Batman, Batgirl, Nightwing, and Detective Comics Issues #23

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an orphanage fire in London and a damn broke

in India something for dinner Lex Luther the

rat Where's Lois? She was here just a second

ago probably scared witless poor thing. Don't

worry. I'll have you out of that thing in no

time Okay, let's see now Do I disconnect the

black wire or the white one? Don't worry. I'll

save you. What do you think? Oh, no. What do

I think? Lois, I think you got some splaining

to do. Clarky, if we're going to be partners

and we're going to be married, I want to be part

of the act. Lois, there are things I do. You

can do. me superman me super wife us super in

trouble could you hold this argument to later

and get us out of here culture connoisseurs,

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How about Mike Baron and Tom James? No, I like

a little bit of like a little bit of grit in

my cigar You want carefully considered in -depth

analysis? I mean, yeah, just one best picture

at the Oscars yesterday. I mean, it's no Terminator

Good luck with that punish your body count twice

a month on geek cast radio I am vengeance. I

am the knight. I am Batman. Batman! Batman! There

is a song the good folks sing. Song the good

folks sing. Batman! About a hero on the wing.

Hero on the wing. Batman! I am Gotham's darkest

night. The villain's darkest fright. Turn on

the signal light. For Batman! Batman. You hate

me, don't you? Lighten up, it's your birthday.

Don't remind me. Good work, Cape Crusader! Once

again, you've saved our fair city from those

vile miscreants. They were no problem, Commissioner.

For as we all know, criminals are. A superstitious,

cowardly lot. They plan and plot, but they always

get caught. Their evil schemes all come to naught.

A superstitious, cowardly lot. Come on, it took

me weeks to get tickets for this show. It's schway.

It's schwarbage. Excuse me. One side, please.

Move! It's breaking news time here on The Pull

Bag. Well, the news already broke that Daredevil,

that's right, Matt Murdock, 2003 Matt Murdock,

Ben Affleck will be the new Batman. Am of course

one of your own Steve Jim Mike joining me is

Steve Megatron. Hello. Hello You have already

given your opinion on this part of your opinion

your initial opinion about bat fleck I don't

care what the internet says. I said that first.

I don't care You gave it on altered gig episode

4 But I want to do a little something a little

different before I give my opinion. I want us

to analyze both batman and superman from live

action and animation this is not going to take

very very long as far as superman goes you have

kirk allen, joel nester, george reeves, david

wilson, jeff east, christopher reeve, ron ellie

if i'm saying that right, ely, dean cain, tom

welling, stefan bender Brandon Routh and Henry

Cavill most recently in live -action. Everyone

has their own personal favorite Superman. I have

several. I really love Reeve in the films. Dean

Kane is an amazing different take on Superman

because it was more of a, hey let's see what

Clark is up to. uh... kind of thing tom welling

is alright uh... brendan ralph is the worst superman

ever i'm sorry in my personal opinion he is uh...

henry cavill was damn good now in animation you

have many many many many different voice actors

that are voice superman i'm going to try to stick

to just the cartoon animated feature animation

and not go through all the video game stuff uh...

of course tim daly Superman the animated series

was then George Newburn in Justice League In

Batman Beyond it was Christopher McDonald shooter

McGavin from Happy Gilmore for those of you Adam

Sandler fans Yuri Lowenthal in Legion of Superheroes

Adam Baldwin in Superman Doomsday Let's see here

Justice League the new frontier. It was Kyle

McLaughlin In the 1988 version it was Bo Weaver

Challenge of the Super Friends was Danny Dark.

Let's see, who else? Who else? Bud Collier was

the voice in the old Fleischer cartoons. And

throughout the various animated movies, you've

had different voices here and there. What I find

really interesting about this is they list DC

Super Friends, I'm not sure if that's a game

or a show, but they list David Kaye as voicing

Superman Dude. He did it one time. Okay, but

I've never heard of DC Super Friends. It was

something that happened three years ago, so I

don't remember. So my point in all of this is

that many different people have been this character,

whether his voice or whether acted as him. Same

with Batman. We've got Lewis Wilson and Robert

Lowry in the old serials. In live action, you

have Adam West, Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, George

Clooney, Christian Bale, and now Ben Affleck.

In animation, of course, Kevin Conroy, Reno Romano,

Dietrich Bader, Jeremy Sisto, William Baldwin,

Bruce Greenwood, Benjamin McKenzie, Peter Weller,

Jason Omara, and many more. What's interesting

to me that they never got the... William Baldwin

Batman and the Adam Baldwin Superman together

to do a feature that would have been so cool

brother versus brother My point in all this with

this news of Ben Affleck being the new Batman

is I I'm optimistic with it. I don't See anything

wrong with it. They're trying to set up a new

universe and according to at least one news site

on the internet he has a thirteen appearances

deal it's not a thirteen picture deal it's he's

going to appear as batman in thirteen different

projects apparently of course that's a rumor

at this point but still i'm okay with it you

know everybody's like oh but he can't do the

voice who knows you never know Honestly, you

really never know you don't know what he's gonna

come up with and it's two years from now the

entire doesn't go I don't wear hockey pads Then

I'm fine with it. Yeah, I don't think he will

I mean the worst he could probably do is Allegedly

Your situation for you would be concurrently

improved if I had $200 in my you know, it's it's

one of those things where the worst thing he

could do is he could use his Boston accent Okay,

cuz I'll tell you you know, I was right there

with the entire internet when I first saw the

news. I'm like Oh no, he's gonna be Chucky from

Good Will Hunting, which is basically Chucky

is a super heavy Boston accent, you know, Pachyacon,

Javidyad and all that, and I'm not putting on

an accent. I used to... I'm originally from Massachusetts,

so I know that accent very well. That's the first

thing I thought of. I didn't even... I knew and

remembered of Daredevil, but I'm optimistic.

I'm not gonna make an official, oh my god, either

way, opinion until I see him in the suit. once

i see him in the suit then i will make you know

holy crap this is the best thing ever oh my god

this is gonna fucking suck kind of opinion um

yeah um any other thoughts for you well i did

state my opinion over an altered geek um i do

have to say that while i am optimistic uh there

i mean I'm not going to shoot it in the foot

right away. I'm going to wait and see what happens.

But this leaves me wondering a lot of other things,

not necessarily pertaining to Affleck playing

him. And I know that they're scouting Detroit

as Gotham City. That's a possible Gotham City.

No offense, but Detroit is one of the seediest

cities in this country, so that would work. Well,

I was thinking it's perfect anyway, because then

they could use the GM towers, like Wayne Towers

or something, because the GM doesn't own it anymore.

So, I mean, they could technically do that, but

it's... Well, that and I could go down there,

like, haha. I'm wondering what the Batsuit is

going to be. I'm wondering what his iteration

of the voice is going to be. I mean, there's

a lot of other stuff that's honestly kind of

at this point more important than the fact that

he's playing him. Because I mean, I think he's

going to play a terrific Bruce Wayne, probably

the best Bruce Wayne we've ever seen because

he has the look of Bruce Wayne from kind of the

DCAU almost to like the Arkham games. So he'll

fit the look perfectly. It's the Batman that

I'm kind of wondering about and I'm honestly

hoping And we kind of talked about this and altered

geek Mike Powers and I that We're hoping they

go for a different suit Not just doing the complete

all black doing something different like it even

the dark dark dark blue for the other parts Or

even having black for that and having gray for

the other part like the dark gray You know powers

was saying something about the new adventures

costume. I know you're not particularly I mean

I could live with that. It's not terrible right

right. I would either like to see that or the

kind of Like you were saying, Muted Blue, but

it's more of the Justice League costume that

Batman had in Justice League and Justice League

Unlimited because it's more slim. Basically what

happened was when they did World's Finest and

then they started doing new adventures, they

slimmed Bruce down. And like you said, Affleck

really kind of fits that for Bruce. And by the

time you get to Justice League and Justice League

Unlimited, it, you know... It was a whole streamline

keeping in, you know, not just all black and

all gray, but it does have, that Justice League

costume does have several hints of blue every

now and then, but it is mostly black and gray,

but it's a brighter... Don't know it's it's brighter

than what it was in the new adventures of Batman

and Robin But yeah, no, I'm excited to see what

the suits gonna look like I'm excited to see

what I just hope and I don't think they I don't

think Snyder will do this but whatever how many

ever appearances Affleck is gonna have in in

in the DC Universe films. I Hope they get the

suit right the first time because we don't want

something like Michael Keaton I'm not saying

Michael Keaton was bad I'm saying in Michael

Keaton's case the very first Batman because it

was the very first live -action big -budget Batman

movie he couldn't move his neck in the suit so

I'm hoping when they do the suit they get it

right the first time it's basically tailor -made

for Affleck without you know him having to crane

his neck Because the rubber isn't gonna move

well I'm hoping that the the helmet and the cape

are kind of one unit or even the helmet kind

of separate, but it's it's not I Don't know I'm

hoping it's more tied to the the Cape essence

than then being tied to the the body armor yes

Alright, well, let's get you back to the comics

on this comic book review show. We'll be back

after this. Hi, this is Lauren Lester and you're

listening to the Geekcast Radio Network. Welcome

to The Pole Bag. Join us. comics and discuss

them with the rotating panel of the GCRN crew.

So sit back and enjoy this week's Pull Bag. Welcome

back to the Pull Bag. Yes, that's right. I am

TFJ and Mike Jordan with Steve Megatron. Hello

again. Hello. Yes, and the other bit of news

that we have to really talk about is Forever

Evil villains month and all that's coming up

we have set aside here in the pull bag two episodes

that will Be recorded in air. I believe it's

the I think it's this I think it's the first

two weeks in October like a week after the month

of September a week after villains month ends

because September DC is doing the new 52 anniversary

of villains month, which it's 52 titles released

weekly Various titles released every single week

in September totaling 52 But there's been some

news and I don't know if it's rumors confirmed

or not, but apparently For forever evil and the

Nightwing apparently he's not going to die They're

going to expose his identity Which is just as

bad Yeah, like if everybody knows that Dick Grayson

is Nightwing Obviously gonna take him to figure

out who Batman is. I know exactly exactly Why

would they do this? Oh? God, why would they do

this? but yeah villains month is gonna be coming

up later here in the pull bag and You know later

on at the end tail end of September early October

any other stuff going on with you, anything else

you want to inform the listeners on as far as

comics go? Well, we'll get into that. It has

to do with a certain title that's out right now

that if it doesn't decide to pick up, I'm going

to stop picking it up. Yes, and since he said

that I'm gonna go to a clip of Batman and we'll

come back with the first review of the day Batman

number 23 What am I still doing this for It's

gotta be one or the other. I can't have it both

ways. I can't put myself on the line as long

as there's someone waiting for me to come home.

Miss Beaumont would be glad to know you feel

that way, Master Bruce. She's holding on line

one, sir. Master Bruce? Alfred, I can't. Not

now. Okay, ladies and gentlemen. Steve's right.

Um... Batman 23 written by Scott Snyder art by

Greg Capolo and Danny Mickey Zero year Secret

City part 3 the cover is a lie Yep the cover

the the cover for Batman 23 is Batman's gauntlet

glove hand whatever you want to call it Reaching

out into the sky the the night sky you know backlit

by the moon so I don't think he's gonna be dancing

with any devils in the pale moonlight um you

know they made a huge deal about this at comic

-con and I get it's comic -con you're supposed

to make a huge deal of stuff I said in my written

review and I'll say it again here maybe maybe

you can Explain it to me now that we're actually

talking about it the I actually counted off pages

not including ad pages I actually counted off

pages the first 14 pages of this issue I did

not I knew the he was confronting the Red Hood

gang or they had him captured or whatever else

But I did not know if it was a fucking dream

sequence if it was I didn't know what the hell

it was until we get to the point of Alfred stitching

him up After the forever one of the forever evil

ads, but I don't know I didn't like because I

couldn't follow it the first 14 pages of this

book I didn't care I could tell I could tell

what it was. I mean it was continuing where the

last issue left off But I guess I'm gonna have

to go back and read the only part of it because

you see the building blow up and they're already

outside Okay, this is going back in showing what

happened before they walked out. Yeah, see, that's

the problem when we do these things monthly.

I tend to forget what I've read in the previous

issues. My problem is I remember everything.

But yeah, it shows him going off and then, you

know, of course, going down into a lower section

of the Batcave in Essence or, you know, Wayne

Manor kind of thing. And then, you know, of course,

Alfred's stitching him up and, you know, and

then you have Bruce's uncle and Nigma who are

trying to outsmart each other. And Nigma, of

course, pulls the upper hand. Yeah, I do like

the whole storyline in the beginning of how the

Red Hood gang leader is telling him about Bruce

and Martha. Great. Thomas and Martha that would

be weird storytelling The Wayne parents his parents.

I did enjoy those lines. I did enjoy that writing

but yeah, you're right we then get to Nigma and

and his uncle and all that and It's okay. Well,

the thing I liked is that Nigma knew that he

had a metal plate in his head He says oh, yeah,

I just like that. He's like if you'd only had

that plate Installed your skull a year later.

It'd be stainless steel and non -magnetic and

Then he says I resigned and then he states that

he's going to work at the powers family company

Yes, that's right power so And then of course

you you hear, you know, basically Alfred stating

that if he had been at the hospital Or at the

scene he possibly could have saved his parents

See, I do really enjoy the scenes with Bruce

and Alfred. I do really enjoy that. I do really

enjoy those lines. Basically, I like the back

half of the book. Anything past those first 14

pages, I really, really enjoy. Well, it started

getting into it. He gave him his sign and it

says, The Birth of a Legend, and he's staring

at the bat and everything, but you never actually

see him put it together. or start building in

any way. See that's the one problem I have with

the back half of the book, the whole... It's

like watching Smallville. Well no, it's not,

it's not really like watching Smallville. Where's

the damn cowl? Yeah, but that's not... Sorry,

the dog is dreaming. My problem with it is...

Shut up dog. My problem with it is... In issue

21 we saw him in a bat suit a bat like suit on

that motorcycle The very first issue of zero

year we see him with purple gloves and the cow,

you know We've already seen him in a bat suit

So why is it just now in the story that oh the

bat is my new symbol? That's that's what I don't

like about this issue That I've already seen

him in a bat suit yet. They're trying to tell

me it's not till now that he finds out What his

his symbol is going to be? And then of course,

you know it ends saying next issue is birth of

a legend In the back. Oh good. Well, I mean getting

into that back stuff. He's basically fighting

the League of Assassins and essence and yeah

They're saying oh he's gonna have to kill someone

and Then everything's too scared to go fight

him because he just looked all their asses I

thought it was kind of cool. I mean, I thought

it was neat, but... Yeah, I thought it was kind

of cool, but, you know, like I've said before,

with this arc, I seem to be enjoying the backstories

more than the actual story that Zuri is telling

it. Maybe, you know, time will tell, you know,

whatever, but... Yeah, it... You know, we've

said this before, but zero gear at this point

for a year -long event, stuff needs to start

happening like next issue, because if it doesn't

pick up, this is like the slowest burning candle

I have ever seen. It just is. It's not... It's

not that it's bad, it's just taking forever for

something to happen. Reading Batman 23 to me

is like I'm watching breaking. I'm finally after

everybody's twist Oh, why aren't you watching

Breaking Bad jump on the bandwagon watch Breaking

Bad? It's the best TV show ever I've watched

two seasons of Breaking Bad total of 20 episodes

between the two seasons nothing Earth -shattering

mind -blowing has happened yet in my opinion

and that's the same thing with zero year There

are little moments here and there that are really

cool or you know, there are little touching moments

with Alfred that are really awesome But this

needs to pick up now or I'm gonna drop the book

Yeah, I'm kind of done with it Like it's I Hate

saying that because I love Batman comics and

I love the fact that it's the bat but yeah just

I don't know at this point it's not it's not

grabbing me it's not pulling me as it were yeah

it's not pulling you back in at all no I would

at this point rather read detective comics than

this yeah and again we're not saying that the

writing is bad we're just saying that I just

yeah he's taking too long Like, I get it. You

can't show all your cards in one hand. You know

what I mean? You can't show your hand too early,

but at the same time, do something. Okay, sure.

In this issue specifically, moments that I liked.

When he, you know, the whole back half of that,

the back half of the issue. I like the moment

with Alfred. I like the moment with Nigma and

his uncle and the whole metal plate thing. I

thought that was cool. Other than that, It was

boring. It just was. It was really, really boring

to me. Any other final thoughts? Other than the

fact that I think that it needs to pick up, and

if not, I'm done with it. And like you said,

it's not the story that's bad. It's the fact

that it's just taking forever, it seems. And

I think that... For me anyway, I would rather

see I Mean I don't get me wrong. I like I like

the stuff that's going on to an extent, but it's

not I Think that the origin stuff has been done

to death with Batman in multiple iterations.

I understand it's the new 52 but it's there comes

a point in time when You kind of have to focus

on the future Yeah, and changing that aspect,

whereas the origin, it never really changes all

that much. Yeah, they could have easily, you

know, why wasn't... I've read Nightwing number

zero and Batgirl number zero and they are both

the new 52 origins of those characters. I have

not yet read Batman number zero, but why couldn't

Batman number zero or Batman number one for new

52, and I know Batman number one is the start

of Court of Owls, but... You know, why couldn't

those have been one issue origin? You know, like

you said, everybody knows Bruce Wayne's parents

got shot. You know, they got killed. He got extensive

training. He will pass. Yeah. Yeah. And then

this leads him on the path to becoming Batman.

You know, something more. I don't know. It's

something different. I'm in a complete agreement

with you. They shouldn't have done a year -long

thing. I think you said to me off air, if they

did it in six months, it would have been fine.

But 12 issues. Oh my god. It's just long. Yeah.

And I hope by the time we get to the end of it,

if we even stick with it, that it doesn't leave

us feeling like death of the family left us.

Death of the family at least was go go go go

go granted the ending of it was anti -climatic,

but It was still more entertaining to me than

this. Yeah All right, we are going to move on

to the next title after this happy Call me when

it's important and not before now. It's time

for the Batman and series issue number 23 and

it ends this arc ends with Nightwing and Batman

has gone through the five stages of grief the

fifth one being abstinence wow acceptance and

the title on the front page is second chances

and it has Robin's leg it has Nightwing and Batman

battling some bat look -alike gas mask -wearing

animator. It's a good issue. I liked it. I thought

it was cool. The art in it is damn good. Basically

what it is, is it's nothing really... Stuff happens,

but nothing really... You ever have one of those

moments where you feel like you're doing so much

and yet you've accomplished nothing because like

no time has gone by? Yep. It doesn't feel like

time has gone by but yet you've done so much.

It's that kind of thing because it's basically

Batman going through these virtual reality things

basically is the best way that I can explain

it. And then, you know, Nightwing's there in

the cave with Alfred. How long has he been at

it, Alfred? Almost four days, non -stop. I've

tried everything. He will not shut it down, Master

Richard. Um, and it's basically... It's Batman

trying to get the, uh, the events of his son's

death retrofitted, retconned, whatever you want

to call it. and basically Nightwing has to jack

in and help him and basically every time the

program fails it's because Batman is alone trying

to save his son by himself but Nightwing jacks

in and helps him and and everything goes well

and at the end you have Alfred doing the next

program and it's some sort of apology program

or some sort of acceptance program on Alfred's

part it's It's a good read, it was really interesting,

I really liked it, but um... You know, there's

just... I'm pretty, unless it's Batman Beyond,

or unless Batman shows up in Batgirl and or Nightwing,

I'm pretty much done with Batman titles. I'll

stick with, you know, Snyder's Batman for a while,

but I'm pretty much probably gonna drop this

book. Not that it's bad, but I just, I can't...

I just can't do it monthly anymore. I'll pick

up the trades eventually. I thought more was

gonna happen, but it's pretty much like, oh hey,

come into virtual reality and help me try to

save Damien. And I get it, it's a thing of he

has to accept that his son is gone, but it's...

Again, one of my main complaints about DC is...

Why do Batman and Superman and I haven't read

any Superman comics, so I'm not judging the comics

But I'm just asking this question of the characters.

Why do the these characters who are there big

two? Why do they have to be in like? multiple

titles it's the same thing with spider -man over

at marvel i don't understand why batman how is

batman doing all of this stuff how is it that

in zero year and i know you brought this up many

times how is it in zero year that it's six years

prior to the new event new fifty two events and

yet in batman and nightwing it's the current

day in easter i just don't get it i wish batman

had one title and that's that well i can understand

having detective comics and having batman Okay,

but Detective Comics is not New 52, correct?

No, it is. It is? Everything is New 52. Everything.

Not one comic line is pre -New 52. Okay. So it

is... It's still continuing on. Like, it's all...

It appears like it's not, but... It's which is

a lot of what the Batman stuff is but it's still

all of its it, you know Yeah, it's interesting

to say the least but Detective comics it's it's

basically Continuing on where Batman kind of

left off. Uh -huh. So I mean it's it's All these

other titles are added on top of So they're they're

essentially continuing in the future. It's just

or present time Without going back in time and

telling all the other crap right right so But

it's interesting seeing that you know there's

somebody that's basically the equal of Bruce

Wayne in this detective comics and In the form

of the Wraith That thrashes his ass, but I guess

the the Wraith wants Batman suit Ah, so it's

basically like the cape and cowl conspiracy from

BTIS. I can't remember. Well, cape and cowl conspiracy

is someone wants Batman's suit and this guy has

to get it for him. This Mr. Caldwell, which is

the Wraith, he finds Alfred snooping who finds

this giant armament of military grade equipment.

and he's basically scanning everything so that

Bruce has an entire run of the complex and Alfred

gets caught and then Bruce goes away in the batwing

and comes back in the bat suit and Wraith attempts

to fight him and shoots him. But yeah, it doesn't

it doesn't harm the suit right But he said he

basically wants to buy Wayne enterprises because

he knows that Bruce is funding Batman and Wants

the tech the Batman tech. Oh So that's that's

essentially what the whole issue is and then

the back issue is Again, man bat crap. I wish

they'd just drop the man bat because honestly,

it's a pain in the ass. I'm so sick of seeing

man bat. Like this one is like about him and

his wife, the fact that his wife, you know, helped

him develop it, but it was all like a conspiracy

theory. Like she was working with somebody else

the whole time. Why she buried him kind of thing

and then she's got her own formula which is addictive

and she uses a different kind of bat serum that

she kills people and eats them basically while

she's the bat whereas Kirk Langstrom is the He's

the more friendly of the bats doesn't eat people

or they have them or kill them or whatever But

yeah, so it's it's just I don't know. It's like

eight pages of crap that I could do without.

Yeah, yeah. Alright, let's um, let's move on

to the next issue. It wasn't like that. I volunteered.

You think you did? You don't know him like I

do. He manipulates, pulls strings. Anything to

get what he wants. I thought we had the same

goals. Things change. I changed. The game's over,

Batman. I quit. Robin, wait. And we are back.

Up next is Batgirl 23. This starts the three

epic arc Batgirl wanted. I freaking love this

cover. It's Batgirl in an all -black bat suit

because she's kind of basically ripped off the

bat emblem. The yellow bat emblem that she used

to have and she's like basically restrained in

police tape and Commissioner Gordon is next to

you know, it's it's kind of like a how do I explain

it? It's kind of like a when you rip a piece

of paper and you see what's underneath of it

You know what I mean? Yeah Well, you rip half

a piece of paper and you see what's behind it.

That's kind of like what it is and and Gordon

looks He looks, he's drawn absolutely fantastically.

It's just absolutely awesome. It's an amazing,

amazing cover. But this issue is basically Barbara

dealing with the fact that she's no longer going

to be Batgirl and she's out with her roommates

and all that stuff. But the start of it is Commissioner

Gordon going to see Nightfall. Which is interesting

to say the least. So we have that and then we

see Barbara and her roommate out shopping and

of course people try to you know some guy tries

to harass them and And everything else and she

kind of pretty much kicks his ass And then we

see that her Date from the last issue Ricky is

getting into some more trouble because apparently

the gang that Barbara beat up for him on their

date is Coming after him now and you know he's

telling his mom. Oh, don't worry mom. It'll be

alright I have to go and and and then he calls

Barbara and says yeah You know It might What

does he say? He says You know that he has to

go do you know he has to go meet up with these

guys and she doesn't want him to go And basically

as all this is going down the police have gotten

a tip of you know where you know this fight kind

of happened and it leads them back to Ricky's

house and the police break in and apparently

Ricky unintentionally kills one of the detectives

and It's a whole manhunt for Ricky pretty much

and then bad girls. Yeah Pretty much and then

Barbara shows up in a ninja outfit. I saw it

It's not a bad suit at all. It looks like a black

sweatshirt and sweatpants with a hood She shows

up with all that and it basically ends with There's

not even a confrontation yet, but it basically

ends with Ricky's death and Barbara is kind of

kneeling before him and it says next collateral

damage in Batgirl 24 um still absolutely love

the writing gail simone amazing amazing writer

she's telling an amazing amazing story in batgirl

uh the only problem i have with how the arc is

going to lay out is fucking zero year this isn't

gail's fault and i'm not i'm not saying anything

bad about the batgirl series but batgirl part

one two and three Batgirl Part 1 is Issue 23,

which we just talked about. Part 2 is Issue 24.

Issue 25 is the zero -year tie -in that Gale

isn't even writing. And then Issue 26 is the

final part to the Batgirl wanted saga. Wouldn't

they have the person that's been writing Batgirl

this entire time write it? Write the zero -year

tie -in? Yeah, that would be the intelligent

thing to do. I would have thought so, but apparently

it's this new up -and -comer margarite something

or other. I read an interview, I don't know how,

I guess an interviewer can be reliable as long

as you're reading what the person says from the

Mary Sue website or whatever it is. I read an

interview over there with the writer of Batgirl25

and she said that she had gone back and wanted

to make sure that she stuck with What Gail had

already created as far as the the characterization

of Barbara and all that so I? Just think this

whole zero -year tie -in stuff shouldn't have

been the 25th issues It should have been the

26th because that makes no sense that Part 1

and part 2 are 23 and 24 and then part 3 of the

wanted saga is issue 26 So they have the zero

-year issue and then the third third act of this

story, that's weird to me. But I'll go with it.

I've really, really enjoyed Batgirl. I enjoy

Batgirl more than I'm enjoying reading Batman

at this point. But yeah, anyone that wants to

get caught up on Batgirl, it's very easy to do.

The first two trades are pretty much out there

now. Volume 2, I think, actually comes out later

in October. So there's that. The catch -up with

issues 8 through 12. But no, it's damn damn good

writing. The art on it is amazing. Yeah, absolutely.

Love it. Did you have any thoughts on 23? That

girl? No. Up next is Nightwing number 23 and

the cover says his fate in the prankster's hands

This cover is basically Nightwing strung up on

what looks like a billboard It's not a billboard.

It's a giant. I should say it's a big screen

TV. It's kind of like one of those things you'd

see in Times Square. Actually, it looks more

like a scoreboard now that I'm looking at it.

This is a pretty cool cover. I thought this was

pretty interesting. It looks like he's being

crucified. Yes. Yes, it does with his own eschromistics.

Oh, yeah. Oh, wow. Yeah, you are right. He is

so be... because those sticks are right through

him. Oh my god. We are barrel before Nightwing.

They slew him well. Alright, so apparently the

prankster has gotten together a whole gang of

people to go around doing all kinds of crimes

and this issue starts with Nightwing facing one

of these... One of these little mini -gang type

things and um... Apparently there's some girl

named Danielle that's hanging off the edge of

the building that he's fighting this gang on

and Nightwing is always going after redheads.

Because honestly at first... And I know this

would never happen because Barbara Gordon's character

is not the damsel in distress But originally

when I first saw the preview for this issue,

I thought hey, it's Barbara. What is she doing

there? But it's not it's some girl named Danielle

still she's a redhead And I love the when she's

when she's thanking him Even with the diesel

line those things are total shoulder kill and

she's like thank you thank you thank you and

she kisses him on the mouth and okay so maybe

shoulders are overrated i absolutely love that

it's so great so we we have more of the story

where he's found one of the people that know

how to get to one of the little dealers that

know how to get to the the prankster and um kyle

higgins just doing an amazing job writing the

story we then cut to uh michael and his other

roommate that the girl roommate and they have

a conversation with each other and Michael's

at his news desk or reporters desk or whatever

else um and basically the the prankster breaks

in and he's doing all kinds of crazy stuff like

always uh this prankster is is very very interesting

and I love after yet another forever evil ad

I love how we see Nightwing on a on a bat so

I guess you could say it's a bat cycle a night

cycle I don't know whatever I love that whole

that whole thing where He's oh it was a trap

that the prankster had set for the cops and Michael

Pearson is following around these cops and Nightwing's

like oh repeat that name So we get that and then

we get something with Sonya branch aka Sonya

Zuko Where the reporters are trying the paparazzi

are basically harassing her And then it goes

to Tony Zuko aka Billy Lester and his wife finds

out about his past about him killing the Grayson

family and all that and he has to live up to

the responsibility of doing that and he has to

show his son the the responsible thing to do

and you know he has to lead by a positive example

more so than a negative one I really I didn't

think I was gonna like the whole Tony Zuko is

a live thing, but it's it's turning out to be

pretty compelling. It's a pretty compelling story

to have him there And then a book prankster blows

up a boat where Nightwing has to save a bunch

of people and he's talking about s'mores You'll

hear that in the closing of the podcast today

But that's you know, that's what's going on there

And it basically ends, which I never thought

this would happen. It basically ends with the

mayor. There's more going on than you - this

is Tony Zuko talking in a monologue. There's

more going on than you know. There's more to

the prankster. Hello Wallace, how have you been?

Which is why I wanted to save the city Nightwing

and we have to work together next issue the final

showdown so basically The last panel of this

last page of this issue is Tony Zuko coming face

to face with Nightwing and it's freaking awesome

Now throughout this issue. They mentioned the

fact that Zuko was Friends with the mayor's brother

who was in jail. I'm betting I'm just betting

somehow that the prankster is this other person

that they have in common because just the way

that Zuko says there's more to him than you know.

I absolutely loved it. I don't know. What did

you think of Nightwing? Overall, it's pretty

good. I mean, I like the fact that, you know,

everything's kind of polar different. It's a

different type of variety than the normal Batman

comic. I also like the fact that Nightwing's

having to essentially work with his nemesis.

Yeah, it's absolutely amazing. As always, it

just is. Alright, that's going to do it for these

issues. We're going to take a quick short break

and we'll come back with the outro with final

thoughts. And Steve's also gonna briefly talk

about the Batman annual number two after this.

Hey, I'm Gary. I'm Mike. I'm Chuck. And I'm Justin.

Join the four of us every week on the internet's

number one and longest running G .I. Joe podcast,

What's On Joe Mind? It's Joe news, reviews, and

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Right, and we... Okay, seriously, this is just

getting ridiculous now. It's What's on Joe Mind

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Pulse .com, Stitcher Smart Radio, and iTunes.

Download and listen today. I suppose I still

can't say something about Transformers, can I?

Come on, man. Good grief. What about sports?

Yeah, that's alright. Coming soon from the Command

Center Commentaries, celebrating 20 years of

Power Rangers. It's morphin' time. Thank you

so much, Jason David Frank, for that ringing

endorsement. Yes, that's right, folks. Starting

in Episode 29 from the Command Center is going

back and celebrating 20 years of Power Rangers

with the From the Command Center Commentaries.

We'll be doing 15 episodes from MMPR Season 1.

And after that, who knows? I know we're doing

commentaries from seasons 2 and 3, and we'll

do a commentary on the film. After that, who

knows? Commentaries could take us through a number

of episodes. There's a very, very, very long

list. So I hope everyone enjoys it. As I've said

before, we will get to Megaforce once that series

completes itself on Netflix or whatever else.

Thank you so much, and now... Prepare yourself

for from the command center commentaries our

way of going back in depth and noticing stuff

We did not pick up on in the original overview

episodes of the podcast or stuff We missed when

we watch them as the children. Thank you very

much We are back so Batman annual number two

what's in that again? It's well, basically it's

Takes place in the asylum And it's it's essentially

the first time that they brought Batman to Arkham

Okay They I think he goes there willingly for

the most part they they send him in there to

Yeah, that's what it is they send him in there.

It's it's a new version of Arkham it's a new

facility that they're testing out and it's to

basically proof the the security system to make

sure that no one can break out so what they're

doing is sending Batman in there to figure out

ways out of there so they have him locked up

and they they set him in a secure wing And there's

like an intern there watching the whole thing

going on and you see one of the Arkham Guards

kind of or Arkham doctors taking this intern

through who's supposed to be helping and you

see all of these various villains like the Riddler

or the Manhattan Playface and everybody's locked

up and You see this one chick that's been in

there so long that she's got the old bars and

it's electric i mean like all of the the other

ones are kind of locked behind uh uh secure stuff

so they can't get out um and then they put batman

in his own cell and uh dr jeremiah arkham uh

tests the latest addition to the arkham estate

with a special wing designed for more particular

patrons called the tartarus wing The Halloween

pretty much yes, so Yeah, so Batman's thinking

like all of his his arch nemesis and Using certain

ways of getting out like he said Like Harvey

Dent could terrify a guard or orally into obedience

the riddler could outsmart one trick them into

giving something away And then so he says that

the the guards will That those inmates will need

isolation. In other words, they'll have to have

drones And then he says something about the kind

of alloy that the bars are that can't be broken

he says but the the scarecrow is a chemist so

he Pulls out this one kind of acid that is in

a little tube that he embedded in his palm of

his hand So he pulls that out and burns through

the bars and then Then they say Batman cleared

the first cell and then There's a pressure sensitive

plates on the ground. So he uses his Grappling

hook to go up in the air. Then he says but man

bat won't have to walk out of a cage. So He says

motion sensors will be necessary Which they have

And then they hit him with some kind of a hardening

foam, which sticks him to the ground. And then

he has like his suit kind of sheds. Yeah. He

says, well, Killer Croc would shed a few scales

and then you'd just be able to walk away. He

says, all I lost was the varnish to the suit.

He says. So, yeah, he's able to do that. And

then. There's another thing where he says, oh,

mr. Freeze would try to crack the entire structure

and Bane would seek the breaking point So, I

mean he's just he's going through the entire

asylum and it gets through to a certain point

There's this chick called the anchoress which

is in the oldest part of the asylum and then

she's basically This decrepit psychic that sits

in this one part of the asylum and that in turn

goes up to her and kind of provokes her into

Talking and she's like one of the experimental

physics that One of the previous doctors of Arkham

kind of tried stuff on her So she kind of locked

herself away in the asylum and after a certain

point where she killed her parents I mean, it's

it's kind of like all this crazy stuff going

on So she was there by like volunteer kind of

thing and then so Her Mission is like cuz she

can go through walls. She can do all this other

stuff She goes through the asylum and while Batman's

running through this this test She basically

comes up to him and Sticks her hand through his

chest and starts trying to manipulate him to

try and kill him Because Batman can't touch her

and She's sitting there screaming at Batman and

all this other stuff and then of course one of

the plates like locks Batman up and She recalls

the first time that she saw Batman in the asylum

and it's kind of it goes to the zero year and

There it jumps to a zero year because she's talking

you know saying you came into my sanctuary and

violated my holy refuge and uh she says i remember

you batman and he says i remember you and then

it goes to a zero year where he's just in a like

a black jumpsuit and a black mask going like

snooping through the files and she caught him

in that at that time so she remembers who he

is and so she's trying to turn his brain into

bush like sticking her fingers into his head

and all this other stuff and She starts doing

like a projection into his mind seeing all the

death that's followed him like his parents You

see where his brother one of the court of owls

Was killed like they explain it in the court

of owls he had a hidden brother and uh... he

uh... was one of the court of owls and basically

died and uh... then they're stating all you know

damien and all the other stuff so they're they're

getting all convoluted into it but it's they

eventually electrocute the the chick and lock

her ass back up and uh... you know batman gets

away but yeah they they retrofitted it and this

intern is basically the one that helped save

batman so but it's it's it's all kinds of crazy

but honestly it's more interesting than issue

21 22 and 23 yeah all right so what also is more

interesting than issue 23 of batman is batman

beyond 2 .0 the second digital chapter is out

it's been out for about two weeks now as of this

recording and man it's so weird reading the digital

chapters because I looked at when I went to the

comic shop a week ago I looked at I couldn't

pick it up right away but I looked at the print

issue of Batman Beyond Universe what they do

is they don't just have the first they have the

first two chapters not just one chapter so it's

the first chapter where Dick Grayson is revealed

to be Terry's mentor and then the second chapter

where they talk about the mayor's murder and

all that other stuff so it's two issue it's two

chapters per print issue for Batman Beyond 2

.0 and it's just every other week oh god every

other Saturday every other Saturday just can't

get here fast enough like right now as of this

recording we're recording this Monday the 26th

of August and the next chapter for Batman Beyond

2 Bueno gets released digitally this coming Saturday

and holy crap Saturday needs to get here now

It's just so Kyle Higgins is doing such a great,

great job in the writing as always. Tony Silas

is doing an amazing job in the art. It's actually

funny. I actually had a conversation with him

on Facebook. Nice. Well, I said that in my written

review of chapter two, I said that the only really

negative I found with the chapter was there's

one panel of Batman smiling, and he's smiling

where the whole entire cowl moves with his mouth.

Whereas I'm used to seeing, and I know the comic

is not the cartoon series, I get that. But I'm

used to seeing, like when Batman smiles, I'm

used to seeing those white teeth or that part

of his mouth that is not just the mask moving

with his mouth. And I pointed that out to Tony,

I said, you know, Your art is damn good. It's

it's amazing. It's awesome. I'm loving it The

only thing that tripped me up was when Batman

smiled at Barbara Gordon in chapter 2 and I said

this From Return of the Joker is the smile that

I'm used to seeing and I'm not you know, if he

incorporates it great that's great that he took

my feedback, but Yeah, that was really, really

interesting to have a little chat with him on

Facebook about that. But no, I'm telling you

people, if you were ever fans of the Batman Beyond

cartoon series, you need to be reading the current

ongoing digital series of Batman Beyond. Like

I said before in the other episode that we talked

about this. Start with Adam Beechin's run. Start

at issue one. You don't necessarily have to do

that if you want to read right now because it's

a year after the events like what's happening

now is a year after the events of what happens

in Adams run, but It's just so damn good. It

really really is All right Up next for the pullback.

We're gonna have a triplet of origins episodes

Episode 28 will be the origin of booth ninjas

comic reading. Yes. That's right. Mike powers

from altered geek and off the cuff will be joining

me. Episode 29 will be his other cohort, Joe

Reed. Episode 30 will be Birdman Dodd from This

Week in Geek and then... In September, we are

going to celebrate 30 years of Transformers by

doing a three episode Transformers comics arc

when we discuss robots in disguise volume 1,

2, and 3 throughout episode 31, 32, and 33 with

Ender and Lady Rek. So those Transformers comics

will be hosted by myself along with Ender and

Lady Rek. So that's what's coming up for the

next month or so for pull bag. What else you

got going on before we close this monster? Um,

well, I'll be... Starting my vacation next week

And then Recording a double shot of altered geek

so that while I'm gone, there's none of this

episode Yay So it'll be interesting for people

to hear what we discuss on them. So yeah, that's

all I'm saying Laser bitter sprinkles suck. All

right So, like I said, join us on the Origins

episodes for The Pull Bag. For now, I am TFG

and Mike with Steve Megatron Phillips. And as

always, make your great escape into comics and

we will catch you next time. Now I love s'mores

as much as the next guy, but I'm fresh out of

marshmallows. What do you say we call it a night?

You just heard the latest episode of The Pull

Bag. GCRN's comic book review podcast. There

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