First off, I have to say that I was really surprised at how good this film was. DC’s animation films have been sorely dropping in quality ever since the New 52 began. I’m not counting the side films, just mainstream. Lets quickly take a trip down memory lane for them. Here are the DC animated films that I’m counting. Superman: Doomsday, Justice League New Frontier, Batman Gotham Knight, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern First Flight, Public Enemies, Crisis on Two Earths, Under The Red Hood, Apocalypse, All Star Superman, Emerald Knight, Year One, Doom, Superman and the Elite, Dark Knight Returns, Unbound, Flashpoint, War, Son of Batman, Assault on Arkham, Throne of Atlantis, Batman vs Robin, Gods and Monsters, Bad Blood. I’m not even going to count the Killing Joke and Justice League Dark. The former because I haven’t seen it and don’t plan to since the film looks so trashy and the latter since it’ll be a long time til a TV-14 version of it is up. Naturally, the film wouldn’t help DC’s case anyway since it’s as gritty as it gets.
So, Superman: Doomsday was a great film. It was a good way to kick things off. New Frontier could have been better, but it was a solid Justice League film. Gotham Knight was DC’s first miss, but they made up for it with the next two installments as Wonder Woman and Green Lantern were both very good. Public Enemies and Crisis on Two Earths were amazing and two of the best DC films of all time. Under The Red Hood and Apocalypse continued things off on a high level. All Star Superman was reasonably solid as well. It lacked in action, but had good writing. Emerald Knight was rather disappointing and Year One was pretty sad. You could argue that DC was starting to weaken at this point. Justice League Doom was good. It was a cut under the previous all stars, but it still felt right.
Next was Superman and the Elite. It’s easily one of the weaker Superman films and the animation was bad. Dark Knight Returns was truly dreadful though and it brought back the more violent roots that I was hoping to avoid. The next title (Superman Unbound) avoided this thanks to its My Little Pony styled animation. However, this was the end. We would now enter the violent era of DC films and this is where things got ugly. Flashpoint is super dark, gritty, and violent. It was a bad film that just left you shaking your head. Next was JL: War. Justice League War is a good story, but it was plagued by excessive violence all around. It’s no surprise though since this is where the New 52 started. Technically it’s not a bad film, it’s still good, but should have been far better. The next films would not have the Justice League to bail them out. Son of Batman is a gritty story where the writing just slacks off and the violence continues. Assault on Arkham is one of the worst DC films and with many villains as the main characters, you can see how it would be bad.
We went back to the Justice League next, but questionable writing and more excessive violence held it back quite a lot. Batman vs Robin kept the violence as high as it could and even threw in animal violence. Gods and Monsters is so disgraceful that I knew it would be bad 10 minutes in. It was just so disgraceful. But, there’s a silver lining now. Batman: Bad Blood has toned the violence down quite a lot and based on the trailers and clips for the next two films, it looks like things could finally be changing. Are we going back to DC’s prime in animation? It’s a possibility and one that I’m excited for. It’s fitting since the New 52 was cancelled that things would finally get back on track.
Now, lets start the actual review for this film. Batwoman is a new crime fighter in town who believes in destroying all of her opponents. She’s a villain who takes out other villains for the greater good and believes herself to be above the law. As expected, she gets in over her head and a group of villains decide to take her down. It would seem that she was just the bait to lure Batman in as he is forced to save her from Heretic and his goons which results in his capture. Batwoman must now team up with Nightwing and Damian to find and rescue the Dark Knight. Can they succeed and who is the true mastermind behind the scenes?
This film starts off with a lot of action and it never lets up. The first 10-15 minutes are effectively one long action scene. Batman and Batwoman are up against a bunch of C listers, but these guys still have decent abilities and the fight makes for a bunch of cool visuals. Also, Batman is still just a human so he can’t afford to let his guard down against anyone. While the villains may not seem all that intimidating, one good attack could always mean the end. The film did a great job of showing how Batman fights in contrast to the others though. He has no wasted movements and is easily able to handle multiple opponents by fighting very strategically. His fighting style here was focused on being defensive and launching powerful hits. I dare say that this film did a better job of illustrating that than any of the other DC films. Watch this title and see how the animators do a good job of distinguishing everyone’s fighting styles. It’s pretty impressive.
The animation is also very sharp. Some of the hand to hand scenes can maybe get a little stretchy like Talia vs Batwoman, but the style works well enough. The various colors help the contrast which is why the night scenes in particular have the best fights. The film is able to pull this off even in the day time by having the characters fight in doors. Damian vs the bulldozer guy was a good example of this. The strong sound effects and fluid animation helped this film produce some of the best fight scenes. I have Batman Beyond Return of the Joker as my favorite Batman film, but this one is really high up there as well. The main competition it would have is Under The Red Hood and Mask of the Phantasm. So, Top 3 is a real possibility, but I’ll refrain from actually placing it there for now since it could just be a knee jerk reaction of this film completely surpassing my expectations. I can’t say that I was particularly hyped for this film before watching it, but it certainly delivered.
An extra cherry on top for this film is the fact that it actually had a good soundtrack as well. Most films miss out on this nowadays, but Bad Blood has quite a few great action tunes and that helps to keep the intensity up from the start. The film may only be around 70 minutes long, but since the action never stops, it probably has more fights than most 100+ minute films.
The character cast is pretty solid as well. Batman isn’t in his right mind for most of the film, but he’s on point when he is. He’s very no nonsense the whole time and just shows up to take the villains down. He doesn’t bother with pleasantries or any of that. However, Damian was the standout here. This is how I’ve always pictured the character to act. Damian’s strong and extremely confident. The bragging works as long as he can back it up and he does a good job of it here. I don’t even mind his loss to Heretic since he was drugged first and still put up a good fight. He was trained by the League of Assassins so I expect him to be really skilled. He was a little underpowered in the first fight, but he managed to come back from that. The film couldn’t get the power levels absolutely perfect right? I’m not sure about Batwoman defeating Talia, that was a bit of a stretch. Still, I suppose she needed as least one win since that would have been sad for her fans otherwise.
I’m not really a Batwoman fan. She’s on the opposite side of the spectrum with the bragging. She talks a really good game, but ends up getting wrecked in almost all of her fights. She doesn’t last 5 seconds against Heretic and she was getting overwhelmed by the C list fighters. It wasn’t a good showing for her at all. I thinks she has the potential to be more likable than Batgirl, but she also feels like a Huntress ripoff at the same time. I guess I’ll need to wait and see what future films do with her. Nightwing’s not bad. It’s nice to see him getting more of a role in the films lately. It would be great if he had a little more confidence/arrogance like Damian though. Lately it seems like he’s completely mellowed out. That’s not bad, but it won’t help his personality.
Alfred looked really good here and his fight was one of the cool parts in the film. Bad Blood even managed to squeeze in Batwing. I haven’t read a comic with him yet, but he seems cool. He’s a not very subtle ripoff of War Machine, but as always DC managed to improve on the character. I already like him more than Rhodey. They both have a military background which explains why they can use the suits so easily, but Batwing seems far less likely to betray everyone to the government. His transformation scene was also pretty fun and definitely seemed like something out of Iron-Man. I’m definitely glad that he took the suit right away as well since a real character doesn’t wait for permission.
This aspect hurt Onyx quite a bit though. As a loyal bodyguard, I was expecting her to try and help Heretic out of at least avenge him. Part of being a good lackey is knowing when not to follow an order and that vengeance must come first. She waits way too long to do anything and that did destroy her whole character. There was nothing that she could do to exonerate herself, the time for action had passed. It was also unexpected since the film was playing it off like she was about to do something, but then decided not too. I do have to say that one other missed opportunity here was killing off Heretic before he could get a real fight. He was definitely a tough fighter so seeing him get a full fight against Nightwing or Damian would have been fun. He had a brief bout with Nightwing and to the hero’s credit, he was holding his own. The 2 on 1 fight just proved to be too much in the end.
Bad Blood is also good with the misdirects. I actually thought that Batwoman’s dad had turned evil since it would be the kind of twist that DC would turn to in the past. I’m glad that it wasn’t the case though because that would have been just plain unnecessary. He seems like a pretty good character so I’d definitely be on board with having him around in the future. That being said, sticking to the Bat cast is the best move. One of the reasons why this film was so good was because over 90% of the film stayed with the plot. Batwoman had a small subplot that was boring and acted as pointless filler, but it was probably less than 10 minutes if you combine all of the scenes. Keep the subplots as small as possible and your film will probably be a winner.
Overall, Batman Bad Blood was pretty solid. The nonstop action was good and it was just full of quality. For those of you who still want blood and intensity, there is a bit when characters are punched or stabbed, but it isn’t completely over the top and overdone like the last few films. It’s handled with a lot more dignity and composure this time around. If there’s anything that you may have a problem with, it’s that everyone seems to be breaking into the batcave these days. It did make for a decent jump scene though since I really wasn’t expecting Heretic to show up at that moment. The film was really good with having unexpected things occur. I highly recommend checking this film out. You will not be disappointed!
Overall 7/10
This was a movie that I definitely had high hopes for. I’ve always been a huge fan of the Adam West depiction of Batman and seeing it come back in movie format was quite the treat. Recently I got to read most of the trade paperbacks for the current Batman’66 comics (I’m behind by a volume now, but that’ll change at some point) and it just reminded me how cool he was. The film does a great job of bringing the characters back with minimal changes although it is also a huge missed opportunity because it breaks away from what made the series great towards the middle. More on that in a bit, but this is still a very good film that I recommend checking out.
The film starts off with business as usual for the daring crime fighters. They foil another plot by Catwoman, Penguin, Riddler, and the Joker. It’s a close fight though since the villains don’t play by the rules and have a lot of henchmen as well. Still, things are going smoothly until Robin notices that Batman is acting a little differently than usual. He’s quoting Frank Miller and using more extreme methods of taking down the villains. It would seem that Batman has now defected to the side of evil so Robin must team up with Catwoman to stop him. Can this unlikely pair defeat Batman or are they doomed before they have even begun?
So, that’s the missed opportunity that I talked about. Batman turning evil takes away from some of the fun because the whole point of what makes Adam West so cool is seeing Batman reprimand everyone and show why he is the perfect citizen. Nothing gets to Batman and he even obeys the smallest laws possible like not walking through a busy intersection. Batman’s antics and great quotes are the best part of the film, but we lose them by the halfway point since he is now evil. It was a risky move and I’m afraid that it did not pay off. As such, the first half of the film is far better than the second. The second half isn’t bad of course, but it is certainly a lot weaker.
I don’t really need to talk about Batman much because you get the memo by now. He’s an awesome hero. As a villain he is fairly interesting as well. The voice actor always does a good job with him and why not? West has a lot of experience voicing the character even though it’s been so many years. Batman may be a little naive and gullible when it comes to Catwoman, but every hero has a weakness of some sort. As far as that goes, this isn’t all that bad.
Robin’s a great sidekick and nice foil to Batman’s character. He’s the guy who always makes the small mistakes so then Batman has to reprimand him. Robin means well though so you can’t really hold it against him. His heart’s in the right place and he also sticks up for Alfred when Batman starts to go over the top. It’s easy to see why Robin’s always been such a fan favorite, this is one of his best depictions. Commissioner Gordon and the Mayor were also fun to have around. They are pretty open about how much they depend on Batman and they do tend to be lost without him. You need a Dark Knight to save the day from even the smallest of crimes when the cops are used to hanging in the background. It backfires a little when Batman turns evil, but at least they took it in stride.
Joker and the gang are also fun. This is the classic Joker that I’ve missed. He isn’t afraid to throw a few punches, but never forgets the one liners. The Riddler may love his riddles, but he does resist the urge to give one to Batman when the plan is fully in motion. Penguin has slightly less character than the others, but he’s a fighter and doesn’t go down easy. As for Catwoman, she mostly uses Batman’s emotions against him to take the upper hand. It’s a viable strategy though and if it works…it works. The 4 villains make for a very potent team and I don’t believe that Two Face will be able to top them in the sequel.
Aunt Harriet is one of those characters that I sort of miss from the old days. She can be super annoying so on one hand it is cool to not have her around anymore. On the other hand, it was interesting to have someone on the inside who was always trying to figure out Batman’s true identity. She really came close many times so I think it’s safe to say that she is a great security risk. One of the best scenes was when Batman arrived in the nick of time to prevent her from picking up the red phone. It did cost Alfred quite dearly, but he really shouldn’t have allowed her to get anywhere near that room. Surely Batman should have had some better defenses in place as well. The characters should all share the blame on that one. Aunt Harriet is certainly persistent with how she constantly goes after Batman and Robin.
There are a lot of stand out moments in this film. Again, the voice acting is excellent and so is the writing. This makes for a lot of really good scenes and Batman is excellent at sarcasm. The brief period where he is still a hero, but a slightly meaner one is also handled well. He’s grumpy, but still reasonable. I would have been more satisfied with the plot if he had stayed at that level instead of becoming totally corrupt. His “Frank Miller” fight scene against the villains was also pretty fun. You can’t help, but feel bad for them by the end of it though. They’re just not used to this level of violence from the normally polite and mild mannered Batman.
The animation is pretty sharp, yet familiar. The designs transition into animation very smoothly. The movie doesn’t get to show off its animation all that much, but it’s crisp enough where you can tell that it is good anyway. This movie’s audio is also quite good with the classic Adam West theme popping up and a lot of other retro tunes that you will associate with this era of comics. It helps to complete the package as a great retro event.
Overall, Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders is a return to greatness. While the second half weakens it a bit, the film just barely manages to cling to its high score. I have been less than thrilled with a lot of the recent DC films so this was a really nice change of pace. I do think that it was an improvement over the first Batman Unlimited film as well. I’m definitely glad to hear that there is already a sequel in development. This could potentially be a nice long movie series if DC plays their cards right. If you’ve never seen the Adam West show before then I super highly recommend this. You’ll be in for quite the surprise when you see this depiction of Batman. It’s very unique and like nothing that you will have ever seen before. Even if you don’t really follow comics, I recommend checking this film out for the strong dialogue and good technical qualities throughout. If the sequel plays it straight through and through, prepare for an even greater film next time. I have really high hopes for that one so I’m hoping that it can deliver!
Overall 8/10
It’s time to check out another Batman’66 volume! We are approaching the end of the series as volume 5 is the last one to have come out before the series ended. It’s been a good run and these stories have definitely been a blast. It’s no exaggeration to say that volume 4 is the best one yet and elevates the series to the next level. Seriously, the 5 star writing is pretty rare to find nowadays and the comic is handled just about perfectly.
There are 8 stories here so lets take a look at them. The first story may very well be the weakest. The main villain believes that he is actually a pharaoh so he decides to start robbing people. Batman and Robin make quick work of this guy while proving to the world that you can never count a hero out. They will always be watching and waiting! It’s a fun enough story, but there really isn’t a whole lot to it. You could substitute the villain in for anyone and the comic wouldn’t change at all. It’s like watching Batman and Robin stop a nameless gangster.
The next story was a little better. A guy with good flute skills decided to test his wits against the likes of Batman and Robin. That would prove to be his final mistake and as Batman pointed out, the good guys will always win in the end. This villain just didn’t think things through. The art was better in this issue than in the first one and while the villain was no threat either, the story was just more interesting. It’s a start and the catchy dialogue is what will keep you intrigued regardless.
The next adventure starred Batgirl as Batman and Robin actually didn’t need to appear this time. A guy who likes books a lot decided to enter a library. Unfortunately, he let two monsters loose by mistake since he forgot to heed the library’s warnings. Luckily, Batgirl realizes that every problem has an easy solution and she quickly learns how to seal the monsters while also ensuring that the bookworm will never return. It’s a rather tragic ending for him although Batgirl is very quick to justify her actions. Batman wasn’t around to state the moral of the day so I suppose she’ll get away with it this time. This was definitely a very quick story and I did miss Batman, but it was solid.
Things got more serious in the next story as Ffog made his debut. Yes, that is no typo, his name just happens to have a silent f. With his troop of girl scouts supporting the villain, Batman and Robin were quickly overwhelmed in round 1. After all, Robin refuses to hit a lady. Batman doesn’t abide by the same principles as he always states that justice does not discern by gender, unfortunately he was quickly taken down as well. Regardless, this story probably had the best art by this point in the collection and Batman had a lot of good one liners as always. Ffog made for a decent villain as well.
Next up saw the return of the Joker. This was probably hyped as a big story since such a legendary villain was involved. It was fun as the story used the classic trope of Joker pretending to be a good guy and fooling everyone aside from Batman. Batman even lost his cool at one point which is incredibly rare for him, but he apologized in the same panel and went on to remind Robin why justice is so good. Batman really loves to rub the morals in the face of his enemies. He does a good job of it that’s for sure. This was definitely one of the better stories.
Now, it’s time to look at the best story in the entire collection and I dare say the whole series. Lord Death Man has returned and Robin has been put out of commission as he fell on his head and is now very dizzy. Batman is forced to call on Batgirl while also criticizing the fact that a pink bat signal is used for her. He doesn’t partake in gender stereotypes after all. There is little time to discuss this though as the heroes are quickly thrown into a cavern and Batgirl is seemingly murdered. Batman is close to cracking, but ultimately reminds the villain that heroes don’t murder and lets Death Man destroy himself instead. There was a little plot hax here as Batgirl randomly got lost, but it happens I suppose. The story was hype and Batman’s a good role model for all heroes who end up making questionable choices through the years. This guy is one who will never stray from the straight and narrow.
Going back to the norm was the next issue as the Penguin jumped into the fray. I can’t take him quite as seriously as some of the other villains, but he’s all right I suppose. Nothing really stood out about this story and Batman really holds it together with his limitless wit and one liners that he uses to humiliate the villains. He even thinks one step ahead of the Penguin by setting a trap within a trap. It was most impressive! Robin tried to help out, but he didn’t do too well this time.
Finally, we had the lost episode story. This one nearly made it into the TV show and was finally brought back after all these years. Two Face is on the loose and Batman has to stop him before anyone is hurt. It also serves as a bit of an introduction to Two Face as Batman explains how his face was disfigured and why he uses a coin to decide what he will do next. This story definitely looked a lot different from the others as the art made it appear to be more of a New 52 title rather than 66. It definitely looks sharp and looks like what I’d expect Batman’66 to be if it wasn’t always trying to look super retro. This collection even brings the issue twice as it also contains the original black and white version. Batman reminds Two Face that there is always a chance and once a cure is found, he’ll be there.
As mentioned quite a bit already, Batman really steals the show here. This is the usual Adam West Batman, but to a more extreme degree. After all, the comics are very self aware so the characters are almost parodies of themselves. They’re incredibly exaggerated, but not in a Teen Titans Go way. They’re still likable characters here after all. Still, Batman is even more heroic than ever. He’s constantly lecturing someone about something and he’s never wrong about anything. Once in a while he’ll be so caught up in his sense of justice that he will miss obvious clues though. One example of this is when a few shady looking fellows walk into a bank. (I believe it was a bank) Batman goes on a tangent about how great it is that Gotham is a place where all cultures and religions can live in harmony while Robin is the only one to realize that these guys didn’t come here for rest and relaxation. Batman’s taken off guard by their sudden attack and the same thing happened in the past as well. Batman’s one weakness is ironically, his greatest strength. His sense of friendship and camaraderie with the rest of the characters.
Naturally, Robin is also affected by this self aware title. He is even more helpless than ever and always manages to say the wrong things so that Batman can correct him. He has absolutely no self confidence anymore and constantly says things like “You’re always right Batman” Of course, even that isn’t safe as Batman reminds him that nobody is always right. Seriously, Robin gets scolded in literally every panel that he is in and manages to lose all of his big fights as well. Robin is pretty accepting of this though and seems like a nice kid. Maybe he’ll be the one dishing out the morals someday…maybe.
The art is decent. The final comic is sharp and the Death Man adventure definitely looked pretty good. Sometimes the art can be very disproportionate though. It is noticeable when someone yells or you’ll just catch moments of this during the adventures. Batman’s costume also seems to have a white bit on his nose that is usually there, but vanishes sometimes. In the end I’d say that the art is good, but definitely not great like DC’s usual products. I suppose that it’ll help people relate to the classic days though.
Overall, This is a solid way for Batman’66 to start heading to the final volume. It has a lot of momentum riding with it at this point and hopefully the final volume will be just as good. If you’ve ever wanted to see the most exaggeratedly heroic character ever, then this is the comic for you. Even Superman would have a tough time trying to compete with this guy. It’d be great if we could ever see this version of Batman pop up in the regular comics someday. Who knows, a Batman’66 and Batman crossover could come out someday. The contrast between the two would definitely make for a great dynamic.
Overall 8/10
It’s hard to believe that I started this manga way back in January 2015. It’s been a long run, but now I have finally finished the series. It does a good job of following the Adam West esque format and most of these stories feel like they could have been from the comics. The volumes make for a fun read even if they never do anything to take the series to the next level. It’s a good story, but don’t look for anything beyond that.
There isn’t really an ongoing plot for the series as you may expect. Each story is roughly 3-5 parts though so the cases get a lot of screen time for the necessary plot. As such, there is never much of a need for an ongoing plot because weekly (If the series was in that format) it would have sort of had a plot. Of course, an ongoing plot could have certainly helped to have upped the stakes by the end of the series.
Batman is portrayed pretty accurately. Once in a while he’ll seem a little hurried or our of character with the occasional “Shut Up” comebacks to the villains though. It’s hard to picture Batman saying that. On the other hand, they do a good job of trying to make Batman extremely heroic to the point where he sometimes misses the obvious because of this. A good example occurs in the final volume. A mysterious shape shifter had already gotten the better of Batman and Robin twice. The next morning it is reported in the Newspaper that a new art piece has been added to the masters collection from a rather rich collector. She only allows world famous art to go in this collection typically so it this is odd right? Robin quickly points out that the timing of this is suspect, but Batman disagrees.
He says that anyone has the potential to be a masterpiece so this mysterious fellow must have just made a great piece. It couldn’t have anything to do with the shape shifter and there’s no way that this collector is being forced into letting the piece in. After all, Batman wants to prove that dedication can always win in the end. Robin urges Batman to check anyway though so they go and lo and behold, the art piece was actually the shape shifting villain. Batman’s always looking for a good moral to the point where it nearly cost the heroes dearly.
Batman also murders a guy by throwing a really heavy object at his head. It’s never really brought up and smoothed over rather quickly with Batman’s justification that he had to do this to save Robin. It was a tense situation and Robin was about to die so you have to decide whether this was the right move or not. Personally, I think there were a lot of other ways Batman could have stopped the villain so the scene was a little dicey. As for Robin, he’s in character the whole time. He’s always getting defeated in a fight and tends to be a liability. That being said, as in the example above, he does pick up on things quicker than Batman at times. If there is a moral to cloud Batman’s judgment, you can count on Robin to get the right answer first.
The series is 3 big volumes long so maybe that’d be closer to 5-6 if they were normal sized. Most of the villains are made up for the series so it’s hard to remember a lot of their names. Lord Death Man is certainly the fan favorite and he even made it into the Batman Brave and the Bold TV show. He is really good at escaping death even if he may have ultimately gone down one too many times by the end. There was a guy who believed that his cape made him invincible. By the end of his arc the twist was that it was all phony, but this explanation is a little dicey at best. Before that, we saw him survive some sure death scenarios. The characters say that he was lucky by the end, but that’s hard to buy. He fell a great distance into the rocks that led to the ocean. He could not have dodged from his angle so the cape had to have some super properties to it right? If it was total luck, then I think the writers probably did not think it through.
Another story arc parodied how dark the Batman comics have gotten in later years. At the time, it was probably more of a hypothetical though. In a TV show, Batman and Robin used intense methods to subdue the villains and the bad guys in the real world began to fear the Dynamic Duo. Batman wants to win his battles with one liners and friendship so he went to the station to shut down this program, but ended up getting kidnapped instead by the end. Still, the moral was that even villains always have a chance so scaring them right from the start is just not the right move this time.
We also had a nice robot arc which showed how important Batman and Robin are to the community. These robots can break and can’t think on their feet the way that the Dynamic Duo can. In the end, the police get rid of the robots because they’d rather have Batman save the day. The thing is, Batman and Robin can’t protect everyone forever and Batman acknowledges this, but says that it’s a problem for another day…maybe he’s right.
Another one was inspired by Star Trek or vice versa. Some super intelligent aliens decided to kidnap Batman and Robin so they could fight in space against a few other species. It was a 4 group free for all with Batman and Robin getting completely wrecked in each fight until they finally got the other aliens to team up with them and defeat the host. It goes to show that sometimes special powers can really come in handy.
There are a lot of other comic arcs to be found in the series, but those were just some examples. As the volumes are quite large, there’s enough time to get in quite a few adventures. I have only covered a fraction of the stories that are in the collection so if you want to see more of them, buy the volumes!
The art for the series is solid. All of the characters look fairly accurate to their traditional selves and we do get some fun fight scenes. The manga is very old which you can certainly tell as you read through the series, but it’s not dated in a bad way. It looks sharp and ultimately that’s really what matters in the end. Clear and sharp makes for a good combo when it comes to manga.
Overall, The Batman manga is a fun experience. It’s like reading through the lost season of the Adam West adventures. He fights against a large variety of villains and Bruce Wayne also gets to appear quite a bit so it’s not as if he’s Batman 24/7. Of course, this Bruce Wayne is typically pretty noble and similar to Batman, which makes for an interesting dynamic. I sort of wish Bruce was always like that in the current comics and movies as well. No reason why they can’t both be super heroic right?
Overall 7/10
I always liked Adam West’s portrayal of Batman. It felt on point and moreover..it felt natural. This is the Batman that I remembered, making lots of puns and having a good time while taking down villains. That being said, the serious Batman from New 52 or the DCAU is certainly a classic as well. Both versions certainly work well when given a good story to back themselves up. Volume 3 of Batman’66 plays out as you would expect it too. It doesn’t take any risks and simply follows the formula along. As such, nothing’s unexpected, but it’s still a good story like the first two volumes.
This one brings 6 issues so let’s take a look at hoe they fared. One of them saw an old Egg themed villain return, but he has now evolved to a level where he can use his mind for abilities like telepathy. Batman and Robin must now figure out a way to defeat this foe since the guy can basically defeat them with a glance. This won’t be easy…that’s for sure. My problem with this issue is simply the fact that the villain was portrayed to be way too powerful. Defeating the heroes with a glance is just too much and as a result, it’s hard to really believe the ending. It felt like plot hax was everywhere. That’s why you never want to make villains too powerful unless the heroes get some kind of power up as well.
One of the better stories definitely involved a big Batman robot that will help make Gotham city a nicer place. Batman trains the robot and decides to leave it to its own devices. The moral involves how robots can’t adapt to the situation, which you probably could have guessed from the get go. It’s obvious, but still fitting and I was glad that the robot didn’t randomly turn evil. I was actually expecting that the entire time so I was glad to be proven wrong. Maybe this was the best story in the collection.
Another issue involved a team up between the Penguin and Widow Black. These two are a dangerous tag team and actually defeat the heroes rather easily. The part that I don’t really buy is how quickly the Penguin betrayed her. Sure, Batman reminded him that he would be betrayed eventually, but didn’t he realize that from the get go? I feel like the writers had no idea on how to save the heroes since Batman and Robin were literally put in a sticky situation. Regardless of how realistic that ending may have been, it was good to see a new(ish) villain to the series. This isn’t her first appearance in media or anything like that, but I definitely don’t remember this villain so it’s probably been a while. She’s not the greatest, but more variety is a good thing.
Another all star is definitely the issue where a TV show of Batman and Robin is produced. This leads to a lot of dicey moments for the heroes since villains are beginning to fear them. They don’t want that. This isn’t the 90’s after all! They decide to shut down the program, but find out that it is being run by a villain. This was certainly an entertaining story and I always like the idea of villains using TV to wreck the heroes. It is a solid strategy and almost worked. If anything, the villain should have stayed undercover a little longer. The heroes wouldn’t have dared to have attacked him. A running gag was that the heroes would do “The Bat Business” to the villains, which makes them cower in fear. Considering that the heroes reluctantly hit the villains a little, it could be anything. I feel the comic was hinting towards tickling and that used to be a big joke back in the day, but thankfully that era has passed.
Next up, we saw the return of Batgirl! Batman and Robin are always eager to have another hero to help out, even if it makes Robin look a little worse in comparison. The Joker and Catwoman are teaming up this time so that means double trouble for the heroes. I’ll admit that this comic was surprisingly uneventful though. I can’t really remember the plot even after seeing the cover and the summary. I just remember Batgirl being in it and the quick team up as the heroes had to break up some fights. Not a bad comic, but not really a very good one either. Still, it is a Batman’66 comic that basically follows all the tropes so it’s your standard stuff.
Finally, Marsha decides to leave the Brady Bunch and make a name for herself. She wants all the jewels in the world and actually manages to enter the Bat Cave!!! Luckily for the heroes, She decides not to go for his secret identity since the cops could have been alerted. Not her best decision, but now the Dark Knight can rest easy as he takes her down once and for all. The villains weren’t actually that tough as Marsha can’t fight, but the tension of her possibly knowing his identity (Or coming close) really makes the issue.
It was a fine collection of issues. This volume’s definitely not as good as the Green Hornet crossover, but that…was a crossover. You can’t expect the normal volumes to come close. As far as going against volumes 1 and 2, I’d say that 3 is more of less the same. The thing with Batman’66 is that almost all of the issues are essentially interchangeable. It all comes down to whether you like the style or not. I still love seeing all of the puns and Batman ends up putting everyone in their place even when he only fights reluctantly. He wants to help all of the villains out after all. He makes for a great lead. Robin’s mostly just here to get humiliated and you can feel bad for the guy, but I suppose that he tries. He just tends to almost let the secret identity out a lot, which can certainly be disastrous.
The cover may be very underwhelming, but the art in the actual issues is still solid. It’s easy to really get into the flow of things and you’ll feel like you’re back in the 1960’s. The art does a good job of emulating the classic style and the overall comic is better off for it. I doubt it’s very difficult to draw from the artist’s perspective compared to other styles, but the finished product is really what counts.
Overall, This is a solid continuation from the first two volumes. At this point, you know whether you like the comics and its premise or not. It’s a lot of fun and is filled with many puns, but some Batman fans may still not be used to this happy version of the character. It’s a comedy over action volume as that is the direction that the series is typically focused on. It works quite well and I know what I want to happen in volume 4. We need Superman to appear. This series is typically very realistic, but now that it’s in comic format, I feel like adding Superman wouldn’t be super out of place. It could actually work if handled well…don’t you think?
Overall 7/10
Teen Titans was a great TV show and I definitely enjoyed the animation and action scenes back in the day. It was so good that I still consider it to be better than Young Justice and is the best DC show that wasn’t in the DCAU. Teen Titans Go, the current comedy show is pretty bad, but this comic is about their normal return so it’s still shown seriously and the characters are in their original designs. The stories are fun for the most part and it’s great to see the old characters back, but the art is verry wonky. It feels like the artists are either very bad or some of the illustrations were done on purpose because some of the pictures feel like they must have been on purpose…right!?
There are quite a few stories here and each one is a stand alone, which naturally means that some will be good and some will be bad. One of the decent stories involved Cyborg feeling bad because some kids thought that he was boring. His reaction to this was very overblown though and the plot could have been a side issue instead of the whole issue. It seemed to be a little out of character if you ask me. It was a decent story aside from Cyborg randomly getting a crush on the teacher. That basically wrecked the story and destroyed the moral at the end. Cyborg shouldn’t have needed to be reminded that he’s a cool fighter.
The worst story of the bunch involved Raven getting a zit and having the rest of the Titans tease her about it. That’s something that I would expect from their parody selves in the flash cartoon, not the characters form the real deal. Even Robin and Starfire get in on it at one point and the whole thing is pretty grating. The Trigon appearance comes out of nowhere and even though we did get a little action, there was nothing that could save the story at the end. You could tell that the writers were simply desperate for attention at that point.
The best story was the first one, which is pretty good from the writer’s point of view since it means that you can hook the readers in very quickly even if the stories go downhill from there. The Teen Titans had a blast playing video games, but little did they know that the HIVE was using the intel to see how the heroes were able to fight. It’s pretty ingeniious and computer software can help villains to try and anticipate what the heroes will do next. That being said, the villains have to still be strong enough to do something about this and I feel like Gizmo and his little crew will never be a match for the Teen Titans. Even Slade gets a small appearance here, which was neat. Action and video games make for a deadly combo and that’s really why this story could not be beat.
Another story featured the Gordanians. As I had just seen Justice League Starcrossed, it was neat to see them again. They arrive on Earth looking for the Dodo birds, but as the creature is basically extinct, that will be tough. Beast Boy must get his teammates to trust him so that they can all stop this alien menace. Unfortunately, BB has a tendency to lie for fun and his teammates can’t be sure if he’s telling the truth or not. It wasn’t a bad comic, but Beast Boy was way too mean and there’s no way that Starfire should have brought him a pizza at all since he tricked her in such a mean way. There was some action though and that’s always good.
There was also a Valentines comic where Robin had to take Starfire to an amusement park to show her why the day isn’t celebrated quite as nationally as days like Christmas and Thanksgiving. Unlike Teen Titans Go, this version of Robin isn’t interested in romance and it was a nice contrast to his parody self. He was too busy breaking high scores in DDR to worry about anything else and that’s the Robin that I remember. A fight is squeezed in there somewhere I think, but it was only a decent comic. Not a bad one though since Robin looked quite good and that’s always a big positive.
Finally, Thunder and Lightning returned as they had an argument with each other. It’s pretty nonsensical and they start fighting for no real reason, but the Teen Titans decide to join in and the big brawl starts very quickly. It’s mainly through misunderstandings, but it was good to see Robin charge in to stop the nuisances. Thunder and Lightning made for good villains in the TV show, but as heroes they aren’t very interesting and don’t add anything to the table. They certainly won’t be the next Dynamic Duo.
As for the art….it’s pretty bad. I still feel like it must have been at least partially intentional because of how bad it was. Seriously, I’ve seen fan art and fan comics that were drawn more accurately than some of these issues. The issues have many artists so the style keeps changing, but most of them turn out to be subpar. The anatomies will be seriously out of proportion in some moments and then the characters will have odd facial expressions in another. There is no sense of consistency and this also makes it difficult for any fight scenes to gain a whole lot of traction. The first issue was the best and had the best art, I don’t think that this is a coincidence. The art is clear and easy to read so it automatically beats some other styles like, dare I say, The Dark Knight Returns? Still, it’s way too spacy for me to call it anything other than bad art. It may not take a full star away, but coupled with the fact that the stories don’t knock it out of the park, I can’t give this comic the usual 7. It’s just not fun or good enough to get that kind of praise.
This is much better than the new Teen Titans Go and I’ll look forward to reading future collections of this series, but Teen Titans can do so much better. The series had a rich cast of super villains to choose from and the characters are also interesting enough to hold their own stories so the comics shouldn’t be afraid to give us some epic battles. The art needs to improve though and in this modern age there is no excuse for the art to not be dynamite. Daredevil and Black Widow’s new series may have bad art, but in their case it is completely intentional. For this collection, it’s just hard to say for sure if that is the case.
Overall, I recommend this comic to Teen Titans fans and to people who enjoyed the TV show. It’s nice to see the old characters back and that they are in character. Unfortunately, the stories aren’t the greatest and while some are good, others are downright bad. It’s the problem with stand alone stories since the quality always varies. The next comic that I’m reviewing has a similar format, but it works a lot better since the stories are all decently action packed.
Overall 6/10
Revisits are always fun and this is a Batman film that I’ve definitely seen a few times. I’ve always sided with Mask of the Phantasm from the classic Batman films, but this one certainly holds its own and has a nice blend of action and detective elements inside. I do think that the woman behind the mask is a cop out in the end, but so it goes.
A new vigilante has appeared with a bat inspired costume. She certainly has no qualms about crossing the line and goes all in on all missions. Batman has to put a stop to this before she does something she’ll regret or gets hurt in this crusade. After all, Batman’s been through a few tough scrapes before and he’s one of the greatest heroes of all time. It’ll be tough to catch her, but there are three key suspects for him to take a look at. The first is a new detective whose family business was burned by Thorne and they never recovered. We’ve got the motive and she definitely has a tough personality. Next up is the young genius from Wayne Enterprises who developed a new metal which can be transfigured into any shape with ease. This has a lot of practical applications as well as uses in the field. Hmmmm. Finally, we have the daughter of a big gang who is rich and likes to go on adventures. She’s certainly got the resources. Well, it’s time for Batman to look into this!
The film moves at a fairly quick pace and the first action scene happens immediately. It’s a formula that all films should follow. Literally all films without exception should open up with some kind of action/fight scene to get the fans hyped. It was probably the best looking scene animation-wise as well. There’s only one plot that I’m not crazy about and I’m sure that all of you can guess if you’ve seen the film. Does Bruce Wayne have to have a love interest in every single film? It gets old fast and the film didn’t need that. He falls in love with the gangster’s daughter of course and that definitely distracts him from the case for a little while. As far as romances go, it’s not terrible, but it’s still rushed and doesn’t really have a place in the film.
Aside from that, Batman was in character for this film. As Batman, he puts the pieces together with ease and he looks like the experienced hero that he should be. It’s always annoying to see so many films show him as a novice or a rookie. I want to see Batman as an experience veteran and I’m willing to bet that most of his fans feel the same way. They’ll be satisfied with how he looks here and his fight against Bane is one of the highlights of the film. It’s a good battle and neither fighter is willing to back down until the battlefield forces a change. Batman is a little outmatched here, but I blame it on cheap shots and the fact that Batman had to watch out for everyone. Otherwise, I go with Batman every time, but Bane makes for a very good opponent. Bane is always portrayed as a strong villain, but this film also showed his intelligent side. It’s not shown very often, but he is crafty and a very deadly mercenary. Certainly not your average power enemy.
Kathy gets the largest role from the 3 new heroines. From the three characters, I’d put her in the middle. Her romance with Bruce is a bit much, but aside from that she’s all right. The problem is that the romance makes up most of her character and she doesn’t get a whole lot of screen time as Batwoman. Rocky is my least favorite member of the three. It’s cool that she’s smart, but she’s a little too timid for me to find her very likable. Rocky also should have broken up with the dude who’s in prison. Sure, he did everything to help her in the long run, but he still came across as rude and ungrateful. It’s good to see that she’s good at video games though. The best member is certainly Sonia. She’s the most determined and is the most passionate about her goals. She’s willing to take on Batman if necessary and nearly gets into a gunfight with him.
From the villains, I forgot how weak the Penguin is. He definitely looks very inept as a villain, but it makes sense that he would be out of shape from pretending to be a villain for so long. Rupert Thorne isn’t any better and I’ve never found him to be an interesting villain. Ditto for the new gang boss. The two ladies who work for the Penguin were impressive though and they gave Batwoman a great fight. It was one of the more enjoyable fights in the film. Penguin’s definitely hired some very good help, that’s for sure.
All in all, the film’s just a lot of fun. It’s always nostalgic to see the definitive version of Gotham and the cases that it brings. I don’t know how long the film is, but it goes by very quickly while still having enough time to introduce all of these characters and provide us with some fight scenes. The writing is very well done as well and it much better than most other superhero films in that category.
Naturally, the animation is quite good here. The DCAU holds up so well through the test of time that it beats most of the current products from DC. The character models are still perfect and make for great fight scenes that are easy to watch and still carry the weight behind each punch that I tend to miss nowadays. It doesn’t have the same theatrical feel that Sub Zero and Mask of the Phantasm had. That’s fine as a movie doesn’t need to have that film feel. There aren’t a large abundance of films that have been able to pull that off after all, but it’s fun to see.
I wouldn’t say that there’s too much of a soundtrack here. It’s certainly not as epic as in Mask of the Phantasm. That being said, there is one song popped up during the credits and the scene in the lounge. It was pretty good and seemed to be treated like a bit of a guest star appearance for the singer. It fit well and it’s the kind of song that can easily be turned into a fight scene theme without sounding off. It’s not the quickest song in the world, but it’ll do. Beyond that, the soundtrack is mostly just the sound effects during the scenes. Usually, this is so subtle that I don’t even notice that the scene is basically silent. It’s always interesting to think back and try to remember if there was music in a scene or not.
Overall, This is a good Batman film. It’s certainly one of his best even when we count all of the non DCAU ones. I remember thinking that there wasn’t enough action in this film whenever I saw it back in the day. It’s not a huge issue, but I do think that another fight scene or two would have been good. Maybe a longer one between Batman and Batwoman since the first scuffle ended with a cheap shot. Batman’s prep time did help him out though and I’m glad that he kept on solving the mysteries. If you haven’t seen this film yet, then you should definitely fix that ASAP! It’s a Batman film that all Batman fans can enjoy and even if you’re not a comic book reader, it’s easy to follow along. Once you see the film, you can decide if the ending is a cop out or not.
Overall 7/10
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