Batman Beyond

Batman, Comic Book Titles, Super Heroes, Vinnie's Personal Favorites No Responses »
Aug 252010

Now this is a more unique take on the classic superhero. Batman Beyond, Seasons 1-3 (DC Comics Classic Collection) (1999-2000) takes place in the future. Bruce Wayne is too old to continue as Batman. Luckily, a new teenage protégé named Terry McGinnis comes along. Bruce is against it at first, but Terry shows valor and nobility to do what’s right.

The new and improved Batman has new gadgets like wings and rocket boots to help him fly, stealth capabilities, and super strength within the suit. Not to mention that Bruce can monitor everything and keep in contact from the bat cave.

Since all of Batman’s original archenemies are either dead or middle-aged, Terry ends up finding new archenemies to fight. Such as; Inque a shape-shifting blob of a woman, Spellbinder an intelligent creator of illusions, Blight a man with radioactive skin, the Royal Flush Gang a family of mobsters dressed like playing cards, and others.

Of course Batman Beyond doesn’t change everything from the original versions. One of Gotham City’s biggest street gangs is known as the Jokerz. The punks all dress as clowns with attitudes. As for Bruce Wayne’s other old comrades, Dick Grayson had left Gotham City awhile back and Barbara Gordon has become the new commissioner, which is a little helpful.

There was also a movie based on the series called Batman Beyond – Return of the Joker. The Joker was as tough as ever, but that was nothing compared to the Joker on The Dark Knight, who was played by Heath Ledger. Now he was crazy. Though it was disappointing that Harley Quinn wasn’t in that movie also.

Star Wars star Mark Hamill was the voice of the Joker on this movie and Batman the Animated Series. I met him at Star Wars Celebration V 2010.

Despite that the story lines can be dark sometimes, this was a great series. But what really makes Batman Beyond such a great show was the background music during the fight scenes. Hard rock and battles are an excellent mixture.

  • Share/Bookmark
Posted by Vinnie at 9:00 am Tagged with: , , ,

1990s Batman Cartoon

Batman, Comic Book Titles, Super Heroes 2 Responses »
Apr 052010

This Batman series, known as Batman the Animated Series (1992-1995), is more of a crime fighting drama, like in the comic books. There are no pop-up words and the action is more intense.

It also features more of the villains from the comics, who aren’t in the 60s version, such as Two-Face, Bane, Scarecrow, the Ventriloquist, Poison Ivy, and my personal favorite, Harley Quinn. All of the colorful villains are not kept in jail when they’re caught. They get sent to Arkham Asylum, where they can be rehabilitated and possibly become normal again. What are the odds of that ever happening? Then of course there’s the revelation of the villains’ real names along with some of their background stories. That makes it even more interesting.

This is also when I first learned that Batman’s dark presence and mask are only meant to scare the bad guys. It doesn’t really work against most of the arch villains since some of them are already a bit freaky, but it sure works against other criminals on the streets.

It was also difficult for me to follow the series since Batman does much of his crime fighting solo. In the 60s version, Robin always fights by Batman’s side. On this show, Robin sometimes joins in and even Batgirl makes appearances. Just not all the time.

There were several Cosplay characters from a couple of different conventions I’ve been to. The Joker, Harley Quinn, and Poison Ivy were from MegaCon 2010 and the Penguin was from Spooky Empire 2009.

Overall, it’s a good series that helped me understand the franchise better. The movie versions even made more sense that way.

  • Share/Bookmark
Posted by Vinnie at 9:00 am Tagged with: , ,

Batman 1977 Cartoon Series

Batman, Comic Book Titles, Super Heroes No Responses »
Feb 012010

It wasn’t until a few years ago when I found out about this animated version of Batman. Adam West and Burt Ward reprise their roles as the voices of the dynamic duo in The New Adventures of Batman – (DC Comics Classic Collection) (1977-1978), who do what they do best. Fight crime in the city of Gotham.

The crime fighting action is very minimal around to the level of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, but the story lines and capers are creative and adventurous.

Bat Girl even helps out on occasion, but what really makes this show different is the little magical hero Bat-Mite. He’s always so eager to help the team fight crime, but only ends up getting in the way. I guess you could say that Bat-Mite is like the Orko of the group. He’s magical, but his powers are limited. “Oh, bat baloney.”

Quite a few of the same colorful villains are on this series. Ones like the Joker, the Penguin, Cat Woman, Mr. Freeze, and Clay Face. Along with some other different villains. It’s strange that even though the Riddler is also featured among the villains in the theme, he hasn’t made any appearances on this show. Not one. A little disappointing, don’t you think? In a way, the Joker makes up for it by using jokes in the form of riddles. He also does very good impressions, but Batman knows better.

And let’s not forget Zarbor, the biggest villain from Bat-Mite’s home world Ergo. He’s more powerful than the other villains combined, even on Earth. Zarbor can shrink buildings with only one finger. That’s amazing.

I really enjoyed this series. Despite how many times Bat-Mite has messed up, he’s still a devoted ally. Just like Orko.

  • Share/Bookmark
Posted by Vinnie at 9:00 am Tagged with: , ,

Retro Batman

Batman, Comic Book Titles, Super Heroes 1 Response »
Nov 042009

 Batman - The Movie“Holy retro, Batman”. The classic superhero has had many versions of movies and TV series and is still making more. Batman (1966-1968) was the first version I’ve seen, which stars Adam West and Burt Ward as the dynamic duo.

What makes the franchise so memorable to me are the colorful villains. The Joker (Caesar Romero) is a clown, the Penguin (Burgess Meredith) has different umbrellas and wears a purple top hat, the Riddler (Frank Gorshin) has green tights and leaves riddles, and so on. The villains’ henchmen sometimes have names that stick out. For example, Catwoman (Julie Newmar) once had henchmen named Eenie, Meanie, Mynie, and Moe. In another episode, the Joker had henchmen named after the planets of the solar system while committing zodiac related crimes. That’s pretty clever. There were many other colorful villains as well. Unfortunately, villains like Two-Face, Poison Ivy, Scarecrow, and Harley Quinn were not among them. So I didn’t know about those characters until later on.

My favorite parts in the series are the fight scenes, where words pop up to express the action. The violence level is very minimal. Not much different than Get Smart, but I still think it works just as well. Real comic book style.

In 1966, there was Batman – The Movie (Special Edition) based on the series, which featured all of the same actors. Except for Catwoman, who was played by Lee Meriwether. Then again, Julie Newmar and Eartha Kitt also played Catwoman. That used to confuse me, but who keeps track.

I met Adam West at FX Convention 2008. As much as I enjoyed this series, I thought it would be nice to meet the legendary star. Unfortunately, it wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. First off, Adam West charges $50 for his autograph. Normally an autograph is worth $20 or $25. Instead, my sister took my picture with him, which cost me $20. The first attempt, Adam West didn’t smile at all. She tried again while asking him to smile and Mr. West was all, “Oh, god.”  As you can see here, this was his best attempt.  I wasn’t disappointed because it was still good to have met him.

Adam West and me

At the different conventions, I’ve heard from other people that it wasn’t the first time Adam West was like this, but that’s not gonna stop me from enjoying this classic series.  Uh-uh.  In fact, I still recognize the bronze statue, which is actually a switch to open the secret passage to the Bat cave.  It’s in the convention programs all the time.

  • Share/Bookmark
Posted by Vinnie at 5:35 am Tagged with: , , , , , , , , ,
© 2010 What Vinnie Thinks Suffusion WordPress theme by Sayontan Sinha

Bad Behavior has blocked 72 access attempts in the last 7 days.