Batman

Assault on Arkham

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Batman: Assault on Arkham
  • IMDb: link

Batman: Assault on ArkhamPurposely made to resemble the look and tone of the Arkham Asylum video games (which are more fun to play than watch) and featuring the New 52 version of the Suicide Squad (widely regarded as DC’s worst comic over the past three years), Batman: Assault on Arkham is something of a mixed bag. The character designs are drab, the character interactions are particularly one-note, and the logic of the script is rather weak (sending Task Force X into Arkham not to find a dirty bomb but to retrieve a questionable source of information).

The straight-to-DVD movie does offer us Kevin Conroy reprising the role as Batman, but the rest of the voice cast, while not awful, is quickly forgettable. The squad itself is made up of Deadshot (Neal McDonough), Killer Frost (Jennifer Hale), the least impressive version of King Shark possible (wasting the talents of John DiMaggio), a particularly slutty Harley Quinn (Hynden Walch), the argumentative Captain Boomerang (Greg Ellis), the rather nondescript Black Spider (Giancarlo Esposito), and the quickly-dispatched KGBeast (Nolan North) whose unfortunate early exit is rather disappointing.

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Batman ’66 #14

/ / Comics

Batman '66 #14Although he never actually appeared on the 60s television show, there’s little doubt such a creation like the Batrobot (which we’ve seen in various forms over the years in different media such as most recently in Batman: The Brave and the Bold) would be right at home in the campy confines of this version of Gotham City.

In an issue that instructs the reader about advances in technology and their limits, Batman ’66 #14 features Batman creating a giant Batrobot to police the city giving the Dark Knight Detective and Robin a vacation. Despite the early successes the robot taking down the likes of Clock King, Louie Lilac, and the Archer, the robots limitations are revealed when it fails to handle the team-up of the illogical combination of the Joker and the Riddler. It looks like Batman’s job is safe for the time being.

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Beware the Batman – Monsters

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Beware the Batman – Monsters
  • wiki: link

Beware the Batman - Monsters

The arrival of a group of heavily armored and well financed thugs roaming the streets of Old Gotham, along with a mysterious savior whom the neighbor has dubbed their Golem, brings Batman (Anthony Ruivivar) and Katana (Sumalee Montano) to Gotham City’s poorest part of town. Unmasking Metamorpho (Adam Baldwin) as the Golem doesn’t stop the mercenaries working for the imprisoned Simon Stagg‘s (Jeff Bennett) daughter Sapphire (Emmanuelle Chriqui) nor the out-of-control District Attorney Harvey Dent (Christopher McDonald) intent on taking down the city’s vigilantes by any means necessary.

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Batman Beyond Universe #13

/ / Comics

Batman Beyond Universe #13Sometimes a comic can surprise you. After largely ignoring Batman Beyond Universe I decided to pick up the latest issue which promised the return of the Phantasm, flashbacks to the old Batman: The Animated Series days, and the reveal of what really destroyed the Bat-Family all those years ago.

Batman Beyond Universe #13 weaves a story that feels more like part of the Timmverse, without being overly nostalgic, rather than the increasingly watered down version we’ve seen come and go in recent years. The result is the best Batman Beyond comic I’ve read and easily sells me on the conclusion of the two-part storyline which will not only see the fallout between Dick Grayson, Barbara Gordon, and Bruce Wayne but also force Terry McGinnis to deal face-to-face with the man responsible for the death of the man who raised him.

Joining the comic with this issue, artist Phil Hester manages to faithfully recreate the look of both series. I particularly love the flashback art. Best of the week.

[DC, $3.99]

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