The Great Batman: Brave and the Bold Rewatch: Menace of the Conqueror Caveman!

Season One, Episode Seventeen: Menace of the Conqueror Caveman!
Written by Matt Wayne
Directed by Brandon Vietti

Plot Synopsis

Teaser: Wildcat rides on the top of a train and leaps to a passing train trellis at the rail yard to find Batman waiting, saying he called Wildcat to help him take down an escaped con. They see the man and Batman catches him with a Bataranng through the coat, which he seemingly can't remove. Wildcat laughs, not understanding why Batman asked for help with such a seemingly weak opponent, only for Batman to reveal the villain is Bane, who then uses the super steroid Venom to  grow to massive size. The heroes engage in an impressive fistfight with Bane, and it's only through quick thinking by Wildcat, using the Batarang to sever the tube that supplies Bane his Venom, spraying the third rail and electrocuting the villain, that takes him down.

Episode: The episode opens with with a video detailing the origin of Booster Gold, narrated by his robot sidekick, Skeets. Booster is at the Acme Toys company, pitching himself to the company for an actin figure line. As the Acme execs ask if Booster's origin about being a time travelling hero from the 24th century is true, he tells them it is, while a flashback to his origins shows that he is indeed from the future, but is a security guard who stole all this future tech to come to the present to make his fortune. The execs blow off Booster, saying he has no name recognition, and needs to team up with an A-list hero like Batman. When they kick Booster out, he decides that's just what he needs to do.

Batman is taking down the criminals Punch and Jewelee after they rob a jewelry exchange when Booster finds him, telling Batman that he's his new partner. Batman will have nothing to do with Booster since he feels Booster is a gloryhound, and while Booster is distracted, Batman just drives off. Batman makes it to the Batcave, and Booster pops up; since hes from the future, the Batcave is a tourist attraction then and Booster knows where it is. Booster asks Batman what he's investigating, and Batman tells him about recent thefts of lutonium and a stolen meteorite, which Batman connects to the ancient immortal caveman, Kru'll the Eternal; Booster flashes to a memory of himself in the future, encountering a nattily suited Kru'll and bumping into him, spilling coffee on the Caveman. Batman needs a way to track Kru'll, and Skeets can track the lutonium, as his battery is made from lutonium, so Batman grudgingly agrees to work with Booster.

At another building, we find Kru'll experimenting with a lutonium powered ray on the meteorite to no avail; Kru'll observes he needs more lutonium to awaken the meteor. Batman and Booster arrive, and Kru'll reveals he found the stolen meteorite ten thousand years ago, and charges Batman. The two begin to fight, and when Booster tries to aid Batman, Kr'ull grabs Booster by the arm and uses the wrist blasters in Booster's suit to blast Batman, before turning it on Booster himself. Booster awakens to find himself and Skeets shackled to a standing platform about to be passed into a super-collider where he will be smashed into a wall at high speed.

As Booster is spinning around the collider track, Batman is working the ropes binding him into a chair. As Skeets and Booster spin, Skeets says he can try to overload the magnetic field that is containing them and blast them free. As Batman frees himself and fights Kru'll, Skeets succeeds, just in time to keep Kru'll from killing Batman. Kru'll is shocked that Booster could escape the magnetic field, and Booster brags about Skeets's lutonium battery. Kru'll blows a water pipe with a blast from his club, creating steam, and escapes with Skeets and the meteorite.

Batman and Booster rush off in the Batmobile, Booster feeling very guilty about getting Skeets abducted, and when he says he's not much of a hero, Batman tells him that maybe he's never had a reason to be a real hero before.

In Kru'll's lab in the natural history museum, the caveman has gathered a group of henchmen dressed as historic conquerors, and is planning to grant them immortality and power like his own. He reveals it is the meteroite that granted him his immortality and more advanced intellect, and that he has grown weary of conquering just to see all that he has conquered pass away in time, so now he wishes to have an army of immortal super soldiers to do his bidding. But the meteorite needs a massive infusion of lutonic energy, which he plans to siphon from Skeets.

Batman and Booster arrive at the museum and head into the ducts, to surprise Kru'll. Kru'll has hooked Skeets up to the meteorite, and Booster shouts his robot friend's name, attracting Kru'll's attention, and Kru'll once again blasts Batman and Booster unconscious. As Batman awakes, he finds himself and Booster in a guillotine. As Kru'll prepares to behead the heroes, Booster says he'd happily help Kru'll form his empire with his knowledge of marketing and product placement. Kru'll disregards him and releases the blade. Batman begins working to pick the lock while Booster flips his prototype toy Boostermobile into the groove the blade runs in, stopping it in its tracks.

Batman pulls Booster free, and the heroes begin fighting Kru'll's henchmen, with the heroes clearly having the upper hand.But as they are distracted, Kru'll turns his ray on the henchmen, turning them into massively muscled super cavemen like him. Booster fights them as best he can, and holds his own for a time, as Batman takes on Kru'll himself. Soon, though, Booster is being pummeled by all the henchmen, and Kru'll seems to have Batman on the ropes. But Batman positions himself in such a way as to pull down a T-Rex skeleton on Kru'll, pointing out that brains trump brute force every time,

Hearing that, Booster tells Skeets to dump his charge, overloading the ray and returning Kru'll's henchmen to normal. Booster rushes to Skeets, worried he has lost his friend, but Skeets is still functional, assuring Booster he knew that he would save him.

Kru'll is ushered off by the police, and Batman tries to explain to Booster he was a hero because he was ignoring the glory, but Booster heads off to talk to his agent; Batman then heads off, saying no more. Kru'll watches Booster, swearing revenge for when they meet again. Flash one final time to the 24th century, we again see Booster bump into Kru'll, and the caveman remembering who Booster is as the episode fades to black.


Who's Who

Booster Gold (Voiced by Tom Everett Scott)

First Comic Book Appearance: Booster Gold #1 (February, 1986)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Seventeen- Menace of the Conqueror Caveman!

Skeets (Voiced by Billy West)

First Comic Book Appearance: Booster Gold #1 (February, 1986)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Seventeen- Menace of the Conqueror Caveman!

Michael Jon Carter was born in the 24th century, and looked like he had everything ahead of him: a promising football career and a charmed life. But when he was caught gambling on his own games, he lost it all. The only job he could get was as a nightwatchman at the Metropolis Space Museum. But deciding he wanted one more chance, he stole items from exhibits and reprogrammed one of the security droids, Skeets, and traveled back in time to make his fame and fortune as a superhero, using his knowledge of future events to stop crime. Booster had a lot of growing up to do, and he did it, slowly, joining the Justice League, where he became best friends with fellow Leaguer Ted Kord, the Blue Beetle. Booster and Beetle got into and out if trouble, got involved in get rich quick schemes, and eventually both retired from regular supeheroing. But when Ted was killed, Booster took up his costume again, and when he teamed up with Rip Hunter, Time Master, Booster Gold became the greatest hero you've never heard of, using his persona as a buffoon to hide the fact that he and Skeets now guard the timestream from those who want to change it. Booster Gold's costume grants him various powers, including a force field, laser blasts, and enhanced strength. He wears a Legion of Super Heroes flight ring that allows him to fly. Skeets can fly and fire energy blasts, and has a database of future knowledge. 

Kru'll (Voiced by Michael Dorn)

First Comic Book Appearance: None
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Seventeen- Menace of the Conqueror Caveman!

Kru'll is a Cro Magnon who was exposed to a meteor from space. The meteor granted him immortality and expanded his intelligence. He has spent millennia conquering and manipulating world events to make him one of history's great conquerors.  Read in the Connections section below to find out about how Kru'll ties to comic book characters.

Punch & Jewelee

First Comic Book Appearance: 
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Seventeen- Menace of the Conqueror Caveman!

Punch and Jewelee grew up together, fell in love, and after finding some leftover alien tech, decided nothing would be more fun than to be Bonny & Clyde in puppet costumes. They're nothing more than a minor inconvenience to most superheroes, having fought Captain Atom most often, but others on occasion. More often than not, they are seen as members of the Suicide Squad, as they are often incarcerated.

Wildcat (Voiced by R. Lee Ermey)
First Comic Book Appearance: Sensation Comics #1 (January, 1942)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Six- Enter the Outsiders!

Bane (Voiced by Michael Dorn)

First Comic Book Appearance: Batman: The Vengeance of Bane #1 (January, 1993)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Seventeen- Menace of the Conqueror Caveman!

On the Caribbean island of Santa Prisca, the child who would grow up to be Bane was born in prison, serving a life sentence; his father had taken part in a rebellion against the government, and his unborn sun had to carry out the sentence when his father escaped. Spending his formative years in the prison, the child trained his body and mind to human pinnacle, and became the test subject of the super steroid, Venom. when he finally escaped prison, he decided he must prove himself against the man who represented his childhood fear, a giant bat monster, the Batman. Bane would challenge Batman, and would go as far as breaking his back. Bane wold eventually straddle the line between hero and villain, aiding Batman almost as often as fighting him. But in the end, Bane's drive to conquer, to be the best, wins out, and he returns to being one Batman's most deadly enemies. Bane is a brilliant tactician and intellect, and his body is honed to near perfection. When he takes the drug Venom, his strength is enhanced to near superhuman levels, but at the cost of his intellect and self-control.

Continuity, Comics Connections, and Notes

Tom Everett Scott and Billy West return to voicing the characters of Booster Gold and Skeets; they had previously voiced those characters in the excellent Justice League Unlimited episode, "The Greatest Story Never Told." This makes them two of the few actors to play the same roles in the classic DC Animated Universe and Brave and the Bold.

Kru'll might technically be a Brave and the Bold original character, but he has two direct antecedents. His origin is taken directly for that of longtime JSA and JLA villain Vandal Savage, the immortal caveman. When producers found out they could not use Savage because of rights, they changed him to King Kull, a Captain Marvel foe, whose design Kru'll resembles very closely. Unfortunately, King Kull was not available either, so they renamed him Kru'll

Reviews of Comics from Wednesday 6/29

Grayson Annual #3
Story: Jackson Lanzing & Collin Kelly
Art: Roge Antonio and Jeremy Cox, Natasha Alterici, Christian Duce and Mat Lopes, Flaviano and Jeremy Cox, & Javier Fernandez and Chris Sotomayor

Grayson wraps up with this annual a final issue that is of dubious placement in the timeline (something referenced intentionally in a bit of narration), but that doesn't matter because this is more a story about who Dick Grayson is and all that parts that make him up. The issue opens with Harley Quinn arriving at a room where Azrael, Green Lantern Simon Baz, and John Constantine already waiting. They have been called together by Jim Corrigan, the detective who is the host of the Spectre, to find out about their encounters with Agent 37, Dick's Spyral identity, and to try to determine who he is. What follows are four vignettes revealing never before told tales of these heroes and anti-heroes meeting Dick, and spotlighting a different aspect of his personality that lines up with each of the characters he meets. With John Constantine, he's "The Charmer," where he fight vampires with the power of his good looks and remarkable posterior (I do hope that when Dick returns to his Nightwing identity, the now established fact that he has the best tuchus in the DC Universe is not forgotten). With Azrael, he is "The Savior," working with him to stop the Order of St. Dumas from stealing a holy relic from the people who guard it. Harley meets, "The Acrobat," in a beautiful and gracefully illustrated segment where the two dance their way through security lasers to retrieve super villain paraphernalia from a millionaire collector. And finally, with Simon Baz, he is "The Superhero," as he and Simon work together to figure out what Parademons are doing on Earth again, and Simon, who tends to be angry and aggressive, learns from Dick's years of experience. Each of the stories in fun and exciting, but more than that, it starts to play into the Rebirth theme of the return of legacy to the DC Universe: pre-Flashpoint, Dick Grayson was the glue that connected the old guard of the Justice League generation with the heroes of the Teen Titans generation, someone universally respected by all. Seeing him again with all these heroes, and seeing how he impacted them, even when they couldn't see his face,  begins repositioning Dick as the hero's hero. In the end, Dick makes an unexpected appearance, and then heads off into the night for one final adventure with his former Spyral partner, Helena Bertinelli, tying a nice bow on the superspy portion of his life, and positioning him for Nightwing: Rebirth.

Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #9
Writer: Ryan North
Art: Erica Henderson, Tom Fowler, & Rico Renzi (with guest page  by David Malki)

One of the things that makes the Unbeatable Squirrel Girl a real treat as a comic is that it's protagonist, Squirrel Girl, does her best to solve conflicts nonviolently. And more often than not? This works for her. She's convinced Kraven to stop hunting people. She convinced Galactus to not devour Earth. She's awesome that way (she did kick Dr. Doom's butt, but he totally had it coming). But it's nice to see Ryan North and Erica Henderson, who've been working on this book since the first issue one, still find new ways to challenge Squirrel Girl. This time, Just being as nice as she is comes back to bite Squirrel Girl, because the Mole Man shows up to get revenge on her for inadvertently siccing Kraven in monsters. And after she explains the mishap and is kind to him... he proposes. And when she says no, he doesn't take no for an answer easily. There's some solid feminism in here about nice guy syndrome and consent, especially when Squirrel Girl's roommate and best friend smacks him for grabbing Squirrel Girl's hand without permission and how Mole Man blames her friends for her not being into him, as opposed to his own behavior, but it doesn't weigh down the book; it's a natural extension of the story itself. And as Mole Man's plans get even more ridiculous, Squirrel Girl continues to be nice to him, and it's interesting to see her admitting not being nice all the time is necessary; we know she'll always be optimistic and bright, but the idea that sometimes you need to just say, "No," is an important lesson that a lot of people need to know. But not everything is resolved this issue, so we will be getting more Mole Man and Squirrel Girl next issue, and now he's pushed her to the point where it's no more Ms, Nice squirrel Themed Heroine, so that's going to be interesting. But there are some absolutely wonderful little moments in the issue I want to call out. There's one page that explains, "Mole Man's deal..." (that's what the credits call it), drawn by David Malki, which looks like turn of the twentieth century art, referencing the fact that Mole Man is apparently over one hundred years old (something I did not know, so you learn something new every day), and it's just absolutely charming. Oh, and when Mole Man proposes to Squirrel Girl, he asks if she'll be his Mole Ma'am. Sure, me, but I love that kind of word play.

Recommended Reading for 7/1: Camp Midnight

It's the beginning of July, so that means summer is really here now, and there are lots of things that people think about when it's summer. One of the things that many kids look forward to most is camp, and all the different fun things you get to do there. I never did sleepaway camp, but I know lots of people who did, and many still fondly remember it years later. But what would happen if you wound up on the wrong bus, to the wrong camp, with people who weren't like you? As a matter of fact, you wound up at a camp that wasn't for people at all, but for child monsters? That's the premise of Steven T. Seagle and Jason Adam Katzenstein's all ages graphic novel, Camp Midnight.

Skye's parents split up a couple years ago, and she's on the way to spend her summer with her dad, and his new wife, who Skye calls her "step-monster." In all fairness, Gayle isn't exactly warm and fuzzy, and when Skye finds out she won't be spending summer with her dad, but sent away to camp, she makes it clear she won't enjoy it. And when they're running late, they arrive to find all the buses heading off to the different camps, and since neither Skye's dad or Gayle can quite remember the name of the camp Skye's supposed to go to, just that it has an M in the name, they get her on the first bus that looks right: the bus to Camp Midnight.

If the name of the camp wasn't ominous enough, the bus was oddly quiet and dark, and the camp itself is... strange. The only person Skye meets who seems normal is Mia, a shy girl who wants to be Skye's friend. Skye is resistant, just to put the screws to Gayle, to make it clear she won't make friends or enjoy anything. But she starts to warm to Mia pretty quickly, But she doesn't warm to the camp, especially when she finds out that most of the camp activities take place at night, and that the other campers aren't normal kids, but monsters!

The story reads like a normal camp story, with games, contests, and scary stories, with the coming of age aspects of making friends, cute boys, and dealing with the popular kids, but mixing in all the monster elements to give it an extra air of creepiness. The cute boy, Griffin, who seems to like Skye just happens to be a werewolf. The queen of the mean girls in Skye's cabin, Abcynthia, isn't just the daughter of Head Counselor Cobb, but also happens to be a witch. And there's the question of exactly what Mia is, something that plays out over the course of the whole book.

Sky's adventures at Camp Midnight are, thematically, about her learning to be herself, and to give new things a chance. She arrives so sure that she won't enjoy camp, that Gayle is wrong, that she shuts herself off from everyone, and makes it hard for Mia and Griffin to be friends with her. The mystique she builds around herself by not revealing her true form (which she doesn't have, since she's human), makes her a mystery at camp, but doesn't help with people getting close to her. And over the course of the book, she opens up. She learns that just because you're a monster doesn't mean you're evil and scary, and even things that monsters are afraid of aren't bad.

While Skye is the central character, we spend a lot of time getting to know Mia too. She's very shy, very excitable, and seems to be keeping a secret from Skye and everyone else. She seems to have her own baggage, something that is keeping her from connecting with anyone else, but as opposed to Skye, she seems to want to. The balance of their relationship, and the questions about what each of them are, drives much of the story and Skye's journey.

Jason Adam Katzenstein's art is not photorealistic, but plays with all sorts of weird body shapes and exaggerations. His style gits the world view of a teenager, who when she's angry her head and mouth enlarge to show her rage, for instance. His style makes the monsters especially creepy, since they not only don't look human, but their proportions and body language also seems off. The lettering and sound effects also are eye-grabbing, as little bits of desecration that are coming from inside Skye's head pop-up on page as she sees something. It's not the kind of art you're used to seeing, but it works very well for this book.

Steven T. Seagle is one of the founder of Man Of Action, the studio that has created such all ages hits as Ben 10 and the characters in Big Hero 6, so when it comes to a pedigree for all ages far, it doesn't come a lot higher than that. The book is full of scares that aren't too much for a kid, and a moral about being yourself that is great for kids if all ages. Camp Midnight is a perfect read for a summer afternoon, for both the grown-ups and the kids in your life.

The Great Batman: Brave and the Bold Rewatch: Night of the Huntress!

Season One, Episode Sixteen: Night of the Huntress!
Written by Adam Beechen
Directed by Ben Jones

Plot Synopsis

Teaser: Solomon Grundy, the zombie mobster, menaces a scientist, whose brain he has decided to take to heighten his intellect. As Grundy's men prepare to remove the brain, Batman and Black Canary arrive to stop them, which they do with some cunning, some fists, and a handily applied Canary Cry.

Episode: Jaime Reyes, Blue Beetle, and his best friend Paco, are looking at college in Gotham City. While Jaime is excited to be going to school in a city with Batman, Paco is more excited about the lady supervillains of the city, commenting on how he likes and girls, and they agree on one super heroine: Huntress. As they say it, the professor giving them their tour arrives: Helene Bertinelli, who is secretly Huntress.

At Blackgate Prison, a veiled woman arrives with a huge baby carriage to "visit her husband." After getting through security, it's revealed she is Mrs, Manface, who had stubble and a manly face, and the "baby" is her husband, the mobster Babyface, who has a baby's head. They are their to release their imprisoned gang: Skeleton Keys, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, Polecat Perkins, and Hammertoes. We also see that Babyface is defensive of Mrs. Manface. But before they can escape. Batman arrives to stop them.

Back at Gotham U, the prison break is on the news, so Huntress and Blue Beetle make excuses and slip off to change into their costumes to head to the prison. Batman is fighting the gang, and while he was fairing well, eventually he simply can't fight the numbers and is about to be shot by Mrs. Manface when Huntress arrives, briefly flirting with Batman. And while this gives Batman the upperhand for a moment, soon enough he is at the mercy of the gang again when Blue Beetle arrives.

Babyface decides to make a break for it with his gang now that there are three heroes, but not before springing a bunch of villains to distract the heroes. They dogpile on Batman, but Huntress and Beetle help get them away from Batman and defeat them. With the villains defeated, Beetle really notices Huntress for the first time, and is instantly smitten, but Huntress isn't interested. She heads off to investigate what Babyface was up to, with Batman following her. She continues to flirt, with Batman having as much interest in her as she has in Beetle.

Arriving at the home of the Calculator, Huntress begins interrogating him to find out what Babyface is up to, but he won't reveal it. Batman begins hacking Calculator's computer while Huntress tries to beat the info out of Calculator, and Batman does his best to avoid Beetle's questions about girls. Batman's advice on girls is similar to hacking, and he and Huntress find out that at the same time that Babyface is going to break into Warehouse X.

Babyface and his gang are already into the warehouse by the time the heroes arrive, having broken in and taken the impounded weapons of other supervillains; Bbayface and his hole gang are now in mech armor and personal flying saucers. Huntress disregards Batman's attempt to come up with a plan, jumping right in, and Batman has to save the smitten Beetle from being taken out while distracted. But Beetle continues to be distracted by Huntress, and even though he saves her, he is too distracted and Babyface blasts him, and does the same to Batman and Huntress as they leap to Beetle's rescue.

Batman awakens imprisoned in a giant hourglass, which Babyface flips over as he and his gang head out. Beetle and Huntress bicker before Batman gets them focus. He uses a combination of one of Huntress's crossbow bolts and an acid pellet from his belt as well as help from Beetle to reach them to break out. Free, Batman deduces where Babyface is headed, "the center of everything evil in Gotham." The ganglords of Gotham are holding a summit in a warehouse in a particularly innocuous neighborhood, and as they begin their meeting, Babyface and his gang arrive, saying they're taking over.

As the mobsters fight Babyface and his goons, Batman, Huntress, and Beetle arrive and begin to protect civilians and try to take out the mob. Babyface grapples Batman in his mech suit, but Batman slips clear and transforms the Batmobile into a robot suit of his own, and the two begin to brawl. Beelte realizes its time to stop acting like he has, and he and Huntress are able to take out the rest of Babyface's gang. With Babyface on the ropes, Mrs. Manface tries to sucker punch Batman with her suit, but he defeats her, and Babyface again jumps to her defense, but Batman destroys his suit this time, leaving (disturbing image ahead) Babyface in nothing but a diaper, crying for his mommy.

With the crisis done, Huntress heads out, complimenting Beetle and telling him to call her in five years. Batman and Beetle walk off into the sunset, with Batman assuring Beetle she didn't mean it.

Who's Who

Huntress (Voiced by Tara Strong)

First Comic Book Appearance: Huntress #1 (April, 1989)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Sixteen- Night of the Huntress!

The last survivor of the Bertinelli crime family, Helena Bertinelli saw her entire family wiped out by a rival mob. She was sent to Italy, where she learned martial arts and mastered the crossbow before returning to Gotham to protect people from the Mafia. A vigilante without a code against killing, Huntress and Batman often butted heads, until time spent with Nightwing, and her defense of Gotham during the No Man's Land saga, convinced Batman there was more to her. Huntress would go in to train, and have a romantic affair, with the Question, and would later join Oracle's Birds of Prey, where she would be a regular member. Huntress is a skilled hand to hand combatant and one of the best shots with a crossbow in the DC Universe.


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

Baby Face (Voiced by Tom Kenny) 
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Nine- Journey to the Center of the Bat!


Calculator (Voiced by Armin Shimmerman)
First Comic Book Appearance: Detective Comics #463 (September, 1976)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Sixteen- Night of the Huntress!

While the heroes of the DC Universe had Oracle to provide them with information and digital aid, the villains had Calculator, who worked for profit. Noah Kuttler started out his career as a costumed villain, who had a calculator themed costume similar to the one worn in this episode, before switching to a behind the scenes role around the time of the events of the DC Comics event series Identity Crisis. He would go on to become one of the inner circle of Alexander Luthor's Secret Society, and would stay on as one of it's leaders after the Society's defeat in Infinite Crisis, becoming a major nemesis to much of the DC Universe, especially to Oracle and the Birds of Prey. Calculator originally wore a costume that could create hard light constructs to fight heroes and commit crimes. Later, he used his exceptional mental acuity to plan crimes for other criminals and provide intelligence for them, at a steep cost. He suffered from intense Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

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!

The daughter of the original Black Canary, Dinah Laurel Lance took up her mother's superhero identity against her mother's wishes. Still, Dinah became an accomplished hero as one of the tentpole members of the Justice League, in some versions of continuity one of its founders, and would often fight crime alongside her on-again/off-again love interest, Green Arrow. Dinah would reach a whole new level when she joined forces with Oracle, Barbara Gordon, to create the Birds of Prey, a team comprised of mostly female heroes. Dinah and Oracle would become best friends, and would fight crime together across the globe. Black Canary. Black Canary is one of the best hand-to hand combatants in the DC Universe, able to hold her own against Lady Shiva, and her metahuman Canary Cry, a sonic scream, allows her to shatter glass, deafen opponents, and even do physical damage to objects and people.

Solomon Grundy  (Voiced by Diedrich Bader)
First Comic Book Appearance: All-American Comics #61 (October, 1944)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Sixteen- Night of the Huntress!

Solomon Grundy was Cyrus Gold, a miser who lived in Gotham City in the 19th Century, who was killed by a blackmailer in Gotham's Slaughter Swamp and sunk to the bottom, spending years being worked on by the magic and the plants in the swamp before being reborn in the 1930s as the undead Solomon Grundy. While originally a nemesis of the golden age Green Lantern, Alan Scott, Grundy would go on to fight many heroes, often Batman. It was revealed that Grundy has multiple personalities in his head, and each time he dies, a new one, often with a slightly different power level, takes over. Solomon Grundy is not technically alive, and this cannot be killed, and has incredible strength, although that varies depending on which version of his mind controls the body; usually the less smart the Grundy, the stronger he is. He also has a slight connection the The Green, the voice of the plant world, as he is a failed Plant Elemental, like Swamp Thing, although this bit of his origina comes and goes as needed.

Continuity, Comics Connections, and Notes

I have to admit, this is the first episode of the series that left me cold. I'm not in love with the fact that most of the female superheroes seem to default to flirting with Batman, something out of character for Huntress as she has been presented in most other instances. On the other hand, the Batmobile turns into a mechanized Bat armor, so that's pretty awesome.

As a note, the Who's Who origins above for both Huntress, Black Canary, and Solomon Grundy are the post-Crisis/Pre-Flashpoint origins of the characters, not the current ones. I decided to use these origins as they match the versions of the characters in their Brave and the Bold adaptation more closely than the current ones (not to mention, we don't know how much Rebirth might be rewriting those post-Flashpoint origins soon).

Most of Babyface's gang are original characters, created for the show, like Babyface himself. However, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum are established Batman villains, appearing occasionally over the years, often as henchmen for the Mad Hatter.

Another villain cameo is Weather Wizard, who is name checked in the Calculator scene. He'll get a normal Who's Who entry when he appears in full later in the series.

The villains that Babyface releases at Blackgate to distract Batman contain many villains from this series, as well as the classic Batman TV series, and includes Fun Haus, Sportsmaster, Black Manta, Clock King, Shark, Kiteman, Top, Felix Faust, Minstrel, Bookworm, Mad Hatter (the '66 version), Cavalier, Scarecrow, King Tut, False Face, and Dr, Polaris, And also, among the mobsters at the summit, you see another Batman series villain, Louie the Lilac.

The Huntress in this episode is the post-Crisis version of the character, but the original, pre-Crisis Huntress was, in fact, Helena Wayne, daughter of a retired Batman and Catwoman of Earth 2. That is the version of the character who appeared first post-Flashpoint, with the Bertinelli version appearing not as Huntress but as a member of the spy organization, Spyral. Helena Bertinelli will again take up the Huntress mantle in the upcoming Batgirl and the Bids of Prey series.

The Calculator in this episode bears a similarity to the comic book version in his occupation, but little else. He has a different name, Myron vs. Noah, and the comic book version is slender and handsome, versus the stereotypical obese nerd in his mother's basement from the episode.

Voice actress Tara Strong, who makes her Brave and the Bold debut this episode as Huntress (and who will return as other characters later on), has a long history of DC Comics animation voice acting, dating back to The New Batman Adventures, where she took up voicing Batgirl, a role she reprised in Beware the Batman. and has voiced Raven in all of the Teen Titans/Teen Titans Go! series. She also took up the role of Harley Quinn in the Arkham video game series starting with Arkham City. With a tremendous body of work that continues to today, she is still working as Harley in the DC Super Hero Girls series.

Reviews of Comics from Wednesday 6/22

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 10 #28
Story: Christos Gage
Art: Rebekah Isaacs & Dan Jackson

This issue of the current Buffy the Vampire Slayer season feels a lot like an episode of the TV show right before a season finale, which makes sense as this season wraps with issue #30. Buffy and her friends have been driven apart by, well, growing up (or growing down in the case of the de-aged Giles), and this is the issue where they get the band back together. People often give the character of Buffy a hard time, for being the title character but not the brains of the group, but its Buffy who has the plan this issue, and as she makes preparations, she and Spike discuss their relationship. Christos Gage does a great job, a job equal to that of Joss Whedon, of balancing the personal with the supernatural in this issue, and while we don't know what Buffy's plan is, the issue does a great job of building up the anticipation of what it is. The way Buffy and Spike interact, Buffy talking about how her instinct is to run from relationships while Spike realizing he needs to take Buffy off the pedestal he has placed her on, are mature reactions, and show signs of growth not just from the beginning of these character's live, but of this season. Meanwhile, Willow realizes that working with the army isn't going to fly anymore, and Andrew meets with his kinda-boyfriend and has a realization about himself. As I've said in other times I've talked about Buffy here, I detest Andrew as a character, but I think Christos Gage has finally had him grow up and realize exactly what he is and what he's done, to a point I don't cringe every time he enters the scene, which is a major achievement. And finally, there are Dawn and Xander, who, having been left in a hell dimension a few issues back to seal the gate from that dimension to Earth, make their trip back home. I don't know how much Rebekah Isaacs adds to the story in these issues, but the different dimensions Dawn and Xander, as well as their demon sidekicks, pass through usually only hey one panel each, but they're so well realized that if Isaacs didn't suggest at least some of them, she embraced them fully. There's even a reference to the classic explanation of parallel worlds involving shrimp, or the lack thereof. This balance, between the mundanity of Buffy and Willow (and Giles in the previous issue) dealing with their relationship woes while Dawn and Xander travel through dimensions, is a great example of what makes a Buffy story work. If you lean to heavily on the metaphor and the weird it gets overblown, and if you do nothing but everyday character stuff, you lose what makes it special. There are only two issues left in this season of Buffy, and this issue makes me really excited to see what Gage and Isaacs have planned for us.

Detective Comics #935
Story: James Tynion IV
Art: Eddy Barrows, Eber Ferreira, & Adriano Lucas

Detective Comics knows how to kick off an issue. We open to see a desperate Red Robin, Spoiler, Orphan, and a de-powerd Clayface facing down an army of Jokers. That's an opening that sure grabs your attention. We quickly learn things aren't as they seem, and we get introduced to the Belfry, the team's new headquarters, and the Mud Room, the Danger Room if it were powered by Clayface's powers. It's interesting to see that Batwoman, who is running the training session, is hard on Orphan, Spoiler, and Clayface, but leaves Red Robin alone, respecting him. It's Red Robin who is the focus of the early part of the issue, as we see him first interact with Batwoman, then Batman, and finally Spoiler; it seems that Red Robin and Spoiler are destined to be together on whichever timeline they're in, which is sweet. What's a little different is the way Tim Drake interacts with Batman. In pre-Flashpoint continuity, Tim was Robin for years before becoming Red Robin, and was an integral part of the Batman family, but in the new continuity it's not only established he was always Red Robin, but it's been said numerous times that he has kept his emotional distance from Batman and the others. Tim has frankly been one of the biggest victims of the New 52 compressed timeline and the need to come up with reasons why he's in Teen Titans and not a Bat book. This issue we see Batman reaching out to him, telling him he's welcome to come in and be a part of the family, which is a nice gesture, and we see exactly what's going on with Tim, and that he might just have a life outside Gotham and the shadow of the Bat planned, which adds a different sort of tension. Through Tim we get to see some of Spoiler and Orphan, and we also get to see what happened to Azrael and we get the return of the classic Leslie Thompkins, who is treating Azrael and who is still judging Bruce for bringing teenagers into his war; thanks for that James! Batwoman gets in another scene with her father, Jake Kane, and we get a better feeling for why the Kane family, Batman's maternal relatives, haven't been a part of his life, as Jake warns Kate away from him. "Zero Year" and Grant Morrison's Return of Bruce Wayne mini-series both established issues between the Wayne and the Kane families, but here we see it on a much more grounded and personal level, with Jake's issues not just with Bruce, but an undercurrent of resentment towards Bruce's long dead father, Thomas. While the issue has a lot of character building, it ends with an action scene (after a clever bit of Alfred's trademark snarking at Bruce), as we start to get a better idea of who is behind the vigilante hunting, the new threat called Colony. The final page is one of those classic Batman being a badass pages, which shows that Tynion also knows how to get a reader desperate to come back for more.

James Bond #7
Story: Warren Ellis
Art: Jason Masters & Guy Major

James Bond is a character right in that Warren Ellis wheelhouse. He's a hard drinking, hard smoking man with a penchant for women and brooding. The Bond Ellis writes is closer to the one in the current films and in Ian Fleming's original stories, and not the campy one of the bigger, bolder Bond movies. And while Bond is grounded, the first arc of Ellis's Bond read like one of Ellis's sci-fi stories, where he reads about something in a tech journal and extrapolates the science into a crazy sci-fi comic. And while this second arc might go the same way, this arc feels more in line with a dark spy thriller, as Bind has to rescue an undercover agent from the Turkish Consulate in America, only to have things go off the rails. The first issue sets the tone, giving us a mysterious villain who combines the typical Bond mastermind with a more physical threat, continues to build on the internal conflict in British intelligence established in the first arc, re-introduces Bond's CIA counterpart, Felix Leiter, who now has cybernetic parts because why not, and introduces the agent Bond has to retrieve, who has the absolute Bondiest Bond name I've seen in comics yet, Cadence Birdwhistle. The fight when the Turkish agents catch up to Bond and Birdwhistle is well choreographed by Jason Masters and is as brutal as anything you'd see Daniel Craig do; frankly, Bond leaves these guys in so many pieces it feels like James Bond by way of the Midnighter. But even after taking out an entire Turkish hit squad, things don't go well for Bond, as he now has to survive 24+ hours with a non-combatant and no weapon. It's a great set-up for a tense thriller, as Bond has the Turks and the mysterious villain who is laundering money through Turkey after him to silence Birdwhistle. Also, along the way, Ellis gets off a pot shot at America and guns that is sadly accurate, as Ellis is never one to shy away from making a political point; I'm frankly very curious to see if Ellis spends some time in arc three taking on the recent EU referendum, something that both fits with Bond's place in the world and Ellis's topical sense of politics and humor. James Bond is a great spy comic, one that will satisfy the appetite of long time Bond fans as well as newcomers to fiction's greatest secret agent.

Princeless- Raven: The Pirate Princess #9
Story: Jeremy Whitley
Art (Present Day): Rosy Higgins, Ted Brandt, & William Blankenship
Art (Raven's Tale): Sarah Suhng, Nicki Andrews, & William Blankenship

After last issue's confrontation between Raven Xingtao, the pirate princess, and her two usurping brothers left her old friend, and something more, Ximena badly wounded, Raven and her crew make for a nearby island where they might find someone who can help Ximena, leaving Raven to stay by the side of the woman she loves and just talk to her, to keep her on this side of life. The beginning and ending of the issue take place in the present, and while much of the page space is dedicated to the story Raven tells, we get more characterization in the frame around the main story than most comics give in a normal issue. Not only do we see Raven being tender, which has peaked out of her normally brash exterior before when it comes to Ximena, we see bits with many other members of the crew, especially Amirah, who has become a favorite character of mine, as she helps stabilize Ximena as best she can and get Raven to be with her. Also, we see the deepening of the romantic triangle brewing, as Sunshine, who has clearly had deepening crush on Raven since they met in issue one, growing resentful of Ximena's place in Raven's heart. The main story though, the one that Raven tells Ximena as she lies unconscious, is the story of how Hei Xing, Raven's ancestor and the first pirate queen, met Rong Tao, the love of her life. Jeremy Whitley conjures a world that's a little more wild, a little more full of fantasy then Raven's is; while the book is rooted in the same fairy tale world as it's progenitor, Princeless, the magic and magical creatures have been considerably less in the spin-off then the parent title, and so the demons would feel a bit out of place in a story set in the present. But in this almost fairy tale story that Raven is telling, it all fits. We see Raven takes after Hei Xing, who was full of spirit and fire, willing to fight more demons than she should be able to in order to save the life of a boy she has never met. And Rong Tao, who was a pacifist, has connections to Ximena, who is also never willing to fight. The story is a parable of balance, as Rong could not have survived being attacked by demons if Hei had not been willing to right, and Hei could never have saved her beloved horse if Rong had not had the patience to slowly dig away at the trap the demons had set. The inversion of the traditional trope, of having the female character as the fighter and the male character as the one who does not fight wasn't lost on me, and continues to show how Princeless and its related titles work to subvert expectations. All taken, it's the truest love story we've seen from this world yet, a beautiful tale of two people finding each other, whose differences make them stronger. Princeless itself has begun to explore love and relationships as well, and it feels like these titles, written with teens in mind, are going through that phase where you start questioning even more how you fit in the world and what love is. I'm curious to see what answers Raven gets as she has two very different romantic interests now, and how this story will play into what comes next.



And Dan Grote reviews the new Deadpool team-up mini-series, where Deadpool fights his soon to be fellow movie-star, Gambit, written by Matt Signal favorites, Ben Acker and Ben Blacker...

Deadpool V Gambit #1

Story: Ben Acker & Ben Blacker

Art: Danilo Beyruth & Cris Peter

Deadpool has nearly always been a comedic character. But for the past four years, he’s also been a foot in the door for comedians and comedy writers at Marvel, since Gerry Duggan and Brian Posehn began their run post A vs. X. That paved the way for Annual stories, miniseries and backup strips from the likes of Paul Scheer (The League), Scott Aukerman (Comedy Bang Bang) and Jason Mantzoukas (Also The League), as well as Bens Acker and Blacker (The Thrilling Adventure Hour podcast), whose greatest contribution to Deadpool lore to date may be clearing up that whole multiple-narration-boxes mess from the Daniel Way run and introducing Madcap into the mix.

The Bens return with this miniseries pairing the Regeneratin’ Degenerate and the Ragin’ Cajun and revealing their hidden mutual history as con men. Apparently, this is very recent history, as a flashback to their last job takes place during the crafting of the musical “Hamilton,” which opened just last year. Now, I don’t keep up with the X-books like I used to, so I have no idea what Gambit’s been up to since he ended up a horseman of Apocalypse 10 years ago. But Deadpool’s memories, like his sexuality, allegedly, are fluid, so I’m not really planning to look too deeply into the continuity of it all.

Anywho, this miniseries reads like it was written by a pair of comedy writers riffing off each other, in so much as that’s exactly what the title characters do. In their last job, Deadpool and Gambit dressed as Spider-Man and Daredevil, respectively, and engaged in a very vocal and public superhero fight across the city, in the process stealing from criminals for a man named Chalmers. Bits abound, as Deadpool/Spider-Man tries to exorcise Destiny’s Child’s “Survivor” from his head, the two try to explain why they’re fighting (Mind control? Political disagreement? They’re both on the same case, and each thinks the other is the bad guy?), Gambit/Daredevil argues the conceit of musicals with Lin-Manuel Miranda and the two learn that being beangan is when you’re vegan but also you don’t eat beans (“Wait, why not?” “I think because you don’t like beans.”).

And where were the real Spider-Man and Daredevil for all this? Apparently Peter Parker and Matt Murdock sometimes go antiquing together. They’re friends.

Artist Danilo Beyruth gets in on the fun, too. Before the fight, Deadpool/Spider-Man is drawn wearing a dress shirt and suit over his Spidey costume. The disguised Miranda has the head of Alexander Hamilton from the $10 bill superimposed on him, so he resembles a character in a JibJab video. A market full of hipster vegans is an ocean of beards and curled-up mustaches, seemingly also on the women (Sidenote: Has anyone thought to resurrect Turner D. Century lately?). And Gambit gets to blow up everything from diamonds to frying pans to a manhole cover, until Deadpool yells “Stop exploding things at me!”

Yes, we are living in an age of peak Deadpool. Besides his solo ongoing, there’s the Spider-Man/Deadpool teamup book, and a new Deadpool & the Mercs for Money ongoing is starting. But if you don’t mind stretching your DP budget just a little bit further, Deadpool V Gambit is pretty funny and worth a read.

The Great Batman: Brave and the Bold Rewatch: Trials of the Demon!

Season One, Episode Fifteen: Trials of the Demon!
Written by Todd Casey
Directed by Michael Chang

Plot Synopsis

Teaser: The Scarecrow is concocting fear gas inside a Halloween haunted house when Batman and the original Flash, Jay Garrick, arrive to stop him. He strikes Batman and Flash with a pumpkin, reveals he has modified the entire crop of pumpkins to emit fear gas when heated, but Flash creates a vortex to disperse the gas. Batman fights Scarecrow, while Flash, dodging Scream Queen, Scarecrow's super powered assistant, gathers all the pumpkins to dispose of them, leaving a safer, but annoyed by the lack of jack o'lanterns, Gotham

Episode: The episode opens in Victorian London, where a gentleman offers a carriage ride to a woman. Nearby, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson discuss the possible perpetrator of a crime as a scream rings out. They rush to find the woman we saw enter the carriage, seemingly drained of life, ancient but alive, but entranced. Holmes mentions that this is only the most recent in a string of such crimes, and the locals start saying they think it's, "that creepy Jason Blood," which Holmes disregards, but the mob heads to take Blood.

In Blood's home, he sees the mob coming and begins to enact an arcane ritual. As the mob breaks through the door, he begins his transformation to Etrigan the Demon but is interrupted, leaving him in a half demonic form, leaving him vulnerable to cold iron, the weakness of demons. Holmes and Watson barge in, and while the mob makes off with Blood, Holmes deduces Blood was trying to solve the same case he was, and completes the ritual Blood began.

In the present, Batman knocks out Crazy Quilt just as the portal created by the ritual summons him back in time. Holmes immediately deduces Batman is a hero, , and many other details about him, and is slightly put off that Batman so easily identifies him. Batman rushes outside to save Blood, who is about to be burned at the stake, and Batman quickly pulls him from the stake and escapes, meeting Holmes and Watson. Batman asks Holmes what ha can tell him about the crimes, and Holmes rattles off a series of deductions, ending with the idea that the perpetrator's taunting note leads to Mignola Chapel. Batman contradicts him, pointing out that the "granite demon" in the note is an anagram for "demon Etrigan" and other aspects of the note Holmes did not get, including that there will be ten victims. Before Holmes can counter, a scream is heard Blood transforms to Etrigan, and he and Batman rush off to find the source, assuming it is victim nine.

Etrigan reaches the carriage of the man responsible, and the sorcerer conjures a giant serpent to fight Etrigan. Batman arrives, vaulting the serpent, and reaches the carriage just to see the man siphon the life force of his most recent victim into a horn. The man turns to Batman and reveals himself to be Gentleman Jim Craddock, the highwayman who in Batman's present is the supernatural Gentleman Ghost, but in this London is very much alive. Caught off guard, Batman doesn't have the time to stop Craddock from blasting him, turning his cape into a flying Bat monster, and making his escape.

In mid air, Batman uses his grapnel to stop his ascent and pull himself and his monster cape down into a nearby alley. Etrigan is able to use his demon flame to finally destroy the snake and the Bat cloak, and uses his own magic to recreate Batman's now tattered costume into something more period suited, a darker, Victorian Batman uniform. Etrigan transforms back to Blood as Holmes and Watson arrive. Batman tells Watson to alert the police to Craddock and tell everyone to travel in pairs before he and Blood run off to research what Craddock's plan might be, and Holmes wanders off alone to solve the case before Batman can.

In an abandoned windmill, Craddock speaks into a mirror, talking of his progress, and a pair of demonic eyes appears, telling Craddock to be careful, as he is not immortal yet. In Blood's residence, Blood and Batman determine that the horn is connected to the demon Asteroth, an old enemy of Etrigan and Merlin. They determine that if Craddock gives Asteroth ten souls, Asteroth can escape Hell and he will grant Craddock immortality. Watson arrives to tell Batman that Holmes has found Craddock's windmill lair and is on his way to apprehend him.

At the windmill, Holmes and Craddock duel, and just as Craddock gains the upper hand and is about to drain Holmes of his soul, Batman and Etrigan arrives. Craddock uses an arcane ring to call up a demon to hold them off. Batman is able to pull the ring from the monsters nose to send it back to the underworld, but too late to save Holmes, who is now catatonic and drained, as Craddock heads to the underworld with Holmes as the tenth soul. with Batman and Etrigan in hot pursuit.

In the underworld, Batman combats Craddock while Etrigan battles Asteroth. Craddock is infuriated when Batman tells him that he knows Craddock as a ghost. Batman tries to warn Craddock he is going to be betrayed, but Craddock ignores him, and as both of the heroes are knocked aside, Asteroth asks for the souls, which Craddock will only hand over after Asteroth has done his part. Asteroth grants Craddocks wish, saying his soul will never part from the mortal realm, but before Craddock can hand over the souls, Etrigan jumps from a lake of fire and knocks him from Asteroth.

Craddock  uses the iron head of his cane to drive Etrigan back, but the Demon quickly disarms him and grabs the horn of souls. Asteroth grabs Etrigan, and the two demons begin to fight, with Asteroth gaining the upper hand. Batman enters the fray and distracts Asteroth enough for Etrigan to get a second wind and knock down the massive demon. Batman throws Craddock's iron headed cane to Etrigan, who uses it to defeat Asteroth.

Back in London, we return to Blood's home, where he is preparing the ritual to send Batman home, along with Dr. Watson and the restored Holmes. Holmes asks Batman how he really deduced his identity when they met, and Batman replies everyone knows Sherlock Holmes, "You're the world's greatest detective." Holmes is satisfied, and when Blood asks what will become of Craddock, Holmes is confident that the jury will see to him. Finally, we pan to a graveyard, and the Craddock's grave, where the Gentleman Ghost rises from his grave, and swears revenge on Batman.

Who's Who

Sherlock Holmes (Voiced by Ian Buchanan)

First Comic Book Appearance: A Study in Scarlet (1887)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Fifteen- Trials of the Demon!

Batman might be the greatest detective in the modern DC Universe, but the greatest detective in the history of fiction is Sherlock Holmes. A master of deductive reasoning, Holmes appeared in fifty six short stories and four novels by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, a British physician and novelist. Along with his loyal companion and friend Doctor Watson, Holmes solved numerous crimes and cases. A difficult man at the best of times, Holmes is the most popular literary character in all of fiction, with more appearances in pastiche literature and movies than any other, and a legion of fans as devoted to him today as they were when he was created in the late 19th century.

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!

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!

Asteroth (Voiced by Tony Todd)
First Comic Book Appearance: Demon Vol.2 #1 (January, 1987)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Fifteen- Trials of the Demon!

Asteroth is a demon lord who has crossed paths with Etrigan a few times, but is a minor threat who has appeared very few times in comics.

Flash [Jay Garrick] (Voiced by Andy Miller)
First Comic Book Appearance: Flash Comics #1 (January, 1940)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Fifteen- Trials of the Demon!

The original Flash, Jay Garrick was a  young scientist experimenting with heavy water when he inhaled the vapors that granted him super powers (it would later be established that this was just the trigger that allowed him to channel the Speed Force). Jay went on to fight crime in Keystone City, as well as alongside the Justice Society of America. Jay retired in the 1950s, but would come out of retirement on occasion after that, often working with his successor, Barry Allen. Jay returned to full time superheroing in his golden years, working with Wally West, Barry's successor, and the extended family of speedsters, and then to train the next generation of heroes with the Justice Society. If Alan Scott, the original Green Lantern, was a stern father figure, and Wildcat was the tough but fair father and trainer, Jay was the heart and soul of the older generation to the new, giving them sage advice and a kind shoulder. Jay has the standard super speed powers, and although he has slowed down compared to his youth, he is still one of the fastest men alive.

Scarecrow  (Voiced by Dee Bradley Baker)
First Comic Book Appearance: World's Finest Comics #3 (Fall, 1941)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Fifteen- Trials of the Demon!

Jonathan Crane was a frail, bookish child who was bullied by his fellow kids. He grew fascinated with fear and how it effected people and creatures, often frightening birds in the fields near his house. Crane grew older, studied, and became a professor of psychology at Gotham University. But as Crane's experiments in fear grew more extreme, he was fired for experimenting on students. Crane adopted the identity of the Scarecrow to exact revenge on either the bullies who tormented him as a child or the board of regents who fired him, depending on the version of his origin you read. Crane would become one of Batman's most popular recurring foes, who's use of fear is often compared to Batman's similar methods on criminals. Scarecrow is not a major physical threat, although he does know some martial arts, but it is his high intelligence, psychological insight, and the Fear Gas that he makes that causes his victims to have visions of their worst fears or certain pre-determined nightmares that makes him a deadly foe,

Crazy Quilt
First Comic Book Appearance: Boy Commandos #15 (June, 1946)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Fifteen- Trials of the Demon!

A crime lord and painter, Crazy Quilt was known for art related crimes. As his eyesight began to fail, he made numerous attempts to restore his sight, and when it finally nearly happened, he was inadvertently blinded by Robin. This gave him a hatred for the Boy Wonder exceeding his hatred for Batman. A minor villain, Crazy Quilt has only a handful of appearances, and is at best a C-List Batman villain. Crazy Quilt is a tech-based villain, who uses a helmet that has various abilities, all based on light; he can hypnotize victims with flashing lights, fire laser blasts, and eventually function as artificial eyes, feeding visual data directly to his brain after his eyes were damaged beyond repair.

Continuity, Comics Connections, and Notes

The costume that Etrigan conjures for Batman in Victorian London is inspired by the costume worn by Batman in the legendary proto-Elseworld story, Gotham by Gaslight, which sets Batman's origins in a Victorian era Gotham city. The artist on that story, Hellboy creator Mike Mignola, is name-checked in this episode with the Mignola Chapel.

This is not the first time Batman and Sherlock Holmes have met. Batman met an aged, and considerably less surly,  Holmes in Detective Comics #572, one of my favorite comics of all time. Read about it, and the rest of Mike W. Barr's run on Detective Comics, here.

Scream Queen, Scarecrow's sidekick in this episode, is an original creation who never appears again. I just thought she had a cool design and liked her banshee like sonic scream. Wish someone would pick that character up and use her again.

This is hands down one of my five favorite episodes of Brave and the Bold. It's smart, it's creepy, it's exciting, and Batman meets Sherlock Holmes. And they don't sugar coat Holmes. He's a total know-it-all jerk much of the time, which is well within Holmes's character.

Reviews of Comics from Wednesday 6/15

Batman #1
Story: Tom King
Art: David Finch, Matt Banning, & Jordie Bellaire

The first issue of the new, Rebirth-era Batman begins with a literal bang and continues to show a Batman dedicated to Gotham and the safety of its people, a Batman at his most heroic. After a plane is hit by a surface-to-air missile, Batman must find a way to stop it from hitting the center of the city, even at the cost of his own life. It's an exciting start to the new run, and highlights the strengths of both of the writer and artist. Tom King has a great talent for mixing character and action, and we see Batman interact with Jim Gordon, Alfred, and Duke Thomas as he speeds across Gotham. We get a mix of Batman the superhero and Batman the scientist, as he uses his intellect to figure out the best way to maneuver a crashing plane. And we get some clues about what is coming in this first arc, with the first cameo appearances of Gotham City's newest defenders, the super powered Gotham and his sidekick, Gotham Girl, and while they seem noble enough, one has to wonder; the shadowy figure standing over the murdered body of the Kobra cultist who fired the missile at the plane does not seem to be Gotham, but we know it's not Batman or one of his allies, and how much better an entrance can a flying, super strong hero make than one where he stops a plane from crashing. We have no reason to suspect Gotham, other than he's not one of Batman's circle, but I have my eye on him. David Finch has a history with Batman, from his writer/artist stint on Batman: The Dark Knight to his work on Forever Evil. This issue is as big and bold in the art as it is in the story. He draws a string, muscular Batman who still looks like he'd be able to move with the grace needed to swing around Gotham. You can sense the motion and the straining as he uses a combination of tech and brute force to keep the plane from hitting Kane Plaza. It's simply stunning. And the new Batmobile design he uses is clearly based on the classic Batman: The Animated Series model. After four plus years of one writer on Batman, it's always going to be a transition, but this issue, maintaining much of the previous central cast while springboarding into something new, is a great choice, and it's a great start for the new volume of Batman.

Justice League #51
Story: Dan Abnett
Art: Paul Pelletier, Sandra Hope, & Adriano Lucas

I think I've made this observation before, but in case I haven't, there is nothing wrong with a simple, fun superhero story; in fact, at times that's one of the best things you can read. I picked up all eight issue's of Dan Abnett's recent Titans Hunt mini-series, and also this week's Titans: Rebirth one-shot, and they're all enjoyable superhero books, but this week's Justice League, also written by Abnett and tying into those stories, is one of those perfect one off issues. Set in the past, shortly after the forming of the Justice League, the issue tells the story of Dick Grasyon, Robin's, first meeting with the League. Most of the members make snarky comments about Batman and his sidekick as they meet him, and Dick just quietly lets it all pass. As various weird objects begin appearing all over the world, cybernetic hounds attack Metropolis and the League springs into action. It's Robin who we follow for much of the issue, seeing him intimidated by the League, and then seeing him slowly win each Leaguer over with his brains and skill. Especially interesting is the interaction between Robin and Cyborg, as Cyborg is the youngest member of the League, and understands where Robin is coming from. I'm also hoping we see some more flashbacks with these two characters together; while Cyborg gained a lot in the New 52 continuity by becoming a founding member of the Justice League, I feel he lost the connections he had to his old friends, and that has weakened the character. To see him working with Dick Grayson, one of his old friends, again, it was a great scene. As the different threats come together, as the League deduces the problem, it turns into a classic battle of brains and brawn against unstoppable odds, a story right out of classic Justice League comics.There are hints that tie it into the current events in Titans, but the issue stands firmly on its own, something I always like to support. And the artist on the issue, Paul Pelletier, is one of my favorite artists; he draws strong, distinct character moments as well as exciting action scenes, and has worked for years on most of the big properties for both DC and Marvel. If you're looking for a palette cleanser from all the big events comics right now, and want something pretty self contained and fun, Justice League #51 is a great choice.

Patsy Walker A.K.A. Hellcat #7
Story: Kate Leth
Art: Brittney L. Williams & Megan Wilson

The new issue of Patsy Walker A.K.A. Hellcat feels like the calm before the storm, the issue that ties up all the treads from the beginning of the series before something momentous happens. For this of you who are more familiar with the Jessica Jones TV series than the comics that feature these characters, Jessica's BFF in the comics is not Patricia "Patsy" ("Trish") Walker, but is Carol Danvers, Captain Marvel. I have to assume because of the movie in development, Marvel didn't want to introduce Carol on the Netflix series, so Trish took her place. This issue features the first full meeting between Patsy and Jessica in comics continuity, as Jessica tries to help Patsy deal with her ex-best friend, Hedy Wolfe and the rights to the old "Patsy and Hedy" comics. We get to spend some time with the entire supporting cast Patsy has built over the series so far: her old friend Tom, her roommate Ian, and of course her lawyer and friend Jen Walters, the super heroine known as She-Hulk. We even get an appearance from Jen's paralegal, Angie Huang, and her pet monkey, Hei Hei, introduced in Charles Soule's wonderful She-Hulk series. It's a charming issue with very little action, and a ton of character, where we get to see who Patsy is and why her friends are so loyal, and why she's so loyal to them. I'm hoping that the appearance by Jessica (as well has her husband, Luke Cage, and their baby, Danielle), will become a regular thing in the series, as it's nice to see the Jones-Cages not fighting for their lives but living as a family. And in the end, things work out for Patsy, and not a single punch is thrown. It's a matter of Jen being smart and Patsy being determined. You reach the end of this issue, and you smile. And I'm glad about that, because Civil War II is not going to be a happy event for Patsy, and it's good to get in a nice win before the darkness descends.

Dan Grote reviews Mavel's political satire, as the God of Mischief decides to run for office...

Vote Loki #1

Story: Christopher Hastings

Art: Langdon Foss and Chris Chuckry

The idea of Loki running for president in the current election cycle feels like low-hanging fruit for Marvel, but in the right hands, said fruit can still be delicious.

Loki’s current iteration as a gender-fluid, morally ambiguous, oddly sexy, de-aged hipster viking (thank you thank you thank you for that turn of phrase, G. Willow Wilson!) has opened up new storytelling possibilities for the character just as much as his portrayal on-screen by Tom Hiddleston.

And writer Christopher Hastings (Gwenpool) and artist Langdon Foss play with all of that as we watch the trickster god thwart an assassination attempt by Hydra on the two leading presidential candidates, then call out said candidates for being liars while at the same time saying, “America, if I were your president, I’d have the guts to lie right to your face. And you’d love it.”

This on-air soundbite turns Loki into a media darling, complete with “Saturday Night Live” sketches, memes and interviews with J. Jonah Jameson.

Watching all this with a cocked eyebrow is Nisa Contreras, a journalist who as a child lost her home in a battle between the Avengers and Loki, then watched as New York’s then-governor funneled money donated by Tony Stark for rebuilding into his own re-election fund.

Nisa investigates Loki, who agrees to let her follow his exploratory campaign in a bid to win her over. But she can’t tell what power play Loki is making until after she files her story, which her Loki-enthralled editor rewrites into a positive piece that gives big L the juice he needs to formally announce his campaign. This brings Nisa some unwanted attention at issue’s end from a special guest star with skin in the Loki game.

There’s some great little moments in this issue that play with the Loki mythos. At one point, he takes a female form – still with horned helmet – because he thinks it might help him poll better with women. When Jameson questions Loki about his citizenship, he explains that his current incarnation – Asgardians die and are reborn in cycles – was born in the tiny town of Accident, Maryland. Oh, and his polling employees may all be doomsday cultists.

Vote Loki probably won’t make you feel any better about the actual presidential election, but it will at least scratch any itches you have for political satire this summer.