Batman

Batman: The Adventures Continue Season Two #5

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Batman: The Adventures Continue Season Two #5 picks up the thread of the man killed on a yacht in Gotham Harbor from the previous issue and explores the history of Batman with former Gotham City Mayor Emerson Mayfield and his former private army of corrupt cops. After chasing out the crooked politician years before, Mayfield has returned (and taken to removing anyone that might stand in his way to reclaim his former public office).

Overall, a pretty forgettable issue. Rick Burchett has the unenviable task of following up the amazing art by Jordan Gibson from the last issue. Burchett’s art is fine here, if a bit rushed in some panels that’s not altogether unexpected on a title like this (but it is a huge drop-off in quality from Gibson’s work that makes it hard to believe issue #4 and #5 came from the same comic).

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Batman: The Adventures Continue Season Two #4

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Batman: The Adventures Continue Season Two #4

“The Muscle” introduces a new mercenary to Gotham City. The Muscle arrives in Gotham Harbor, silencing a witness and destroying a yacht for his latest client, before setting his sights on his next target: Detective Renee Montoya.

The first attempt from a rooftop sniper’s perch is broken up by the timely arrival of Detective Harvey Bullock. And Bruce Wayne manages to thwart the second attempt after a fundraiser, earning him an overnight hospital stay for his trouble. 

Batman: The Adventures Continue Season Two #4 offers an enjoyable single-issue tale featuring a mysterious new villain and some terrific artwork by Jordan Gibson whose style meshes wonderfully with that of the show and knows just how to use shadow to frame the characters.

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Batman: The Long Halloween (Part Two)

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Batman: The Long Halloween (Part Two)
  • IMDb: link

Batman: The Long Halloween (Part Two) DVD reviewBatman: The Long Halloween (Part Two) concludes the two-part adaptation of Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale‘s thirteen-issue maxi-series. Part Two races through the remainder of the story with more villains, more holidays, flashbacks to a young Bruce Wayne, the birth of Two-Face (Josh Duhamel), and (when it remembers to get around to it) the final unmasking of the Holiday killer. The adaptation takes a more definitive approach to Gilda (Julie Nathanson), playing off the heavy foreshadowing from Part One.

The movie jumps around a bit, and with so much focus on Bat-villains such as Poison Ivy (Katee Sackhoff) and Scarecrow (Robin Atkin Downes) who both put Batman out of action for a bit (seriously, Batman gets his ass handed to him quite a bit here), the actual Holiday mystery gets buried. The script also dives into a bit more of the mobster plot, and its ties to the Wayne family, along with the reveal of Catwoman‘s (Naya Rivera) interest in the Falcone family.

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Batman: The Adventures Continue Season Two #1

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Batman: The Adventures Continue Season Two #1 comic reviewBatman: The Adventures Continue, um, continue in a new volume. Writers Alan Burnett and Paul Dini, and artist Ty Templeton, all return for the first issue of Season Two which introduces the Court of Owls to the expanded DC Animated Universe. Issue #1 focuses on a Talon killing Mayor Hill and doesn’t get too bogged down in the backstory of the secret organization who created zombie soldiers to rule Gotham City from the shadows.

Batman: The Adventures Continue Season Two #1 also brings in Deadman, who up until this point has yet to meet Batman (confirming events from this comic take place before the Justice League Unlimited episode “Dead Reckoning,” while also creating a continuity error as the episode states Batman originally met Deadman while helping the spirit solve his own murder).

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Batman: The Long Halloween (Part One)

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Batman: The Long Halloween (Part One)
  • IMDb: link

Batman: The Long Halloween (Part 1) DVD reviewWarner Bros. Animation finally gets around to adapting the thirteen-issue maxi-series from Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale which follows Batman (Jensen Ackles) over one year as he attempts to catch a murderer know as Holiday for a killing on every major holiday tied to the Falcone crime family.

“Part One” takes us from Halloween and the first crime through New Year’s Eve (roughly through the first 4 issues of the storyline). As in the comic, we get appearances from several of Batman’s rogues gallery including the Joker (Troy Baker), Calendar Man (David Dastmalchian), Solomon Grundy (Fred Tatasciore), and Catwoman (Naya Rivera). Both Catwoman and Harvey Dent (Josh Duhamel) have large roles in the story as along with Jim Gordon (Billy Burke) they all are looking to take down crime boss Carmine Falcone (Titus Welliver). The dense storyline has been simplified a bit, and the Joker’s extended sequence remind me of one of the comic’s original failings as the more colorful villains distract from the narrative as they take over center stage.

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