Batman (created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane)

[Thad]

[Grath]

Piano Guys Batman Evolution youtube video

Oh hey. I should watch that. I used to be subscribed to their channel until that subscription lead to getting Mormon propaganda in my Youtube front page.

[Grath]

[Blossom]

[beatbandito]

You sure are good at making posts no one can look directly at, TA.

[Thad]

This week it was everybody constantly reminding Gordon that Selina Kyle's nickname is "Cat" because she likes cats.

[Büge]

They call him Penguin because he likes tuxedos.

Firefly has the world's largest collection of Joss Whedon memorabilia.

Bane owns stock in Mitt Romney's investment group.

[Thad]

This week's episode had a guy they called "Baloonman" who killed people by tying them to weather balloons. And it didn't spend the whole episode pointing to characters and saying the names of established Batman villains.

It wasn't a strong episode but it WAS a step in the right direction.

[Bal]

So. Balloonman is a step in the right direction? I'm really left to wonder why they did this instead of Gotham City P.D.

[Thad]

Picked up Batgirl #35, the first Stewart/Fletcher/Tarr issue (whose cover has been making the rounds since it was released).

I'm not the target audience for this book and I'm not sure I'll be picking it up again next month, but there's a lot to like. I love the art, the bright colors, and the layouts -- visually, it's great, if a little light on Batgirl; tonally, it's a wonderful change from the usual DC grimdark.

It didn't hook me in quite the way that Gotham Academy did, and I'm frankly a little disappointed by the "Babs goes to college" choice, which feels like it de-ages her even further from her previous de-aging. The new supporting cast hasn't really done anything for me yet, Alysia's barely in it and I can't say I'm crazy about this (mostly antagonistic) version of the Babs/Dinah relationship. I'm sure they're going somewhere with all of that stuff, but it hasn't clicked for me.

That said, I think it's a great book and I'm glad it's out there, I'm just not sure if it's for me or not. And that's fine!

[Thad]

ComicsAlliance interviews Len Wein on Batman '66: The Lost Episode

[Thad]

You know, every time I feel like, what with the constant editorial meddling and sudden resignation of creators, Batwoman has started to decline and maybe I should drop it, something happens to pull me back in.

In this case: issue #35 opens with Batwoman in space. With Clayface, the Demon, and Ragman, fighting Morgan le Fay.

In media res; there is no explanation whatsoever for what the fuck is going on, how she met any of these characters, or what they are doing in space. (Apparently that part of the story is next month.)

Okay, you know what, Batwoman? I forgive you for that Future's End crap last month. Even if nothing much happened this issue or made any sense, that's okay. You had me at "Batwoman in space" and the rest is just gravy.

[Thad]

Morena Baccarin is Leslie Thompkins.

Good. A show with a young Bruce Wayne and no Leslie Thompkins is a missed opportunity.

[Thad]

So last month, Gotham Academy #1 reintroduced Aunt Harriet to continuity.

This month, we find out that the Bookworm is the school librarian.

And Professor Milo is in the Snape role.

[Disposable Ninja]

Obviously he would create his own party. The Batmoose Party.

[Thad]

Wired: Why We’re Just Now Getting the 1960s Batman TV Show on DVD

It's interesting stuff. Yes, as you may have heard, there was a rights dispute between Warner and Fox, but it's actually rather a lot more complicated than that (as the rights to the footage itself were split up among 5 different heirs of William Dozier).

Fun fact: up until now, the only person who owned a legal, officially-created-by-Fox copy of the complete series was Mark Hamill, who talked Fox into giving him the entire series on VHS when he was working on Batman: TAS.

Link via Mark Evanier, who clarifies one of the facts in the article: yes, DC did indeed sell the TV rights to Batman for a mere $7,000, but that's not actually the naive business decision it might seem. Jack Liebowitz was gearing up to sell the company, and in exchange selling the Batman rights for a pittance, he paved the way for a massive hit TV show that greatly increased the value of the company he was getting ready to sell.

[Thad]

Johanna Draper Carlson collects a handful of short comments by Adam West on the Batmobile, Cesar Romero, the show's lasting influence, and the Batusi.

[Thad]

Having wrapped up his weekly reviews of the 1990's X-Men cartoon, Sims has moved on to the series he was born to do: weekly reviews of Batman '66.

For Sims, it's actually pretty dry; he's a lot funnier when he's writing about something he doesn't like than when he's writing about something he does. But there's some interesting stuff in there, including comparisons of the first episode to the comic it's adapted from and noting the tonal differences from later episodes.

[Thad]

tl;dr Easter egg in Arkham City if you set your system clock to the day Rocksteady was founded and talk to Calendar Man.

[Thad]

Recall on a couple of the Batman '66 DVD's and Blu-Rays; a little bit of content is missing.

Amounting to less than five minutes of footage within the 50-plus hours of entertainment, the issues encompass one 60-second dropped scene in the episode entitled "Marsha's Scheme of Diamonds"; a brief piece of rarely-heard William Dozier narration that originally opened the pilot episode, "Hi Diddle Riddle"; and an assembly of villain tags from the end of assorted episodes.

[...]

To resolve these issues for consumers purchasing Batman: The Complete Television Series, WBHE will make available complete replacement discs for the discs that originally included the episodes "Marsha's Scheme of Diamonds" and "Hi Diddle Riddle." The villain tags will be re-issued as an assembled string on one of the aforementioned discs and, as an added bonus, WBHE has acquired rights and legal clearances to both a Bat-vehicle teaser that originally aired as part of the second season-opening "Shoot A Crooked Arrow" episode, and one of the original promotional tags that aired on the original showing of the "The Duo Defy" episode. Additionally, all fixes will be made to all Digital HD versions of Batman: The Complete Television Series.

There's a link to the WB customer service page, which is just a general contact page.