Batman

Smallville Season Eleven: Detective

Smallville Season Eleven: DetectiveWhen the news first broke that Bryan Q. Miller was introducing Batman to the Smallville Universe and bringing Stephanie Brown with him I was excited. DC Editorial decision to substitute Batman’s partner for Barbara Gordon (who they were currently pushing as part of the New 52 reboot) had just the adverse effect. So I’d stayed away from the storyline until I recently picked up the collected trade paperback. Sure, I’d rather have Steph than Babs, and this version of Batman’s costume is a little too much like Knight for my liking, but it’s still pretty good.

The story centers around Batman and Nightwing coming to Metropolis in search of Joe Chill as the Dark Knight Detective has finally got a lead on the man who murdered his parents. Offering us the first meeting between Batman and Superman, in classic comic fashion as the pair fight before later cementing their friendship, the storyline also features Mister Freeze and the Prankster who team-up to take down the heroes with Kryptonite bullets and an insidious plan using the likeness of one of comic’s greatest heroes as a ploy to steal weaponized drones.

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Coming Soon

  • Title: Batman: Assault on Arkham
  • IMDB: link

Following Son of Batman (available for download now, and on DVD and Blu-ray next week), DC Animation turns to Batman: Assault on Arkham for its next project. Returning Kevin Conroy as Batman, the film is obviously inspired by the popular video game franchise whose design I’ve never really care much for (although the gameplay is at times quite a bit of fun), in a storyline centering around the Joker (Troy Baker), Arkham Asylum, and a New 52-ish version of the Suicide Squad (Neal McDonough, Eliza Dushku, Hynden Walch, Kevin Grevioux). Batman: Assault on Arkham should hit the direct-to-video market sometime later this summer.

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Batman – On Leather Wings

  • Title: Batman: The Animated Series – On Leather Wings
  • wiki: link

Batman: The Animated Series - On Leather Wings

After spending time take a look back at some of Superman‘s television adventures, and in honor of Batman‘s 75th Anniversary, we turn out attention to those of The Dark Knight. Four years before Superman got his own 90s series of animated adventures, DC premiered what still stands as the benchmark for every animated series which came afterwards. Inspired by Tim Burton‘s successful Batman films and the classic Fleischer Superman cartoons, producers Bruce Timm and Eric Radomski would craft an ambitious series and the first piece of DC Comics’ Timmverse which would continue to produce the best animated super-hero cartoons ever made over the next decade.

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DC Nation – Batman Beyond

  • Title: Batman Beyond
  • wiki: link

DC Nation - Batman Beyond

As part of the ongoing celebration of Batman turning 75, DC Comics commissioned Darwyn Cooke to write a DC Nation short in the Batman Beyond Universe. Returning both Will Friedle and Kevin Conroy to voice two generations of Batman, the short features the Batcave infiltrated by a robotic Batman (H.A.R.D.A.C.?) in The New Adventures design taking on both Terry McGinnis (Friedle) and Bruce Wayne (Conroy).

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Batman: Strange Days

  • Title: Batman: Strange Days
  • IMDB: link

Batman: Strange Days

Returning to the DC Animated Universe he helped build, Bruce Timm returns for a special DC Nation Short honoring Batman’s 75th Anniversary. Written, designed, and storyboarded by Bruce Timm, the animated short allowed Timm to takes his original slender and retro designs and craft a period piece set in Batman‘s early days. The result is pretty damn terrific black-and-white short. Although I usually prefer a little more color in my Dark Knight, my only real complaint is that it is far too short.

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