The Pull Bag
Batman ’66 Issues #5-8 Review

About this Episode
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in you. Welcome to The Pull Bag. Join us as we
dig out our latest comics and discuss them with
a rotating panel of the GCRN crew. So sit back
and enjoy this week's Pull Bag. Hello and welcome
to The Pull Bag. Our May 2014 spotlight is 75
years of Man -Bat. Oh, I'm sorry, Batman. I am
your host, TF2 and Mike, and joining me for this
first episode in a ten -episode arc for the Pull
Bags Bat Month here is JT from Saskatoon. Hello,
sir. Holy rusted metal, Batman. Exactly. Yeah.
Holy hole in a donut? No. No, no, no, no, no.
Um... holy iron man and a donut holy overused
catchphrase yeah exactly uh quite literally um
all right so ladies and gentlemen we are here
to talk about batman for these 10 episodes i
tried to get as much diversity as i could i'm
going to run down this very very quickly Here
in episode 68, JT and I will cover Batman 66,
issues 5 through 8. The last time we were able
to talk about this series was in episode 39 of
the podcast. Damn. Yeah. So it's been about 30
episodes or so. Episode 69 will be, but where
are the Batman chapters 1 through 4? We are going
by the digital chapters on Comixology. That'll
be Steve Megatron and I. Steve Megatron and I
will also cover episodes 70 through 73. Those
being Year One, Dark Knight Returns, The Killing
Joke, and A Death in the Family. Then in episode
74, Steve and I will... close out the Boor of
the Batman with chapters 6 through 12 as apparently
that series is ending because Cartoon Network
doesn't even want to promote the damn cartoon
or show it or anything like that. Actually I
found out that they just don't like showing in
North America because no one spends any money.
They've actually continued showing new episodes
in like New Zealand. Yeah. So Cartoon Network
can bite my rosy red honey. Yeah, that's a whole
other discussion for a whole other episode on
a whole different podcast, but here's the thing,
folks. With Boy or the Batman, it didn't even
get a chance to get its legs under it. It had
different villains, rogues that I had never seen
before. I never knew of Professor Pig and Mr.
Toad before that. Well, I know of a certain Mr.
Toad, but that's a completely different wild
ride. But it didn't even get a chance. And now,
because the cartoon series isn't going to be
continuing, they're going to also cancel the
comic. Which sucks, because that comic is actually
really good. In the 75th episode of The Pullback,
we're going to be going over 75 years of the
cape and cowl for Batman. This is going to be
a full -on, full -tilt Batman retrospective episode
with myself, Steve Megatron, Dave Draper from
Toy World Order, and Doug Abel from Talking About
My Generation. You're also going to hear JT doing
his Just the Facts as well as other bat fans
giving their impressions in voice clips, etc,
etc, etc. Now you might be saying but TF2 and
Mike over on geek cast radio two years ago You
guys did the same thing in episode 39. Yes, we
did We were ahead of the curve when it came to
the 75th anniversary. We celebrated the 73rd
anniversary Episode 75 the pullback is gonna
kind of have the same feel it's gonna go over
the animation the movies the music the games
video games But we're gonna really heavily talk
about the comic since this is a comic podcast
discussion based thing episode seventy six and
seventy seven of the court and city of owls arcs
for the new fifty two and capping it all off
episode seventy eight is death of the family
the new fifty two story line with the joker uh...
came back to reclaim his face uh... literally
Word yeah, we were going to do episode 79 as
Batman zero year and have a discussion on on
zero year, but since DC's editorial staff can't
Get it together and since they wanted to give
Greg Capolo more time they pushed back zero year
a month So, uh, the final issue doesn't come
out, I think, until June or maybe even July.
So, yeah, we nixed zero year off, off the 75th
anniversary coverage because it just, just wasn't
going to happen. If they had kept to the schedule,
uh, it would have happened. But, uh, but yeah,
that's Batman month for you. Um, JT, really quickly,
uh, give me your top three reasons why you like
Batman. The car, the toys, and the villains.
And by toys I mean the gadgets. Ah, okay then.
Alright, so we're going to take a quick break
and come back with Batman 66 issues 5 through
8 after this. First up today is Batman 66 number
five the Sandman awakens and introducing Batgirl
I'm one of those people that if a cover doesn't
strike me I look for if there is a variant cover
we talked about this on the very first pullback
after dark about variant covers And this is one
of the ones where it's like Okay, can you? Shorten
like the regular cover. Can you like make all
the Batman and Sandman things smaller and make
the Batgirl little circle thing larger, please?
And they had a variant cover that actually predominantly
featured Batgirl, but it was going for astronomical
amounts of money Yeah, I seen the online something
Like what people are paying for that particular
alternate cover and I was just kind of like,
okay It's just Like I don't understand like I
can understand but I also don't understand why
people would pay so much goddamn money for a
comic book cover But I'm a fine one to talk.
So Yeah, I don't understand why They can't make
it at least variant covers for me If I have to
pay an extra, like instead of $3 .99 for a Batman
cover, if the variant cover for say, Scott Snyder's
Batman is $4 .99 or $6 .99, I don't mind paying
that. I won't ever pay for a variant cover over
$10. There's no way in hell I would. I mean,
just no way. I mean, the only way I would ever
pay for a variant cover that was over $7 .99
would be if it... came, you know those Hallmark
voice cards? Yeah. If it was a 1994 Black Cat
voice card with Jennifer Hale doing the voice
of Black Cat, that's the only way I would ever
pay more than $8 for a variant cover. Anyway,
Batman 66, number five. Yeah, if we're talking
variant covers, that's a conversation that should
begin with the caveat, in the land of the hypothetical.
Exactly. Or if I had to make you stupid money.
Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah All right, so this
issue the first story in the private study at
stately Wayne matter the bat phone is ringing
And I never honestly before reading this issue
wondered what like The sound effect for the bat
phone would look like you have written out. Yeah,
I thought it was just like beep beep No, it's
more of a tweet Tweet. Okay. You know. And then
there's, you know, Aunt Harriet is like, oh,
Dick, you know, you'll catch your death of cold.
Yeah. You know, and it's just. And I love the
thing like the Aunt Harriet in this series has
never been made to look like, uh, she's intelligent.
Well, I was thinking of Madge Blake who played
here and Harriet in the show, but it's just like
they make her just like in the show is like she's
this Aunt May analog. You know, it's like I hope
you're wary of currents out there. My own husband
got swept away in a fishing trip and was never
seen again. Yeah, I don't think he got swept
away in and Harriet. I think he ran for the hills.
Yeah, and I think it's unfair of you to compare
Aunt Harriet to Aunt May because Aunt May is
so much better Well, not personally, but I mean
in the way that she's like fussing over dick
is the way Aunt May, you know back in the early
days, you know and then Bruce is like no fear
Aunt Harriet, we'll always wear our flotation
vests and then Alfred steps in and he's like
the foons Now why do both of them need to go
answer a call? Yeah, I love that it's like well
master Grayson models his future dealings on
his mentor and she's like ah And that's one thing
I loved about this live action show is like all
these cockamamie explanations that Alfred gives
her she just buys the book line and sinker Yeah,
I'm gonna say here, you know, I'm not Don't know
what it is about this series the first four issues.
I think two of them. I really enjoyed maybe three
And these ones today that will be covering I
just I don't know what it is Maybe it's the villain
maybe maybe it's cuz I don't really it's not
that I've never seen the show I watched the Batman
66 series all the time as a kid on reruns in
the 80s, but it just I don't know some of these
villains that that we'll run into today. I just
don't really care for all that much. Well, especially
the first one we're gonna run into here. I didn't
even, I thought he was made up for this comic
series. I had no idea it was in the show. I must
have missed that episode. But yeah, so Batman
answers the phone and he hears a chainsaw. Coming
from police headquarters, so they rushed to investigate
and no Dude, do we really think the supervillain
put Commissioner Gordon to sleep or did this
guy is just that? He's old and crotchety and
he passes out in his chair from time to time
You know mumbling about why his daughter needs
a motorcycle license for some reason And no it
was the supervillain yeah, because it has to
be a supervillain because Gotham City is ripe
with crime, even in this campy 60s series. It's
ripe with crime, but it's got a police force
that, you know, bends over and kisses its own
ass goodbye as soon as somebody with a mask walks
into town. Well, not true, but I'm saying that...
the gcpd in the 66 style in the 66 series they
should be busy all the time because you've got
so many criminals or super criminals out there
um and uh the title of the story the sad man
says good night written by jeff barker art by
reuben procopio uh colors by matthew wilson um
i like the art i really love the art And I do
still like the general way the story is written
in the same tone as As the television series
I like that. I just I'm not up on this whole
Sandman character. I just I Just don't care.
Yeah Well, I mean one thing I gotta mention about
the story is you know Commissioner Gordon before
he's knocked out by the Sandman who? conveniently
enough has left a sizable pile of evidence on
his desk he's caught he's caught first and again
like I've spoken about this in the last episode
that we talked about the 66 comment I know it's
spoken to Mike about this off -air is chief O
'Hara and Commissioner Gordon in this series
as much as I love the show are completely useless
like there's the there i forget the episode where
you know ohara says batman should you know maybe
let the cops handle this and commissioner gordon
looks up as if he's about to say you shut your
horror mouth and this is how useless commissioner
gordon is in this specific story he called batman
because chief ohara was late to work now it turned
Turns out that there's a reason for that and
it's part of the story But the fact that you
have failed so completely at your job That you're
calling the mass vigilante that you've got on
speed dial because your number number one guy
is like five minutes late Really? Yeah, I wouldn't
give it a bit least 15 minutes, you know the
traffic, you know, the Batmobile lost the wheel,
the Joker got away again, something. But yeah,
so apparently Chief O 'Hara is missing and there's
an armored car that was coming to police headquarters
and it got ripped off for all the money it was
carrying and then, you know, commissioner of
course, but that location changes every week.
It's only known by Chief O 'Hara. You know if
you just see this look of like utter just holy
shit on his face at Batman's just sit there Yeah,
yeah, I kind of figured that out five minutes
ago. Did you not notice the sand all over the
place? Yeah, then then we turn the page and I
Love this montage. Oh, yeah, it's just I love
the the light for the security here What I'm
supposed to be oppressed by a handful of dirt.
Oh No, no the montage with Well, Sandman and
his sleepwalkers plan more devious doings that
the way that the art is in this and how they...
Oh, yeah, yeah, where Batman and Robin are...
Right, the narration. And then, um, I can't decide
if I really believe that, uh, Doc Brown stole
Batman's line or if it was vice versa. Yes, I
know Back to the Future came out after the 66
television series, but... Every time I see Batman
say, Great Scott, I think that Doc Brown's under
the mask. Yeah. Especially where they show up
for a second, I thought they were in the coffee
shop from Friends. Apparently, they've been up
all night, and then they're sucking back the
bat espresso, and you know that's what Batman
ordered. Yeah. No, there is no central perk here.
That's the other thing. That like when they were
on that page where they're in the coffee shop
drinking the coffee That's how I thought Sandman
was was getting people to go to sleep Was you
know put pro -hypnol in the copy or something
there's he spiked Gotham City's coffee supply
the feed yeah, yeah You spiked Batman's coffee
you bastard Well, it's not the first time that's
happened. I mean, the first episode of the TV
series, he basically got roofied after drinking
his Bat OJ in a go -go club about five seconds
before he started doing the Bat Toosie. Oh my
god, all I can think of now is one of the Jeff
Dunham specials where Peanut is going, mmm, mmm,
mmm, he's making all kinds of dance sounds. God
what I saw that the first thing I when you say
that the first thing I thought it was like that
Episode of the Simpsons were the bat where Adam
West showed up. Yeah, and he started doing the
bat to see it whores just back away slow So yeah,
so Batman and Robin are getting their coffee
on and there's some shenanigans outside and They
look then the Doc Brown and then the Sandman's
got a tanker truck with a spray cannon on the
top basically spraying everyone in Gotham City
with hypnotic sleeping powder yeah and apparently
he the the Sandman in this series has a very
reassuring voice the the best radio announcer
ever you know lulls you right to sleep you know
I'm just like seriously Figured why not I mean
they had a guy in Marvel Comics called the voice
at doom who had shoulder mounted speakers that
could make people his unwitting slaves, so All
as I can think oh you said shoulder mounted speakers
all I think it was jazz from g1 when he showed
spike is new stereo system and started blaring
it uh... you say that it will get back on top
of the second you say that the first that that
image but with the voice of ironhide for the
movies i just wanted to show my cannons it anyway
people back to dc comics so yes so we've got
that looks like cover your nose robin we have
to get our gas mask try not to breathe in the
sand I guess if this was the comics the Robin
would have looked at it was like yeah No, duh,
but this it's the Burt Ward robin so he's like
sure thing Batman sure hope I don't trip and
fall face first Into a big pile of whatever he's
spraying around tight because it doesn't even
look like dust. It looks like giant Caramel covered
hot piles of caramel covered popcorn Well, there
was one page The page where you have the Especially
after your futile manhunt last night or rather
Sandman hunt Wow, that's such a horrible pun.
That's even worse than half the TV series puns
in that page You have the sand kind of floating
around and I can kind of see that it's sand and
whatever else but yeah well when it's swirling
around like that but when it's you see it piled
up in the street it looks like giant piles of
popcorn and I'll say this like the uh Procopio's
art uh really really makes the Sandman creepy
looking you know with yeah it does the dark deep
set eyes and everything and Still love even Batman
gets out one of his you know a litter of threats.
There's like you sup a frick Svengali I was like
don't ever change Batman but yeah, they're taken
out and I Got the digital version of this comics
I couldn't find the physical copy for our episode
here folks and I love The chapters on this thing
is like they ended on it's always a two -part
chapter cliffhanger like the old show, and it's
like, has the Sandman finally defeated the Keep
Crusaders? Will Gotham be known as the city that
always sleeps? You know, and then the answers
come next week instead of tune in tomorrow, same
bad time, same bad channel. Yeah. I do like,
though, the, um, I think my favorite part about
this entire issue, at least this story and this
issue of the print comic, is the, um, where Sandman
has him... Can you hear me? What are you doing
now? I'm on patrol keeping Gotham safe. That
image there where it's Batman and Robin and Joker
and Catwoman, that's just simply awesome. Oh
yeah. And then you get the Batmobile. Oh my god,
it's so cool. I will say that I know it's an
artist kind of thing, but... I'm not too happy
sometimes when the Batmobile is colored blue
instead of black like it should be if this is
supposed to be this based on the 66 series it
should not be 1970s Midnight Blue from the from
the Super Friends show yeah well I mean that
was the whole thing like Ben and I Ben from animation
aficionados who I work with sometimes we had
a conversation about this last week we were talking
about how Batman's costume in the late 70s or
in the 70s into the 80s became blue and gray
Because it was the common misconception that
the costume was always blue and gray because
blue is used to highlight black Yeah, so I mean
the color is you obviously went overboard On
this issue the one thing I got to say that I
like about the the dream sequence shall we say
here Mm -hmm. I mean first of all, yeah, I like
I love that image of As they're going down the
dream tunnel and there's the Riddler and Joker
and Catwoman That would make a great just poster,
you know Oh, yeah, I get like a Batman 66 logo
in there somewhere I do love on the next page
following they're flying through the air and
they land in the Batmobile and the row of wrote
like Batman's rogues gallery got the penguin
King Tut egghead mr. Freeze and then it even
has reference because the he's basically the
sentiments trying to find the Batcave in this
story and that you see Batman say 14 miles north
-west of Gotham Old North Pass and then that's
like that reference to the sign you see every
time Batman comes out of the Batcave You know
as he roars thought he has Gotham City 14 miles
and well, you know Batman's probably not obeying
the speed limit He's going like a literal pat
at the hell to make that distance and I just
love the whole all the dream sequence hardly
you further on you see like the the t -rex from
the Batcave the giant choker card You know reference
to the thing and how Batman, you see, even when
he's out cold and hypnotized like this, his brain's
still a crime -fighting machine, because, you
know, I love the art where he's like, of course,
this is a dream! And he starts fighting back,
and somehow, dream logic, shall we say, Robin
is brought into Batman's... During dream because
it's not like they're sitting there on the couch
and they're talking to each other while they're
in this coma. So Yeah, I Batman has granny panties
The panel before he's like not just a dream but
in reality that image behind the little window
image it wow they really stretched the design
on that it looks like he's wearing granny panties
yeah yeah but you gotta realize that's all pure
west yeah yeah yeah i love the one line what
are you doing batman we're pulling over we've
got to take control of this dream yeah because
turning the car around is totally kind of fix
things Robbins, what do you mean we're trapped
in a dream? Well, I am you're a construct of
my subconscious and whatever. I mean it is the
60s show there is so much Bullshit it might as
well make sense Yeah, so Batman and Robin both
get free and this is one thing that I don't like
about this story Outside the fact that it's Sandman.
They never explain Where Robin was in his own
dream because they both fell the fuck asleep
So it wasn't like No, they did. Well, no. No,
I'm just saying it's I don't think it would have
mattered because Sandman was going after Batman
to find the location of the Batcave. I Understand
that but what I'm saying like, okay basically
what you're telling me is this is a version of
Inception. What the hell is that? No. Oh hell
no The hell's that Justice League episode? Only
a dream. This is basically a version of Only
the Dream, that two -parter from Justice League,
where Superman... Flash and Green Lantern all
are not Superman on Martian Manhunter Green Lantern
and flash all break free of their dreams Then
they go into hot girls dream to save her so that's
basically what this is with Robin going into
Batman's dream But still I think that's a lacking
part of the story if Robin's asleep, but they're
just leaving him asleep They have strapped up
this some sort of medical equipment, but I guess
the monitors brainwaves in that but Yeah, it
would have been cool to see what Robin was dreaming
of course in that one. He's probably the big
hero and Batman's the Kid's sidekick and you
know You know, but then we get the the traditional
BAM KO pow Yeah, kadunk Yeah Holy knockout. Yeah
you did do your job chief. You put the Sandman
to sleep and And then that's the most effective
police work that O 'Hara has ever done that I've
seen. Anyway, he wasn't even trying. It's just
like clothesline. Yeah. Um, that's, um, you know,
because these are individual stories within one
issue. I don't know, man. Don't I don't think
I'm gonna rate the issue overall because the
second story is actually better than the first
for the first story It's a lot more coherent.
I think yeah, I I gotta say overall I I Don't
want to do this. I don't think it's very rarely
that I use our rating system on the GCR in that
it's on the low end, and I'm sorry, for this
specific story, for the Sandman story, I had
to give it two stars out of five. I said I disliked
it. It's just, the art is great. The art is fine.
The story itself, and the fact that it's the
Sandman, a character that, not even that I don't
know that much about him, the character that
he, he to me doesn't say 66 Batman. I know he
was a villain on the show. But you know it just
doesn't like I don't know It would have been
interesting if the Joe if this was a Joker story
where Joker Modifies his his gas or his toxin
to do exactly this and put the Joker in Versus
having Sandman in yeah, I'm gonna be a little
bit I'm gonna give it a 3 .5 like I liked it
This would have been a great episode if it was
like part of if it was the one of the live -action
It was actually in the TV series proper, but
yeah, it's a little Out there shall we say yeah
So the second story in chain issue number five
for the print is Tale of the tiger topaz written
by Jeff Parker art and color by Colleen Coover
letters by Wes Abbott Um, this is the Batgirl
introduction. I love this. Oh, yeah. Absolutely
love this. Using my least favorite version of
Catwoman, no knocking Earth a cat, it's just...
When I saw her in the 60s show growing up, she
creeped the hell out of me. Yeah, she was creepy,
but she didn't, like... It wasn't, like, bad.
It's just, like, damn, woman. I think out of
the three of them, Julie Neumar, Eartha Kitt,
and Lee Merriweather. Lee Merriweather was my
least favorite. Really? Yeah. Julie Neumar was
my favorite, and Eartha's kind of like in between.
But I do like that, and Jeff Parker said this
in an interview when the series first started
coming out, or when the series was about to debut,
that all three of the various versions of Catwoman
would be used throughout. So I mean, I like that.
I like that they're paying homage to that and
doing it that way. I think that's really, really
cool. This story here centers around Barbara
Gordon. And she's at a museum. with with Commissioner
Gordon And I get to say I know there are different
artists on each of these issues or hell even
each of the stories in this issue They're two
completely different artists. I Really wish in
this series. They would be consistent with Commissioner
Gordon's design because now he looks like he
looks like Gordon from um... crap was it not
year one? was it year one that he was old and
white haired and white mustached? noooo might
have been dark knight returns he looks like something
out of dark knight returns he just doesn't look
like the sixties television series style of commissioner
gordon yeah there's a very Neil Hamilton was
the actor who played him in the live action series
and it doesn't look, and that's the measuring
stick, you know, you go back to the show and
yeah, it doesn't work for me. Although I do like
the design of Barbara Gordon because it very
much has that kind of, you know, kind of young
sexy look of Yvonne Craig who played Barbara
Gordon in the show. Yeah. Don't get the hair
is colored right, but that's something that's
just that's an epic. Yeah, although I do love
the I Like I do love this Colleen's art here,
you know, it works for The Syria this she would
make a great regular artist that they just had
a regular artist on the show or on the comic
I should say but you know Commissioner Gordon
has used this stroke to get his daughter in to
look at this crystal display in the Gotham City
Museum and you know there's uh the what's uh
curators the word I'm looking for is telling
oh all the credit goes to the exhibit designer
the great Madame Cougar as like gee I wonder
if she's the villain I guess we'll find out Yeah,
no, it is very obvious, but it was always obvious
in the show. I mean, hell, look at the 66, the
actual film. Miss Kitka? Come on now. We all
know who Miss Kitka is. She's a reporter from
a Russian newspaper. Yeah, sure she is. So we
go to the night later that night and Catwoman
is going to break into the museum. Quick Scooby
Doo reference. The look on Barbara's face when
Ms. Cougar is walking out of the museum, it just
practically screams Velma saying jinkies. It
does, yes. Again like the show she's practically
giving away the fact that she's a villain Where
she's talking to dr. Chan the curators like I
am a well aware of where the projectors are and
I've studied the details of your system So it
will not hinder my aesthetics Replace that with
shenanigans and it's pretty well a confession
But yeah, it goes to working late tonight, dear.
Oh afraid so Oh working late tonight dead and
it's i love the reference to lord death man who
is Around this time and the batman comics are
in, you know, japan in the 60s You know, and
it's a character that showed up In an episode
of brave and the bold became a major character
in grant morrison's batman ink title And I hope
they do this story in the series someday where
batman and robin are in japan helping their police
hunt down the elusive lord death man That in
itself would make a great story, but like when
Batman went across the seat of the UK I want
to see the Japanese Batmobile Because I will
bet you dollars to doughnuts that shit's gonna
look like the Mach 5 Well, we already saw the
London Batmobile, I'm sure they'll get to the
Japan Batmobile at some point many Wolverine
claws there you know it's like shit shit yeah
yeah so she has designed this as you said she
has designed this exhibit so she could basically
steal it for herself and as she's you know doing
you know going through this and jumping through
all the lasers she is singing a song she's singing
her theme song yeah I knew you wouldn't be able
to resist the tiger topaz catwoman. I admit,
going through the trouble of posing as a designer
so you could set the exhibit up for your own
theft was very inspired. Bad girl. Ah, bad girl.
Now, see, this is the problem I have with this,
is... wasn't? Oh no, wait, maybe I don't have
a problem. She has red hair here. I don't remember
her. Does she have the red hair in the 60s? Well,
it was a wig like sewn into her cowl in the shade
because Yvonne Craig had that naturally dark
black hair. But yeah, I love the look on what's
her name? Colleen Coover's face or her art on
Catwoman's face because you like yeah, it looks
like Eartha Kate. You could hear her doing that
rolling that she had in her voice. But yeah,
it's like, Batgirl. I could totally, because
the one thing I loved about Yvonne Craig's Batgirl
is she had this very Captain America sort of,
it was different than that. It was more like
Robin's cadence. She just had this very kind
of gung -ho, blue -blooded, all -American quality
in her voice. And you get that with the dialogue
here. And I do like the fact that it must have
taken weeks to place the crystal placement just
right. And that, you know, batarang. I still
love the look on Eartha Kit Kawa's face. She's
like, bitch, please. Yeah, I love the chase through
the Tiger Topaz as far as the... how you see
them. Where Batgirl's like, aha, got you now.
I love how that's done with the art. I think
that's absolutely awesome. And I love the whole
Hall of Mirrors kind of thing where they go into
the crystal cave and there's all the different
reflections of Catwoman and Batgirl all over
the place and they both have a hard time trying
to deal with it. Yeah, it's absolutely awesome,
but you still get in the sock BAM pow sort of
thing and Yeah I do like the one thing it's slash
and then slap Yeah, we're gonna have a cat fight.
Yeah I like the oof the oof is awesome when she
telling back girl tackles her yeah, I thought
that was awesome You need to pow go out for the
night Yeah, and then you see them both they're
huffing and puffing people cut the their respective
avatars with the excise As if their inner cells
are like looking at the audience. Can you believe
this shit? You know and I love that all of a
sudden. It's like There's really no explanation
or is there an explanation for why a Commissioner
Gordon showed up There isn't he's just there.
Yeah, you might have been like a silent alarm
or something But they're really his Commissioner
senses were tingling You wouldn't want the dementia
to take over again. Oh, hello Abraham Lincoln
Yeah, because let's face it Commissioner Gordon's
gonna be on some hardcore medication the stress
of his job the only thing out of this story that
I didn't really particularly like and I don't
think it's part of her I don't remember if it's
part of her character but at the end of the story
Batgirl rides off and she says Teehee I don't
remember that being a part of the character in
in the show I don't think she ever Teehee'd in
the show but you know I mean it's a little it's
not outside the realm of possibility yeah for
me I I really like the story I really like the
arts I'm gonna take a half point off for the
what I don't think is in her character the Teehee
at the end so I'll give it four and a half out
of five which is almost perfect for this story
yeah I agree with you there it's definitely of
All it's just it's leaning towards that five
But it's not quite there. I mean even in the
show when Commissioner Gordon showed up There
was at least what are you doing here Commissioner?
Oh, I just happened to be driving by You know,
yeah, it's literally he just appears out of the
shadows slaps the cuff on cap woman and that's
it Yeah, pretty much All right, next up is Batman
66 number six and the cover that i have is um...
batman robin and the book warm robert l the conqueror
book warm also featuring all the queen of cossacks
uh... okay i see that these are supposed to be
books now first and like why are they diving
through spaghetti but i get it now their their
their pages of books and regardless of Roddy
McDowell's awesomeness again another villain
that I just know nothing about really I don't
know was that I don't remember the bookworm in
the series was he he was like one of those one
one -shot villains he only ever appeared in his
you know the episodes the bookworm turns while
Gotham City burns okay which is the one thing
I should mention about the the previous issue
with the Batman like the Sandman story had its
own titles the Sandman says goodnight and Batman
sleeps tight mm -hmm and that's one of the things
I loved about the original like the the 66 TV
series was those cliffhanger titles that dovetail
together like that but yeah I haven't seen any
variant covers for this one I pretty much just
get the standard issue, which is done by Mike
Allred, who's the creator of the comic book,
Madman. And he does all the rate. He's a regular
cover artist. I really like this cover where
they're swinging down off the giant pile of books,
which is probably in the bookworms, Larry, because
let's face it, he's a super villainish librarian.
So his hideout would, of course, have giant decorative
books all over the goddamn place. yeah there
was a variant cover I don't know what it was
but it says here in the in the credits variant
cover by Jonathan Case so there was a variant
I just don't know what it was so we start this
story at the tri -weekly meeting of the Gotham
Chamber of Currency chaired by millionaire Bruce
Wayne the keynote speaker concludes his stirring
address Yeah, and I love Robin's lives like and
I don't Batman himself would jump in me and saying
don't be uptight Literacy is what's happening,
baby, and it's a guess and then Batman I mean
Bruce Wayne leads in he might not use those precise
words boy wonder Yeah, he's just stepping in
to say it's like don't be talking over my shit,
son Yeah, I'm just not into the relationship
between Bruce and Dick in this. It just seems
weird. I don't know what it is. I'm trying not
to be negative and say this story sucks. But
I just wasn't... I didn't feel the usual... Adam
Westbert Ward kind of inflections in this. Yeah,
it's more like he's giving Robin like a verbal
smackdown. Pretty much. And I don't think it's
necessarily the dialogue, like the artist on
this issue is Ty Templeton, who's... I really
like his art here, like specifically you look
in that first page you look, that's Adam West,
like he's making an effort for the characters
to look as they should, but it's... You know,
it's just the way it's drawn. It's a nitpick
at best for me. I think the reason why I don't
like this specific story in this issue is because
it's not written by Jeff Parker, it's written
by Tom Payer. Don't. Like, I get that this series
is supposed to be all new adventures featuring
the television series, you know, cast members
and characters. but if you're going to have a
writer on a series have that writer don't have
okay artists changing i don't much mind you know
it it's kind of like me and how i look at rock
bands rock bands that i like you can change any
member of the rock band except for the lead singer
okay um And that's the problem I have with this
story, is that it's not written by Parker, and
that's one of the reasons why I don't like it,
because the story... It's like the old He -Man
show, where you would have an episode written
by Larry DiTillio, David Wise, Robbie London...
Sometimes not everybody talks to everybody, and
if you bring in someone fresh on a series to
write one episode, they're not gonna know the
true inflections of it. And I don't think, uh...
payer knows the the proper you know verbal that
that Bruce and dick have with each other it just
didn't like it at all in this well yeah I mean
it happens where you know maybe you know Parker
or not Parker it's just a Regular writer, you
know, you have to take some time off or something.
You know part Jeff Parker is probably busy I
mean he is writing a lot of books. So I Understand
that I just wish that there was a little bit
more communication amongst writers or if mr.
Payard didn't know about The series that he would
have checked it out beforehand, which I doubt
that he doesn't know about it. But you know what?
I mean, it's like Some people just need to do
research Yeah, although I do like in the fight
that Robin has with the the bookworm and his
men where he shows up to steal this Comically
oversized check for basically five grand You
know Robin keep your guard up mind your footwork.
I Commission regards basically I hardly think
the boy wonder needs pointers from an idle millionaire
And he's like, oh, I dabbled in pugilism in prep
school. Watch his left! You know, he's basically
telling Robin how to fight without... It's just
like, way to trust your partner there, Batman.
You colossal douche. And don't get me wrong,
I love Batman, folks, but let's face it, that
was a douche move. Yeah, that goes against the
guy at the burrow code like you know Bros before
hoes Batman explosives cat with it Yeah So, you
know the bookworm gets away You know Commissioner
Gordon's gonna give Batman a call and then he
goes on Johnny Carson Yeah I still love what
I do love about about this series is how they've
remained true to the show Like with the statement
all giant check payments have been stopped. Yeah
that the line, and this is, this kind of smacks
more modern financial times where Batman says,
as soon as Robin and I recover that checkbook,
charity payments will resume. So what you're
saying is you've cut off all funding to soup
kitchens and hostels and like homeless shelters
because this douchebag with a reading lamp strapped
to his fedora has stolen a giant check? God,
you people suck. Yeah, like that's what it sounds
like bad bad himself. It's like no no no We're
gonna shut everything down until I get this sorted
out Yeah, but what about like those 50 homeless
people that are stuck under the freeway screw
them. I have to find a giant checkbook Yeah,
yeah Sorry, well what I was going for was the
fact that Alfred is Dusting the bad pulls and
it says exactly what it says from the show. Access
to the Bat Cave via Bat Pulse. And it has Dick
and Bruce's name on the two Bat Pulse. And just
that image of where he hears Aunt Harriet say
her catchphrase in Merciful Heavens. But it's
like he's breaking the fourth wall just looking
at the audience. Can you believe this? Yeah.
Where he just looks there and he's like, you
know... I love the interplay between Aunt Harriet
and Alfred in the show, and it's right here.
It's like, yeah, here, let me slip you a few
bucks, you can go buy the soup kitchen and help
him out. And she's like, oh, Alfred, you always
know what to say. And then you find out that
the bookworm is a Batman fanboy slash stalker.
Because he's got a giant, let's say it's a comically
oversized book of Batman. with newspaper clippings
and batarangs, and I'm sure if this went to the
ultimate extreme, there'd be a lock of Batman's
hair in there. But wait, you can't clone Batman.
You can clone Superman and make, you know, nuclear
man, though. And I think I just broke JT's brain,
ladies and gentlemen. Yeah, I like cheese. Superman
4 rules. Yes, Superman versus... Like seriously
like if you could do a riff tracks of that movie
just where he pops out the closet like bitch.
I'm gonna scratch you But yeah, so bookworms
turn to the book of Batman to figure out You
know what Batman's next move is well Batman and
Robin are tracking him via but bat tracer that
Robin slipped onto the bookworm and then well,
they almost deafen him when they dig into his
radio signal and Very good bookworm. He's like
us son of a bitch Yeah, it couldn't get this
loud unless it's not my radio the occurs by wonder
switched it out and and again like the like the
last issue where batman had the realization he
was a dream the look on batman's faces he could
if he continues to collect data about me he could
soon figure out that i'm also bruce wayne bum
bum bum i was like i will say about the art really
quickly that um the art on this page where he's
like yeah curse boy wonder switched it out the
art on batman uh batman and robin um Going into
the bat, you know being in the battle wheel going
into the Batcave Absolutely awesome. Oh, yeah,
I mean it's like the Adam West Batman popped
right off the screen onto the page because the
the artist has the cowl down to Perfection here.
Well, yeah, it's a tight Hamilton's art in this
like his art and his inking is really what makes
the book this issue for me like they even have
that thing with the Robin with his jaw dropped
open and his, you know, left hand clenching his
fist and, you know, it's just like in the show
whenever they would figure out one of the Riddler's
riddles or the Joker's clues or the Penguin's
in Goffin would have some variation beyond their
modus operandi, but they're all leaving these
goddamn riddles or quotes from a book. You know
and then the next page we even get I love that
the commercial facade bat viewer Why don't you
just say you're bat big brother and you're tied
it to all the surveillance cameras in Gotham
and Robin even breaks out a holy child's play
Batman Chucky would destroy the Batcave You think
oh, yeah So then we go And soon, outside Gotham's
upscale Dickens Match Boutique. Because that's
the thing. Yeah. It's like, look, it's the bookworm
himself in a new costume. It looks like it's
made out of a coarse striking material. Oh my
God, he's going to light a match. Yeah. I still
don't get that. No, and of course Aunt Harriet's
there, you know, because why not? but yeah that's
just that I can't believe like maybe today with
the internet and obsessive compulsives and people
with too much goddamn money like I said make
you stupid money that there would be a maybe
in New York City there could be a boutique where
people go to buy sell and trade collector matchbooks
Where you know, you could maybe instead of spending
that $20 on a matchbook You could give it to
a homeless man and tell them to go get a sandwich
No, I'm just gonna go in here Oh wait, we're
in Gotham City and they don't have homeless people.
Everyone has a job and has a car Yep, I'm just
this is like one of the stupidest things like
seriously Could this just be a front for like
a money laundering operation or something? No,
it's an actual matchbook store Yeah And then
So basically Batman and Robin bust in try to
bust the bookworm and he busts the move and Gets
away he's collected another batarang for his
scrapbook slash You know, I don't know what else
you could call it and even Joyce Carroll his
mall Slash concubine is like really Really? Like,
she could care less about the book of Batman
and he's like, but look at here, this is what
he used before to cut crime against the Joker
like he's the bookworms gone total fanboy. Yeah,
he's trying to dress it up and everything. But
oh my god, it would have been so much better.
What if the bookworm was batmite? Oh, brilliant.
Oh if they ever did like a cartoon you get rotten
could have gotten Roddy Mcdowell the voice bat
might oh that would have been so good yeah so
basically You find out not as we use a fanboy
He's like one of those fanboys that collects
a an entire run of a comic book series and tries
to auction it off for Boku bucks Because he's
basically gonna auction off his book of Batman
to the highest bidder So they can use it to do
whatever they want to the Dark Knight detective.
Mm -hmm Oh I just love Oh God the the bookworm
has stolen the new supply of the 1966 police
rule books that were being delivered to police
headquarters. Oh, how will we fight for law and
order now when we don't even know what the left
hand is going to be doing with the right? It's
really you guys haven't been on the job for like
Ten years you you haven't memorized What all
of a sudden they would have you completely rewritten
the law book? Well Gotham City probably did they
let a man in a batsuit run around and fight crime
Yeah, and I love Commissioner Gordon's line until
we can replace these manuals Gotham City police
will be unable to operate by the book which conjures
up images of like some guy pulling over a speed
somebody for a speeding ticket he spends five
minutes skimming over the pages for traffic violations
yeah pretty much oh yeah so basically the bookworm
goes to break into Wayne Manor and because he's
apparently he's figure out who batman is and
he gets caught uh... at the end uh... because
i'm sure mister wayne will be happy to read generous
oversized check for the gotham prison library
bach burn the books for all i care i just want
to turn off my brain and watch television yes
and apparently the uh... bookworm couldn't handle
the revelation that Alfred wasn't Batman because
that's all where all his research led what led
him to believe folks the butler did it Yes, it's
true miss Gordon I am Batman For once I just
wish somebody would believe me when I say that
Gotta love btas Just walk into the story I'm
sorry sir. You're a dollar 50 short for this
cat for your groceries. I'm Batman Yeah, yeah,
you know you're going 70 in a 30 zone. I'm Batman
you know 70 and a 30 zone with a bunch of gravel
in your mouth, so the second story in this issue
is Queen of Cossacks Olga Uh, was she in the
show? I believe... She's probably one of those
ones, uh... One of the one -off villains? Yeah,
there were so many of them. There was very, like,
there was the main cast of villains like Joker
and Penguin and all that. I'm just looking it
up on the wiki here. And I gotta say, while he's
doing that, folks, it just... I understand that
they're wanting to pay homage to the classic
series and include everything, but for me personally,
if it's not a core villain, I just don't care.
Well, some of the one -off villains were kind
of fun in the series, like uh... Shame or the
Archer. You know... Egghead who only ever showed
up a one time and let's face it most of us only
really remember that because it was Vincent goddamn
price Yeah Now let me ask you this I was gonna
ask you this earlier in this episode of the podcast
Egghead Egghead is everywhere isn't he? Pretty
much Because he's in DC and Marvel Oh god Yeah,
of course in Marvel his biggest antagonist was
Wolverine. No, I think the It was an Ant -Man
was The biggest one yeah, it said according to
the Batman wiki yeah, they look up here. She
was in a sea Olga showed up in the season 3 some
season 3 episodes Okay I don't think I ever saw
those because I really don't remember her. I
don't remember her either. And I don't remember
Batman and Robin ever riding bears. Well that's
because Batman's awesome. They're riding the
bear's bear back. I just love the fact that you
have no idea how much crap he's got crammed into
the bat utility belt. Because you see in this
one there on the outskirts of Gotham City in
the middle of goddamn winter Pardon my French.
He's wearing bat snowshoes, which probably fold
out Into that state not unlike the bat bulletproof
shield Yeah, how does he sit down while wearing
that belt very carefully, you know Yeah, so it's
They're walking through the outskirts of Gotham
and winter there ambushed by Cossacks and Olga.
Mm -hmm. And it's like, and that meant so, the
exiled Belle of Beserova is back in town. What
did you do with the Deutranium Agitator? What
is the Deutranium Agitator, you might ask? We
don't know, nor are we ever given an explanation.
It's kind of like the rabbit's foot in Mission
Impossible 3. Yeah, I thought that was a virus,
though. Didn't they explain that? No, you see
this thermos -like thing. And Ethan Hunt even
asked Laurence Fishburne, will you tell me what
this thing is? And he's like, I'll tell you later.
And that was the closest thing that we got to
the nearest excuse of an explanation. Anyway,
they even, well, they reference apparently old
and egghead or a thing. And they referenced the
earlier issue of the series where where Batman
and Robin got dropped out of a blimp by Egghead.
He's like, she's basically, she's doing this
trap because she wants to get back at Batman
and Robin for locking up her sweetie. And he's
like, this is, Robin's like, this is a trap.
Da Robin, for locking away my beloved Egghead.
He dropped us out of a blimp in a sealed egg.
Shushing, eggy is good, man. I love that. That's
cool. First of all, I love bad Russian accents
like that. That's just comic gold in my eyes.
But yeah, basically Batman and Robin, well, they
end up riding the bears when the Cossacks attack.
And I love the, before this, basically Olga has
moved on from Egghead because she wants Batman
to become Batmanikov. and join her and rebuild
Mother Russia. And Batman's like, uh, nuts to
that. And she's like, fine, bears eat them. Yeah.
And then he starts, well, Besserovian, he's speaking
Russian. He literally speaks Russian to the bears.
They... Tame the Bears they go back to the oh
so inconspicuous Russian themed secret headquarters
of the Cossacks in this wild outlands of Gotham
City Which looks like they pretty much picked
up the The Kremlin and dropped it in the backwoods
of Gotham and Okay, how did Batman Robin walk?
They basically ride the Bears into Olga's headquarters
And no alarms are raised like they literally
make it into her inner sanctum, and she's like
holy shit Batman Yeah, and the bear is so unhappy
Well wouldn't you be too if you were forced to
ride all the way there so Yeah, and you see Batman's
non love To quote the Wayne Brady gag, Batman
is not above smacking a bitch because he's about
to punch Olga and then her main Cossack comes
in and he's like, nuts to that. There will no
be beatings of women here, comrade. Yeah. And
how does Batman win the day? He has a sword fight
with her and then she's like, screw it, I'm getting
me some sugar. kisses him and even the bear has
this the the final panel the bear has a look
at his face is like what yeah all right so for
this issue i'm going to give the bookworm story
only because i came up with the bat might thing
i'm going to give it a three and a half which
is liked it for the olga and the cossack story
I'm gonna give it a half star which is painful
the lowest rating I've ever given since we since
we put this This this rating system into effect.
I've never gone under Three stars well I might
have done two and a half. I might have done a
two at some point, but I I gotta say a half star
for this which is painful Painful states that
a complete failure on nearly every level any
shred of redeeming quality is engulfed by a devastating
sensation of frustration and incompetence Whether
it's a lack of discipline or sheer laziness in
the end experience is one you will want to forget
as soon as you as possible And it's I'm only
giving it a painful is because I don't like the
character of Olga You know The art was was fairly
good, but it just it wasn't a story I cared about
it wasn't a story that mattered to Gotham City
at all the whole point of the 66 series is Batman
and Robin and Batgirl when she's around Fighting
crime in Gotham. I understand that this comic
series is you know, gonna be ever reaching and
going into other avenues outside of Gotham, that's
all well and fine. This one, though, I would
have rather them face Dr. Blight and Mal from
Captain Planet than watch Olga again. Yeah. I
mean, and the only thing in this story, like,
for the Bookworm story, I'm gonna give it a four.
I really liked it. You know, because I was a
huge, I'm still a huge Roddy McDowell fan. You
know, Planet of the Apes and all that. You know,
Mr. Peter Vincent, the original. Fright Night.
And as much as I would love to cause Mike's head
to explode, folks, by giving it a five, genius
in every sense of the word, I'm gonna give it
a four. I really like the thing. Like, this is
just sheer comic book insanity, and I love it.
It's Batman fighting Cossacks out in the back
40 of Gotham City, riding a bear and having a
sword fight this this is gold for me you know
it's just fun if i want pure insanity change
out olga and her cossacks for the joker and mr
freeze teaming up because mr Mr. Freeze would
have brought the Bears and Joker would have brought
the insanity That's what it was taken for me
to enjoy the old the story. Oh, you gotta let
yourself feel like No, no feeling so the cut
should mention that they're they're building
towards something because they have that brief
interlude and The Gotham Library in the oldest
story that's building towards something in a
later issue because I believe the Jeff Parker
wrote The the Olga story so I mean he's obviously
building towards something So we're gonna take
a quick break and we're gonna come back with
issues seven and eight after this All right,
we are back and it's Batman 66 number seven Again
Parker and payer are on the writing Jones and
Donovan are on the art The cover face off with
false face and the Joker's layoff riot Hmm, interesting.
I wonder which story Mike would prefer to be
the more important one in the issue. Might surprise
you actually. So, the cover here. While I enjoy
Batman and Robin climbing up walls and basically
seeing them vertically, I don't know if climbing
up false faces knows. Really hits home that that
awesome feeling Well, I think technically aren't
they like climbing up Mount Everest and false
face has done something to that national monument
Could be could be But yeah art like Christopher
Jones art in this I can say right off Really
big and it's like Templeton's art in the last
issues like he really makes an effort to capture
the look of like Adam West and, you know, then
Adam West in costume. Cause it's basically false
face is hocking fake jewelry and spreading vicious
rumors about the mental state of Aunt Harriet.
You know, it's like, well, I'm not a doctor like
my father was. You know, it's, I'm just gonna,
you know, cover the, you know, just basically
he's causing shit. And then he goes outside and
you see a sweet Riddler mobile. Yeah, you see
the sweet Riddler mobile and you also see the
Batmobile chasing it Yeah, and I like that the
they spray was an acid in the streets and the
her glue or something and Something in it. Yeah,
it's it goes headfirst into the pavement Yeah,
and rose. Holy abrupt halt that man. Good thing
we had our seat belts Required restraints old
chum even in vehicles not as power as the bat
powerful as the batmobile public service announcement
kids Yeah, yes, so you get Batman gets a bag
of money to the head and He's laid low and it's
like citizen, please leave the evidence where
it is. This is a crime scene Just trying to help
crime fighter and Robin's just what but yeah
Bruce Wayne yeah, and then yeah Fist of the face.
And then again, that sweet shot in the next page
where Batman's taking on the Riddler and a thug
knocks him loose and that's Frank Gorshin right
there. Oh yeah, yeah, the Frank Gorshin Riddler
is always awesome. Yeah, I love, you know, Robin's
like, what? Don't worry, I put a bat tracer on
the Riddler ride. Yeah. Okay, that's... It actually
sounds a lot better than Riddler Mobile. Yeah,
it does. We got a Batmobile, we don't need a
Riddler Mobile. Well, we got a Batmobile, we
got a Joker Mobile, we got a Penguin Duck, and...
Oh, God. What? Danny DeVito. Come on. Okay, yeah,
sure. Penguin Sub. Yeah, but the Duck was cool.
Come on. It's a giant rubber ducky just envision
penguin as Ernie instead of Danny DeVito You
win this round Blanchard You make crime -fighting
so much fun John that's right. That's right So
basically Robin still got got his bell rung Batman
uses the bat freeze fire extinguisher is that
bat freeze or bat breeze i don't know the first
letter is covered up by his ring finger yeah
so he gives uh robin a cold a bat cold compress
to put on his uh goose egg well he uses the bat
freeze or breeze or whatever to shatter the glue
that's holding them to the street and he's like
sorry batman i saw someone i wasn't expecting
who an attractive schoolmate, a celebrity, it
was Bruce Wayne and Batman's like shut your whore
mouth because that's the look of his face he's
like oh you did not just say that and then you
see something when they get back to the Batcave
you only saw it I think in the movie I don't
recall ever seeing in the TV show where they
have like those cushions that they land on when
they slide down the bat poles and then he hits
the switches shoots them back up to the top and
they go through the Interdimensional automatic
bat costume changing device Because this yeah,
you know, I've always wondered about the bat
poles, you know because They go down in their
normal clothes they come back up or they go down
in their normal clothes and they end up in their
in their bed Robin suits when they go back up
in their bat and Robin suits they end up in the
normal clothes How does that work because I'm
assuming the I'm assuming these bat poles are
just like you know a stripper pole or a fire
engine pole that you would see the firehouse
that you slide down and Whatever else you've
never seen the automatic costume changer switch
It still doesn't that they've never is they've
never explained how that works and it's either
they slide down automatic costume changer and
like they're sliding down the poles and all these
like little robo arms come out and like strip
them naked and then slap the costumes on for
all we know they walk around all day and all
night wearing the costumes underneath and really
there's just a hook that grabs their normal clothes
and yanks it off I mean yeah then again it's
Batman and who are we to question the Dark Knight
detective I am damn it especially in this series
Yeah, so I mean of course by the time they get
to the top Batman's worked it out in his computer
like brain that it's false face because it certainly
couldn't be somebody disguising himself as Bruce
Wayne just as No, it's got to be a super criminal
yeah, and then he gets a call on the bat phone
and My god Commission Warren look it looks like
he went to an all -night buffet because he just
looks fat He's like free after 2 a .m if you're
a police officer compliments Gotham City financial
branch you know and then he's basically telling
telling Bruce that the cops are there to arrest
him without telling or knowing who Bruce really
is it's just it's just a look on Bruce's face
is like I've sent dispatch chief O 'Hara to arrest
millionaire Bruce Wayne and Bruce way's like
but what what And you go to I live that meanwhile
at false faces fiendish flop house No, I love
I love alliteration Yeah And you see he's a progressive
Super villain cuz he's got a woman and a small
person on his crew yeah, of course the little
person's named little Tom, so it's Just slightly
insensitive I was really enjoying this story.
I really do like it. I think it's kind of a shame
that near the end of it you have Batman punching
Honest Abe. Yeah. I do like that Honest Abe doesn't
turn into a vampire though, so there's a good
thing about it. Well, no, he didn't turn into
a vampire he fought vampires. Yeah, I know don't
you know? That's the entire reason the Civil
War was waged? Yeah sure You got a very history
class Mike. I still I still love to see like
after Batman, you know laughter Bruce and dick
turn into Batman and Robin again, they go to
the police headquarters and Commissioner Gordon
I again the police force in Gotham City is absolutely
useless Because without even looking for evidence
or, you know, finding some witness to corroborate
the reports that this was Bruce Wayne, he's sitting
there, hands folded in front of him, head hung
low. Oh, Jesus, it's a dark day indeed. And then
there's Chief O 'Hara being exactly how I expect
a drunken Irish cop to act, completely hating
on rich people. You shut your whore mouth. Come
on. Come on, Commissioner. You know this wasn't
Bruce Wayne. You know there's a guy who likes
to dress himself up as other people and prats
around town in other people's clothes. And then
all of a sudden you see the light bulb go off
over Commissioner Gordon's head. He's like, oh,
yes, of course. Oh, you've done it again, Batman.
And Batman's like, yeah, like I do all the rest
of your work. I'm just like seriously like I
just that's one of the things I loved about the
show is how completely useless the cops were
they Basically show up at the end and read the
Oh wait, that's another crime fighter Yeah, it's
so you see false face go to museum impersonate
this curator, you know, he steals what looks
like the tiger taupe has Which is what is yeah,
what's the deal with that? Come on now? Well,
it's that one could do it I can do better than
Catwoman Yeah, and I love the fact that they
don't it's basically the show false face would
turn around he would turn back he'd have another
face on and This one like you see earlier where
he bends over the turn on the TV and he turns
around again. He's got his Bruce Wayne on and
then you see him walk he walks through a shadow
for a second he goes from Dr. Chan to back to
false face and basically false face was like
the clay face of the 66 universe yeah he was
you know for like the microsecond change like
that and you know it's and of course you know
Commissioner Gordon's like well of course Bruce
Wayne could have committed the crime he's probably
off gallivanting as wealthy playboys are wont
to do And you see badminton's probably rolling
his eyes and under his collar. It's like god.
This guy's a dick So they go to the museum to
you know, cuz the dog the real dr. Chan has been
discovered and well and false faces put some
put a little more effort into leaving a clue
he's done like a Snow one and like how you do
a snowflake cutouts with paper, you know, he's
like, oh, yeah he's left the mask and a taunting
riddle rhyme and see that's what I don't like
okay I get it no one can really own a certain
part of something like no one can own it like
a certain shtick I mean you know but that's one
of the reasons why I don't like some of these
villains is they're basically stealing other
people's shticks like leaving riddles that's
the Riddler's job put the Riddler in here you
know They must all get together like a super
villain book club. It's like so how are you gonna
do it this time? Well, I'm gonna turn left instead
of going right because no way Batman will catch
me if I turn left You know, so but yeah, so they
figure out in the span of what looks like ten
seconds that false face is going to rip off Mount
Rushmore Because that's totally like Batman's
logic. What if the part about it? it's not being
a clue is what's false the entire note must be
made of clues yes because any sane rational human
being would come to the same conclusion yes exactly
so then they fly we get our second or no this
would be our third new bat vehicle debut we get
the bat plane it looks kind of cool oh no it
definitely you know with the red and black highlights
you know it looks a bit of badass But I gotta
ask the question, and I'm sure other people have
thought of asking this question. How does the
government not just walk in and take this shit?
Like, how does like some civilian manage to maintain
a separate, or like a quarter of the airfield
of the Gotham International Airport, you know,
store his Batcopter, store his Batfighter plane?
How does like the FBI not just like, ah, communism?
Well, that, and let's face it, this is the 60s.
This is 1960s Gotham City. And as you've stated
in this episode and way back in episode 39, the
police force and the government are all fools.
I said the police force are fools. The government
hasn't exactly been determined, but as we go
to... Right, but you know what I mean. It's like,
you know, the police force are fools. And they're
made to look like fools because that's how they
were in the show. And it has so much camp. And
I understand that's what it's meant to be. I'm
not complaining that it has camp. There's some
of the Bat 66 camp that I really like. There's
some of the just horrible, horrible bat puns
that are really, really cool. But it just...
What do you expect? I mean, you know, there was
no logic back then when it come to this, you
know Oh Batman, he's he's a he's a crime fighter.
He's going to fight our super criminals, you
know So yeah, so I I don't know much about the
American history up to this point, but is that
LBJ is the president at this point in America
in the 60s? This was after 66 this was after
JFK, right? Yeah, JFK was 63. And then, yeah,
Lyndon B. Johnson. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, because
when the first time I read this was like, what
the hell is Nixon doing at Mount Rushmore? I
was like, wait. Like I said, I don't know a lot
about the presidency. But I was like, yeah, what
the hell is Lincoln or Nixon doing it? You know,
under Lincoln's notes, whatever you want to say.
So then, as it tells the park rangers. Don't
let anyone disturb us, will you? And 10 seconds
later, Batman lands and probably just runs rough
shot over him and runs after and through the
cabin from where False Face and his cronies take
off. And they're running through the forest and
Little Tom and Big John get taken out pretty
quickly. And then Blaze, who is False Face's
mall, shows up. Oh, he went that way. that turns
out to be false face. And like I said, he's he's
a friggin shape shifter because the dude grew
boobs and curves. And that man was like pretty.
OK, I'll go this way. Literally, that man was
distracted by the power of boobs. Oh, boy. Yeah.
And then he's going to blow up. False face is
going to try to ransom out Rushmore and threatens
to blow it up with a single dynamite plunger.
Yeah, not exactly his finest hour and it's probably
not going to work because it's cut from the Acme
company Right in the front false faces is Wile
E. Coyote Wow Yeah, and then Batman punches out
Abe Lincoln. I mean false face Yeah, and I love
the way they end this story where this is Gordon's
like oh you're cleared of all charges and then
be the asshole that he is chiefly ours like oh
you are never under suspicion by us boy oh and
batman's like of course not dickhead yeah um
for this one he's gonna put some bat itching
powder in his shorts later i think itching powder
what itching powder oh never mind what are you
telling me batman he's got bat shark repellent
no no no i know that Yeah, I know that For this
one for the false face story. I'll give it a
four out of five I really liked it. There were
moments where I kind of got bored with it, but
it was interesting Yeah, no, I'll give it a four
as well. It's like again This is one of those
things like this could be a great if this was
an actual episode of the show This would work
so well. Yeah, you know and we find out that
false face has superpowers because He grew boobs
So, what do you say? He just balled up a shirt?
No, he grew boobs. It was like the Terminatrix
in T3. He just stood still for a second, thought
really hard. But yeah, no, I love the overall
everything and it's... It was non -invasive enlarging
surgery. Yeah, he's just sitting there thinking,
I want boobs, I want boobs. Okay, not D's, not
D's. Drink it down, drink it down. I'm just saying.
But yeah, we go to the Joker's fly -off by, written
by Mike's least favorite writer on this series,
Tom. Okay, let me state this here. In issue six,
it was the first time I read the guy, and I just
didn't think he captured the, you know, It was
the only story I read by the guy, so I just don't
think he captured the way that Bruce and Dick
talk to each other. Um, but I actually did really
enjoy this one. I thought this was great. Yeah.
But clearly the Joker is taking a blow to the
head because he calls Harley Quinn Teehee. Yeah.
As Giggles and Cackles and Chortles and Chortles
and... Seriously, dude, can't you do better naming
your thugs? Yeah. Don't think he was calling
her that I think he was just tea he For just
a I don't know. I think it was actually tea.
So basically the the Joker bust into a game show
Slash charity benefit tries to steal the money
You know gets away with it and then I love the
way he counts two for you, two for me, one for
you, three for me, one for you. And the guys
were like, uh -oh, the joker's pissed. Yep. And
he's like, what, I got to share the money now?
What the hell? And he watches the news and he
gets it in his head to, again, echoing today's
current economic landscape. Decides to downsize
his workforce and lays off three -quarters of
his minions Now you would think that he's a dude
he has needs he would probably keep the girl
around for whatever she does but no Yeah, well
it's not like she's had it and I'm not knocking
women when I say this but most of the women gangsters
that show up outside of like Catwoman and Olga
and Zelda Queen of Diamonds most of the women
villains that showed up in this series weren't
that effective hell the only woman villain I
really remember ever showing up was the three
different cat women so yeah the rest of the rest
of the time that I remember the show it was Joker
penguin Riddler Well into hell it in the first
two episodes with the Riddler manages to get
his mall into the Batcave and This rocket scientist
decides to climb on top of the atomic pile and
then fall into it. Yeah, so Joker fires everyone
except giggles and then goes on a crime spree
and attempts to force giggles to Do everything
yeah Literally and he's like what you're not
done yet. What am I paying you for? You're not
paying me sir exactly get on with it And they
have this scene where he's talking to Like a
bunch of businesses and he's trying to figure
out You know What what the Joker has done since
clearly he's only got the one henchman now And
all you hear are buzzwords, right -sizing, transitioning,
synergizing, vertical outplacement, assessment
of key metrics, core competencies, and Batman
literally just goes glass -eyed. Yeah. Yeah,
so you see Giggles is just not digging his job.
Yeah, no, not at all. Yeah, he's like... It's
like are you done yet done boss done not until
you filled the gas bladders you'd have shirked
it off if I hadn't reminded you It's like the
Joker's a dick Yeah, the Joker's a really big
dick in this one. Yeah, and then he dresses up
like a hippie a filthy filthy hippie Yep, yes
he does Do like that very they're gonna rip off
Like the Gotham University library or this guy's
doing a book signing Yeah, and he's like, oh
who should I make it up Oh to make it out to
refer or fraternity summer come loudly Literally
everything like there's confetti there's smoke
there's streamers These giggles grab the cash
box must I do everything myself got it and then
Batman and Robin show up and one punch Yeah,
I wonder if this guy's relative of Guy Gardner.
Oh God let's not even go there Yeah, so the turn
on the whole crime doesn't pay thing at the end
where Batman is like I'll have you know You violated
several labor laws including those governing
overtime minimum wage health coverage designated
break times The choker is like business doesn't
pay No, no it doesn't For this one, I I liked
it I thought it was interesting. I'm still not
a fan of payers writing style Cuz I've already
read several Joker stories written by Parker
Yeah And I think Parker writes the character
better in the association of the old television
series I don't absolutely hate this one I'll
give it a 4 out of 5, I really liked it The art
was really cool, I really liked that And I do
like Joker stories, so What about you? I'll give
the story a 4, the art I'm gonna give it like
a 3 It's not choppy, but I think it's just the
way the inking is and all that. It's just not
as solid art as some of the other artists we've
seen in here. Right, yeah. All right, we're going
to take another quick break and come back with
the final issue of the day after this. All right,
finally up today is Batman 66 number eight. It's
King Tut barges in and Showdown with shame Um
That's a lowdown dirty shame right there. Ladies
and gentlemen, what Kenan Ivory Wayans is in
this one? It would have made it better God I
wish I could find that movie But yes, this issue,
folks, I'm gonna say this, my personal favorite
original villain outside of Egghead is King Tut.
Because Victor Bueno, this guy just played it
to the hilt. This is proof positive that Indiana
Jones is one concussion away from becoming a
supervillain. Because think about it. Professor
William McElroy, professor of Egyptology, takes
a blow to the head during a student riot and
wakes up thinking he's the reincarnation of King
Tut. Yeah, that can probably work. The same thing
would happen to Professor Indiana Jones. Dude
takes one knock to the head, he'll wake up thinking
he's the Knight of the Crusades. Oh my god. No.
they cannot that hollywood you better never make
this movie indiana jones six indian king arthur's
court like a kid in king arthur's court oh my
god oh god so bad so bad um all right so king
tut i used to like king tut i thought he was
pretty cool um And he's one of the few villains
in the pre -52 DC, they had a Batman title called
Batman Confidential, and it was, there was like
a two or three issue story arc where they introduced
King Tut into the modern Bat universe. I haven't
read that for years so I don't really remember
the quality of the story, but I thought it was
really cool that they were doing something like
that. Yeah. So we open with Batman and Robin
running Batman and Robin running forever Yeah,
it's like it Sorry, you go It looks like at least
it looks like to me like how they would run at
the end of Batman forever and Batman and Robin
Yeah, and credits and also echoing the intro
to the show. But yeah I still love that every
time I read those bat exclamations, I hear William
Dozier's voice as Desmond Doomsday. At the Gotham
River, a strange sight summons the citizenry.
I hear his voice every time that the bat narration
pops up like that. And Batman's like, the audacity
of his demented mind, and some guy in the crowd
goes, what gives? Is this one of those super
villains I hear about? And Robin's like, oh,
you must be new to Gotham. And the expository
boy wonder tells him who this is. It's King Tut.
He's got a barge on the river. It's the one thing
I like about the art here is Ruben Procopio's
back. And just that first image of Tut laughing.
Saying oh you modern hero slay me. We're not
breaking any laws not harming anyone and just
the image you have like that is so Victor Bruno
like he oh, yeah, he really gets it here and
Then basically, you know, there are some shenanigans
afoot and King tuts up to something obviously
You know and he's like go what happened here
is like, oh I faked my I faked returning to my
senses after the last time I was in Gotham and
at the same time Batman and Robin they get this
gold tiara They run it through of course the
appropriate name bat carbon data and discover
this thing's only 12 years old although it's
Obviously enough it's not it's it's real, but
it's like This shouldn't be made like this at
this day and age. So yeah Yeah, it's just it's
just a crazy story it's fun And I like I said,
I do like King Tut. I think he's a interesting
character I Mean you get the minions coming like
there's the one guy from the last episode. He's
got like the sleeping sand and all that Mm -hmm.
You know, he knocks him out. He's got his maul.
He's got, you know, the muscle. He's got some
staff, and he whispers something in... Well,
it's Egyptian. I don't think that's the proper
word for the language they speak there, but...
You know, he says something, and the sarcophagus,
uh... He's like, got to open the sarcophagus,
and he's like, Oh, Waylon Jones. How you doing?
Gee, I wonder what's going to happen to him.
Yeah. It's pretty crazy. It's a little weird.
Yeah. So basically it's like the 60s TV series,
The Time Tunnel. The coffin is a bridge. You
were talking about Doc Brown earlier. Well, here's
our DeLorean. Oh, yeah. You know atomic batteries
to power turbines to speed this might be the
first time in this comic series so far That we've
seen the Batmobile take off Or they leave the
batcave yep Absolutely love it in that bottom
panel right there of them rooming or Working
out of it. Oh, man. That's the see that is the
color that the batmobile is already black and
red ladies and gentlemen with yellow lights and
you know yeah i know just the way that the the
front drivers corner there like you just see
that thing just lifting off the ground oh yeah
oh it's like was this thing gonna turn into the
back plane well i wouldn't doubt it but yeah
so like batman robin charge after king tutton
is goons and they somehow traveled back in time
to ancient Egypt. And basically King Tut exposits
that in his research he, I learned a great secret
about the harem sarcophagus and used all my influence
to have it brought to Gotham City. The wizards,
pharaohs built and prepared this wonderful tomb
with their arcane science. Oh, okay, that's...
Makes sense unless Jeff Parker is like a fan
of the theory that aliens built the pyramids
and I can say that I'm not I'm not aware of that
Possibility either. It's just okay. The Egyptians
built time time travel. All right, let's go with
it And they've gone Oh, I love that look on King
Tut's face where he gets his hand up. Of course,
their mummification wasn't all that. They removed
organs. But their command of physics? Magnificent!
Welcome to 1292! That you find Batman and Robin
are in a quicksand pit and they're about to be
eaten by alligators. Or are those crocodiles?
Hmm. I wonder if this is going to come into play
shortly. So oh of course Batman has a can of
bat crocodile repellent cuz why wouldn't he Yeah,
oh wait, it's not it's a modified form as he
informs us it's I altered the bat shark repellent
for crocodilius niloticus Because that totally
makes sense Yeah, no not really Oh, and then
you find out that Batman speaks crocodile. Oh,
wait, not crocodile. He speaks hippo. Because
he literally and of course Robin makes the most
obvious reference one could make in this situation.
And as much as I love that sort of thing, I do
not have the energy to say those words out loud.
Do it. I triple dog dare you. You have to do
it. It's your turn. What you say it no you say
it holy hungry hippos Batman The most dominant
animal in the Nile thank goodness, I remembered
their call, you know I wouldn't be surprised
if this guy knows how to speak ant eater at this
point Yeah, that's I just said those three words.
Oh God, I'm gonna need to lie down after this
I'm wondering if I'm wondering if Hungry Hungry
Hippos was around back then No, I'm fairly certain
that was a product of the 1980s Yeah, that's
probably true just like this career well we can
debate that on another show yeah it's like yeah
so the batman's thank goodness i remembered to
call them let's get the hell out of here because
they're in look kind of pissed off and honestly
the hippos do kind of look pissed off yes yes
they do it's kind of like unlike the bears they
wrote a couple issues back where the bears just
look sad So you see King Tut's talking and making
a deal with the local Pharaoh, and he's bribing
him with chocolate. Good Lord. And honestly,
King Tut's making out like a bandit, because
one of his minions said, this is over $10 million
worth of gold for five bucks worth of candy?
Well, it's kind of what happened when the settlers
bought Manhattan Island. Was it five bucks and
blankets and a bunch of beads? Some apparently
so something like that And it's not uncommon
that Batman or Robin would make a holy hungry
hippos reference Because according to my online
sources The idea for the game was published in
1967 by toy inventor Fred Krull and it was introduced
in 1978 by Hasbro's subsidiary Milton Bradley.
So I don't mind the reference here to it I guess
but yeah, you're right I was like hey wait a
second isn't that a game of the 80s? But hey
if it was if the idea was thought up in 67 who
am I to argue? You know well and as we see here
what King Tut has barred for is in addition to
the gold is you know like scrolls from the Library
of Alexandria and what looks like some vials
of Yzma's magic potions from Emperor's New Groove,
which is odd because we were talking about Earthakit
earlier. Yes. And it's like the contents of this
vial will make a man's skin so tough bullets
can't penetrate it. And Wayland's like, I'm thirsty.
And he's like, you idiot, that would have only
taken two drops to give you superpowers. I mean,
to toughen up your skin. So. Well, we'll name
him properly in a moment, but yeah Waylon Jones
if you don't know bad history look it up So yeah
Batman and Robin are They they're basically racing
back to sarcophagus to stop, you know King Tut
And apparently they beat him and Waylon's not
looking so so hot right now and Batman and Robin
start putting foot to ass for truth justice in
the American way and All of a sudden Waylon turns
into a vampire Yep, pretty much So and then this
point he runs away, and I'm sure we'll see him
another day in the future So if you haven't figured
it out by this point folks Waylon Jones has just
become killer croc Yeah, we have our first soup
truly super super villain in the Batman 66 universe
yeah The fact that it's killer croc just Well
you could have done killer croc in the 66 show
You know just have him with a skin condition,
and he's tougher than everybody else You know
and from the design there if they don't go beyond
the His and snarl look that they gave whale in
that last image there before he runs away the
pain the pain because well in all likelihood
he's gonna show up with suitcases for skin and
a Decidedly different hue to his skin Yeah And
then I mean earlier in the story Batman warned
Robin about doing something to upset the flow
of history And we see in the last image there
that well clearly they left their mark on history
because this ancient Egyptian tablet has a bat
and a robin carved into it Mm -hmm. Oh Lord Yeah,
I just mmm, I don't know this story went a little
wacky for me So I'm gonna give it a 3 out of
5, barely passing. I like the art. I like the
stuff with King Tut, but the fact that it turned
into a, hey, let's give Killer Croc a 66 origin,
no. Well, it's... I mean, technically they already
had a super, super, superpowered supervillain
in Mr. Freeze, technically, because of all his
gear and all that, but... Killer croc is kind
of super strong and won't bullets bounce off
his skin. So I I do love in the because they
ended in this like science fiction II kind of
thing like how they would end science fiction
films in the 50s and 60s with the end and then
it swirls into a question mark, you know where
Batman is like, who knows what ancient memories,
dreams, and fears we all hold deep within. You
know, it's just like, bum, bum, bum. But then
we move on to our backup with Showdown with Shame,
written by Jeff Parker. Art and colors by Ruben
Procopio, but instead of the art he used on the
main story, You know, he went more of a painted
sort of thing here, which really is really beautiful
in a way It is but it hurt my eyes after a while
if he stared it too long Well, see that's my
problem like it's not that I'm staring at though.
It's like the way that I read a comic is I read
for the word balloons first and sure I'm looking
at the art as I'm doing this but I'm trying to
focus on the actual words versus the art, you
know, and the art's kind of like there in the
background, but honestly, the only cool thing
about this story for me was Batman and Robin
on horseback. Yeah. It's Back to the Future 3!
We just made a ton of Back to the Future references
this episode. Yep. So yeah, basically shames
up to his dirty tricks again, you know jumping
claims and stealing a man's gold and berating
his Muscle for not speaking like an illiterate
Native American You know, it's like gold. Dang
it Thunderhawk. Can't you pretend for a minute?
You didn't waste all that time with your Ivy
League book learning And he's like a thousand
pardon shame. I mean you got his mall dressed
like a dancer from the local bordello and I'd
have to ask Procopio but I love when we see Sheriff
Batman and Deputy Robin I I would lay money down
that Batman's uh hat is meant to look like uh
the man with no names oh yeah you know almost
definitely you know just rubbing a little kalanis
with all over this and you see shame in his Thunderhawk
I'm sorry, I say that and I think of Street Fighter
and This guy neither looks eight feet tall nor
nine feet wide Yeah, so but you know he does
a dukes a hazard with a dynamite arrow and blocks
this train with a tree and everyone's like strange
we're nowhere near the next stop and the kids
like oh people on horses daddy can we ride a
horse i was like yes because that's the first
thing people are going to think about you what
the hell's going on why have we stopped not hey
we're not near the next station god bless the
1960s yeah so it's it's an old -fashioned hold
up and everyone's like, oh wow, this tour really
went all out. And the kids like, I love the fact
it's a white father, but clearly either a black
or Hispanic daughter. Whereas like, see honey,
this is a trade robbery, just like they would
have had back in the old west. And she's all
like, neat. I can't get into the story. And it's
not the story's fault. For me, it's the art.
A five -year -old could have done this better.
I'm sorry, I just don't like the art. And the
art is what's going to cause me to give out another
painful rating at the end of this because it...
it took me like after the King Tut story and
I saw like the first page of the shame story
I sat there and tried to read it I got two pages
in and I had to put it down and I had to come
back to it like three hours later to finish it
no it just I can get that the art is like I love
it but I can see why this style would you know
kind of I don't want to say offensive but it
would be hard on some people So see for see for
me, and I'm and I'm gonna give a reason why it
is for me It's not just because I don't like
the art It's because it's painful for me to look
at because I have optic atrophy with an astigmatism
Basically, I have nerve damage in my eyes that
can never be fixed because apparently the doctor
that delivered me was drunk that night jerk so
I, without correction, I have 2200 vision in
both eyes. With correction, I can get up to 2060.
I even broke out my glasses and put my glasses
on to try to read this thing, and it still hurt
my eyes. Oh, damn. Yeah. So the story is interesting.
I like it as far as the actual written story,
but as far as the art goes, I had to put it down.
Yeah, no, I mean the story it's Basically Batman
you references the next issue that hasn't come
out. Well by the time of this recording It's
out, but we haven't read it yet Yeah, where he's
tracking down Zelda the great another one -off
villain from the series and he just happened
to hear about shame and Well, that was like I
got about five minutes. Let's take care of this
douche And he goes to stop Shane robbing this
train and he sees that Thunderhawk is really
this physics prodigy from Yale University who
was accused of being a spy for foreign powers
and Batman's like you know I think we can clear
your name and he's like you know Daniel is like
that that would be cool I place myself in your
custody just so you know Shane's getting away
or shame sorry and then Batman and shame almost
have a Like a showdown except Batman literally
only has a gun and well, we know Batman doesn't
use his guns so Robin throws a batarang and distracts
Shane and Batman gives him the knockout blow
and all's well that ends well and you know, mr.
Thunderhawk is gonna be a free man and you know
shames going back to jail and Do you remember
Wild Wild West the show not the movie? No, I
remember the movie. Okay. Well, one of the images,
it was very recurrent. It happened a lot in the
show where there'd be the shot of Jim West and...
Oh, what's the other... I can't remember his
partner's name. Artemis Gordon. Artemis Gordon
are standing on the back of the train and just,
you know... Expositing on what's going on or
it's the end of the show and set shot and that's
what the feeling I got from this last shot of
Batman and cast on the back of it like that And
I don't know. It's probably just a that a coincidence.
I thought of that But yeah, no, I like I'm gonna
give I'm gonna go first. I'm gonna give this
a Three it barely passes for a Batman story like
this It's cool and all and it's slightly entertaining
and The the one thing that I'll probably take
away from this the most is the art like I love
this paint this kind of watercolor almost painted
style that Procopio used here But I mean overall
it's just really underwhelming in terms of some
of the other like cool backup stories and Just
any of the stories that we've seen in the series
so far that you know Parker is produced I mean,
I know we can do better than this so Yeah, but
really this is just an excuse to get Batman or
to tell a side story of what happens in issue
number nine so I Know what what are you giving
this Mike? I'll probably The King Tut story,
I'll give a four out of five. I really liked
it. Yeah, I'd give it a five. I loved it, but
go on. The shame story, because of the art, I
have to give it that... Is it the bottom of the
barrel? The one and a half... the half -star
the painful because it would i'm sorry if something
literally hurts my eyes and i have to put it
down i cannot read the story then it's going
to get a little greater that's just all there
is to it honestly i thought you're gonna go for
zero stars here for a second no i mean it's not
that at all it just it hurts to look at it yeah
i mean if the art style was something different
uh... you know but since it's not then oh well
no it's uh overall like i said i give the king
tut story a five like it's just bat guano crazy
i mean there's time travel and mutant crocodile
men and a reference to one of the noisiest tabletop
games you could play and it Still makes sense.
I mean and like I said it had one of my favorite
bats TV series villains and King Tut it is just
the way Victor Bruno Bruno or bono or however,
he says I apologize. I can't pronounce his last
name to save my life is He just made that because
I hear his voice. That's like the Red Hood story
with the joker and the arkham institute for the
criminally insane and the red hood and dr harleen
quinzel like i heard caesar romero's voice whenever
i read the joker's dialogue just like i heard
oh god i i feel as a bat fan harley quinn from
the tas harleen sorkin there you go you know
i heard dr sir dr sorkin why not you might as
well be like you heard miss sorkin's knee voice
whenever i read harley's dialogue that was what
i heard with king tuts so yeah yeah i'm you know
it just i don't know uh... like i said the king
tuts story i'll give a four to five the shame
story i'll give a half star uh... the other thing
before we close this out that i want to talk
to you about was I know you don't have the print
versions of these, but the print version covers
are for all four issues. Oops, I got those backwards.
It's green and brown. It's like somebody's puking
and shitting all over the covers. Number five,
it's a green background with ZZZZZ because of
the Sandman. Number six, it's the bookworm and
all the books are brown with like really, really
faded pages. Number seven, again, it's a grayish
brown because of False Face's face. And then
number eight is green because of King Tut and
what I believe is the Bat Boat coming out of
the water. It just... They all are very bland
covers for me. I don't like any of them. Well,
I should say not I still have the print issues
of these like the Issue six through seven today.
I actually dug the print issues out. It's issue
five I couldn't find my physical copy. So I had
to go off the digital but yeah, no the covers
like I like I said, I love Mike already art It's
I yeah, it's already and Mike and his wife Laura,
you know both work on him like I like the The
first was a number five. Just give me a second.
I gotta bring that back up here I was the same
man cover. Yeah, the Sandman cover that one is
For as far as already art. I think that's the
best one. He's done Because it really kind of
evokes some of the art if you've ever read his
madman comics This is straight up his thing the
bookworm on what I love because like I said Well,
of course his headquarters is gonna have piles
and pond piles of books I think my least favorite
is the number seven the false faced with them
Crawling up the false face face of Mount Rushmore
It's just kind of it's it's a play on the whole
You know them climbing up the side of a building
you expect a window gag to happen, which it doesn't
Yeah Honestly, I like I dig the King Tut cover,
you know despite the fact it lied Because I wanted
to see the bat would come on man What would have
been cooler just Batman and Robin in ancient
Egypt or Batman and Robin in ancient Egypt with
the bat boat That would have been charging down
the Nile after King Tut and his men that would
have been awesome You know I don't mean to knock
Mike and Laura Allred. They're amazing cover
artists. I just found these four issues to be
very bland. You know, I don't know. You know,
I look at these four issues and I see nothing
but And it's not the art. It's not what they
do with the characters on the page or how they
incorporate. It's the colors. I get it. Books
have to be brown or brown and white or whatever
else. But the green background could have been
something else or the green background of the
King Tut could have been something else. Now,
looking at now, I'm just going to walk through
these really quickly because I know you don't
have them pulled up. I actually have the covers
for 9 through 12. believe it's 9 through 12 yes
9 through 12 number 9 is Batman and Robin their
heads with someone swinging above them with someone's
boots with s on the heel number 10 is them versus
mr. freeze with the bat jet ski I guess you could
say number 10 is no number 11 I'm sorry number
11 is the Joker Batman and Robin everybody and
Batgirl kind of like flipped upside down I love
that cover and number 12 is the dynamic duo inside
the Batmobile that is covered with a bunch of
playing cards so these four covers for the next
time we'll do these this this bat 66 review 9
through 12 I love them Well, I'd say nine, not
so much, but ten, eleven, and twelve. Absolutely
love them. But these here, five through eight,
they're just not doing it for me. Just blah.
Yeah, pretty much. No, that's, and that's fair.
Like, you can't please everybody all the time.
So. But no, the one thing I don't for those that
may have may not heard I think this would be
a good place to mention this is the 66 series
is gonna get released on DVD and Blu -ray this
year. Yep. And I know Mike posted about this
on Facebook a while back and I'm fairly certain
I post that as well and I think we both saw that
and squealed like the 12 year old fanboys that
we became when we read that information. Oh yes,
having the 66 series on DVD finally after all
this time is absolutely awesome and amazing.
I've got two copies of the Batman movie on DVD
and from what I've read in the rumors on this
thing is that is supposed to be included in the
set. But more than that it's rumored that it's
gonna be included in the set and placed in the
disc like the continuity of the show So you'll
sweet so it'll finish. I think what is it that
happened between season 1 and season 2? So it'll
go like season 1 then they'll have the movie
and the discs and then season 2 and onward At
least that's the rumor so uh... yeah you know
uh... i'm super excited for the sixty six series
to be on dvd as a and see this is what this is
what excites me about it to have it on dvd as
a complete series and not just oh we're gonna
release season one two and three first they're
doing it the proper way putting out a complete
series first and then what they'll probably do
is go back and put them on cheaper uh... massive
season sets Right, when I say cheaper, I don't
mean cheaper as in bad quality. I mean cheaper
as in lower cost. You know, will I get it right
away? No, probably not. But the only time I've
actually ever been able to see the series recently
is here in Kentucky. We have our main channels,
like our CBS affiliates and stuff like that.
They have a... They have like second and third
channels. They have a channel called me TV Okay,
and I've been able to see it on that and I know
for a while there They were showing it on the
hub Hasbro's channel. I don't know why they stopped
maybe the maybe the production dealer the The
not production deal the the feature deal to have
it on the hub. Maybe that ran out but I did see
the You'll probably know the episode title before
I even finish saying this. I don't remember what
the title was I would I remember seeing Recently,
I would say last year sometime on me TV the debut
of Barbara Gordon and Batgirl Where she's like
Alfred you're not gonna tell anybody are you?
No, ma 'am. I would never do that. You know,
I love that episode that episode is so great
Yeah, and if you go on YouTube you can find the
actual Like with the pilot Because they're originally
they shot this and this is like one of the earliest
known examples of a spin -off They were talking
about spinning off a Batgirl show Yeah, and there's
like the original pilot that they shot for that
That's available on YouTube. You can watch that
and then there's also I think you can also find
the episode where killer moth Tries to hijack
the Gotham library and Batman and Robin show
up and then Batgirl saves them and It was just
a lot of fun Yeah, it was the whole 66 series
on a whole looking back on it And it's not even
me looking back on it with nostalgia glasses
or anything like that because it's been a long
time since I've seen the series I just know what
I like about it. I love the narration I love
that, you know, same bad time, same bad channel,
and how he'll have to say what his name is again,
because I forget off the top of my head. Desmond
Doomsday. Yes. I love how he narrated that show.
I love Yvonne Craig as Batgirl. That Batgirl
outfit is by far one of the best Batgirl outfits
ever. And, you know, I really did enjoy Adam
West and Burt Ward as Bruce, Wayne, Dick Grayson,
Batman, and Robin. Alright, so coming up next
here in Batman Month, celebrating 75 years of
Batman, as I said at the beginning of the show,
it's going to be Steve Megatron and I. talking
about the first four digital chapters of Beware
the Batman. Where can the people get in contact
with you if they would like to, sir? Just follow
me on Twitter at JT from Saskatoon. You can follow
at GeekCastRadio for all the other network updates,
and you can also follow me at TF2 and Mike. And
for now, make your great escape into comics,
and we will catch you next time. You've just
heard the latest episode of The Pull Bag, the
GCRN's comic review and discussion podcast. There
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