My Crazy Youth: The Time(s) That Metamorpho and Guy Gardner were 'Brave' and 'Bold'

 As a Fan of DC Comics, I loved Batman: The Brave and the Bold.

I miss that Show.

Let me look at two notable Debuts in the wake of Superman (2025)

In 'Enter the Outsiders' (Season 1, Episode 6), Batman and Wildcat team up to bring some bad guys to justice.

In this case, it is The Outsiders- Metamorpho, Black Lightning and Katana- who are attacking Malls and other Businesses.

As it turns out, they are being manipulated by a bad guy in the Sewers named Slug.

They, of course, turn on him and join the side of Justice!

In the Comics, Batman famously forms a team called The Outsiders (who let him work without government oversight in the Justice League).

Other members included Geo-Force and Halo (appearing once in Episode 41).  Looker- a literal Vampire- was understandably NOT on the Show.

****

In 'The Eyes of Despero,' the titular Villain takes out what seems to be the entire Green Lantern Corps.

Hal's ring flies and pulls Batman to Oa to help out.

Here he teams up with G'nort, Sinestro and Guy Gardner (who were all in Holding at the time).

Naturally, they eventually stop the Villain.

Before that, however, they reenact the most famous Guy Gardner/Batman moment. 

Naturally.

Two very enjoyable, but also very different Episodes.

'Enter' is a more grounded Episode with a throughline Plot about Wildcat dealing with getting older and how Batman treats him.

'Eyes' is a space-based tale with Comedy, betrayal and a literal Planet-sized Green Lantern Corps Member!

The beauty of this Show is that Batman is the only connective tissue in each adventure, be it the Opening Segments or the Main Plots.  
He could be teaming up with Guy, Firestorm, Wonder Woman, Shazam or even B'wana/Freedom Beast.

As such, the Show managed to go three full Seasons and always keep things fresh.

Hell, my only gripe when I watch any Episode is one Credit that was legally required of them.

That said, I don't work for DC, so...

Two fun Episodes in a Show that was full of them.  Any more First Appearances worth highlighting?

10 Crazy Superman Moments from 'Super Friends'

 Superman has been iconic for Decades, going on a Century. 
Many people's childhood images of him are from the various iterations of Super Friends, be it the one with Wendy & Marvin, the Wonder Twins Era or the Super Powers line.

I'm glancing over at my box of loose Super Powers toys, so I'm included.

In honor of the new Superman, let's look back at some of his...odder moments, shall we?

10. Kryptonite is more common than Steel!

Superman's most famous weakness is Kryptonite and makes for an easy way to write him out of a Scene/stop him.

That said, it shows up so often AND on other Planets (seen below in The Death of Superman).

Does that mean that this is also Krypton?!?

9. Showing his Age!

Three Phantom Zone Criminals (not the ones you're thinking of) get loose and plan revenge.  They expose Superman to Red Kryptonite, which has a random effect every time.

This time, it ages him until he looks like a Character right out of Heavy Metal.  It gets disturbing!

8. How is this part of the plan?!?

As part of a larger plan to stop Manta (not Black Manta- he's beige here), Superman and Wonder Woman put on an 'Aerial Aerobics' Show to act like they are unaware of his actions.

...um, okay.

7. Super Downgrade

In a Super Powers Episode, Felix Faust casts a spell to steal Superman's powers (represented by a glowing energy ghost).

However, the power is stolen by his cellmate- The Penguin.

6. Aces High, Superman Low!

In a Super Powers: Galactic Guardians Episode, our Heroes battle new foes in the form of the Royal Flush Gang.

We later learn that they are funded/supplied by Darkseid, but seeing one of them just throw out a card that turns into a Red Sun Energy Ray (a lesser weakness from the Comics) sure is embarrassing.

Firestorm puts up a better fight than you!

5. Now how is THIS part of the Plan?!?

Stick with me here for a bit, won't you?  Two aliens in a sub have a freeze ray.  They eventually freeze the moon (in the vacuum of space).

This is PART of the Super Friends' plan, however!  Superman *breaks a chunk of the Moon off to make it a giant reflector of sunlight to thaw out the frozen Earth!

4. A (James) Whale of a Tale!

Dr. Frankenstein makes a new creation, but quickly runs afoul of the Super Friends.

It is super-easy, barely an inconvenience to capture Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and Robin.  He proceeds to use a new device to create a homunculus of the first three (Robin is excluded).

His plan...

3. There's No Place Like Metropolis!

Mr. Mxyzptlyk wants revenge on Superman and transports him, Wonder Woman and Aquaman to 'The Planet of Oz.'

He transforms them into versions of the Public Domain Characters and sends them on their way.  It gets sillier as it goes in, which I won't SPOIL.

2. They're Taking the Heroes to Isengard (Isengard!)!

This Episode probably merits a full induction of its own, but I'll cover the key parts.

An evil Wizard turns our Heroes into 'trolls' (which are clearly Hobbits) and they must save Middle Earth.  Yes, they do call it Middle Earth.

1. Great WHAT now?!?

In Universe of Evil, our Superman is swapped with an evil universe's one.  

On our Earth, the evil Superman soon realizes that something is off and thinks this...

No, really!

To reiterate, this is a fun and classic Show.  It was also written for kids by people that were both very creative and probably did 'partake' of some '70s substances (if you know what I mean).

Here's this out of context image as a final proof.

Happy Superman Weekend!

Tubi Thursday: Birds of Prey- 'Feat of Clay'

 When one is pressed for time, one improvises.  

In this case, let me look at an Episode of a TV Show when I have less time today.

Let's jump back to a 2002 Show which is the first (of two) Live Action appearances of Clayface.

A strange man breaks into a Lab Storage Facility and drinks a strange potion.

When he touches the Guard, the man becomes a clay statue!

This leads back to Clayface, a Villain from Batman's past.

His Daughter- Helena/Huntress- tries to get information from the guy about the serum and who's doing this.

He, well, blatantly turns into Hannibal Lecter.
It's not even a little bit subtle!

The new guy turns out to be Clayface's Son.

For Comic Fans, the old Clayface is Clayface II (who could shapeshift), while the Son is Clayface III (who could mutate people via touch, but not shapeshift).

If I go any further than that, everyone who's not a Comic Book Nerd will be very, very lost!

A B-Plot involves Alfred- Ian Abercrombie- interfering in Barbara's personal life.

She breaks off a vacation with her boyfriend to stop Clayface Jr here...so Alfred just reveals her secret.

Before they can find Clayface Jr, Helena learns a dark truth.

Clayface killed her Mother (aka Catwoman- who somehow returned after, well, Batman Returns in this continuity).

Dun dun dun!

Clayface Jr plans to attack a Fashion Show (as is tradition) and make the Models into his Clay Figures to 'outdo his Father.'

Well, Dad shows up...somehow and Helena now has to stop both of them.

She does and the day is saved...until the Show was cancelled after the next Episode and not mentioned again until 2018.

A good, if a bit busy, Episode.

This is the second-to-last Episode of the Show, as noted.  As such, it needs to wrap up many loose ends for the Finale.

That is compounded with having TWO Clayfaces in this one, as well as Harley Quinn scheming for the last Episode.

As such, we don't get much to do with the new Clayface.  He looks like the guy from Workaholics, is kind of evil and gets really passive around his Dad.

Maybe he would have returned in Season 2, if it happened.

That said, there's an earnestness to the Show that gets you past the cheesy aspects and the limitation of TV.  This Episode also connects in a weird way to an EARLIER Superhero Show.

As such, I'll need to give that a closer look in the future.

A fun Episode with a good morphing effect to boot.  It's just a bit busy for 45 minutes, that's all.

New(er) Flix: Batman- The Doom That Came to Gotham (2023)

 An early Christmas present for myself!

I've not caught up on the more recent DCAU stuff, especially in wake of the mixed to bad Reviews.

Even so, I'm a sucker for Elseworlds Batman and bought a used Copy of this on Blu-Ray.

Let's see what we got...

In this Tale, Bruce Wayne is investigating a lost expedition in the Arctic.

This is surely not based on a real event, says DC Lawyers.

The Leader- Oswald Cobblepot- ran off and joined the Penguins.

The other survivor runs to a Cave and vows to release an ancient being.

They bring him back to Gotham, Wayne coming back for the first time since his Parents were killed.

He goes back to his old House and meets some old friends- Harvey Dent and Oliver Queen.

Oh and a body is left in his House!

Of course, he's really here as Batman, making his first appearance in the City.

He's just in time as all sorts of bad things are happening, like the death of a Scientist (as mentioned) and strange robberies.

When he tries to stop one, he runs across Talia and she summons a creature to stop him.

Out on the streets, we get Lovecraftian Killer Croc.

Can he stop the evil before it gets summoned?

Will his allies be enough to turn the tide?

Will you realize before the end that this doesn't have a Joker in it?

To find out, buy or stream it now.

A fun, freaky and interesting Film.

I never read the Mike Mignola Comic of the same name, so I didn't know what to expect.  This blind buy sure paid off though.

This Elseworlds Tale truly makes the most of the open concept.  Everyone is different.

The Origins of the Villains are quite different and fun.

I really liked this version of Mr. Freeze (cheekily referred to as a 'Zero') and Poison Ivy.

There's lots of great Voice Talent here, including Jeffrey Combs and David Dastmalchian.  The less famous- at least to me- Actors here impress as well.

This new(ish) Batman is great.

If you expect a Mike Mignola-influenced Film based on Lovecraft, this will not disappoint.

Now much do I need this Comic?

Batman is always great when allowed to be himself.  When you add in Mike Mignola and Lovecraft, it is a match made in Heaven (and R'yleh).

How 'The Batman' Didn't Lead to a New Justice League Cartoon

 A while back, I wrote about how Superman: The Animated Series did some work to set up a Justice League Cartoon.

That Show did exist, but most of the work- like introducing Hal Jordan and Aquaman to the team- didn't go anywhere.

Well, after Justice League Unlimited ended, The Batman began!

At the end of Season 4, they had a big Finale Episode which featured a group of Aliens known as The Joining.

Martian Manhunter would debut and help save the day.

Season 5 began with a two-part crossover with Superman, featuring Metallo, Lex Luthor and Poison Ivy, doing a beat-for-beat remix of their interaction in Hush.

After that, a guest-starring Episode for Green Arrow (one of my favorite JLA Members).

The two team up to stop Count Vertigo and there's mention of the Justice League.

After another Episode, The Flash would show up to help him stop Mirror Master.

Kind of a weird connection- he's voiced by John Laroquette, who I just covered as the Narrator in the TCM Remake!

After another non-team-up Episode, 'Ring Toss' would bring Hal Jordan into the, um, TBAU (I guess?).

Hijinks would ensue with The Penguin getting the ring for a bit, but it is Sinestro who's the main villain.

Yes, just like in Superman: TAS.

4 Episodes later, the last piece is put in place as Hawkman debuts!

He teams up with Batman to stop Black Mask and Shadow Thief.

That brings us to Episodes 12 and 13- Lost Heroes.

Some force keeps kidnapping the powered members of the League exploiting their weaknesses!

That leaves Batman, Robin, Batgirl and Green Arrow to save the day.

That and stop an Alien Invasion.

As you probably guessed from the Title here, that's it.

This didn't lead to a new Cartoon with this, followed up only with a Comic called The Batman Strikes...which ended in October of the same Year.

Granted- we got The Brave and The Bold in November 2008, which is (of course) a great Show and is all Team-Up Episodes.

That Show brought together a version of the Justice League International- which features Fire, Ice, Booster Gold, Blue Beetle and Guy Gardner.

We would get a pair of Episodes eventually with Superman, one of which also features Wonder Woman.
That would be in Season 3 (of 3), mind you.

I guess my question is this- Why is it so hard to set up a Justice League Cartoon?

Anyone know?

Streaming Standard: Batman- Caped Crusader (2024)

Warner Bros' folly is another Streaming Company's gain.

Bruce Timm is back to make another Batman Cartoon.  This is on Prime because, as noted, WB apparently passed on it.

How are they losing money again?

Regardless, let's see how this new take on Batman turned out...

It is the 1940s and Bruce Wayne is a big time industrialist.

Gotham City, meanwhile, is still as corrupt as ever.

That's why he spends his nights fighting crime as Batman.

This one is based mostly on the early version of the Caped Crusader, minus his purple gloves (which were mostly like a coloring error).

The City is also beginning to fill up with criminals that aren't Mobsters or Gun Runners.

That's why he needs the help of Alfred, who doesn't seem to miss any meals in this version.
(which is how he looked before he was written as skinny to match the TV Actor).

Keeping the law is Commissioner Gordon and his Daughter Barbara.

Harvey Dent is the DA and wants to be Mayor, but he's more corrupt than he lets on.

Batman must rise to the occasion to stop the more outlandish villains that show up.

For instance, a version of Golden Age Clayface, Firebug and new versions of Harley Quinn and The Penguin.

On top of that, some new (to Batman) villains are entering the fray.

Onomatopoeia's wordless evil and Gentlemen Ghost's far more verbose villainy must be stopped.

To find out how Batman does, watch the Show now.

A really good Show that bridges the gap between nostalgia and being a new property.

It is a tricky thing, as the Show is based loosely on the Golden Age Comics, but also updating key aspects for a modern audience.
It gives us new content, while also reminding us nicely of the classic Animated Series.

The Show gives us another great iteration of Batman, which is great to see in the ensuing years since we lost Kevin Conroy.

The Stories are fun and the serialized nature works well.  You can watch individual Episodes on their own AND be rewarded with a through-line of a Story that connects all 10 Episodes.

The variety of Villains is nice, as we get some classic one likes Penguin (below), new riffs on ones like Harley Quinn and classic DC Villains like Gentleman Ghost facing off with Batman for the first time since The Brave and the Bold.

All in all, the Show is really damn good.  As a kid raised on the Animated Series, I'm both the target demo AND the hardest group to please.

It is good and I can't think of any reason to be mad at...oh, right.

I would have gotten to this sooner, but I wanted to ease my withdrawal by putting off the last 2 Episodes.  Now is the great time to watch it!