LITTLE FACTS AND BLOOPERS
(by Tim "TWO-FACE" Leighton)
Here is a section that just points out various
little facts and bloopers that we have noticed while watching BTAS and STAS
countless times. If you have anything to contribute, feel free to do so!
Enjoy!
CONTRIBUTED BY STAFF:
1) In the BEYOND episode "Dead Man's Hand", Melanie walks off from
Terry wearing HIS coat after their...night together; they never explain how he
gets it back.
CONTRIBUTED BY OTHERS:
(by "Dark Lantern")
2) In "The Demon's Quest (Pt. 1)", Batman and Ra's Al Ghul go to a
volcano in Malaysia, right?
Well, I live in Malaysia, and there are no volcanoes here at all.
(by "Belle Book")
3) I've noticed a James Bond connection to the Royal Flush Gang. Ten/Melanie
Walker is voiced by Olivia d'Abo, and her sister, Maryam, was Bond Girl Kara
Millovy in the Bond film "The Living Daylights", starring
Timothy Dalton as Bond. George Lazenby is the voice of the King/Mr.
Walker, and he was the Bond of "On Her Majesty's Secret Service".
In fact, his line in "Dead Man's Hand" -- "We have all the time
in the world" -- came straight from the end of "On Her Majesty's
Secret Service". Of course, in that movie, Bond was speaking it to
his wife, Tracy, and Tracy had just died.
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MERCHANDISING: WHERE THE REAL BAT-CASH IS MADE
(by Bill Curtis)
NOW AVAILABLE AT YOUR LOCAL TOY STORES...
The latest for fans of The New Adventures of
Batman, is the exclusive Wal-Mart two-pack, from their "World of
Batman" line, featuring a repainted Detective Batman, in the comics
classic blue and grey costume. He's called "Gotham City Adventures
Batman". The second figure is also a repaint from the old "Total
Justice" line, as well as the KB Toys line of "JLA" figures.
This one is a better representative of the current Batman from the comics: all
in black. His title is "Knight Watch Batman". Wal-Mart should be
applauded for both these repaints, finally someone understands what the fans
want. Most of the Wal-Marts I've been to seemed to have gone overboard on
stocking these, so if you're looking for them, availability shouldn't be a
problem. Which brings me to the next item...
The new Batman 4-pack, featuring the blue and gray
repainted Batman, Robin (finally mass-produced!), a repainted Clayface, and
one of the most requested, and sought after: Alfred, complete with serving
tray. I did manage to get my hands on a couple of these, which wasn't easy.
The set is another Toys R Us exclusive, and the 2 stores I visited only had a
few sets. They may also impose a one-two box limit per customer to prevent
hoarding. As for the figures themselves:
Batman's grey is darker than the Wal-Mart repaint,
but the blue looks the same, and still gives him a "darker" feel,
although not as cool as "Detective" Batman. Robin is the same basic
figure that was never mass-produced, and is in scale to Batman, so it's cool
to see a "little" Robin, next to Batman. Alfred is great, but I have
two problems with this figure. One, his legs are so thin, and so close
together, that he can't stand up by himself without the clunky serving tray,
and two, his hair is black. Now, I guess you can use him for a younger Batman,
but to go with the current Batman animated, the hair should have been grey or
white. Minor nit-picking aside, it's still cool to finally have this figure.
(Now if they could only make a Commissioner Gordon figure!)
The last figure in the set is the repainted
Clayface. This is the same figure used in the original BTAS set, and is not a
good repaint. The original was a dark brown, which looked like clay and was
menacing, this one is sand-coloured, and loses the menacing aspect in the
repaint. This guy doesn't look scary, he just looks like a big pile of goo.
All this minor griping aside: a big "Thank
You" to Toys R Us and Hasbro, not only for this box set, but for
continuing to support this line which they easily could have killed with the
demise of the animated series. Batman is truly a cash cow, indeed!
The next good news announced recently is that
there will be new figures produced in support of the direct-to-video feature
"Batman Beyond: The Return of the Joker". There will be at least 3
new Batman figures, and a new Joker figure! I haven't heard names for the
figures, or seen photos of the prototypes yet, but if the Joker figure looks
anything like the released pictures we've all seen by now, this will be one
great line! I'm hoping for a middle-aged Bruce Wayne figure, or a quick change
middle-aged Bruce Wayne/Batman Beyond. No word on any vehicles or playsets
from this line, but stayed tuned. Same Bat-time, same Bat-channel!
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COMIC REVIEWS
(BATMAN: GOTHAM ADVENTURES by Tim "TWO-FACE" Leighton)
(BATMAN BEYOND by Tim "TWO-FACE" Leighton)
(SUPERMAN ADVENTURES by Dick Grayson)
(This review is by Dick Grayson, courtesy of the
WORLD'S FINEST website.)
BATMAN BEYOND
ISSUE: "The Perfect You" (#11)
WRITTEN BY: Hilary J. Bader
PENCILLED BY: Craig Rousseau
INKED BY: Rob Leigh
ISSUED: July 26, 2000 (Cover date, Sep 2000)
RATING: 5/10
SYNOPSIS: Teens are using nano-technology to
enhance their looks. But when the nano-tech becomes sentient, it takes over!
Can Batman stop the problem before it get's out of hand?
DESCRIPTION: The issue opens with Dana, Max, and
Terry at their usual club haunt when a teen goes bezerk and trashes the place.
As usual, Terry springs into action, but is unable to stop the teen from his
rampage. The teen, named Langston, seems to be quite powerful. He's throwing
people left and right and snapping manacles. To quote Batman, he feels like
"solid steel". Batman is able to subdue him, via electrocution. The
next day, it's the hot topic around school. Dana mentions how Langston is
"doing better", which leads to the revelation the he was a little
chubby porkerthat everyone called "The Sausage Prince". Turns out he
went to some clinic, and got a couple treatments that put him back into shape.
Max mentions that a few other kids who got complete physical makeovers have
ran away or dissapeared without a trace.
Back at home, Terry and Matt are playing a video
game togethor when their mom freaks out over her weight. It seems that having
a waste thinner than a pencil isn't good enough. She begins to gripe about how
old age is quickly ravaging her body in typical female fashion. She then
mentions that a clinic does "fix-ups", which are totally surgery
free. That it's all done with bio-nanites. Terry brings the news to Bruce who
then begins to search the clinic list for any leads. The next day at school
Terry runs into a friend who also has gotten some work done at "The
Perfect You" clinic. The friend signals his other buddies who suddenly
begin to grow metallic blades and weapons out of their shoulders and arms.
Terry is able to escape and he makes the connection. Terry goes to the clinic
to meet with the doctor.
He has no idea what Batman's talking about and
assures him that the bio-nanites are just helping out patients. He evn brings
in a co-worker, Sasha, who's had the 'fix-up'. She freaks out and attacks the
doctor. Batman is able to subdue her quickly. It turns out that the nanites
aren't dieing off when they're supposed to, their actually taking over,
multiplying and becoming sentient. The doctor tells Batman to finish this
mayhem he must find the "Queen" nanite, and gives him a device to
aid him.
All "The Perfect You" clients have
gathered togethor in one big arena where they are about to kick their plans
into over-drive. Batman quickly breaks in and begins scanning them for the
Queen. He fights through person upon person. Then, he finds the
"Queen" and takes her down. She breaks down sobbing and crying, and
proclaims that she only wanted to be beautiful. Soon after everything seems to
have become normal once again. Terry and his mom are in "Retro Mart"
pickin gup groceries when the boy at the register (a
starting-to-get-chubby-again Langston) tell's Terry's mom that she shoud
"let your brother carry thast". She's so flattered that it knocks
all ideas of having surgery done out of her mind for good.
COMMENTS: What great art! This was probably the
best art I've ever seen on the title. Max and Terry look great! Terry looks
exactly like he does on the show. Perfectly matched. Rousseau pulled out all
the stops this month and gave us some great, great, great art! The only
problem I had with the art was the 1st panel on the last page where Batman's
head seems to do a really painful 180 turn. The story on the other hand
was...ugh. The story, while a good premise, was just executed badly. Bader has
pulled off some good stories in here, but the bad stories outweight the good.
The title has been around for almost a year now, and it's still an
inconsistent book. The great art is somewhat able able to save a mudane story.
Ratings: 5/10
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COMIC SCHEDULES & COVERING THE BASICS
This section gives a little bit more
in-depth look into each monthly issue of BATMAN: GOTHAM ADVENTURES, BATMAN
BEYOND, and SUPERMAN ADVENTURES. Below each comic listing is a link to the
cover of that comic. TALK ABOUT SERVICE!
The price for any of these issues, unless otherwise posted, is
$1.99 in the US and...grrrrr...a whopping $3.25 in Canada. (Both our
editors and many subscribers are Canadian, hence the "grrr".)
If we are unsure of the exact date of when an issue is being
released, just check out "DIRECT CURRENTS" at
http://www.dccomics.com
for details.
BATMAN: GOTHAM ADVENTURES #30
September 6th
Synopsis: Batman must enlist the aid of Clayface to help a young child
afflicted with a rare skin disease. Can Batman convince Clayface to do
what's right, or does Clayface have other tricks up his sleeve?
Cover:
http://www.comicscontinuum.com/stories/0006/20/BatGothAdv30.JPG
FOLLOWING MONTH:
Synopsis: Ty Templeton's leftover Joker story! Don't miss it!
Cover: Unavailable
FOLLOWING MONTH:
Synopsis: Unavailable
Cover: Unavailable
SUPERMAN ADVENTURES #48
???
Synopsis: Unavailable
Cover: Unavailable
FOLLOWING MONTH:
Synopsis: Unavailable
Cover: Unavailable
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