The Batman "The Breakout" Talkback (Spoilers)

[The Penguin]

Black Mask makes his on-screen animated debut in an all-new episode...

The Batman #45 - The Breakout
Original Airdate - November 11th, 2006

When notorious crime boss Black Mask is captured, his organization works to break him of out jail. But when Batman is sidelined, Batgirl and Robin must prove they can be heroes on their own and stop Black Mask.

Comments?

[Duke]

Black Mask wasn't really all that special. I have about 0 clue about Black Mask in the comics, but this guy is like a gangster version of Skeletor.

[Anarky]

Black Mask wasn't really all that special. I have about 0 clue about Black Mask in the comics, but this guy is like a gangster version of Skeletor.

here's the really short version: http://dccomics.com/dcdirect/?dcd=3101

In the comics Black Mask succeeded where Joker, Penguin, Two-Face, and Scarface failed: organize a vast criminal organization, essentially owning Gotham's Underworld. His "army" was The False Face Society. I'm not too familiar w/ his current schemes but when I was reading comics about 10 yrs ago, he was serious business who was a threat to both Bruce Wayne and The Batman.

[jv2k]

I really enjoyed this episode. The dialogue between batgirl and robin was great, the action was great, and the story was good too. My only real issue was that black mask seemed too much like a james bond villain.

[ROBOTRON]

- 4 stars.

I liked this episode.

The interesting part was the interaction of Robin and Batgirl working together (without Batman)...it came off well. Black Mask himself wasn't all that special...sorta what 2-face might've been if he were on TB. His henchmen were cool and I liked the way he turned on number 1 at the end, showed you what a scoundrel Black Mask was.

However, Black Mask and his henchman bringing the copter back to police headquarters at the end was way too easy and unrealistic. Otherwise, a good eppy.

BTW...it was pretty funny Batman heard every word Batgirl and Robin said. LOLz.

[CyberCubed]

Robin and Batgirl made this episode, but that was obvious, wasn't it?

They really worked well together, especially all the ways they stopped the guys from getting in the police station. Nice stuff.

Black Mask was uh...ok. He wasn't especially compelling himself, but still a great episode.

[Mad Mod 49]

Robin and Batgirl own all.

And yeah, Blackmask was a dissapointment. His lead guy Dr. One was more of an active threat in this episode than he was.

[tb4000]

The zombie one for next week looks pretty disturbing.

[creativerealms]

Dick and Barbara shippers would really like this episode. They had great chemestry in this episode.

Yeah Blackmask's Organization was a bigger threat then Black Mask himself. Only when he turned on his own Number one did we see how menising he was.He came off as a terrorrest leader and thats about it.

Batman's voice actavated feature in his utility belt was a nice feature. The thugs come to mock Batman saying he is powerless without his belt and bam they are knocked out and Batman is free. Man I wish Batman was written this consistantly well in the other seasons.

The game of Cat and mouse between Robin and Batgirl, and Blackmask and his orginasation was well played.

Using police veacles to break into the police department showed how skilled and organized this group was.

Batgirl is improving, maybe it's that everytime Robin interacts with someone it's gold.

4/5

Main problem is like most The batman villains we know nothing about Blackmask, just that he is a crimeboss with terrorrest like motaves.

[Caswin]

As one who knows nothing about Black Mask and only that everyone was looking forward to his appearance: I loved it. The warehouse fight in particular was one of the most intense of the series, and that's saying something. And, of course, loved the Robin/Batgirl dialogue.

One qualm: Batgirl catching up with Mask's helicopter on foot. Eh, same thing happened in Mask of the Phantasm.

[Link]

It was pretty good, except yeah, I thought Black Mask was pretty lame. His organization should of been the crime boss, all he did was sit around and wait for them to do everything for him. Batgirl and Robin ruled and were great as a team. It's nice to see they're starting to get along after everything in Team Penguin. I was kind of hoping Batman wouldn't be the one to disarm the bomb, but I figured as much when he broke out of the cage. I'll go with a 3 1/2.

[MJC]

3.5 stars

The dialogue was great and I loved the Batgirl/Robin interaction.

But...Black Mask was lame. All he did was a bunch of trash-talking. Plus, why exactly did he want to blow up half of Gotham? The Batman is pretty weak when it comes to giving the villains motivations...

[Ruseri]

3.5 stars

The dialogue was great and I loved the Batgirl/Robin interaction.

But...Black Mask was lame. All he did was a bunch of trash-talking. Plus, why exactly did he want to blow up half of Gotham? The Batman is pretty weak when it comes to giving the villains motivations...

His ransom demands (from the beginning of the ep) weren't met, so he was following through with his threat.

Great ep, BTW! I loved it!

[Jonah]

I loved Black Mask in this episode.

"You! You're my new Number 1."

[90'sCartoonMan]

I was pretty impressed with Black Mask. I like how he stumped the cops with his identity, and when he actually killed Number 1! That shocked the heck out of me.

The real stars of the episode were Batgirl and Robin, though. It's good to see their relationship was taken to the next level, as it would've been annoying to see them bicker all the time. I really liked Robin asking her if she was ever scared as well as him beating himself up over the rebreather thing.

Aside from his comment at the end, Batman was a little wasted...

Batman's voice actavated feature in his utility belt was a nice feature. The thugs come to mock Batman saying he is powerless without his belt and bam they are knocked out and Batman is free.

Sadly, I thought that was a bit too convenient. Those guards were stupid to take his belt and walk up to him like that.

[Captain Highwind]

Sadly, I thought that was a bit too convenient. Those guards were stupid to take his belt and walk up to him like that.

But...they always do that.

[CyberCubed]

I thought it was really amusing to introduce a new villain and then have him taken down in the first three minutes of the show.

Black Mask spent the majority of his time locked away in his debut episode, how cool is that? The writers took a risk by downplaying a new villain from the getgo and it paid off wonderfully.

[Arrakhat]

Well this episode was good, but Black Mask fell short of my hopes. In the beginning he was great, blowing things up and demanding ransoms, and even holding up under questioning. Unfortunately, he spent nearly the rest of the episode muttering threats and praising his men. Kudos for having him kill Number 1 though, I didn't expect that until he uncharacteristically "congradulated" him on the roof. I guess it's hard to be all tough when you spend an episode behind bars.

Batgirl and Robin's interactions made up for it though, and Gordon actually did something this episode.

****, and here's to more of Black Mask.

[Cortez2301]

I assume that he did not carry a weapon anywhere in this episode.

[Anarky]

Black Mask demoting No. 1 reminded me of Bob the Goon from Tim Burton's BATMAN