The Great Batman: Brave and the Bold Rewatch: Mayhem of the Music Meister!

Season One, Episode Twenty-Five: Mayhem of the Music Meister!
Written by Michael Jelenic
Directed by Ben Jones

Plot Synopsis

Teaser: The Music Meister walks out in front of a curtain and starts to conduct an orchestra.

Episode: (Song titles appear in italics as they appear in the episode)

The curtain parts and shows a military base, where Black Manta's walker fires on the soldiers, causing them to flee. Black Manta, Gorilla Grodd, and Clock King are inside, preparing to hijack the rocket that holds the United Nations new communications satellite, which they plan to use to cause chaos on global communications. But before they can get on the rocket, the are interrupted by Black Canary, Green Arrow, and Aquaman. But before they can start fighting, the begin... to sing.

As they sing in bewilderment, the mastermind behind the singing appears: The Music Meister, who instructs them to stop fighting him, which they do and he begins to details his plan and origin (I'm the Music Meister). The heroes and villains begin to dance and sing back-up as he explains he controls people by singing at them. Observing from a distance, Batman sees the singing and dancing as the heroes prepare the satellite to launch.

When Music Meister hears Black Canary sing, he becomes enchanted by her, but her Canary Cry knocks him off his feet as Batman drops from his Bat-gyro, having out in an earpiece to protect him from Music Meister's hypnosis. While Batman easily gets the upperhand on Music Meister, the villains sends his controlled heroes and villains to attack Batman. Batman is able to fight the others to a standstill until Music Meister sets off the rocket to launch, and commands the heroes and villains to do a kickline into the flames blasting from the rocket, as the curtains close again, ending Act One.

As Music Meister speeds away on a keyboard on wheels, Batman chooses to save his friends and enemies from being burned alive by using two Bat-grapnels to hold them in place and then fire a net from the Bat-gyro to hold them. With the rocket and Music Meister gone, the spell is broken, and the heroes knock out the villains. Batman knows there's more to Music Meister's plan, and Black Canary asks to join him in hunting down the new foe. He gives the heroes earplugs to protect them, and tells them to stay with the defeated villains until the police arrive, taking off alone, and Black Canary ignores Green Arrows attempts to court her affections.

At a concert hall, Music Meister plays the organ and talks to a cardboard audience, detailing his plan to use the satellite to spread his hypnotic power over the world, musing there's one thing that can stop him. And as he says it, Batman appears, and Music Meister hits keys in the organ which spews smoke to let him escape and begins to sing about Batman's ability to drive villains crazy an ruin their plans (Drives Us Bats).

Music Meister leads Batman on a chase through the city, getting people to randomly attack him, before arriving at Blackgate Prison and causing a mass breakout, which is foiled by Batman and his allies. As they fight, Black Canary watches Batman fight and sings about her wanting Batman to love her (If Only). Music Meister joins in, singing about his own feelings for Canary, making it a duet. He is able to blast Canary and Batman with an energy bolt, knocking them unconscious as the curtain falls on Act Two.

The curtains open on a closed club now filled with huge machinery chugging away, producing a beat that Music Mesiter sings to about his death trap (Death Trap). Batman and Canary are tied together, and as Music Meister leaves, acid and lasers begin moving towards the heroes, the walls start closing in, and a bomb starts ticking, but Batman is able to use his gadgets to get Canary and himself out.

Music Meister has set up in Gotham Square, with Aquaman and Green Arrow guarding him, preparing for the finale of his scheme, but Batman and Canary appear to stop him. But Music Meister's final costume change has speakers built in, allowing him to project his voice farther and create an army of innocent citizens to protect him (The World is Mine), while others begin to steal everything they can. And coupling the speakers and mic system with the satellite, all of Gotham begins to bring Music Meister everything they can get their hands on, not just in Gotham, but everywhere.

Under Music Meister's control, Aquaman grabs Black Canary, but Green Arrow is able to break the mind control long enough to free Canary before Aquaman starts and outrageous hero on hero fight. Batman and Canary again try to stop Music Meister, but his legion of thralls interfere. They are able to grab Canary and remove her earplugs, leaving Batman alone to fight. Canary turns on Batman, and begins fighting Batman, but Batman challenges Music Meister to have Canary match him in a singing contest, note for note, going higher and higher. Distracted by the singing, Music Meister doesn't see Batman loop a Batrope tied to a Batarang around his microphone. Batman pulls the mike in front of Canary as she hits the high note, her Canary Cry triggering and blowing out all the speakers and breaking Music Meister's spell, before Batman slugs the villain, knocking him unconscious and saving the world from musical mind control.

Canary goes to Batman, who explains he used a gadget to match her voice, and she asks him to dinner, but he refuses, because crime doesn't take breaks. before he swings off. Canary begins to sing again about her crush in Batman, but Green Arrow joins in about his feelings for her (If Only [Reprise]), and she is shocked by his singing voice, and the two join hands and sing in front of the sparkling lights of the damaged stage as a single spotlight shines on them, and the curtain closes on the heroes looking into each other's eyes.

Who's Who

Music Meister (Voiced by Neil Patrick Harris)

First Comic Book Appearance:  None
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Twenty-Five: Mayhem of the Music Meister!

As a young child, the Music Meister was bullied because he could sing beautifully in choir. But one day, when surrounded by bullies, he began to sing and they stopped. And soon he was controlling them. He realized he could control people with the sound of his voice, and so began his path to supervillainy. This is the Music Meister's only full appearance; he will cameo a few more times, but never speaks or sings in any of them. Music Meister can control anyone in the sound of his singing voice, and has many music related gadgets.

Black Canary (Voiced by Grey Griffin)
First Comic Book Appearance: Flash Comics #86 (August, 1947)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Sixteen- Night of the Huntress!

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

Aquaman (voiced by John DiMaggio)

First comic book appearance: More Fun Comics #73 (November 1941)

First Brave and the Bold appearance: Season 1, Episode 3- Evil Under the Sea!

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!

Black Manta (voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson)

First comic book appearance: Aquaman #35 (September 1967)

First Brave and the Bold appearance: Season 1, Episode 3- Evil Under the Sea!


Clock King (Voice by Dee Bradley Baker)
First Comic Book Appearance: World's Finest Comics #111 (August, 1960)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode One- Rise of the Blue Beetle

Continuity, Comics Connections, and Notes

"Mayhem of the Music Meister" is one of the most popular episodes Batman: The Brave and the Bold. Seriously, I can't tell you how wonderful it is. The songs are whip smart and catchy, Neil Patrick Harris, star of stage and screen best known as the title character on Doogie Howser, M.D. and as the womanizing Barney Stinson on How I Met Your Mother, completely knocks his performance out of the park, and it's just delightful through and through. It's so popular that contributor Dan Grote included it as one of his picks for best animated episodes in last year's Advent Calendar.

If you watch the episode and love it, the soundtrack was released to download and on CD through Amazon.

Batman's singing voice is provided not by Diedrich Bader, who voices Batman in the series, but Jeff Bennett, who voices the Joker on the series.

Among the numerous references in this episode, there's a particularly fun one. As Music Meister sends the heroes and villains at the beginning to fight Batman, they start snapping their fingers, which is a nod to the classic musical West Side Story, where the two street gangs, the Jets and the Sharks, snap at the beginning of their dance based rumbles.

During the number "Drives Us Bats," the cuts to the villains singing in Arkham includes nearly every villain who has appeared in this series, not to mention most of the original villains from the Batman TV series from the '60s: King Tut, Psycho Pirate, Top, Crazy Quilt, Mad Hatter, Calendar Man, Mr. Freeze, Tweedles, Scarecrow, Two-Face, Joker, False Face, Shame, Cavalier, Egghead, Kiteman, Babyface, Louie the Lilac, Felix Faust, Fun Haus, Shark, Sportsmaster, Bookworm, The Archer, Grodd, Black Manta, Clock King

Music Meister makes numerous costume changes throughout the episode, hitting on various musical genres and musical influences including Phantom of the Opera, Liberace, Mozart, Marching Band, Disco King, Kiss, Behorned Opera Singer. Elvis, and Punk.

During "Death Trap" the walls of the room surrounding Batman and Black Cnaary are platered with what look like band stickers, and each of the stickers has the name of DC Universe team, both great and small. It would take forever to list them all, but if you pause your DVD or stream with the DC Wiki open, you'll see some amazing deep cuts in there.

The Great Batman: Brave and the Bold Rewatch: Inside the Outsiders!

Season One, Episode Twenty-Four: Inside the Outsiders!
Written by Alex Van Dyne
Directed by Michael Chang

Plot Synopsis

Teaser: Batman and Green Arrow are tied at the top a post that is slowly lowering as large jungle cats growl at them and try to reach them. Green Arrow is irritated that Batman didn't see the trap that got them into this situation coming, as Batman should know better having fought Catwoman numerous times. Batman and Catwoman talk, with batman trying to talk her out of her life of crime, and Green Arrow is shocked (and annoyed) when he realizes they're flirting. As they near the cats, Batman uses a Batarang to sever the ropes tying the heroes and they swing to safety. Green Arrow fights Catwoman's thugs, while Batman fights the villain herself. The heroes defeat Catwoman and her goons, and are preparing to take them in when Catwoman escapes, leaving Batman with a note including her phone number and a message that says, "Call Me."

Episode: Batman runs through a hallway covered in creeoy golden masks that shoot blasts at him, but he makes it through, crashing into a room where the Psycho Pirate sits in a high tech throne. The Outsiders are in glass tubes that are feeding energy into Psycho Pirate, who is feeding on their emotions. Batman plans to open the chambers, but doing that will fry their brains, and the only way Batman has to save them is to enter the dream world of Psycho Pirate to pull them out, so he dons one of Psycho Pirate's helmets and heads in.

He appears in what appears to be a Japanese temple, and he sees a younger Katana and her old master. She has revealed the location of a sword, and an evil ronin has now arrived seeking it. Katana watches her memory play out, seeing her master die, as Batman tries to snap her out of it. Katana tells Batman this is her nightmare, but this time she will get revenge, and grabs the sword to fight Takeo, the ronin. Takeo tells her that it was her mouth that killed her master, and she prepares to strike down her foe.

At the last moment, Batman intercepts her blade with the energy sword from his utility belt, and the two of them commence dueling, Batman telling her this is now their way, or that of her master. Takeo again goads her on, saying she is now silent because she was responsible for her master's death and feels guilty, while Batman says that she is silent to honor him. This reminder snaps her out of it, and she stops fighting. Takeo transforms into Psycho Pirate, who had been playing on her guilt, who then disappears. Batman knows Psycho Pirate feeds off rage, and he thinks Black Lighting is the main course.

Appearing in an alleyway, Batman and Katana head out to find Black Lightning, prepared for the worst. What they find is a Black Lightning who is attacking people not for crimes but for little social infractions and anything that irritates him. Batman talks to him, trying to get him to calm down, and instead Black Lighting attacks, annoyed at Batman's cape. Katana saves a bystander who turns into Psycho Pirate who tries to get her to again attack, but she does not and he seems offput by it.

Black Lightning continues to attack Batman, Psycho Pirate growing more powerful, and then Black Lightning sees on TV... Uni the Unicorn (an homage to Barney the Dinosaur), and his anger grows. Black Lightning says hugs don't solve everything, and Batman tells him neither does rage, and that his anger was just making Psycho Pirate stronger. Psycho Pirate disappears in a flash, but as he does he causes Uni to leap from the screen and break through the glass. Black Lightning blasts him into confetti, but an army of Uni's come at him. Batman again tells him to channel his anger and energy into stopping Psycho Pirate, and this time Black Lightning listens. he embraces the possibility of happiness and the Uni's disappear. Again Psycho Pirate disappears, and Black Lightning is sure the worst is behind them, since Metamorpho is a happy guy. But as the clouds turn into a huge, angry Metamorpho, Batman knows that the worst is yet to come.

Now in what looks like the wreck of a city, Metamorpho transforms into more and more destructive forms, destroying everything. Batman realizes that Metamorpho's bottled up rage has been fueling Psycho Pirate all along. Psycho Pirate hovers near Metamorpho's ear like the devil on his shoulder, feeding his anger: anger that he is a freak who can't go out in public, anger that part of him believes his friends are laughing at him, not with him. and Metamorpho attacks.

Batman tells the Outsiders they can't harm Metamorpho, since he would be hurt in real life too, and so they have to reason with him. Black Lightning tells him they count on him, that he has the coolest powers in the world, but Psych Pirate counters that all they're doing is using him, and Metamorpho attacks again, saved only by Batman flying them away in his jetpack. He tells Black Lightning and Katana to keep reasoning with Metamorpho while he takes care of Psycho Pirate.

While the Outsiders dodge Metamorpho, Batman attacks Psycho Pirate. Black Lightning and Katana stand under the giant Metamorpho, and it's Katana speaking that stops him. They talk to him, telling him that they're a team, friends, and that they need him, and as he calms down, Batman begins to gain the upper hand on Psycho Pirate. Finally, Metamorpho shrinks down and hugs his friends, back to his normal self.

The dream world splits apart, and Batman awakens, but finds Psycho Pirate out of his throne, standing by a switch which the villain throws, obliterating the Outsiders. In a rage, Batman begins to pound on Psycho Pirate, who is feeding on the anger of the righteous, but Batman realizes this is still a dream, and Batman centers himself, feeding Psycho Pirate happy thoughts, which he can't take, and proceeds to happily knock out the villain.

With the Psycho Pirate finally defeated, Batman and the Outsiders stand over the defeated Psycho Pirate. As Batman walks off to call the authorities, the Outsiders wonder what are Batman's happiest thoughts.



Who's Who

Black Lightning (Voiced by Bumper Robinson)

First Comic Book Appearance:  Black Lightning #1 (April, 1977)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Six- Enter the Outsiders!

Katana (Voiced by Vyvan Pham)

First Comic Book Appearance:  The Brave and the Bold #200 (July, 1983)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Six- Enter the Outsiders!

Metamorpho (Voiced by Scott Menville)
First Comic Book Appearance:  The Brave and the Bold #57 (January, 1965)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Six- Enter the Outsiders!

Psycho Pirate (Voiced by Armin Shimmerman)

First Comic Book Appearance:  Showcase #56 (May-June 1965)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Twenty-Four: Inside the Outsiders!

The Psycho Pirate who appears in Brave and the Bold is the second character to use that name in the comics, Roger Hayden. He was a villain of Earth-2, the Justice Society's Earth, who received the Medusa Mask, a relic that allowed him to manipulate emotions, from the original Psycho Pirate. Psycho Pirate would be a thorn in the side of various members of the Justice Society, but would reach new prominence during DC's legendary crossover event, Crisis on Infinite Earths, where he would become an accomplice and agent of the Anti-Monitor. He would survive the Crisis, and would be the only person with a full memory of the existence of the Pre-Crisis multiverse, knowledge which drove him mad. He would appear very sporadically over the course of the next twenty years, most notably in Grant Morrison's Animal Man, before he was recruited by Alexander Luthor during Infinite Crisis, where he was killed by Black Adam. Psycho Pirate has recently reappeared in the Rebirth era Battman series, as a part of Task Force X, and is the mcguffin of the new arc of that series, which begins today. While Psycho Pirate has no innate abilities, the Medusa Mask which he possesses allows him to force emotional states on others and to enhance emotions they already feel.

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


Catwoman (Voiced by Nike Futterman)
First Comic Book Appearance:  Batman #1 (Spring, 1940)
First Full  Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Twenty-Four: Inside the Outsiders!

Selina Kyle is Batman's most persistent female foe. Her origins have changed and morphed over her more than seventy-five years of existence, but it always comes around to her being the world's best cat burglar and a lover of all things feline. In some versions she is abused wife, in others a prostitute, and other times simply a runaway kid. She and Batman spar, each often trying to win the other over to their side of the law, and in recent years, she has been as often an anti-hero as she has been a villain. She is probably Batman's greatest love interest (at least in my opinion), and in more than one universe in the multiverse or adaptation of Batman in other media, it is Catwoman who Batman winds up with. She is one of the greatest characters in comics, and one of the most visible female characters, bot defined by the male hero she is attached to, by clever, powerful, and often wickedly funny in her own right. Catwoman has no superhuman abilities, but is an expert thief, acrobat, escape artist, and hand-to-hand fighter. Her weapons of choice include a cat o'nine tails whip and claws built into her gloves.

Continuity, Comics Connections, and Notes

So, if you're watching along on DVDs, you will notice that this is not the next episode on the DVD. There care three orders in which the last three episodes of Season One  ("Inside the Outsiders", "Menace of the Music Meister", and The Fate of Equinox") can be looked. There is the DVD order, which places this episode last in the season, the order in which they were aired which puts Music Meister before this episode, or the episode numbers, which is the order I chose, meaning this episode is next, followed by Music Meister, and and ending with the Equinox episode, which feels like a season finale.

Catwoman gets her Who's Who entry this week, despite having cameoed twice before, in Legends of the Dark Mite! and Hail the Tornado Tyrant! However, both of those were silent cameos, and this being her first full appearance, I held off spotlighting her until now.

Armin Shimmerman, who voiced Psycho Pirate this episode, and is best known to genre TV fans as Quark on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Principal Snyder on Buffy the Vampire Slayer,  has appeared on Brave and the Bold once before, voicing Calculator in Night of the Huntress, and will appear one more time, but that's for the future.

I just want to call out a very cool visual in this episode. During the Black Lightning sequence, the whole world in in grey scale except for the people who are frustrating him, who appear in color.

The Great Batman: Brave and the Bold Rewatch: Hail the Tornado Tyrant!

Season One, Episode Twenty: Hail the Tornado Tyrant!
Written by J.M. DeMatteis
Directed by Brandon Vietti

Plot Synopsis

Teaser: Batman, driving the Batmobile,  gives chase to Joker in his Joker Mobile. Green Arrow catches up in his Arrowmobile, and the two heroes usual competetive streak comes out as they both try to catch the arch-criminal and see who has the cooler car. With Joker taken care of, they see Catwoman esacpe Gotham museum in her Catplane, and the two cars transform into planes as they give chase, still bantering.

Episode: Batman arrives at a laboratory, and finds a body under a sheet, only to be surprised by Red Tornado. Removing the sheet, Tornado reveals another robot. Tornado tells Batman he is about to activate the other robot, and Batman takes it to mean he wants to share the moment with a friend. Tornado says he has created an imporved version of himself, and Batman wonders about the creation of life, and what might go wrong. Tornado says he has installed a fail-safe of "my son" goes wrong, and Batman is shocked at the choice of words.

A blast of energy permeates the smaller robot, and Tornado Champion stands up, but does not seem to demonstrate the emotions that Tornado's improvements, the things he does not have, should have bestowed on him. Tornado wants to work together and fight crime to see if that might stir Champion, and finds that the villain Major Disaster is nearby.

Major Disaster is threatening the city with a hurricane as the heroes arrive. As they fight near a rollercoaster, Champion is able to direct Disaster's lightning back at him so batman can punch him out. But as the heroes are distracted after the fight, the still not entirely unconscious Disaster is able to blast Champion. Tornado holds his son, who seems fatally damaged, but a flash of light explodes from his face, and suddenly the previously emotionless Champion, smiles and calls Tornado, "Father!"

Back at the lab, Tornado analyzes Champion, and the younger robot is excited and filled with emotions. Batman looks on, seemingly doubtful. The two robots travel the world, stopping disasters and criminals talking about life and the meaning of it and emotions, all while Batman watches from the distance. Champion seems impatient and a little doubtful about some of Tornado's philosophical answers.

At a fire, Champion saves two children, but they are afraid of him and the crowd turns on him, calling him a robot, though Champion views himself as a person. He and Tornado fly off, and they talk about emotions, and Champion's not understanding why he is not accepted. When Tornado tells Champion he will be accepted someday, he scoffs and flies off, leaving Tornado alone. Batman approaches him, and Tornado reveals he knows Batman has been watching him, but remains sure that Champion is doing fine. Tornado detects Major Disaster attempting to escape jail, and the heroes head off to stop him.

Batman and Tornado confront Disaster in the prison yard, and while Disaster has the upper hand, Champion's arrival turns the tide. But this time it' Tornado who is wounded, and Champion turns on Disaster seeking revenge, beating Disaster with whirlwinds. Batman stops Champion from delivering a deathblow, and the two argue about the morality of revenge, before he strike Batman. Tornado steps in the way, and tells Champion to stop, but Champion says humans are evil and a disease. Batman is able to strike Champion with a Batarang, shutting him down.

Batman and Tornado are back in the lab, Tornado wanting to save his son, Batman telling him that Champion is too dangerous and must be shut off using the fail-safe. Despite Champion's pleas, Tornado decides the fail-safe is the logical solution, and Champion shuts down. The two heroes walk away from the still robot, only for his eyes to glow green as they exit, revealing he removed the fail-safe. He uses Tornado's equipment to upgrade himself, redesigning himself into the more sinister Tornado Tyrant.

On the beach at Coast City, where the boardwalk Major Disaster initially attacked rests, a tidal wave blasts ashore, devastating the area. Two survivors see Tyrant, who follows his handiwork, and says he plans to wipe humanity from the globe. Batman and Tornado head toward Tyrant, preparing to do what must be done to stop him. They confront Tyrant with a device Tornado is sure will scramble Tyrant's programming, but Tyrant puts up a considerable fight, knocking Batman and the scrambler away.

Tornado and his son face each other is a duel of the winds, but Tyrant proves stronger. Tornado begs his son to stop, saying humans deserve better, but Tyrant will hear none of it, and savagely attacks Tornado, crushing him between two cars. Tornado again tries to reason with Tyrant, telling him of humanity's good side, their quest to connect and love, but Tyrant is unmoved.

As Tyrant is about to destroy his father, Batman is able to snag Tyrant with a grapnel, pull himself up to the robot, and plant the scrambler in Tyrant's head. Tornado uses the opportunity to charge Tyrant, plants his hands inside the other robot, and use his wind powers to destroy the rogue robot, although he averts his eyes, unable to see what he's doing to his son. Tornado collapses to his knees as Batman walks up to him.

One final time at the lab, Tornado mourns his attempts to create a son, saying he should never have done it and he does not understand human emotion. Batman assures him, having heard what Tornado said about human life and love, that Tornado may have found his own humanity. Tornado says that he just parroted what he has seen and read, and has no insight into it, and uses his machines to destroy what is left of Tyrant's parts. He assures Batman he is ok, and as he stands alone, a single tear falls from his eye. Tornado observes it and says he must run a diagnostic, not knowing that it is a most human act.

Who's Who

Red Tornado (Voiced by Corey Burton)
First Comic Book Appearance:  Justice League of America #64 (August, 1968)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Four- Invasion of the Secret Santas!

Major Disaster (Voiced by James Arnold Taylor)
First Comic Book Appearance: Green Lantern #43 (March, 1966)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Twenty: Hail the Tornado Tyrant!

Paul Booker has an origin that is similar to those of a lot of Silver Age villains. He was a petty crook who got his hands on advanced technology and decided to use it to become a super criminal. Starting out as a Green Lantern foe (Part of his origin story had him discovering Hal Jordan's secret identity), he would go on to fight Superman, John Stewart, and the Outsiders before becoming a member of the comical Injustice League during the Giffen/DeMatteis era, which reformed and became the Justice League Antarctica. After briefly returning to villainy (and getting his powers made a part of him by the demon Neron), Booker reformed thanks to the faith of Superman, he was recruited by Batman as a member of the substitute Justice League when the main team went missing. When the Justice League returned, he became a member of the Justice League Elite, a covert ops League. He would eventually be killed during the Infinite Crisis crossover, and has yet to appear in DC's new timeline. Major Disaster's power allowed him to create natural disasters like hurricanes and earthquakes. After his deal with Neron, his power became one that effected causality, making bad fortune happen to people from still large events to smaller ones like tripping and falling.

The Joker (Voiced by Jeff Bennett)

First Comic Book Appearance: Batman #1 (April 1940)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Thirteen- Game Over for Owlman!

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

Comic book writer J.M. DeMatteis returns for his third episode as writer. It's cool that DeMatteis focuses on a different hero in each of these episodes, as opposed to tracking one hero. His first episode was a Green Arrow one, followed by a Green Lantern one, and now Red Tornado in his third.

The origins of Red Tornado from before the DC Comics defining event, Crisis on Infinite Earths, is as complex and knotty as those of Hawkman after the Crisis, but suffice it to say, he used both the identities of Tornado Champion and Tornado Tyrant at different points in his existence. I do my best to sum up this kind of thing here, but it's all so messy that I just have to refer you to Wikipedia to try to read it all. It's... really something.

Tornado Champion's initial design, with the purple cape and briefs, is actually one of Red Tornado's earlier designs before creators settled on his current, more well known, one.

Carl Lumbly, who voices Tornado Champion/Tyrant, is best known in DC Animation circles as the voice of J'onn J'onzz,the Martian Manhunter, on Justice League & Justice League Unlimited.

The Great Batman: Brave and the Bold Rewatch: Game Over for Owlman!

Season One, Episode Thirteen: Game Over for Owlman!
Written by Joseph Kuhr
Directed by Ben Jones

Plot Synopsis

Teaser: A recap of the events of the last episode, the first part of the two-parter, segues into Batman using a smoke pellet to escape the Gotham police.

Episode: Batman heads across the rooftops, avoiding the police, finding the Phase Oscillator warps time as well as space and that he's been gone for three weeks in this world, and trying to figure out why the police are after him. He then sees another Batman, dressed in an old version of his costume, escaping a bank with stolen money. He deduces that it is Owlman, having escaped, and they begin to fight. Again, the two are so evenly matched that neither can easily defeat the other, but Owlman escapes, leaving Batman holding the money bag, and Green Arrow appears to capture Batman. Batman tells Arrow the truth, but he doesn't believe him, and so Batman throws the moneybag at him with a small explosive and escapes in the confusion.

Batman slips into a hidden tunnel, as we see all his friends now hunting for him, coordianted by Green Arrow, except Plastic Man, who Green Arrow tells they don't need. Blue Beetle sees Batman as he pops out onto the street, but Batman hits him with an electric blast, and then ties up Plastic Man, who nearly grabs him, and escapes again, this time to be nearly grabbed by Red Tornado. Batman tries to summon the Batmobile, but realizes Owlman has reprogrammed it. Trapped in a blind alley, Batman thinks he's about to be taken out by his best friends when a hook, like those used to pull bad acts off stage, appears out of the darkness. and pulls him into the shadows and into a warehouse. And in the warehouse is the Joker, oversized pistol in hand, waiting to shoot him for changing their game and trying to out-criminal him.

Joker pulls the trigger and a bang flag pops out, and Batman punches him. Joker tosses up a white flag, and tells Batman he wants to team-up against the impostor. Batman wants to know how Joker knows there's an imposter, and Joker more or less says he knows because he knows Batman and what he would or wouldn't do. He wants to team up to stop Owlman, and Batman initially refuses, leaving Joker handcuffed, but Joker points out that since the two are evenly matched, Batman will need the Joker's help, as Owlman still craves order, and the Joker's chaotic nature will work in Batman's favor. Batman begins to consider it just as Plastic Man finds him. Joker offers a ride in his Jokermobile, and as the heroes wait outside, the Jokermobile breaks out of the warehouse.They stop it, only to find a trussed up Plastic Man inside.

Meanwhile, Batman and Joker try to figure out their next move. Batman calls an old Batmobile to them, and they head off. Batman makes Joker give his word no one will be hurt. Joker agrees, and offers to shake, but Batman gives him a look and joker reveals the little needle he has on his hand, waiting to poke Batman. Joker chalks it up to old habits, and start asking what all the buttons in the Batmobile do. Batman tells him that he really shouldn't touch one, and Joker naturally does, and is hit with knockout gas.

Batman awakens Joker in the Batcave, and Joker sees all the mementos from their previous encounters. Batman begins to consider what Owlman's next target is, looking for a pattern. He finds out Owlman has accessed his files on his fellow heroes, and found the ways to neutralize them, and we see him starting to do it. Batman again knocks out Joker and they head out of the cave. Batman contacts the others, and only Plastic Man responds, just as Owlman takes him down. Batman and Joker arrive, and Batman begins to fight Owlman, who demands the Phase Oscillator back so he can return to his Earth.

Joker starts to go through his weapons, trying to find one that won't hurt anyone, and settles on a rocket launcher, which he fires at the dueling Batman and Owlman. He thinsk Batman will move, but instead it Batman knocked down as Owlman nearly hits them with the Batmobile. Joker takes a grappling hook from Batman's utility belt and escapes, saving Batman's life. A car chase begins, Batman contacting Owlman, who offers to trade the heroes he's captured for the Phase Oscillator. Batman refuses, and Owlman begins to threaten innocents, so Batman turns the Batmobile over to Joker to drive as he saves people Owlman is endangering with reckless driving and weapons. Joker even stops chasing Owlman to save an innocent.

Joker asks Batman  why he took a chance on working with him, and Batman remembers Red Hoo,d Joker's counterpart from Owlman's world, who is a hero. He looks up in the sky and sees an Owlman version of the Batsignal. At the signal's source, Owlman has the heroes captured in tailor made deathtraps, with various villains surrounding him. Batman and Joker arrive, and tells Owlman that if he doesn't free the heroes, Batman will destory the Phase Oscillator, stranding him. The villains attack, But Joker proves a good ally.

However, as they face down the villains, Owlman offers Joker a new option, a tailor made trap for Batman, and the trigger to start it. Joker is tempted, and then decides that he' a villain, and hits the button, which should encase Batman in rubber. But Batman used the Phase Oscillator to escape, and pops out on the other side of the villains, where he promptly punches Owlman but Dr. Polaris is able to magnetically pull the Phase Oscillator from Batman and send it to Owlman.

But Batman had counted on the Joker's betrayal, and user the Phase Oscillator's time bending abilities to spend a week gathering Batmans from alternate worlds and appearing only a second later back on his Earth. The Batmen begin to not only fight the villains, but free the imprisoned heroes. Now that the villains are outnumbered two-to-one, they are easily defeated, leaving Batman to take down Owlman and Joker on his own, but the two villains begins arguing over which one will take down Batman, and Batman uses the distraction to use the trap Owlman designed for him to capture them both.

The fight over, the villains are carted away, and Batman goes to his counterparts, who old a tied up Owlman, who swears to return for revenge, and Batman says he'll be waiting to stop him before the other Batmen take him away. The Joker is the last of the villains to be carted away, and he says if they weren't opposites they could be friends, and Batman knows, from having met the Red Hood, that's true, and there's a good man in there. But then Joker swears he'll get him next time and Batman thinks, "Or maybe not."

Who's Who

The Joker (Voiced by Jeff Bennett)

First Comic Book Appearance: Batman #1 (April 1940)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Thirteen- Game Over for Owlman!

The Clown Prince of Crime. The Harlequin of Hate. These are but two of the nicknames for The Joker, Batman's arch-foe. Formerly the criminal known as the Red Hood, he lost his mind after chemicals bleached his skin and turned his hair green, and has since been an agent of sheer chaos. At times a madcap clown crook, at other a terrifying murderer, Joker's personality is as variable as the winds. His history with Batman goes back to the Dark Knight's earliest days, and no one villain has inflicted more pain on Batman. The Joker believes the two of them are a duel act, and that they are meant to fight until the end. The Joker is a master criminal with a brilliant, if twisted mind. He has myriad lethal gadgets and gimmicks, most notably his Joker Venom, a poison that leaves his victims with a rictus grin similar to his. But his greatest weapon is his sheer unpredictability, a person is never sure if Joker will shake their hand or wring their neck.

Owlman (Voiced by Diedrich Bader)
First Comic Book Appearance: Justice League of America #29 (August 1964)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Twelve- Deep Cover for Batman!

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

Blue Beetle  (Voiced by Will Friedle)
First Comic Book Appearance: Infinite Crisis #3 (February, 2006)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode One- Rise of the Blue Beetle

Aquaman (voiced by John DiMaggio)

First comic book appearance: More Fun Comics #73 (November 1941)

First Brave and the Bold appearance: Season 1, Episode 3- Evil Under the Sea!

Red Tornado (Voiced by Corey Burton)
First Comic Book Appearance:  Justice League of America #64 (August, 1968)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Four- Invasion of the Secret Santas!

The Atom (Ryan Choi) (voiced by James Sie)

First comic book appearance: DCU Brave New World (August 2006)

First Brave and the Bold appearance: Season 1, Episode 3- Evil Under the Sea!

Plastic Man (Voiced by Tom Kenny)
First Comic Book Appearance: Police Comics #1 (August 1941)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Two- Terror on Dinosaur Island!

Black Manta (Voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson)

First Comic Book Appearance:  Aquaman #35 (September, 1967)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Three- Evil Under the Sea!

The Brain (voiced by Dee Bradley Baker)

First comic book appearance: Doom Patrol #86 (May 1964)

First Brave and the Bold appearance: Season 1, Episode 9 – Journey to the Center of the Bat!

Dr. Polaris (Voiced by Lex Lang)
First Comic Book Appearance: Green Lantern #21 (June, 1963)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Eight- Fall of the Blue Beetle!

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!

Gentleman Ghost (Voiced by Jonny Rees)
First Comic Book Appearance: Flash Comics #88 (October, 1947)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Two- Terror on Dinosaur Island!

Clock King (Voiced by Dee Bradley Baker)
First Comic Book Appearance: World's Finest Comics #111 (August, 1960)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode One- Rise of the Blue Beetle


Continuity, Comics Connections, and Notes

As opposed to simply being sharing a title and being called part one and part two, this two parter shares a connected title, "Deep Cover for Batman!" and "Game over for Owlman!" These kinds of constructions are similar to to ones from the classic Batman TV series, although in most of those cases, the titles also rhymed.

When Owlman makes his first appearance in the episode, he is wearing Batman's original costume from Detective Comics #27, down to the purple gloves he wore in that first issue, and he is striking the exact pose from the final panel of the first origin story of Batman in Detective Comics #33.

Similarly, the Batmobile Batman uses when chasing Owlman is the design of the first bat branded Batmobile ever used in the comic; Batman drove cars before that, but they were just roadsters and sports cars without the signature Batman touches.

This episode marks the first appearance of the Joker in the series, and is the first major Batman villain to appear: eventually, most of the major Bat-foes will appear, but before now it's been mstly non-Batman foes like Grodd or C-Listers like Cavalier. Joker's design, like Batman's, hearkens back to the '50s, especially the art of legendary Batman artist, Dick Sprang. The Jokermobile was right out of the same era, by the way.

The Batmen of the Multiverse are mostly versions of Batman who have appeared in Elseworlds. The vampire Batman is from the Doug Moench/Kelly Jones vampire Batman trilogy; there are a few Cowboy Batman incarnations, although this one resembles a cross between Batman and the DC western hero, Nighthawk; the superstrong, bulky Batman is drawn from Brave and the Bold #68; Pirate Batman is Captain Leatherwing from Chuck Dixon's Elseworlds annual Detective Comics Annual #7; the Big Brain Batman is from World's Finest #151, where he's the "Batman of 800,000 A,D."; and finally, the armored Batman is one I can't place. If anyone knows where he comes from before this episode, or knows for certain it's an original creation, let me  know.

The Great Batman: The Brave and the Bold Rewatch: "Day of the Dark Knight!"

Season One, Episode Five: Day of the Dark Knight!
Written by J.M. DeMatteis
Directed by Ben Jones

Plot Synopsis

Teaser: Batman and Green Lantern Guy Gardner bring a prisoner in to the planet Oa. After depositing him, they bump into Kilowog, who is bringing in a tiny and deceptively cute prisoner of his own, who mouths off at Gardner. Gardner dumps coffee on the prisoner, who grows to gigantic size and punches Gardner into the Lantern Corps commissary. Gardner fights with the creature while Batman builds a device to return the creature to its normal diminutive size, leaving Gardner to clean up the literal mess he has made.

Episode: Opening with an explosion at a prison, various super and regular criminals are making their escape when Batman arrives to stop them, followed closely by Green Arrow. The two heroes make short work of the escaping crooks, and find that they have each taken down the exact same number of them. Arrow comments on this, and while Batman says aloud it's not a competition his internal monologue mentions that the two of them are competitive but it never gets out of hand.

One last criminal appears, and both heroes launch their weapons at him, only for him to use magic to stop the attacks and teleport the heroes away. The "criminal" is revealed to be Merlin, who has called the heroes to Camelot to stop Morgaine le Fey, who has conquered the realm. Only "The One Who Is Worthy" can retrieve Excalibur, King Arthur's sword, and use it to defeat Morgaine. Merlin is unsure which of the two is the right hero. Morgaine, watching this, tells Jason Blood that he must stop this, and releases the Etrigan, the demon who is bound to Blood, to do her bidding.

Riding through the forest, Merlin tells Batman and Arrow that he thinks Batman is the one destined to free Excalibur from the stone, just as Morgaine's monsters and Etrigan attack. Batman fights with Etrigan, but Merlin stops the demon, and Batman and Arrow begin competing again at the highest number of monsters defeated. Merlin tries to get Etrigan back under his control, as Morgaine stole him from Merlin, but the demon bests Merlin. Etrigan then turns his attention on Batman and Arrow, and after nearly crushing them with a boulder. they drive him off. Angry at her failed servant, Morgaine heads off to deal with the heroes, leaving a a stone King Arthur behind.

With Merlin recovered, the heroes head out again, with Batman and Arrow bickering over whether or not it was Arrow's exploding Arrow or Batman's Bat-grenade that stopped Etrigan. A frustrated Merlin tells the heroes that they have arrived at the Tower of Excalibur, and the two heroes rush off to reach the top of the tower and get the sword.They find the tower protected by ogres, and when the heroes defeat them, stairs appear to let the heroes into the tower. Arrow grows more frustrated as Merlin continues to favor Batman.

Morgaine appears and after bantering with Merlin, she takes over Batman's mind, garbing him in dark armor, and sends him to retrieve the sword for her. Merlin fights Morgaine and Etrigan while sending Arrow after Batman to prove his worthiness.

Arrow is able to use a trick arrow with a line and pulley to meet Batman, and after a brief duel, Batman nearly defeats Arrow just as Morgaine defeats Merlin. Standing with Arrow hanging off the cliff by one hand, Batman is nearly swayed by Arrow reminding him of their friendship before Morgaine appears and has him step on Arrow's hand, sending him falling. Merlin, with Etrigan holding him and about to kill him, casts a spell that hits Batman with seemingly little effect.

In the tower, Batman and Morgaine reach Excalibur. But Merlin's spell has freed Batman's mind, and he uses a Batarang to knock Morgaine back as Merlin enters, having turned Etrigan back into Jason Blood, who has been freed by Merlin. Morgaine changes into a dragon, and Batman attempts to draw the sword from the stone, only to find he can't; he is apparently not the One Who is Worthy.

Blood changes back to Etrigan, and he and Merlin try to stop Morgaine the Dragon, but fail as she destroys the tower, sending them all crashing down. She turns Etrigan and Merlin to stone, and is about to do the same to Batman when Green Arrow reappears. He is also not able to free the sword, but Batman and Arrow together are able to pull the sword, and Arrow fires it like an arrow into the dragon, who is vanquished, and everyone returns to flesh and blood.

Heading away from the tower, Merlin says Arthur will knight both the heroes, but when they start bickering again, a frustrated Merlin simply sends them back to the present. Batman and Arrow seem to come to peace with their competition, but when an alert comes through of a bank robbery, the two heroes speed off, seeing who can reach the bank first.

Who's Who

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

Guy Gardner (Voiced by James Arnold Taylor)

First Comic Book Appearance:  Green Lantern #59 (August, 1968)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Five- Day of the Dark Knight!

Originally designated as a stand-by replacement Green Lantern for the original Silver Age Green Lantern, Hal Jordan, Guy Gardner was initially a fairly bland character. But in the 1980's, writer Steve Englehart changed Guy Gardner's personality, making him a stereotypical 80s guy's guy, full of arrogance and attitude, a personality made even broader during his time on the Justice League International. Gardner's personality has fluctuated since then, some times becoming even more unlikable than many villains, but in recent years, he has evened out, still maintaining his ego and braggadocio, while becoming  more heroic again. Batman and Guy Gardner's most famous comics interaction took place in Justice League #5, where Gardner challenged Batman to a fist fight for leadership of the League, and Batman knocked him out with one punch before simply walking away. Gardner possesses a Green Lantern ring, a weapon empowered by the Guardians of the Universe to tap into the bearer's willpower to generate constructs and energy blasts. It is only limited by the wielder's will and imagination.

Kilowog (Voiced by Deidrich Bader)

First Comic Book Appearance:  Green Lantern #201 (June, 1986)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Five- Day of the Dark Knight!

Kilowog is one of the most famous non-human members of the Green Lantern Corps. The last survivor of the destroyed planet Bolovax Vik, Kilowog is the drill sergeant of the Corps, working to train new recruits to be the best Lantern they can be. Kilowog has been a fixture in every incarnation of the Corps since his introduction, and a trusted ally of all of Earth's Lanterns and their allies.At a time when the Corps was disbanded, Kilowog, whose home planet was destroyed, came to Earth and worked doing mechanic work with the Justice League, but was recruited immediately back to his old position. Aside from the standard powers of a wielder of a Green Lantern ring, Kilowog is stronger and more durable then humans, and has a genius level intellect.

Etrigan the Demon (Voiced by Dee Bradley Baker)
First Comic Book Appearance:  The Demon #1 (August, 1972)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Five- Day of the Dark Knight!

"Gone, gone, the form of man/ And rise, the demon, Etrigan!" Created by Jack Kirby, Etrigan was the demonic servant of Merlin (and half brother to the wizard in his demonic fathers side), who depending on which version of his origin you read is either transformed into a human named Jason Blood to help control him, or bound to a man of that name who is his own person for the same reason. The two traveled down the centuries together, resentful of each other, as only one can be in the real world at a time, leaving the other in Hell. In modern times, Etrigan is often a reluctant hero, with Jason Blood transforming at times that leave Etrigan no choice but to fight against threats that are worse than him. The two continually attempt to find a way to separate and leave the other, but every time this happens, they are bound together again. Etrigan has all the standard powers of a demon, but at a higher level, as he is one of Hell's most powerful demons, including super strength, immortality, invulnerability, the ability to breathe fire, and is a master of the magic arts. Jason Blood shares immortality with Etrigan as long as they are bonded, and is a formidable magic user and hand-to-hand combatant.

Merlin (Voiced by David McCallum)
First Comic Book Appearance:  The Demon #1 (August, 1972)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Five- Day of the Dark Knight!

Morgaine le Fey (Voice by Tatyanna Yassukovich)
First Comic Book Appearance: The Demon #1 (August, 1972)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Five- Day of the Dark Knight!

Merlin and Morgaine Le Fey are two important figures from classic Arthurian myth; Merlin is the adviser to King Arthur, while Morgaine is his half sister on his mother's side, and often also the mother of his son, Mordred. There are many different comic book versions of both figures across numerous publishing companies, as they are public domain characters, being mythic figures. In DC Comics, they are usually tied to stories involving Etrigan, but Morgaine does tend to appear as a major magical threat fighting various superheroes. Merlin and Morgaine are two of the most powerful mages in the DC Universe, nearly unmatched in their manipulation of magical energies.

Continuity, Comics Connections, and Notes

It might seem an odd choice to use Guy Gardner as the fist spotlighted Green Lantern, but not if you look at the writer credit for the episode. J.M. DeMatteis is a prolific comics as well as animation writer, and one of the projects he's most famous for is the 80s Justice League International, which he cowrote with Kieth Giffen, where the obnoxious Guy Gardner was one of the principal characters.

The episode hearkens back to classic Batman stories of the 1950s, where both space and time travel were common.

This is the first of many episodes that are crammed to the gills with cameos. The teaser on Oa features many comic book members of the GL Corps in cameos, including  Salaak, Chaselon, Katma Tui, Tomar Re, Galius Zed, Arisia, Ch'p, Stel, Olapet, Medphyll, and Larvox.

The opening jail break not only has cameos by many of the villains who have appeared already in the series including Clock King, Felix Faust and Kiteman, but many of the TV versions of, or original villans, from the classic Batman TV series from 1966, including the Mad Hatter, Minstrel, Bookworm, The Siren, King Tut, False Face,Egghead, Louie the Lilac, and Shame.

Etrigan the Demon speaks throughout the episode entirely in rhyme. While this was not a feature of the character when introduced by Jack Kirby (the only rhyme involved there was the summoning chant), in an early appearance in the DC Universe at large, writer Len Wein had Etrigan speak in rhyme. Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, and Matt Wagner followed suit, and nearly every incarnation of Etrigan has been a rhyming demon since. The exception is the work of John Byrne, who wrote Etrigan in Action Comics, Wonder Woman, and a short lived series called Blood of the Demon, who is anti-rhyme and has only written Etrigan as rhyming to break the spell cast on him by Morgaine to make him rhyme. This plotline has been ignored by all following writers, who continue to have Etrigan rhyme.

The Great Batman: The Brave and the Bold Rewatch: "Rise of the Blue Beetle"

Welcome, one and all, to this special Matt Signal post. This is special for a couple reasons. Firstly, it's the beginning of what I hope is a new weekly feature, where I'm going to rewatch every episode of the wonderful Batman animated series, Batman: The Brave and the Bold. I've been thinking about a rewatch or reread project for a while, and I decided to do this series for a few reasons. First, when this show debuted, I was leery about it's lighter take on Batman and his world, but I was completely blown away by how fun and fast and fresh it was; it's probably second only to Batman: The Animated Series when it comes to animated interpretations of Batman. Second, other Batman properties have gotten this treatment on other sites and blogs, so I figured this was fresher ground. Finally, honestly, things in the world around us are kinda scary right now, and this show is one of those complete joy bombs that makes me laugh and cheer like I as a kid again, and I don't know about anyone else out there, but I could use that right about now. Each episode will be dissected in a few ways, and you'll find some italicized commentary on each section this first post to help explain my thinking. In the future, expect these posts to show up weekly on Wednesday or Thursday.

The second reason this post is special is because this is post 500 here on the Matt Signal. That's a lot of posts. I want to thank Dan Grote for his regular contributions (and don't be surprised if you see him pop up on these Brave and the Bold recaps as time goes on), as well as Brandon Borzelli, Nancy Kindraka, and John Bush for their guest spots. And I want to thank everyone for reading my little blog, for supporting me, and supporting the creators I write about.

And without further ado, the great Batman: The Brave and the Bold rewatch begins...

Season One, Episode One: Rise of the Blue Beetle
Written by Michael Jelenic
Directed by Ben Jones

Plot Synopsis (OK, this part is pretty self explanatory)

Teaser (each episode of Brave and the Bold began with a short teaser before the credits, usually unrelated to the main plot): Batman and Green Arrow escape from an elaborate death trap set by the Clock King involving a giant cuckoo clock before heading off to defeat the villain.

Episode: Teenager Jaime Reyes and his best friend, Paco, sit in Jaime's room, a room adorned with Batman posters and news clippings, discussing classic, fanboy, who would win scenarios. Jaime is an obvious Batman fanboy, saying Batman would always win. As they channel surf, they see the end of the fight begun in the teaser, as Batman and Green Arrow defeat Clock King.

Paco brushes off Jaime's questions about whether Jaime could ever be a hero, and after Paco leaves, Jaime finds Batman waiting outside his window.Batman asks Jaime to help him deal with a meteor on a collision course with a space station, so Jaime armors up, revealing his superheroic identity as Blue Beetle.

The two heroes fly up into space (Batman narrating that he's doing this to see if Jaime has what it takes to be a hero), and when the meteor comes into sight, Jaime's alien armor goes haywire, shooting him toward the meteor. The armor forms a warp that pulls the heroes away and deposits them on an alien world.

The heroes arrive to watch the planet's small, amoeba-like alien residents being attacked by a ship controlled by the alien conqueror Kanjar Ro. The aliens come out of hiding and are overjoyed that the great one has returned to save them, and while Jaime assumes they're talking about Batman, a statue nearby indicates to the shocked Blue Beetle the aliens mean him.

It seems the aliens bodies provide the fuel for Kanjar Ro's ship, and he returns every season to harvest them. The Gibbles (the cute little aliens) are surprised to see the "Blue One" return after his last encounter with Kanjar Ro and his Gamma Gong, but they are excited; Batman deduces the previous owner of Blue Beetle's Scarab, the alien device that grants him his powers, must be the one who helped the Gibbles before.

The Gibbles assume Batman is Blue Beetle's sidekick, to Jaime's dismay, as the Gibbles and Batman bow to him. Batman tells Jaime he should play along to the Gibbles hero worship, as they need someone to believe in. Batman tells Beetle that he has to rally the Gibbles to aid them in defeating Kanjar Ro, and despite being nervous, Jaime makes a good speech, telling the Gibbles to find "the power within," and the Gibbles agree to work with the heroes.

Batman, Blue Beetle, and the Gibbles fly off on a Gibble ship to raid Kanjar Ro's ship and save their fellows. We see Ro draining the Gibbles of their energy, and then the battle begins. Ro recognizes and confronts Blue Beetle.and Beetle does a good job of fending off Ro, even saving Batman from his weapon, and Jaime thinks he's finally getting a feel for how the Scarab works. However, as the Gibbles begin to file back to their ships, it's clear the victory has gotten to Jaime's head, Ro returns from the bowels of his ship with the Gamma Gong. Jaime tells Batman he can handle this, but the Gong weakens the Scarab, leaving Jaime without his armor active. Ro captures Jaime, planning to remove the Scarab for his own use, and send Batman and the Gibbles off into space on probes,

Tied to the probes, Batman and the Gibbles are quickly surrounded by flying space squid monsters, who begin circling, preparing to devour them. Batman is able to free a hand and punch one of the monsters, then takes an electric cable from the probe and plugs it into a Gibble, who stores the charge and when a monster tries to bite it, the monster is shocked and the swarm flies off. The Gibble now knows it has power within.

On his ship, Kanjar Ro is using his Gamma Gong to try to figure out which frequency will remove the Scarab from Jaime so he can wear it himself. Batman and the Gibbles return to the ship, and Batman begins to infiltrate the ship, taking out Ro's crew. Batman enters Ro's chamber, and punches the villain, who flies into the Gamma Gong; that is the frequency that finally makes the Scarab disengage from Jaime. Ro quickly snatches up the Scarab and, placing it on his back as it was on Jaime, the Blue Beetle armor covers him.

Ro and Batman engage in a fight, and Ro's more violent nature seems to allow him to channel the Scarab's destructive powers more easily than Jaime could. Jaime, alone, realizes he had gotten a swelled head before, and begins to think instead of just using his fist. He is able to get free from the table imprisoning him, and picks up the Gamma Gong, which he uses to blast the Scarab off Ro and reclaim it. But before he can don it, Ro pulls a blaster and is about to shoot down Jaime and Batman when a blast knocks his gun aside: the Gibbles have discovered "the power within" and are channeling their energy into blasters, bow able to defend themselves.

The Gibbles thank Blue Beetle for saving them, and teaching them to save themselves, and they thank Batman as well, saying he has proven a worthy sidekick to Blue Beetle. They even erect a statue to him, albeit one considerably smaller then Beetle's. Batman and Beetle head back through the wormhole created by the Scarab and find no time has passed; Batman spouts some techno babble, but his own internal monologue is, "That's weird." Batman happily thinks that he came to see if Jaime had hero potential, and watched instead as the young Blue Beetle became a hero. With a, "Ready, partner?" Batman and Beetle head to stop the meteor.

Who's Who (Brave and the Bold was created to be a team-up series, where Batman met all sorts of new and different characters, so in this section, I'll give comic book and animation background on each of the newly introduced characters from this episode, and links to characters who have already appeared)

Batman (Voiced by Diedrich Bader)
First Comic Book Appearance: Detective Comics #27 (May, 1939)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode One- Rise of the Blue Beetle

He needs little introduction, but just in case... Batman is one of the greatest and most published super heroes in comic books. After his parents were killed in front of him by a mugger, young Bruce Wayne dedicated his life to making sure it never happened again. Honing his mind and body to the peak of human perfection, Bruce became Batman to protect Gotham City and the world from crime.

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

Created in the early 40s, Green Arrow was introduced as a blatant Batman ripoff: he had an Arrowcave, an Arrowmobile, and a kid sidekick, Speedy. He was Oliver Queen, a millionaire who was stranded on a desert island for a time, and there learned to become a master archer, only to return to civilization to fight crime. The Green Arrow of Brave and the Bold wears this original costume, and doesn't have the more famous Robin Hood-like costume Green Arrow adopted in the 1970s. At that time, Arrow became a different character, a defender of the downtrodden and the most liberal of superheroes, politically. In recent years, Green Arrow has had a resurgence, thanks to appearances on Smallville (where he took the place of Batman, who was unavailable due to rights issues), and on his own CW drama, Arrow.


Blue Beetle (Voiced by Will Friedle)
First Comic Book Appearance: Infinite Crisis #3 (February, 2006)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode One- Rise of the Blue Beetle

Jaime Reyes was the third hero to go by the name Blue Beetle, making him on of DC's legacy characters. Finding the Scarab once possessed by original Blue Beetle Dan Garett during the crossover event, Infinite Crisis, Jaime became a young superhero when the Scarab bonded to him. With the help of his friends Paco and Brenda, along with a supportive family, Jaime became a hero to El Paso, Texas. Over time, he learned the Scarab was not mystical, as had been assumed for years, but in fact an artifact from a race of alien conquerors known as The Reach, and he was instrumental ins topping a Reach invasion of Earth. He was a Spider-Man type hero, a young man trying to find his way in the world, minus much of the angst, making him a fun character; he had his own series that ran for thirty-six issues. His reboot in the New 52 kept much of this, but made the world around him darker and made his family not know his secret identity, causing additional strife in his life. That series ended quickly, but a new Blue Beetle series is part of DC's upcoming "Rebirth" initiative.

Clock King (Voice by Dee Bradley Baker)
First Comic Book Appearance: World's Finest Comics #111 (August, 1960)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode One- Rise of the Blue Beetle

Clock King is a C-List villain, one William Tockman, who was a thorn in Green Arrow's side during his early appearances. Obsessed with clocks, he had no superpowers. He was intelligent, and built his crimes and his weapons around a clock theme. He made very few appearances in comics, although in the '80s he was a member of the comedic Injustice Gang as part of the light-hearted Justice League series of that era. There are, however, various version of Clock King with different identities, who have appeared in comics, live-action TV, and other animated projects, most notably Batman: The Animated Series, where Clock King was a former efficiency expert named Temple Fugit, and the classic Batman TV show of the 60s. The Tockman verison of the character has appeared on both Arrow and The Flash.

Kanjar Ro (Voice by Marc Worden)
First Comic Book Appearance: Justice League of America #3 (February, 1961)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode One- Rise of the Blue Beetle

Kanjar Ro is one of the oldest nemeses of the Justice League of America, a planetary despot from the world of Dhor. Always seeking more power, Ro's attempts to expand his planetary empire often brought him into conflict with the Justice League, Adam Strange, and Hawkman, After the universe changing Crisis on Infinite Earths, Ro became more of a scheming villain, a political manipulator on the planet Thanagar, but this revised origin and background eventually changed back to the original, and he more often then not now appears as a conqueror and not a bureaucrat.

Continuity, Comic Connections, and Notes (Here's where I dig into how this episode fits into the overall scheme of the series, how the episode connects to Batman comic stories, fun facts about the voice cast, and personal observations)

In the teaser, Batman uses a laser sword from his utility belt, and in the opening scene of the episode, show he has a rocket pack hidden under his cape. These are both original aspects of Brave and the Bold and become trademarks of this series' Batman

Will Friedle, who voice Blue Beetle, is no stranger to Batman animation. He is best known for playing, Terry McGinnis, the young Batman in Batman Beyond.

A poster in Jaime's room shows Batman's holding his hands in front in a fighter's stance with the words, "Hammers of Justice." Batman will address his fists as the Hammers of Justice throughout the series.

I like this as a pilot episode. As a show aimed at younger audiences, having Blue Beetle, a teenage guest star, for the first episode, someone closer to their age, mirrors the use of Robin in the original comics, to give the audience a point of view character they relate to. Jaime is a good kid, not as tough and streetwise as the Outsiders, who we'll be meeting shortly, or as bitter toward Batman as this universe's Robin, and his fanboy nature is easily understood by fans.

Animated Discussions: Batman Unlimited: Animal Instincts

I try to get these animation reviews up promptly within a couple days of release, but the past couple weeks have been busy, and so I didn't even get to watch the first movie in the all-ages Batman Unlimited line until Monday, two weeks after it's release. But I decided I wanted to write this review anyway because I was really impressed by the movie and figured many people might have passed on it, since it was clearly aimed at younger audiences and is part of a program to push a new toy line.

I won't deny that you can see the influence of the toy line in the movie. Batman wears a huge variety of different costume variants that are just there begging to be made into action figures, and robot animals that turned into vehicles, which would have been a dream toy for me if I was eight.  Each of the heroes and villains are slightly redesigned to make for a unique action figure of their own. But most of the designs work, they have a very dynamic look to them. I was especially pleased to see Green Arrow in his goatee look; while I have no problem with the Arrow based look, that Neal Adams vibe is a classic. I was less enamored with Flash's redesign (there's something about the way the lightning bolt ears attached to the cowl that seemed off), but it wasn't offensive and still carried the Flash spirit, so I could understand it.

One of the things that jumped out at me from the first moment of the movie was how indebted it was to previous animated Batman, and that the creators were going to run with that. The Gotham of Batman Unlimited is much more sci-fi than the classic Burton Batman movies/Batman: The Animated Series art deco look, or the grotty urban feel of the Nolan movies. The opening scene has a flying police car, which clearly drew its design inspiration from Batman Beyond, and the flying costume Batman is wearing in that opening scene is black and red in a color homage to that particular series. It was a nice touch that was there for Batman animation geeks like me to smile over, and I always appreciate those extra little touches.

The plot of the movie is pretty straightforward. A group of animal themed villains calling itself the Ani-militia, consisting of Silverback, Cheetah, Killer Croc, and Man-Bat, and aided by robotic animals, are pulling heists in Gotham, and Batman and his allies, including Nightwing, Red Robin, Green Arrow, and Flash, are trying to stop them. Meanwhile, Oswald Cobblepot is opening the tallest building in Gotham, and there is talk that the Midas Heart Comet, a comet that's core is made entirely of gold, will be passing over Gotham in a few days. If you know anything about Batman, you know who Cobblepot is (spoilers if you've never read a Batman comic, seen Batman '66, Batman Returns, or Gotham, or seen a Batman cartoon before: he's arch-villain The Penguin), and his scheme and involvement with the other villains isn't hard to figure out.

The nice thing is that while the plot is simple, it doesn't talk down to the audience. In the same way Batman: The Brave and the Bold was an all ages show that adults could enjoy, this movie works the same way. The nice rapport between Batman and Green Arrow, not the competitive one of B:TB&TB, but more the one of old comrades, Nightwing's frustration with the A.D.D./act first/ think later Flash (one who I have to assume is Wally West, since his personality is much closer to Wally than to Barry Allen, although we never see him unmasked), and Red Robin's attitude as a still in training hero are all solid character beats that keep those of us who are looking for more than just Batman fighting robots engaged, although the robot fighting is pretty great too.

There's also a nice character arc for Kirk Langstrom, the villain known as Man-Bat, a sort of werebat creature. Langstrom is mild-mannered scientist who, like all good comic book scientists, experimented on himself and his experiment went wrong. When Batman figures this out and works up a temporary cure, we see Langstrom is haunted by what he does as Man-Bat and does his best to make reparations while he's still human, and makes a connection with Red Robin. In the end, Red Robin is able to get through to Langstrom in Man-Bat form and we get a nice little redemptive thing with him at the end of the movie. It's not something you'd do in one of those old cartoons that were big toy ads, and I like that we get that kind of character depth.

The voice cast is an excellent line up of established voice actors. Roger Craig Smith voices Batman, reprising a role he played in Arkham Origins, and he's clearly influenced by Kevin Conroy's seminal performance. Will Friedle, best known as Terry McGinnis/Batman in Batman Beyond, does a great job as Nightwing. Yuri Lowenthal, who has spent years as Ben 10 on various incarnations of that franchise, brings his youthful exuberance to Red Robin. Another interesting return to a character is Alastair Duncan, voicing Alfred, a part he voiced in The Batman, the series that aired between Batman: The Animated Series and Batman: The Brave and the Bold, and is often forgotten these days. And on the villain front, Dana Snyder (Master Shake on Aqua Teen Hunger Force and The Alchemist on The Venture Bros. to name a couple credits) does an exceptional job as the Penguin, giving him not just the haughtiness, but a touch of humanity as he deals with the way the people of Gotham look at him.

For one of these younger audience directed animated movies, I was pleased to see a couple solid special features. There's a short documentary on The Penguin, talking to the movie's screenwriter Heath Corson, TV comic writer Adam Glass, and one of Glass's children. about the Penguin's personality and history. It's not as in depth as the ones you get on the DC Animated line, but it hits on a lot of the important character points, and I like that they discuss the Penguin as a victim of bullying who turned on his bullies, something that comes up in the movie. There's also a selection of DC Nation animated shorts, the ones that used to air in and around Young Justice and Green Lantern. Not surprising with the animal theme of the movie, these are mostly the DC Superpets shorts based on the style of Tiny Titans artists Art Baltazar and Franco, and are adorable. There's also a Justice League of Animals short where Batmongoose encounters his nemeses The Croaker, Catcat, and Moo Face, and Wonder Wombat teaches us an important lesson about wombat's dietary needs. But the highlight is the three part Batman of Shanghai, a gorgeous anime influenced three part caper involving a Batman, Catwoman, and Bane redesigned to be set in 1930s Shanghai. Hey, Warner Home Video, any chance we cold get a DVD that's just a massive anthology of all the DC Nation shorts? There were a lot of really amazing ones, and I'd love to see them again.

A couple of final random thoughts. I would have liked to see a little more diversity in the team of heroes. It's clear that there was a, "strike while the iron is hot," idea by having Batman and his usual allies team up with the leads of DC's two big hit TV series, but I would have liked to see Black Canary thrown in there too. That's a minor quibble in an all around fun movie. Oh, and the robo-wolf that Batman is able to reprogram to work with him (and turn into a motorcycle)? He names him Ace. Don't get the reference. Look up Ace the Bathound when you have a second. It'll be worth your time.

There has been no further movies in the Batman Unlimited brand announced yet, buy from this one, hopefully there will be. There's enough room on the DVD racks for both these all ages adventure movies and the darker Batman Vs. Robin style movies. I'd be curious to see what other characters would look like with these new designs. It's nice to see that, as I've said before, there are a lot of people with a lot of different versions of Batman, and this one is a pleasant surprise that you can enjoy with your kids.