real people. It's an understanding of my own youth that drew me in and immediately got me to empathize with Dini

Narrated by a present Dini, the main story flashes back to Dini around Christmas time in 1993, He's living a good life, working on a hit show and preparing for a feature (the much loved Batman: Mask of the Phantasm), but a lonely one. It feels like most of his friends are people he's just sort of passing by, and his love life is full of would-be starlets that he's using as arm candy, and who are using him for possible connections in Hollywood. He works, he leaves a geeky life that many of us would envy, and he goes to therapy. This is his life.

The mugging scene is the center of the story, and is a singularly bleak and brutal sequence. Eduardo Risso, best known for his work with Brian Azzarello on 100 Bullets and Spaceman, whose art I'll discuss more later on, draws this scene with a brutality that may make some readers uncomfortable. And that's good, because it should. It's an act of violence without conscience, the kind of thing that we are often desensitized to in media, but here it's so stark that you wince when you see what's being done, and Dini's own thoughts, the thoughts of if he's going to survive, of the people he'll be leaving behind,make it all the more painful.

After the mugging, much of the story deals with Dini thinking about what it means to write Batman when he feels like the character doesn't matter. Where was Batman when he was being beaten? Where is Batman now that the police can't find the men who beat and mugged him. I appreciate a memoir that doesn't try to apologize for the person's behavior. Dini not only looks at the dark moments that happened after, the drinking, the thoughts about buying a gun so he can feel safe, the inability to work, with self-harm he had already perpetrated even before these events. It's painful to watch someone do these things to themselves.

It's through the classic Batman characters that Dini deals with what is going on in his mind. The Joker is. not surprisingly, the voice of a nihilistic sort of self destruction. Poison Ivy asks uncomfortable questions. The Scarecrow is the voice of fear. Penguin encourages a wanton self destruction through alcohol. Two-Face is what Dini sees in the mirror in his own broken face. They are a greek chorus of bad thoughts.

Now, all of this sounds pretty bleak. And a lot of it is. But there's hope in it too, and that hope is the voice of Batman, always encouraging Dini to get up and move on. I have always found Batman to be a hopeful character, no matter what dark trappings he is wrapped in. Because Batman took one of the greatest tragedies that any person could face, and he stood up. That image, that wording, that you have to stand up, is Dini's message. "We can accept being a victim or choose to be the hero of our own stories. And we make that choice by standing up." And watching Dini come around to that statement, one he makes at the very end of the book, by realizing that his cartoons matter to people, and why Batman matters to him and to others, it's what makes this book more than just an exercise in casting out personal demons: it makes it a statement of hope.

I've always liked Eduardo Risso's noir tinged pencils, between 100 Bullets and his work on Batman, both in Wednesday Comics, Flahspoint: Batman, and Broken City. His work here is slightly different. It runs a gamut of tones from more realistic to gritty street to surreal supervillains, all while maintaining Risso's trademark style. The colors soften and harden based on how deeply you are inside Dini's frequently damaged thoughts. I love how Risso draws the different Bat villains, from a very traditional Joker, to an Arkham Asylum inspired Scarecrow with the finger needles, to a Penguin halfway between the classic and the vision from Batman Returns. But it's his illustrations of Dini himself, the facial work and body language, that really jumped out at me. There are plenty of heavy shadows and sharp angles, stuff Risso is known for, but it's in the faces and the character work that he really shines in this book, and where Risso shows himself to have whole different layers than the crime artist he is best known to be.

There's a lot more that I could say about this book, but much of it is details that I'd like for you to discover yourself as you read it. I loved seeing Dini interact with his fellow writer and artists on Batman: The Animated Series, and his comment that the story of the produciton of that series deserves its own graphic novel is something I'd love for him to swing back to at some point. It's interesting to see that one particular character, the one Dini is most associated with, Harley Quinn, only makes her first appearance at the very end of the book, but it feels right, as it's only when Dini sort of comes back to himself that Harley, who is so filled with joy and zeal, can talk to him again (although Haroley's voice actress, Arleen Sorkin, appears as one of Dini's few close friends repeatedly in the book).

Also, as a fanboy, I have to point out there are some wonderful nuggets for the Batman fan, despite this not being a book about Batman in the fictional story sense. There's a tidbit about an initial thought on Joker's fate in the world of Batman Beyond that is chilling. And there's a three page scene that reveals a treatment for an episode of Batman: The Animated Series that never was, one featuring characters from The Sandman, that I don't want to spoil any more about it, but wow, I would love to have seen this animated, and if not, Mr. Dini, if you're reading this, that would make a heck of a one-shot, I'm just saying.

Batman means a lot to me, personally. He's been my friend, my confidant, and my inspiration for many, many years. And it makes me feel a kinship to Paul Dini that he has done the same thing. Dark Night is a book about finding hope and standing up. It's one of the best graphic memoirs I've read in a long time, a mix of fact and fantasy that takes full advantage of the medium, and a worthy addition to anyone's Batman library.

Dark Knight: A True Batman Story is available in hardcover at comic shops and wherever books are sold.

The Great Batman: Brave and the Bold Rewatch: Legends of the Dark Mite!

Season One, Episode Nineteen: Legends of the Dark Mite!
Written by Paul Dini
Directed by Ben Jones

Plot Synopsis

Teaser: Catman is holding an auction for an endangered tiger when batmn interrupts the auction. He fights off the various people bidding on the tiger, and when Catman frees the jungle cat to attack him, Batman whistles for the aid of Ace the Bat Hound, who defeats tiger, sending it scurrying away, before running Catman up a tree and getting a Bat shaped dog treat.

Episode: A bomb goes off in a Gotham bank, as two mobsters go in to steal the money, only to see Batman's silhouette pop up in the door along with strange narration. The thugs immediately surrender, only to have the narrator sound his disappointment and order the mobsters to attack, and they seemingly do against their volition. They surrender quickly again, when suddenly more thugs appear, now all armed with tommy guns. Batman avoids them, and then they turn into ninjas, attacking again.

Batman demands the narrator show himself, and Batman is quickly teleported outside as Bat-Mite, an imp from the fifth dimension wearing a Batman inspired costume appears, declaring himself Batman's number one fan. Batman tries to swing away on his grapnel, only to find Bat-Mite following him. Bat-Mite explains his powers and purpose: to make Batman the greatest hero ever. He starts by changing his costume (into various ones recognizable from the characters history).

When Batman shakes this off and tells Bat- Mite he does this to fight villains too dangerous for police, Bat-Mite decides to summon the greatest villain of all for Batman to fight so the world can see how great Batman is. Batman dodges various heavy hitter before tricking Bat-Mite into summoning Calendar Man, Batman tells him to "take a dive," and he falls over. Batman tells Bat-Mite he won and Bat-Mite should go home.

But Bat-Mite isn't satisfied and turns Calendar Man into Calendar King, whi can summon holiday icons to aid him. He summons jack o'lantern men, biker Santas, and buff Uncle Sams to fight Batman, and while they are tougher than the mobsters and ninjas were, Batman defeats them, only to have giant mutant Easter bunnies attack him.

Bat-Mite wonders if this is too over the top and freezes things, heading to the Fifth Dimension's comic con to hear what the Batman fanboys have to say about it. On stage are animated versions of the crew of Brave and the Bold, and when a fan says that this version of Batman isn't the grim urban avenger and is, "not my Batman," they reply with a wonderful speech about the history of Batman and how this is a valid version. Appeased, Bat-Mite starts the fight again, before Batman knocks out the bunnies with a gas grenade and Batman decks Calendar King.

As Bat-Mite prepares to summon another villain, Batman convinces him to depart so he can fight real crime (and bribes him with a signed Batarang). Bat-Mite disappears, and Batman reappears in the bank vault with the mobsters from the beginning of the episode, who he makes short work of before returning to the Batcave.

Dropping down into the chair in front of the Batcomputer, Batman begins to talk about his night to Ace, commenting on the "weird little creep" he spent the night dealing with only to see a second Ace walking up to him. The first Ace, Bat-Mite in disguise, furiously teleports Batman to an alien world, where fling saucers and monsters attempt to kill him. A giant Bat-Mite tells Batman that the Dark Knight will be his toy, and he'll play with him until he breaks.

Batman figts his way through the aliens and monsters, stealing a flying saucer and using it for his benefit, untilhe realizes what's going on and Batman calls Bat-Mite's bluff, not fighting anymore, letting the monsters come... but none deliver a killing blow. Batman says he'd rather let himself be destroyed then be the imp's plaything, and then goads Bat-Mite into using his powers to turn himself into Batman.

Bat-Mite, his tiny head on an over-muscled Bat-body, is now in Gotham, with Batman narrating. Bat-Mite heads to the science museum to stop Gorilla Grodd, but is knocked down by Grodd who runs off with a device he stole. Batman tells Bat-Mite he needs to out-think Grodd, and Bat-Mite uses a banana to trip up the great ape, but the device explodes, sending Bat-Mite tumbling into an abyss of darkness, where many of Batman's foes are waiting.

They dogpile on him, and Bat-Mite runs away in fear. Batman appears, telling him to confront his foes and out-think them, but Bat-Mite says his imagination is running away with him and he continues to flee, only to have Kite-Man grab him and drop him from a height. He runs through traps laid out by Polka Dot Man, portals that summon villains, is frozen by Mr. Zero and smashed by the Tweedles, and is trapped by the Riddler.

Bat-Mite calls for Batman's help, who drops down and uses a combination of brains and brawn to begin defeating the villains. Inspired, Bat-Mite breaks out of his cage and defeats the last few. He zaps himself and Batman out of the hallucinatory world he created, feeling sorry for himself, but Batman tells him he should be proud of himself and his powers, and not blindly follow someone else. Bat-Mite thanks Batman, and returns him to the Batcave, where he tests to make sure Ace is really Ace before relaxing.

At a jewelry store, the villainous Copperhead is stealing handfuls of jewels before being knocked out by a boxing glove arrow. Green Arrow steps unto the light, only to hear a voice and turn around to see Bat-Mite, hovering in a Green Arrow costume, telling the archer that he's his number one fan. We fade to black and then pop back up as Bat-Mite breaks through a drum and delivers the classic Warner Bros. sign off, "That's all, folks," ala Porky Pig.

Who's Who

Bat-Mite (Voiced by Paul Reubens)
First Comic Book Appearance: Detective Comics #267 (May, 1959)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Nineteen- Legends of the Dark Mite!

Bat-Mite's origins and motivations are pretty much straight our of this episode: fifth dimensional Batman super-fan. He was introduced in the sci-fi heavy era of Batman stories from the late 50s and early 60s, and would often appear as a nuisance in Batman stories. While he disappeared, he never fully went away, appearing in occasional stories throughout the years, resurrected in Legends of the Dark Knight stories, in Grant Morrison's run on Batman, and in places like Brave and the Bold. If you want to learn more about Bat-Mite, you can check out the post I wrote before his recent mini-series.

Ace the Bat Hound (Voiced by Dee Bradley Baker)
First Comic Book Appearance: Batman #92 (June, 1955)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Nineteen- Legends of the Dark Mite!

Batman's trusty dog, Ace the Bat Hound, has appeared in many different incarnations over the hiostory of Batman. Originally appearing in the '50s, Ace was a German Shepherd who Batman and Robin encountered on a case and took in. He would help them on cases, and would even wear a mask and a cape. Ace would appear throughout the 50s and early 60s, and disappear around the time Julie Schwartz took over editing the Bat titles in the mid-60s; this is the version that inspired the Brave and the Bold take on the character. A new, post-Crisis Ace was introduced in the 90s, a puggle who Batman took in after his owner passed away. This Ace rarely joined in cases and never wore the mask and cape. He also disappeared, this time after "No Man's Land." Currently, Batman has a dog in the comics, one he bought for his son, Damian, a Great Dane named Titus. A version of Ace also appeared in Batman Beyond, who was also a Great Dane, and served as the elder Bruce Wayne's guard dog. The traditional Ace was resurrected as one of the regular supporting castmembers/guest stars in the Krypto the Superdog animated series, where he wore the mask and cape and acted like a canine version of his famous owner, serious, intelligent, and stern.

Catman (Voiced by Thomas F. Wilson)
First Comic Book Appearance: Detective Comics #311 (January, 1963)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Nineteen- Legends of the Dark Mite!

Thomas Blake was a big game hunter who had grown bored with hunting, and decided instead to take up crime to pay off his gambling debts Fashioning a costume from the cloth that had wrapped an ancient idol that was said to grant the nine lives of a cat, Blake became the criminal known as Catman. A minor Batman foe at best, Blake would be defeated regularly by Batman, as well as other heroes and his sometime rival, Catwoman. Blake would eventually retire and become the lowest of the low in the supervillain world. But hitting rock bottom made Blake look up again, and he would return to Africa, train again, and become a decidedly more deadly threat. Recruited as a member of the Secret Six, Catman was now a force to be reckoned with, a deadly hand to hand combatant and tracker. In the New 52 continuity, Blake is again a member of the Secret Six, although much of his backstory as a nemesis of Batman has been erased, with him simply being a mercenary and hunter.

Calendar Man (Voiced by Jim Piddock)
First Comic Book Appearance: Detective Comics #259 (September, 1958)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Nineteen- Legends of the Dark Mite!

Julian Day was a man obsessed with holidays and calendars, and like many villains of the 50s and 60s, used his obsession to create a criminal persona. Calendar Man would commit crimes centered on and around holidays. He would probably have faded into obscurity with the likes of Kite Man if not for the redesign by Tim Sale for his and Jeph Loeb's seminal Batman: The Long Halloween, where he became a far more frightening foe.

Gorilla Grodd (Voice by John DiMaggio)
First Comic Book Appearance: The Flash #106 (May, 1959)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Two- Terror on Dinosaur Island!

Copperhead
First Comic Book Appearance: Brave and the Bold #78 (June, 1968)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Nineteen- Legends of the Dark Mite!

Copperhead was a thief and killer who wore a snake costume and would use it to commit murders and other crimes. His real identity was never revealed. He was a master contortionist with or without his costume, but the costume allowed for greater abilities to pass through tight spaces and to deliver poison through the fangs.

Green Arrow (Voiced by James Arnold Taylor)
First Comic Book Appearance: More Fun Comics #73 (November, 1941)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode One- Rise of the Blue Beetle

Continuity, Comics Connections, and Notes

The title of this episode is shared with Batman:Legends of the Dark Knight #38, a story by Alan Grant and Kevin O'Neill, that resurrected Bat-MIte in Post-Crisis continuity,

This episode is the Brave and the Bold debut of writer Paul Dini, one of the best Batman writers of the past twenty years. starting out on Batman: The Animated Series, before doing long runs on Detective Comics and Batman: Streets of Gotham. He might be best known as the creator of Harley Quinn, and he and B:TAS producer and artist Bruce Timm won an Eisner award for their one-shit Batman: Mad Love, Harley's origin. He recently released a graphic memoir through Vertigo, Dark Night: A True Batman Story, and appeared on last week's Nerdist Podcast, which is well worth a listen.

Batman's line, "A friend of mine in Metropolis told me about menaces like you,"is of course a reference to Superman and his own Fifth Dimensional enemy, Mr. Mxyzptlk.

The costume transformations Bat-Mite puts Batman through include:Vampire Batman from the Batman/Dracula Red Rain trilogy, Bat-Hombre from Batman #56, Adam West's Batman from the classic TV series, the costume from Joel Scumacher's Batman and Robin, Zebra Batman from Detective Comics #275, and Frank Miller's Batman from The Dark Knight Returns.

Before Bat-Mite summons Calendar Man, he summons three other villains: returning foes Solomon Grundy and Gorilla Grodd, and first timer Shaggy Man.

At the comic convention scene, the Brave and the Bold cast and crew on stage include Diedrich Bader, Michael Chang, Michael Jelenic, Ben Jones, Sam Register, Andrea Romano, James Tucker, and Brandon Vietti. In the audience, while most fans are dressed as Batman, two are dressed as Joker and Harley Quinn. Thes two are Bruce Timm (Joker) and Paul Dini (Harley).

As Bat-Mite takes on Batman's identity and enters Gotham, the city has red skies and as bat-Mite lands on a building top and is silhouetted before being brought into the light by lightning, which is a direct lift from the opening of Batman:The Animated Series.

The shot and sequence as Bat-Mite confronts the mob of villains is an homage to "The Great Piggy Bank Robbery," a classic Daffy Duck short where he takes on the roll of Duck Twacy, a Dick Tracy parody. This sequence includes many of Batman's most famous (and infamous) villains, many amking their first Brave and the Bold appearance, and includes the Penguin Catwoman, Killer Moth, Kite-Man, Riddler, Polka-Dot Man, Tiger Shark, Zebra Man, Joker, Catman, Mr. Zero (Mr. Freeze), and Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum. Later in the sequence, the Mad Hatter appears as well.

Bat-Mite's flight from the villains featured two very clear callbacks to two classic Batman covers, one is"The House that Joker Built," from Detective Comics #365, and the Riddler's first appearance cover in Detective Comics #140.

The Matt Signal Advent Calendar 2015 Day 24: Batman Beyond "Out of the Past"

Batman Beyond
Season 3, Episode 5, "Out of the Past," 2000

Matt Says:

I had a hard time deciding how to wrap up the Advent Calendar this year. I knew I wasn't going to go chronologically by release, and so after some thinking I decided to end with the episode set furthest in the future. Batman Beyond was a series that followed the exploits of Terry McGinnis, a young man who an elderly Bruce Wayne took under his wing to be a new Batman. The series created a new supporting cast and many new villains, rarely going back to the classic rogues. One of the few exceptions was the series finest episode, "Out of the Past," where Talia al Ghul returns and offers Bruce the chance to reclaim his youth.

Much of the episode is pretty deep for a kids cartoon, exploring questions about aging and if its right to reclaim your youth at any cost. We watch Bruce haunted by his lost loves, by his body failing, bu his inability to save a girl from street thugs that he could have easily beaten not too long before. Bruce goes as far as giving in and using the Lazarus Pit before accepting that it's unnatural. Getting to see Bruce and terry fight side by side is one of the series highlights, accompanied by a version of the classic Batman: The Animated Series theme song, played with lots of synthesizer like we imagined music would sound in the future back in the late 90s-early 00s.

I've seen the episode so many times over the years, I don't remember if the big twist at the end of act two, the fact that [SPOILER for a fifteen year old episode] Ra's has had his mind transferred into Talia's body, really shocked me. Knowing the twist, there are tons of clues littered throughout the first half of the episode, and it's cleverly done.

And the final fun facts of this year's Advent Calendar. This episode features a brief cameo by Michael Rosenbaum, his first DC Animated work, but far from his last, as he would go on to voice Ghoul in Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker and have a starring role on Justice League/Justice League Unlimited as The Flash (as well as Deadshot). The episode also begins with the hilarious musical number from a Batman musical Terry brings Bruce to for his birthday. I dare you to watch the episode and not be singing, "A superstitious cowardly lot," under your breath for days. Finally, to keep up the tradition four years running of a post around the holidays featuring his work, this episode was written by the inimitable Paul Dini.

And that's it for this year's Advent Calendar. We hope you've enjoyed reading about some of our favorite episodes of these great cartoons. Have a safe and happy Christmas, for those who celebrate, and we'll be back next week with a couple posts before the New Year.

The Matt Signal Advent Calendar 2015 Day 2: Batman: The Brave and the Bold "Chill of the Night"

Batman: The Brave and the Bold

Season 2, Episode 11: “Chill of the Night” 2010

Matt Says:

After the monumental success of Batman: The Animated Series, the next attempt at a Batman cartoon was the commercially successful, but critically less popular, The Batman. Moving from network to cable, Cartoon Network's Batman was Batman: The Brave and the Bold, a bright, fun animated Batman who is a superhero and less a brooding crusader. Wild adventures, cosmic threats, and a guest star every episode sets it apart from most other modern takes on Batman, giving the show a lighter feel. I, though, am writing about the series most serious episode today because I have to be contrary.

"Chill of the Night," written by none other than Paul Dini, starts off like any other Brave and the Bold. A teaser with a special guest star, in this case Dini favorite Zatanna, gets the viewer into the spirit of adventure. But quickly, the episode takes a turn. It opens with the death of the Waynes, and gives a quick visual recap of Bruce's training and origins, before pulling out to reveal the Phantom Stranger and the Spectre. The two need to settle an argument over vengeance versus justice, and so set a wager in Batman, who is about to learn the identity of the man who killed his parents. If he gives in and takes his life, he will forever be like the Spectre, an agent of vengeance, but if he chooses justice, he may go his own way.

From there, we see Batman at the deathbed of mobster Lew Moxon, who confesses to putting a hit out on the Waynes, and Batman cutting a swath through the underworld to find out who he hired. The Phantom Stranger sends him back in time to the night that his father, in a proto-Batman costume, stopped a robbery Moxon was perpetrating, and the Spectre shows him the man who pulled the trigger, Joe Chill. At an auction for a high tech weapon Chill is running, Batman confronts him, and even though he is tempted, chooses justice over vengeance. But it's at the hands of the super criminals who blame Chill for Batman's existence, plus a little karma (probably aided by the Spectre) that Chill meets his end. The episode ends with Batman putting his father's costume in a trophy case in the Batcave with a satisfied, "Case closed."

What I love about this episode is that it stands Batman firmly on the side of justice, not vengeance, a stand I always take in the discussion of exactly what Batman stands for. It also lifts liberally from two classic Batman stories: Batman #47, "The Origin of Batman," and Detective Comics #235, "The First Batman." Some of the shots are straight out of those classic comics, and it works so well. The guest cast is also a treasure trove of classic Batman voices. Adam West and Julie Newmar of the classic Batman TV series voice Thomas and Martha Wayne. Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill, the classic Batman and Joker duo of Batman: The Animated Series, voice Phantom Stranger and Spectre, respectively. Even Richard Moll, Two-Face from B:TAS, pops up as Lew Moxon and reprises Two-Face for a line or two. It's a little bit of Batman history, and a highlight of the excellent Batman: The Brave and the Bold.

The Matt Signal Advent Calendar 2015 Day 1: Batman: The Animated Series "Joker's Favor"

After the rousing success of last year's Matt Signal Advent Calendar, Dan and I talked and decided to do it again! This year, we'll each be picking twelve of our favorite episodes of cartoons that are based on comics, or at least have comics in their DNA. We each had to pick twelve episodes from twelve different shows. Some shows might crossover from each of our lists, but I couldn't, say, pick nine episodes of Batman: The Animated Series, as much as I would have liked to. So, without further ado, here's the first entry from, you guessed it, Batman: The Animated Series...

Batman: The Animated Series

Season 1, Episode 7: “Joker's Favor” 1992

Matt Says:

To me, I don't think there will ever be a cartoon as masterfully crafted, as enjoyable, or as formative as Batman: The Animated Series. I think most of modern adventure cartoons have a little bit of this show in their DNA, as it was something completely different than any cartoon on TV at the time: it was serious, a  bit brooding, not a toy commercial, and beautiful to look at. While other shows, many from Bruce Timm and his cohorts at Warner Animation, have taken the ball and run with it, building complex, layered series set in this shared universe, none are as special to me as this one.

Picking one episode of this series was tough, and when I had it narrowed down to two, Dan sent me his list, and I saw he had  picked one of the two, so I went with "Joker's Favor." There are any number of reasons this is my pick. It's the first time The Joker appeared on Batman: the Animated Series, and rewatching it, it amazes me how Mark Hamill already has the Joker down (it is technically the third Joker episode, as two were recorded before this, but in those as well, Hamill is stunning). Hamill's Joker is at times hilarious and at times menacing, and you're never sure which Joker you're going to get.

I wrote about this episode once before, a long time ago, in an article about how many of the great B:TAS episodes feature very little Batman. Batman barely appears in the first two acts of the episode. Instead, it's the story of a put upon everyman named Charlie Collins, who while driving home, is pushed over the edge by a rude driver. Charlie drives up to him, shouting, only to realize that the driver who cut him off is The Joker. Charlie attempts to escape, but his car breaks down on a wooded road. The Joker's first full body appearance in the series is standing on a mound of earth with headlights backlighting him, hands in pockets, menacing Charlie who sits on the ground beneath. It's a beautiful shot and just perfect.

Charlie begs for his life and Joker grants it to him, but he has to do him a favor. Two years later, Charlie has changed his name and moved to Ohio, but one day he gets a phone call. Joker, who addresses Charlie as his hobby, is calling in the favor. Charlie flies back to Gotham to find Joker having escaped Arkham to help "celebrate" an award being given to Jim Gordon. Charlie's job? Simply open a door when a big cake is wheeled into the room. Joker, of course being Joker, has different plans, and Batman's third act arrival quashes many of them. But in the end, it's Charlie, poor nobody schnook Charlie, who gets the last laugh on the Joker.

Aside from the excellent plot and stellar animation, this episode has all the other hallmarks of this series. The humor, especially the scene at the end where Joker screams for Batman as Charlie menaces Joker with a bomb, is funny in a clever, non-whacky way. Ed Begley Jr. makes a great guest star as Charlie, at times put upon, at time manic when he's pushed too far. The moral of the story, about being grateful for what you have, isn't clubbing you over the head, but it comes around nicely at the end. And the music! Shirley Walker's Joker theme makes it's first appearance here, and I still whistle it to this day. And the bouncy piece that I think of as Charlie's Theme is some of the show's most memorable music.

And if that's not enough this episode features the first appearance of Rocco and Henshaw, Joker's two goons, who appear throughout the series. Oh, and another character debuts in Paul Dini's script too: Harley Quinn. But I'm sure none of you have heard of her...

The Players on the Other Side: A Guide to Your Anti-Bats

Years and years of reading Batman comics have shown me something very interesting: writers love the idea of the anti-Bat. I'm not talking an opposite; The Joker is the opposite of Batman. Joker is chaos to Batman's order. I'm talking that villain who is the cracked mirror version of Batman. Most superheroes have one villain like that, but with Batman it seems like they could form a club. So I was thinking, as something fun for this Friday, to run down the anti-Bats, and end with a mention of a character who isn't a DC character who is, in my opinion, the ultimate dark version of Batman. I won't be drawing in any of the other characters from outside DC who are takes on Batman, so fans of Nighthawk of the Squadron Supreme or Darkwing of the Guardians of the Globe (or Darkwing Duck, for that matter), I understand your love, and there might be s piece someday about alternate takes on Batman. But today, let's bring on the bad guys.

Killer Moth
First Appearance: Batman (Vol.1) #63

Killer Moth is looked on a kind of a joke character now. I think the striped leggings don't help much in that respect, to be honest. But when he was introduced, he set himself up as the Batman of the criminal set. He had a Mothcave and a Mothmobile, and criminals would hire him to help them escape the police and Batman. This goes about as well as you might expect, with Batman shutting him down repeatedly. When he first appeared, he even had a millionaire secret identity, as Cameron Van Cleer (who sounds like the jerk rich boyfriend in a 80s movie). Over time, he became more of a generic 60s villain, performing all sorts of heists and capers. He's probably best remembered as the first villain who fought Barbara Gordon as Batgirl. He would pop up occasionally throughout the 70s and 80s, and in the 90s, he got one really great story, "The Misfits", in Shadow of the Bat, a new secret identity, Drury Walker, and was one of the villains who got a serious Underworld Unleashed treatment, transformed into a giant moth monster called Charaxes in Robin. As opposed to a lot of the villains from that crossover, this change stuck, and he remained Charaxes until he was killed in Infinite Crisis. While there was another Killer Moth briefly after Charaxes's death, and one who has appeared in the New 52, he has mostly returned to obscurity. For a villain who hasn't been a major threat, well, pretty much ever, Killer Moth has a pretty interesting career in other media. He never made Batman '66 (although there was a test short of Batgirl with him as the villain), or Batman: The Animated Series. However, he did make The Batman, both in his Killer Moth costume and his Charaxes form, and pops up a couple times in Batman: The Brave and the Bold. He is also a recurring villain on Teen Titans and Teen Titans Go!, where his form is closer to Charaxes than Killer Moth. Starfire's pet grub, Silkie, is a product of Killer Moth's experiments. I list him as the first anti-Bat, though I will admit that Deadshot, who pre-dates him by a year, did start out as something of an anti-Bat as well.

The Wrath
First Appearance: Batman Special #1

Created by Mike W. Barr in one of his numerous excellent Batman stories, The Wrath is one of two villains on this list whose origins directly mirror Batman's. In his one appearance in the one-shot, "The Player on the Other Side," (from which I drew this piece's title), Barr and artist Michael Golden created the Wrath as a criminal whose parents were shot by police in Gotham, and who trained around the world as a hitman. He comes back to Gotham on a contract, and plans to take out the officer who killed his parents, namely Jim Gordon. This is an excellent issue, and it's been collected a couple of times, but only in recent years. The Wrath never popped up again after his death in this issue, but an apprentice of his appeared as a new Wrath in a Batman Confidential arc by Tony Bedard and Rags Morales, and Jonathan Layman and Jay Fabok introduced a New 52 Wrath during their run on Detective Comics. Interestingly, the Wrath also appeared on an episode of The Batman, along with a Robin-like sidekick called Scorn. This was towards the end of that series, when it was firing on all its cylinders and was pretty solid.

Bane
First Appearance: Batman: Vengeance of Bane #1

Right before The Dark Knight Rises, I wrote a long piece about Bane's history, so I'll just give a quick rundown here and you can go and read that of you want to read more about probably the most infamous of the anti-Bats. Created by Chuck Dixon, Doug Moench, and Graham Nolan, Bane was a child raised in an island prison, paying for the crime of his father. There, he trained his mind and body to perfection, escaped, and went to Gotham to prove himself by defeating Batman. While Bane isn't as much a direct visual counterpart to Batman as Killer Moth or Wrath, he is the self-made man, the man who pushed himself harder than anyone else to become the pinnacle of human achievement. His use of the super-steroid Venom also makes an interesting parallel, as Batman was addicted to the drug during its first appearance in Legends of the Dark Knight, but kicked the habit. And as Bane grew, he also spent time as the chosen heir of Ra's al Ghul. The great thing about Bane (at least before the New 52 reset him to being similar to his original incarnation) was that Bane grew out of his role as an anti-Bat and became a fascinating character in his own rights, mostly thanks to Gail Simone's tremendous work with the character in Secret Six. Bane is a solid part of the Batman mythos now, entering that highest echelon of Batman villains, He has appeared in all modern animated forms of Batman, as well as in both movie series, and had a prominent role in the Arkham video games series.

Prometheus
First Appearance: New Year's Evil: Prometheus #1

Prometheus is a character created by Grant Morrison, so you know you're in for a trip right off the bat. Prometheus's basic origin is the same as the Wrath: criminal parents killed by the police. But while the Wrath's parents were petty crooks, Prometheus's were like the couple from Natural Born Killers. And instead of training with the best people the mob could find, Prometheus trained with evil monks and the like, and got his Batcave as a house in a void dimension. So, yeah, totally Morrison there. He decided that if he was going to make an impact, he had to kill superheroes, and set his sights on the Justice League. He also had a helmet that enabled him to download the fighting styles of anyone, so it's interesting to note that, as much of a parallel to Batman he might be, he cheated to do it. And when Batman finally defeated him in Morrison's final JLA arc, it was by exploiting the helmet. When Prometheus next appeared, he had inexplicably gone from a guy who could face down the whole Justice League to a henchman for another villain (more on him later) who Green Arrow took out handily. It was eventually revealed that the Promethus from those stories was in fact the apprentice of the original Prometheus, who the original killed when he recovered from his defeat by Batman. Prometheus was the main villain in the much derided Justice League: Cry For Justice mini-series, where he exacted vicious revenge on any superhero who crossed his path, and was killed by Green Arrow. He has not appeared since.

Hush
First Appearance: Batman (vol.1) #608

Hush is a tricky character. Created to be the mastermind villain of a mega-arc in the ongoing Batman title, Hush was Tommy Elliot, a childhood friend of Bruce Wayne who came from a privileged background. But as opposed to the loving Waynes as parents, the Elliots were terrible people, and so young Tommy tried to kill them. He would have succeeded, if Thomas Wayne hadn't saved his mother's life, and so years of slow planning began for Tommy to get his revenge on Bruce. When he was pulled into a conspiracy with Jason Todd, Riddler, and Scarecrow, Tommy took on the identity Hush, and became a criminal mastermind.I think a lot of the problems people have with Hush comes from the fact that he came from out of nowhere, was an obvious suspect, and there were various structural issues with the story, and that the next stories featuring the characters were an awkward series of stories in Batman: Gotham Knights where he and Prometheus teamed-up with Prometheus as the lesser partner (see, I said there'd be more on this later). Paul Dini did a great job rehabilitating the character in his run on Detective Comics and Streets of Gotham, making him a fully formed character, and even making him more of an anti-Bruce Wayne by Hush having surgery to look like Bruce and try to take his place. Hush popped up recently in Batman: Eternal as one of the suspects for mastermind of that conspiracy, but has not been seen since that series wrapped.

Owlman
First Appearance: Justice League of America (Vol.1) #29

Owlman is a little bit of a cheat for this list, as he is simply a version of Batman from another universe, specifically Earth-3, the Earth where good guys are evil and bad guys are good. However there are some wrinkles that made me want to call him out. One is that he has interacted wit the "real" Batman in various battles between the Justice League and their evil opposite numbers, the Crime Syndicate. Also, he's an interesting character in his own right; in his various origins, Thomas Wayne Jr. either killed his parents or watched his brother, Bruce, and mother killed, and decided to become a criminal. Grant Morrison reintroduced the Crime Syndicate in his excellent JLA: Earth 2 graphic novel, and the Syndicate popped up a few times after that. Since the DC reboot, there have actually been two Owlmans. One is this version, the alternate Thomas, who is still lurking out in the DCU after the events of Forever Evil. The other is Lincoln March, the ally of the Court of Owls, who claims to be Thomas Wayne Jr. of Earth Prime. He was a centerpiece of the "Court of Owls" storyline, and appeared at the end of Batman: Eternal, where he was recaptured by the Court. What will happen to him next remains a mystery.

Grendel (Hunter Rose)
First Appearance: Comico Primer #2

OK, here's my pick as the greatest anti-Bat in comics, and he wasn't even created to be one! The assassin/mobster/bon vivant Hunter Rose, better known as the first Grendel in Matt Wagner's epic cycle, shares many of the same cultural roots as Batman, with the pulps as the backdrop (although I have to imagine Batman factors in somewhere in that cultural DNA as well). Hunter is a self-made man, who as opposed to Batman didn't have everything laid out in front of him. He pulled himself up, as an exceptional person in a world of ordinary people. And while Batman had legions of good influences (Alfred, Leslie Thompkins, etc.), Hunter was only noticed by Jocasta Rose, a woman who became his lover and confidant at an impressionable age. With her loss, Hunter decided that he would never be mundane, he took the flashy name of Hunter Rose, he became an internationally best selling novelist, and when that wasn't enough, he took over the New York mobs. Hunter is as cool, as calculating, and as brilliant as Batman, but everything he does is for himself. Except for one thing. He has a young ward, Stacy Palumbo, who he took in after he killed her uncle and saved her from a child pornography ring. But, in another inversion, instead of this being the thing that saves them both (as I feel Bruce Wayne taking in Dick Grayson kept Bruce in touch with his humanity), when Stacy discovered that Hunter was in fact Grendel, she manipulated events that led to his death, and her own eventual slide into madness. Hunter is a phenomenal character on his own, with no Batman necessary, but Wagner's Batman/Grendel is an excellent showcase of the two characters and how they relate. Seriously, it's the best batman related intercompany crossover ever, and should be in the collection of any Batman fan.

Animated Discussions: A Very Animated DC Christmas

The past couple of years, the Friday before Christmas has been a holiday recommendation, both of them from writer Paul Dini. Aside from a single Christmas themed issue of Simpsons Comics, and an issue of Detective Comics featuring Joker driving around with a tied up Tim Drake, I couldn't find anything else Christmasy from Dini (although you really should check out those two books). I was getting ready to shift last week's Krampus! piece to this week, when it occurred to me I had one more holiday piece that would feature some Paul Dini: a look at DC Comics animated Christmas episodes!

The earliest example of a holiday episode in the modern animated DC Universe (I'll be passing on the 60s Batman cartoon that did have a Mr. Freeze Christmas episode, just due to time for watching and time fro writing) is the classic "Christmas with the Joker." While aired about two months into the airing of Batman: The Animated Series, it was actually the second episode produced, so it has certain markings of those early episodes, very specifically it was one of three episodes where Clive Revill voiced Alfred, before Efrem Zimbalist Jr. took over and held the role for many a year.

Since we're still so early in the series, "Christmas with the Joker" isn't a very experimental episode. It's fun, clever, and well executed, but it's a pretty darn traditional episode. Joker breaks out of Arkham, Joker has a crazy scheme, Batman and Robin stop said crazy scheme. But the details are great. Joker has hijacked the airwaves and is airing an old time Christmas special starring, well, him. He's kidnapped Jim Gordon, Harvey Bullock, and Summer Gleeson (a reporter character who I think the producers hoped would catch on, but never really did), and has them tied up as his very own Christmas family. The interaction between Joker and Gordon when Joker removes his gag, which is a candy cane wedged in his mouth, briefly is pretty darn funny. But the stakes are high. Joker plans on blowing up a bridge and crashing a train, which Summer's mother is on; this isn't a whimsical thing with Joker. It's deadly serious.

The episode has great set pieces. Not just the exploding bridge and train sequence, but there's a battle at an observatory and a factory with killer nutcrackers. There's also some wonderful character beats involving batman. When asked to watch It's a Wonderful Life, he replies that he could, "never get past the title," but it's clear the episode's writer, Eddie Gorodetsky, gets Batman when Robin tells him that it's the story of how much one man can matter to a city, to which Bruce has not much to say. More telling is how hard it is for Batman to let go and believe that Christmas Eve will be quiet. This is actually a theme from a classic Batman Christmas story, Mike Friedrich and Neal Adams's, "the Silent Night of the Batman."

When Batman returned to animation with the New Batman Adventures, the first episode was an adaptation of the Batman Adventures Holiday Special, the episode entitled "Holiday Knights." Instead of writing at length about it, you can go and check out the recommendation I did for the comic a couple years ago. It remains one of my favorite Christmas comics ever.

In 2008, a very different animated Batman came to the airwaves. Batman: The Brave and the Bold was a much lighter Batman show, with crazy plots, huge set pieces right out of the 50s comics, and every episode teamed Batman with another hero. Early on, the series did its Christmas episode, "Invasion of the Secret Santas!" which featured Red Tornado as the guest hero. In the episode, Red Torndao, a robot, tried to understand the Christmas spirit, while he and Batman fight Fun Haus, a villain who is clearly a Toyman riff, since Toyman wouldn't have been available to the show since he is a Superman villain, and Superman and his cast were unavailable to Brave and the Bold at the time.

The episode itself involved robot Santas running amok, an evil toy, and some holiday hilarity as Red Tornado tries to Carol and Batman winds up saving kids from a runaway sled. It's a good episode of Brave and the Bold, as it highlights so much of what makes the show different and fun from Batman: The Animated Series. The comedy is much bigger, the villain is more over the top, but Batman himself remains this solid straight man in the middle of the wackiness. Batman says crime doesn't take a holiday, so neither does he.

The thing that stands out in "Invasion of the Secret Santas" to me are a series of black-and-white flashbacks to a young Bruce Wayne on Christmas Eve. Bruce receives a Christmas present from his father, a nutcracker, which is not what the young Bruce wanted, and so he throws it away and runs off in a pout. It's notable for a few reasons. One, it's the first time in this series we see an unmasked Batman, even if he's only eight, and the first time we see Alfred. The series usually kept Batman in the field, so both Bruce Wayne and Alfred appear very rarely, The Nutcracker is almost directly lifted from "To Kill a Legend," a story from Detective Comics #500, only there it's a toy train, not a Nutcracker. I like the fact that Bruce wasn't always this perfect kid, and it's a nice touch. My only problem with the flashbacks is that it ends with his parents taking him to see a movie to try to cheer him up from not getting the Swashbuckler action figure. The movie is a swashbuckling movie, and I doubt anyone who knows Batman would be surprised it's The Mark of Zorro. The flashbacks end with Bruce still being mad as they walk down the alley, and well, the are two flashes of light. I'm generally not in love with the idea that Bruce had any part, even inadvertent, in his parents' death. Still the episode ends with Batman finding a very special Christmas present from Alfred in the Batmobile, something that brings the episode full circle, and is a nice Christmas touch.

Before I discuss my favorite DC Comics animated episode, I wanted to touch on one that's only tangentially related to the topic. Freakazoid! was a cartoon that aired on the WB network alongside Superman: The Animated Series, and was created by the same guys who created the Batman and Superman cartoons. It was a crazy cartoon with a hero who would make the Creeper say, "I think he's a bit much." But good lord was it funny!The first season episode, "In Arm's Way," features Freakazoid Christmas chopping on Christmas Eve, while arch criminal Arms Akimbo (a former model whose arms are stuck, well, akimbo) sells Oops Insurance (protection) to local business owners. If you've never see Freakazoid!, well, this is a fun episode, but they all are really.

Now, my favorite DC Comics animated episode doesn't even feature Batman. The episode is "Comfort and Joy," from the second season of Justice League, and it's written, not shockingly, by Paul Dini. After saving an alien world from being destroyed, we follow five members of the Justice League on their holiday adventures. I admit, the episode is filled with Christmas messages about the joys of family and friends, about giving to others, and about different manners of celebrating. It's a Christmas special in the way of holiday episodes of the 80s, and I love that. I am a complete sucker for these kind of things, and the fact that it's done so well makes it all the better.

One of the stories follows Green Lantern and Hawkgirl as the two explore their burgeoning romance by seeing how each of their cultures celebrate. Lantern shows Hawkgirl all the great snow traditions he has, like sledding, building snowmen, making snow angels, and snowball fights. After a particularly rousing super powered snowball fight Hawkgirl brings Lantern to a world that looks like the Mos Eisley Cantina's nasty brother and shows him how she celebrates, which is starting a bar fight and wailing on everyone in sight. It's cute, and does a great job of showing the relationship between the two characters, ending with a very sweet moment.

The Flash story has Wally visiting  an orphanage in Central City and promising to get the kids the present they want, a DJ Rubba Ducky, a rapping animated duck. We get some crass consumerism, as Wally can't find one, and when he finally does, he runs afoul of the Ultra-Humanite, who is destroying the Central City Museum because he feels the art isn't up to his high standards. When the Rubba Ducky is destroyed in the fight, Humanite agrees to repair it and he and Flash present the to to the kids, improved to tell the story of The Nutcracker as opposed to making hip-hop farty noises. And when Flash brings Humanite to jail, he leaves him a small Christmas tree. It's a sweet story of two foes coming together in the Christmas spirit and about how everyone deserves a holiday that is full of peace.

The third story is by far my favorite, the story of Superman taking Martian Manhunter to Smallville for Christmas. It's a very simple, quiet story. There's no action in the superhero sense. Superman is hilarious with Ma and Pa Kent, acting like a great big kid; they wrap his presents in lead foil to keep him from peeking. They give J'onn a sweater as a present that he bulks up to wear. And he goes out at night and sees the Christmas joy that the people of Smallville feel. J'onn became a favorite character of mine thanks to the John Ostrander monthly from the early 00s and his portrayal on Justice League, and this episode does a marvelous job of portraying the stranger in a strange land aspect of the character. There's also a cute nod to his love of Oreos from the Justice League International era. The episode ends with J'onn sitting in a window in his native Martian form, singing a beautiful sing in Martian, while petting Streaky, Supergirl's cat. It's a lovely moment, one that expresses the universality of having a place to be in times of celebration.

This is a good time to settle in with a cup of cocoa and enjoy a very super Christmas season, and each of these episodes are available on DVD, and many can be found on Netflix and Amazon Prime.

Recommended Reading for 12/20: Jingle Belle

I think the holiday recommendation spot belongs to Paul Dini. Last year, it was dedicated to the Batman: The Animated Series Holiday Special, probably my favorite Christmas comic of all time, and this year, we'll be talking about Jingle Belle, his Christmas themed series about Santa's daughter. I beg your pardon if this is a bit short and lacking in my usual detail, but between the holiday and much of my collection remaining buried in boxes beneath boxes beneath yet more boxes since the move, I wasn't able to do a reread, so this is coming all from memory.

Jingle Belle (Jing to her friends) is Santa Claus's daughter. And while Santa is still the jolly old elf that he's portrayed at, Jing isn't like any member of Santa's clan you might have seen on a Christmas special. You see, Jing is a teenager (or about 220, which when you're an immortal is part of your extended adolescence), and that makes her a bit... difficult. And by difficult, I mean a nightmare. Jingle is spoiled (who wouldn't be if your dad was freakin' Santa Claus), entitled, and always up to something. And when you have access to Santa's various cool magical things, that something she is up to is usually a little more than breaking curfew.

Jingle's escapades often involve her trying to get out of working at Santa's workshop or just getting away to be a normal teenager; after all, it's hard to get away with anything when your dad's whole shtick is knowing whether you're naughty or nice. The best Jingle Belle stories work like a lot of the best Simpsons stories (There was even a crossover between the two in Simpsons Winter Wingding #1) with Jing working in the Bart roll: Jing does something naughty, gets caught, and learns a lesson. Of course the lessons don't really stick, and she gets into trouble again sooner or later, usually sooner.  Bit what also makes the series and character work is that under the bratiness, Jing really has a good heart, and will choose to do the right thing and help those in need.

Humor comics generally have a set-up/punchline thing that is consistent, which is true with most humor/comedy series; I mean, how many times could Elmer Fudd really go after Bugs Bunny and not expect to wind up getting shot in the head with his rifle that didn't seem to ever fire anything lethal? The trick is keeping that motif feeling fresh. Dini gives Jing all sorts of odd escapades that don't feel like the same thing over and over again. One time she could be trying to have a Christmas special made about herself, another time she could be trying to build a Vegas-based Christmas-themed resort , or tried to set up a reality TV show with her and her dad (all real plots).

The stories can also have a more action based tone at times, with Jingle falling afoul of some of Santa's wintery nemeses like The Blizzard Wizard, or she can befriend the Frankenstein Monster. But Dini never loses sight of the fact that at heart, Jingle Belle is a humor comic, and is always funny. There's even a story featuring my favorite piece of Christmas apocrypha, the Krampus, who is Jing's weird "uncle." Trust me, if you don't know who the Krampus is, go and find out. He's just wonderfully bizarre.

One of Paul Dini's great talents is world building and character creation. Looking at his Batman work, he created a bunch of excellent characters aside from Harley Quinn, including The Carpenter, Mr. Zzz, and he added levels of pathos to Hush, making him a far more interesting character than he was in his earlier appearances. So it's not surprising that he has populated Jing's world with an assortment of interesting and amusing characters. There are elves, like Jing's pal Gretchen, hipster elf Eddie, or brown nosing Cousin Rusty. There are Jing's girl friends, Polly Green, the Halloween witch, Ida Red, a superpowered cowgirl sheriff, and frenemy Tashi, a part girl-part snowleopard (sorta like a Thundercat, if that helps with visualization). And of course there's Santa and Mrs. Claus. It's a large cast, and each character is wrought well.

The publication history for Jingle Belle is a bit involved. Initially published by Oni Press back in its early years, and spawned two trades and a graphic novel, the series moved to Dark Horse for a bit, where there were some one shots and a four issue mini-seires that was traded, and then to Top Cow, where most of the stories were released as one shots, although there was one collection. The stories are mostly out of print, but I know they can be found, especially if your comic shop breaks out Christmas comics around this time of year like mine does. You can also find at least some of them on Comixology.

So if you're looking for something funny and not exactly what you'd expect from a Christmas comic, you should check out Jingle Belle. Your belly will shake like a bowl full of jelly, trust me. And with that, a merry Christmas to all. I hope to get some reviews up on Monday, but if not I wish you all a happy holiday.

Animated Discussions- Batman Isn't Always About Batman

So, yes, my move has prevented me from reading most of this week's comics, but I don't want you all forgetting me, do I? This is the first in a semi-regular feature that will be talking about superhero and comic book based animation, and what better place to start then the greatest superhero cartoon of all time (and not shockingly at all, my favorite), Batman: The Animated Series?

There are very few people who would argue that, without Batman: The Animated Series, the modern animation landscape would be very different. Batman: The Animated Series brought a level of sophistication to daytime animation that had never been seen there before. The show was moody, intense, and its detailed art deco inspired designs weren't like anything audiences were used to. The series has become so engrained in the minds of the people who saw it that Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill, who voiced Batman and the Joker respectively, have been credited with those rolls more than anyone else has, having performed in no less than four different series, plus movies and video games.

In rewatching the series is syndication on the kids network The Hub recently, I noticed one of the most fascinating things about Batman: The Animated Series: the lack of its title character in a number of episodes. The great Will Eisner would often write Spirit strips that barely featured the Spirit, but would instead be about people who crossed paths with him at one point or another in the story, and I feel like the writers and producers of Batman: The Animated Series took a cue from that. This is fairly unique, even in the generation of cartoons inspired by it. Sure some episodes Justice League/Justice League Unlimited focused on villains, and a couple of Batman Beyond episodes did use this formula, but it was really something Batman: The Animated Series did often and best. So, here are some of the best episodes of Batman: The Animated Series (abbreviated B:TAS from here on out) with the least Batman.

Joker's Favor

Joker's Favor is probably best known as being the first appearance of Harley Quinn, but it's also the first appearance of Charlie Collins, a put-upon businessman who, after a long day at work, curses out a driver who cuts him off. Unfortunately for Charlie, the driver is the Joker, who spares him with the promise that one day, Charlie will do him a favor. So, one day, even after changing his name and leaving Gotham, Charlie gets a call to come to Gotham and pay his debt. This is my favorite purely Joker episode of B:TAS. It's funny to see poor Charlie thrust into the Joker's sphere, and how he tries to get out if it. Batman appears at the end of the episode to sweep in and get involved in the action, but the star of the episode is Charlie, voiced by Ed Begley Jr., who in the end gets to play a joke of his own on the Joker.

The Man Who Killed Batman

On the other end of the everyman spectrum from Charlie Collins is Sidney Debris. Charlie just wanted to live a quiet life, but Sidney wanted to be a big man, and he got the chance when an accident makes the Gotham underworld think that Sidney killed Batman. This begins a series of misadventures for Sidney, as he crosses paths with the Gotham Police, the Joker, and crime boss Rupert Thorne. Batman's presence if minimal, since he is "dead" for much of the episode, and Sidney narrates his story. I pair this with Joker's Favor because they both show an aspect that is left out of many Batman appearances in media: they're funny. Batman might be a dark character, and he might be the driving factor behind these stories, but it doesn't mean there's no room for comic relief anywhere.

It's Never Too Late

It's Never Too Late aired towards the end of B:TAS first week on the air, and it was the episode that made my eleven year old brain explode. The first week or so of episodes had been very cool; Batman has fought Catwoman, Man-Bat, Mister Freeze, and Clayface. But this episode didn't have a supervillain. This was, for all intents and purposes, a noir. There was a mob war, and the episode centers around mob boss Arnold Stromwell, who is in a mob war with Rupert Thorne, It is Stromwell's story, with Batman acting as the angel on his shoulder, or his guide through the Underworld if you'd prefer, to give Stromwell one last chance to mend his ways. It's a very effective piece of television, and its use of Batman as an agent of redemption as opposed to violence and vengeance is different than many interpretations of the character and was another sign that viewers of B:TAS were in for something special.

P.O.V.

P.O.V. was the first episode of the series that really focused on the Gotham Police, and gave a full introduction to a character who would become important in both the show and the comics: Renee Montoya. The episode is told in the style of the legendary Akira Kurosawa film Rashomon: Montoya, Harvey Bullock, and Wilkes, a rookie, each tell their version of the events around a failed bust where Batman became involved. It's a great device to get different views of Batman, and had been used in the legendary story from Batman #250, "The Batman Nobody Knows!" (which was later adapted as the episode Legends of the Dark Knight).  The different police all see Batman in a different way: as a hero, a menace, or as something more than a normal man. And who's to say they all aren't a bit right?

A Bullet for Bullock

A Bullet for Bullock is a pitch perfect adaptation of Detective Comics #651 by Chuck Dixon and Graham Nolan, one of the most under-rated Batman creative teams of all time. Someone is trying to kill Harvey Bullock, Gotham's slovenly detective, and he has to go to Batman for help. It's another episode where there are no supervillains, just mobsters, and is told almost exclusively from Bullock's perspective. There's not much more to it than that, other than it's a great mystery that fleshes out one of the major supporting characters of Batman's world for the animated series.

Harley and Ivy

Harley and Ivy is actually one of three episodes that fit as kind of a trilogy in my head, the other two being Harlequinade and Harley's Holiday that really made Harley Quinn the breakout character from B:TAS. Arleen Sorkin's amazing voice performance is definitely a factor, making Harley such a distinct character, but these three episodes, each of which gave Ms. Sorkin a chance to shine, were instrumental. Harley, being a character created for the show, gave the writers a chance to play in a way they couldn't with more established characters, and they used that latitude to create some hilarious, as well a poignant moments. Batman really spends much of his screen time in these episodes playing straight man to Harley's antics, and in Harley and Ivy winds up not even being the person who captures the titular duo; that honor falls to Renee Montoya.

Showdown

Showdown is different from the other episodes I'm talking about here because Batman isn't even a part of the main narrative. Batman runs afoul of some of Ra's al Ghul's men, and finds an audio cassette (yes, the Batmobile had a tape deck back then), which recounts a confrontation Ra's had with Jonah Hex back in 1883. The story is really a Jonah Hex one, written by Joe R. Lansdale, one of the great Hex writers, and is a gorgeous period piece. I include it mostly because it was my first real exposure to Hex as a character, a character I've come to love over the years, and because the ending, after the Hex story is done and Batman confronts Ra's, is a strangely touching one.

Almost Got 'Im

There was no way I could talk about episodes of B:TAS that only sort of deal with Batman and not mention this one. Almost Got 'Im makes pretty much every best of list for B:TAS, and is often found in the top slot. Basically, Joker, Penguin, Two-Face, Poison Ivy, and Killer Croc are sitting around a table playing cards and talking about times they almost killed Batman. It gives great insight into the minds of the villains, as well as providing some of the show's best animation and dialogue. If you only watch one episode I've discussed, or one episode period, this is the one to choose.