Batman Beyond: 10,000 Clowns and Batgirl Beyond Review

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. Oh yes, but think of the

fun. Ladies and gentlemen, we have traveled 65

years into the future here on The Pull Bag. This

is episode 99. I have been waiting three years

to do this podcast this podcast episode specifically

because as my co -host who I will announce in

a moment knows and most everyone knows that interacts

with me online I have a very unhealthy obsession

with uh collating numbers to certain dates and

days and years and specific in jokes that usually

only I get and episode 99 of the pull bag we

are going beyond batman beyond that is because

In 1999, that cartoon series premiered and want

to wish a very warm welcome here inside the pullback

to the Joker. Hello, sir. Hello. Oh, damn. That

was sadly anti -climactic. I don't feel like

doing the voice. This is Dave Megatron. Hello.

Hello. How are you? Tired. Yeah. uh... and this

is going to start the pull bags coverage of the

batman beyond comics uh... we are not going to

be covering the older comics the ones that came

out in ninety nine uh... i think there is ninety

nine two thousand and something else i'm not

looking in the information with it but uh...

when steve got me into comic reading three years

ago uh... I had seen that they had a Batman Beyond

Unlimited series from DC Comics. I'm like, ooh,

I'd love to read that. And the first part of

the run, I was like, hmm, OK. Because I came

into it right when the 13th issue was being released.

And right then, they were also releasing the

first trade. And I'm like, I'll just get the

trade. It's so much easier than having to track

down all the issues. But yeah, 10 ,000 clowns.

It's It's damn good. It's uh, you know, like

I said the first 13 issues of the series the

back of the trade says the Joker never dies Gotham

City the future teenager Terry McGinnis has taken

over the mantle of Batman Mentored by Bruce Wayne

himself, but the criminals menacing Gotham have

only gotten deadlier now a new threat is rising

the Joker's a gang of petty criminals inspired

by Batman's greatest foe are now flooding into

Gotham, organized and more deadly than ever before.

They are united by a single murderous cause under

a charismatic leader with a terrifying new take

on what it means to be a Joker. Unfortunately,

insane clown gangs aren't the only problem Terry

has to deal with. With the city in chaos, Batman

finds himself pulled in different directions.

His best friend Maxine Gibson is missing in action.

His ex -girlfriend Dana suddenly turns to him

for help with her own crisis, all while Bruce

Wayne needs him more than ever. His resources

spread thin. Batman will have to turn to some

familiar and unwelcoming faces for help. Dun

dun dun. What was your first reaction or first

thoughts when this, the 2012 Batman Beyond Unlimited

series started. Was it on your radar at all?

It was on my radar and I think I did start picking

it up and then eventually I ran into this issue

where everything was costing too much and I had

to start dropping issues and unfortunately at

the time I think that was one of them. But I

think the main reason I dropped it was because

of the bundle deal. The trade you mean? Well,

I'm saying like the the fact that I was spending

so much up per issue and then I wasn't this one

bundled at the time or was that the next one?

That was bundled with universe. Oh No, no, this

was or was this a straight shot? No, no, this

was this was bundled with Justice League That's

what I thought because I couldn't stand the Justice

League part of it Yeah, so that that deterred

me from buying the actual issue Yeah, and I'll

say this and I understand this is DC's way of

doing these two series I was the same way where

You know, I understand the title is Batman Beyond

Unlimited or whatever it was and when it was

a regular single issue print title but it was

one of those things where if a if a thing has

Batman Beyond Unlimited and it has a Batman Beyond

cover on it i'm like okay well i want to get

to the batman beyond story right away as soon

as i open the issue and then some issues that

would open up with justice league and and i know

they kind of crossed over a little bit i probably

should go back and read the justice league run

from this but i at the time i just didn't care

i didn't want to i just had no no inclination

to because Even though this is set in the DC

animated universe that Bruce Tim and James Tucker

and Paul Dini and all them created, I just didn't

give a crap about the Justice League stuff. I

think that's kind of where you and I pretty much

align when it comes to our DC superhero love,

where it's like, if it's Batman, great. Especially

if it's DCAU Batman, whether it's... You know

Bruce or Terry we're on board if it's anything

else that doesn't really involve them too much

and whatever But yeah 10 ,000 clowns came out

I was actually hoping because the way this was

originally solicited It was solicited with issue

13's cover on it on on the trade, and I was really

hoping that that was What it would have been

the case the issue 13 cover is basically a It's

Batman Beyond it's his face, but it's like the

Joker drew on him. It's really really awesome

It's actually in the back of the trade But it's

basically the Batman Beyond mask and it's kind

of like put up against a grid and it's got like

this painted on smile kind of thing You know

It was done by Dustin Nguyen. I hope I'm saying

that right or Nguyen. I don't know But the main

cover that is actually on the trade is Batman

with ha ha ha ha ha all over the place. I like

it. It's interesting This these 13 chapters that

are in the trade first 13 issues the series are

broken up into Basically three stories uh...

national four stories you have the ten thousand

clowns prelude you have a story called the trigger

man a story called legends of the dark knight

jake and then you have the main body of the story

which is ten thousand clowns uh... in the prelude

uh... it shows basically how the jokers gang

gangs are coming from all over When you actually

open up the trade itself, it has some beautiful

art on the front here with basically Joker cards

that actually depict Batman and this new character

that we'll eventually call the Joker King. I

love the art. It really, really is very well

done. The writing is done by Adam Beechin, who

hopefully will get an interview here in the pullback

with at some point. The art is done by Norm Brayfogle.

And the art in this is just amazing. What do

you think of the art design for this book? Well,

I mean, for one, I really enjoyed the run of

how they designed everything, because they kind

of kept everything pretty kind of... Gritty and

close to Batman Beyond So that was a nice touch

But they also kind of added some realism to it.

So it was it was kind of a nice touch and then

I like the I Don't know I just like the fact

that it's it's Almost a straight homage to being

the actual series Absolutely, it's like no time

has passed really I mean I mean, obviously in

the storyline it has, but in this aspect, it's

a nice continuation to the animated series. Absolutely.

And I love how they do, in the physical trade,

I love how they do the chapter titles where it's

just him looking up and it's a red background

and he's standing on a purple ground and it just

has the title for it. When it opens with the

10 ,000 clowns prelude I just I remember looking

up the the preview for this at the time when

the trade originally came out the first thing

I saw was Terry as Batman facepalm and you've

got to be blip and kidding me That was hilarious

Any norm Bray Fogel and the colorist who is Andrew

Elder The two of them on the art is just simply

amazing. You know, like you said, it pretty much

brings the whole series to light. I mean, even,

you know, even stuff like Max, and Max doesn't

really have, Maxine Gibson doesn't really have

a whole lot to do right now. She's doing this

thing where it's, oh, if you want to be a part

of Undercloud, type this and change this and

then you're in. I'll say the only thing I don't

particularly like about this this art is How

and I don't like this throughout the entire run

actually is how Bruce looks I understand time

has passed But like beyond what the series time,

you know But he just does not look like the DC

animated universe Bruce Wayne. I understand norm

You know, he has to, you know, put his own spin

on things and every artist should be able to

put their own spin on things, but it just, I

don't know. He just doesn't look right to me.

Yeah. I mean, I, I'm not, I'm not saying I don't

like the stuff, but I also, I kind of like the

character staying traditional to some degree.

Right. Right. Um, so as I said, um... in the

prelude here you have the thing with max with

under cloud you have all the jokers coming to

gotham what do you think about the whole aspect

of the storyline for the jokers actually getting

or you know having someone organize them into

one giant gang honestly i think it's it's it's

great To some degree because it's it's like its

own, you know an actual formal Like gangster

type thing almost kind of like the Falcone and

you know All that kind of stuff It kind of it

puts a figurehead on them where they haven't

had one for You know decades years decades. So

I mean, it's That that's a nice touch. That's

that somebody's actually doing it. The only thing

is is I think the jokers are more psychotic separated

Yeah, because there's there's collateral damage

and chaos whereas this is organized chaos, so

it's not as It's more pointed and it's not as

random. So it's it's I would think a lot easier

to take down if you've knocked the figurehead

Well, right and that's kind of the whole point

to this whole storyline here And we'll get into

it here in a little bit when we talk about the

main body of the story But in the in this first

issue the prelude issue It basically shows us

that number one Dana has a brother Never knew

that before. No, that was a nice added continuity

twist and and you know he he will eventually

become the Joker King and when we talk about

it a little bit later his His whole thing, his

whole character development, his whole character

arc is he believes that the Joker didn't even

understand his own chaotic mind. You know, he

believes that the Joker's message was misinterpreted.

And, you know, how he is going through and organizing

all these jokers is, surprise, surprise, through

mind control. But, um... So yeah, yeah, I was

completely shocked when I first read this and

I got to this final page where it's him putting

on the makeup And then they put in and I like

this because it does fit it doesn't fit Like

a glove, but it still fits they put in two stories

and Beachans writing is is great With these stories

because I mean, you know when you get to the

trigger man story it really really like I can

hear Henry Rollins in my head saying blow it

all up man you know I mean I can really hear

that the trigger man story is a mad Stan story

and it's all about Stan getting his first of

all making sure everybody knows that he's not

dead second of all getting his dog boom boom

back from the Russians What did you think of

the mad stand story? I don't like mad stand,

but that's just oh come on I just I don't like

the character I like mad stand not just because

it was Henry Rollins that voiced him in the series,

but The sheer irony that the character even exudes.

I mean he's your typical you know Anti -government

anti whatever you know unless he gets his way.

He's gonna blow everything up I mean that is

very atypical that is very you know one of those

things where it happens in movies all the time

You know it's a reuse plot But I mean that that

stands character and that you know if you put

mad stand up against you know if you put him

you know along the lines of ink or curare or

Derek Powers or Who else? If you put him in a

lineup with the rest of the Batman Beyond Rogues,

he fits a certain element that is an interesting

foil for Bat. The way I see Man -Stan is he's

the explosive version of Two -Face. I was going

to say Clayface, but that's ink. But he's pretty

much the personality type of Clayface, or not,

Two -Face, where you have, or you think at one

point you're almost going to get to him, and

then, oh, nope, here comes this other personality,

and bam, you're off and running. I thought the

Mad Stan story was fun. I really thought it was

very fun. I understand you don't like the character,

but I still thought it was pretty cool. And then

we get to kind of, I know how much you hate origin

stories, but kind of a retelling and kind of

a truth telling to how Terry's dad died in Legends

of the Dark Knight Jake. And apparently in this

story, which is pretty much told by Jake himself

throughout the whole thing, from his point of

view, You know basically showing you how how

he has fallen how he's at the bottom of the city

and that's the whole thing that runs throughout

this entire series is Everybody at the bottoms

of poor everybody at the top of the cities it

is rich and all this and all that so we get this

story that he was part of Derek Powers quiet

squad and Unlike it shows in the animated series

or doesn't show in the animated series that supposedly

mr. Fix killed Warren McGinnis It was actually

Jake That killed Terry's dad. Yeah, I kind of

like that that twist to it this time around And

I find it funny that wasn't wasn't his wasn't

he supposed to be the great Like grandson of

the one that killed the Waynes Jake just to spoil

it for everybody because if you haven't read

this by now people come on you got to go read

it's from 2012 It's it's it's Jake chill. He

his grand uncle Was Joe chill who as we all know

was the guy who killed the wains I love that

twist that you know in this future time you still

have someone connected to Batman connected to

the wains I thought that was just great, and

I thought that you know putting a twist on it

and him not wanting to be what his granduncle

had become You know And this actually will come

back, not in this episode, but in a future episode

of The Pull Bag. The Jake storyline will come

back because Kyle Higgins kind of tapped into

it when he did the reboot for 2 .0 slash universe.

Any other thoughts on the Jake story, sir? No,

I think that's it. All right, so we get into

the meat of this and it is 10 ,000 clowns Once

again Bray Fogel and an elders art is amazing

Absolutely, love it that I'll say that the colors

like when you get to The scene where Dana and

Terry are at the hospital Dana and Terry themselves

look like they're animated models, but the colors

on Terry's jacket is a little too... the lighting

is a little too bright. I don't have a problem

with it. I'm not saying it needs to be directly

from the cartoon series. Again, I understand

artists need to put their spin on it, but his

jacket just looks weird. And I know that's a

nitpick. So, Max gets kidnapped and we pretty

much don't see her until we get to the second

half of the storyline. We see Douglas Tan has

become the Joker King. What do you think of that

name? His name? The Joker King, yeah. Yeah, I

thought it was kind of... I like the concept

of the character. I'm not so fond of the name.

Right, yeah. So as we go through the 10 ,000

clown storyline, basically what happens is Douglas,

aka the Joker King, has pretty much strapped

bombs to all of his jokers, all the ones that

have come in. strapped bombs to all of them,

pumped mind -controlling drugs into them, and

they are basically just his puppets, and he's

having them go around and making them blow up.

They're pretty much suicide bombers, really,

if you really want to boil it down. The only

thing you're missing is a dead terrorist named

Ahmed. I'm sorry. He wants to basically destroy

the city destroy his family his mother his father

and his sister That's pretty much what it is

because apparently his His thinking of what the

Joker's scheme and plan should have been the

biggest joke of all is Again destroying something

only so you can build it back up in your own

image It's pretty much what I get out of that.

Yeah, that's kind of the concept. Yeah You know,

again, I wish there was more of a fight between

him and Batman. I mean, they fight, but they

don't fight, you know, as much as I thought they

were going to be fighting. It was sadly anti

-climatic. Yeah. Yeah. The, um... One of the

coolest things in this in this thing is Is When

the the bat family has to come in because they

bring in Several members and one kind of mysterious

non -member So This takes place after the events

of Return of the Joker at this point as far as

I can tell because obviously Tim Drake is in

this and They reference that, you know, it's

after the fact and I actually I wrote this down

here. I love How We see him and then we see some

sort of futuristic Catwoman I, you know, I think

that looks cool and I'll let you talk about that

in a minute, but we also see that Dick Grayson

is still around and we get to a scene where Catwoman,

Batman, and Grayson are fighting the jokers and

Batman says on his comlink, Mr. D, are you in

the cave? And Grayson's like, Mr. D, you sent

him to the cave? You unfeeling son of a I know

I was supposed to get emotional you know sad

and emotional about that But I just got a laugh

out of it because it's it's Dick Grayson with

his you know charming wit that he always has

had and it was just just so amazing to see how

Certain members of the bat family have come together,

and then it was a complete shock Later to see

that instead of Bruce sleeping with a catwoman.

It's Dick Grayson sleeping with a catwoman thoughts

I'm indifferent on them sleeping with the cat

woman's cuz you know cat woman cuz you know obviously

they're just I Could go there, but I'm gonna

stay out of that But no it was nice seeing Grayson

come back into the the full swing of things and

kind of Seeing you know more or less what happened

to some of them Absolutely the the secondary

cat woman thing like I wasn't too fond of the

concept of Catwoman Beyond but it's it didn't

it didn't harm things either Look the concept

listeners is if you haven't read this which if

you haven't stop this podcast go get it and read

it but the concept behind the Catwoman Beyond

character is um She can multiply herself Good

for Grayson. Oh Hey, I could fit PG. Oh God,

even though I know... Never mind, I can't even

say what's going through my mind right now, people.

Talk about a multiplying dick. This doesn't have

that power. I know. I like the concept of it,

but at first I thought it was a little strange

because I didn't get it. I was like, wait, why

is this character repeating everything? Then

I realized, oh, it's one character, but it's

multiple versions of the same character. Well,

I will say I don't understand that aspect. So

I was kind of confused of how she can do that

in the first place. I mean, obviously it's the

suit, but I just... Yeah, I wish there was kind

of like a little bit of backstory or explanation

of the character and the suit. Yeah Yeah, cuz

we don't get much backstory on on Catwoman We

basically you know she she is still a cat burglar.

She does still steal things She doesn't want

the city to blow up because if the city blows

up She can't steal anything at the same time.

She has some sort of sexual relationship with

Dick Grayson So who knows As I was reading this

before we went to record this, when we get closer

to the end of this, when Batman is heading towards

the hospital, I really got the Dark Knight feel

to it. Just a little bit. Because I mean, if

you look at it, Joker was in the hospital with

Dent. Obviously Batman didn't go there, but I

don't know, I just felt like this is... very

dark night ish at the end of this dealing with

Batman and and and the Joker King yeah and then

as we get to the end of this one Max is kidnapped

and we come to find out that she's been kidnapped

by under cloud the Joker King ends up dead and

Overall, it was a pretty nice and it is a really

interesting ending because it pretty much ends

with You know, we'll you know, we'll come through

this day and we'll be alright, you know You'll

be alright in time And she's like I need a break

Overall, I really love these first 13 issues.

I really love the 10 ,000 Clowns storyline. It's

a Batman Beyond story that I thought would never

be told, especially with the series not being

on anymore. It was very, very interesting. At

the back of the 10 ,000 Clowns trade, we have

various alternate covers. We have one with Madman,

Batman, and Boom Boom. And these are all done

by Dustin We have a Batman New Adventures Batman

holding holding Terry that one is really interesting.

I already mentioned about the clown face Batman

Beyond one We have a Joker King versus Batman

And we have one where he's falling out the window

versus the Joker King. And we also have designs

at the back for the Joker King. And who's the

other one back here? Yeah, it's all the Joker

King. I love this story. I love this trade. This

is one of those things where every now and then

I can go back and read this. And it still comes

out. As good as it was the first time I read

it. Final thoughts on 10 ,000 clowns, sir? 10

,000 thumbs up. Okay, there you go. So we're

gonna take a quick break and get to Batgirl Beyond

after this. Surprised to see me? A little. I'm

more surprised that I lived so long. Batman,

Bruce Wayne. Bruce Wayne, Batman. Or have you

met? Not now! Great. What did they used to call

it? Stereo? Alright folks, we are back and it

is time to talk about Batman Beyond Batgirl Beyond.

This is the second trade which actually collects

digital issues 19 to 29 is how it's said in the

in the solicitation. It also has The original

two issues of Batman Beyond 1999 the original

series, so that's interesting to go back and

see that I don't know how much we're going to

talk about that one, but the the art or the The

staff on this one is Adam Beach and Adam Archer

Scott Peterson and Annie Wu The main cover is

a new Batgirl with Batman on TV's behind her

along with Commissioner Gordon. What do you think

of the main cover? I like it. We open up to some

nice interior art before we get to the actual

story. Love on this one how they have Barbara

on the left hand side and the new Batgirl on

the right hand side But it also has Barbara as

she was in her younger days as Batgirl absolutely

love that This one is also broken up into four

different stories We have Legends of the Dark

Knight Dana under cloud parts 1 to 3 and parts

4 to 6 and then Batgirl Beyond I'll say this

the bad girl beyond story In the trade form outside

of the single issue itself because I believe

at one point or another I had the single issue

of this Inside the trade it's a little weird

reading it after the end of the series because

the end of this series Technically ended with

under cloud part six Because at the end of it,

you know, Bruce says to Terry, you know Gotham

will always need a Batman. So for me, reading

it in trade, Batgirl Beyond was a little strange,

but I still enjoy the story. I don't know. So

we start with Legends of the Dark Knight Dana.

Basically picks up after the end of the last

trade, we see that the aftermath of Joker Knight

is still devastating Gotham and its citizens.

We get to a point in the story where it's from

Dana's point of view, which I thought that was

interesting. With the aftermath, you open this

up with an internal monologue with Dana, and

I think this is probably the most characterization

we've ever gotten from Dana. Because because

it's just one of those things where in the series

she's never really around I mean sure we had

the little scene in epilogue Where she you know

is in bed half the time But I mean really in

this series You know starting with the last trade

and going into this this is the most characterization

Dana tan has ever had What do you think of having

the story at this point? Be from her point of

view It gives her more resonance in the story,

but I It's not one of those characters I really

care to see the point of view from because I

like Batman and not necessarily the Dana tan

character but it is nice to see her get fleshed

out for once instead of just being there is like

a You know Character that just kind of is a throwaway

Because I mean that's pretty much all she's been

to this point Kind of yeah It's kind of nice

seeing mrs. McGinnis and and his brother Matt

as well in this We get to a point in this issue

where she wants to go see Bruce Wayne and guess

what folks She knows the secret and they don't

They don't deny it Which I thought was interesting

that they didn't deny it And I thought it was

a good again a good character development thing

for Batman specifically both of them So I mean

this this whole series could have really probably

ended right there at the end of that first at

the end of issue 14 i'm glad it didn't but it's

one of those things where you know the whole

all i love you all i love you too it could have

ended right there but uh... you know during this

whole first issue and going to the second part

of this you know once we in under cloud we find

out that max uh... actually finally gets a chance

in issue fourteen here in the first part of the

trade uh... Get it to get the chance to send

Terry a signal and how she sends him the signal

is just ingenious She creates a blackout in the

suburbs of Gotham and she creates a blackout

so powerful that it even blacks out the Batcave

and Terry's like whoa what the I Thought that

was hilarious. That was great So we get into

the Undercloud story, and this is really where

I kind of fell off the map. I've tried reading

this story several times before recording this

episode. I read through it, you know, to make

sure I knew everything, you know, before we recorded,

but Undercloud just seems weird, and strange,

and I don't know... They basically use Shriek

as, as, you know, a lackey. The person behind

Undercloud is just some girl who, you know, some

poor girl who wants everything in Gotham to be

the same or to be equal, which is all well and

good. I understand that. You know, I, I, I'm

not rich by any means at all, you know, so I

mean, I understand, you know, coming from hard

times, but The fact that she wants to destroy

the entire city and to build it back up. Once

again, same storyline. I kind of wish Undercloud

was something a little bit different than what

Ten Thousand Clowns was. Thoughts? Sure. I mean,

I like the inclusion of what the metal men are.

I like their introduction. My only reference

to the metal men is in Batman the Brave and the

Bold. Yeah, and I think it's the episode where

he goes to Planet X where he meets the Batman

of Zur and R Mm -hmm with Kevin Conroy. That's

the only reason I know of those characters Yeah,

see like I wish they would have like I mean they

mentioned, you know The guy who built them in

this. But they don't really connect it to anything.

The whole point of Batman Beyond Unlimited was

that it was somewhat a continuation of the DC

Animated Universe version of Batman Beyond. I

wish it would have been tied back to somebody

that we had seen in one of the cartoon series.

So eventually Batman comes in saves the day You

know Max is rescued And you know they want to

at the end of this they basically want to use

under cloud As the technology You know on the

side of good I Gotta say as much as I like Adam

Beach and in his writing And as good as this

writing is in this, it's not as good as what

we had in the Dana issue or 10 ,000 Clowns. I

just wish Undercloud was something completely

different than what it actually was. Any other

final thoughts on Undercloud, sir? No. We get

to the Batgirl Beyond part, and a new Batgirl

is on the rise in these slums. But how will Police

Commissioner Barbara Gordon feel about that?

We open this issue, and I remember getting this

and reading this, the actual print issue, and

I'm like, oh, old Barbara is just kicking ass,

and you can see in her narration that she's just...

her kicking ass is actually kicking her ass because

obviously she's an old lady at this point she's

not as young as she used to be in everything

else all of a sudden out of nowhere this new

bad girl comes in and they amazingly have some

interesting personality similarities And the

new Batgirl is pretty much, uh, you know, showing

her, hey, look, you know, cops don't come down

here. You know, you guys take care of all the

rich people, but you're not taking care of the

entire city. I give the punchlines around here.

Got it? What do you think of the interaction

between Commissioner Barbara Gordon and the new

Batgirl? Uh... It's quite interesting the the

fact that they're working side by side Yeah And

it's funny seeing her get her ass kicked even

though she cuz she's old It almost kind of reminds

me of like the young Barbara even though like

in Where old Barbara is that and then the like

a Stephanie Brown or one of the other kind of

bad girls? Oh, absolutely because they're more

I don't know, more raw, it seems like. Absolutely.

I love the colors on this issue, this story,

because they're so light and bright. It's almost

like it doesn't fit into Neo Gotham, but since

this is a completely different area than what

we're used to being at with Terry as Batman,

I actually think it works here for these characters.

It is just so interesting and we even get a flashback

because she's you know, you know reminiscing

and we actually get to see Barbara as you know

young Batgirl in the Batgirl suit basically kick

Bane right in the face. That's awesome. That's

just so awesome Kick that venom basket. That's

right As she gets facepalm Yeah, pretty much

what do you think of the overall the color change

and because this isn't terry this is a tone it's

quite bright and then seeing a bat during the

day yeah that's unheard of yeah don't you know

bats come out at night well i'm the light bat

i'm gray So we get basically another team up

with them and because they're they're fighting

all this crime in the in the slums of Gotham

the area of Gotham that this is is called Crown

Point and this to me is pretty much I Feel like

it's another version of Cherry Hill Cherry Hill

was the area of Gotham that Barbara had lived

in When she was younger, in the new 52 days,

when Gail Simone was writing the character before,

Brendan Fletcher and Cameron Stewart and Babs

Tarr took her out of Central Gotham and put her

out in Burnside. That's really what I feel at

Crown Point is, is another version of Cherry

Hill. And you're right, seeing a Bat character

during the day is really, really strange. But

again, I love the colors, love the background,

love the art. And she has a cape. Yeah, she has

a cape. Terry, why you don't have a cape? Terry

has bat wings. He's okay. He's got... Terry has

his own bat wings. He's got armpit flaps. He's

got bat flaps. Oh my god. He's technically his

own bat wing because he has, you know, rocket

boots and, you know... You know bat wings under

his arms and whatever else and I mean I like

that she has her own cape I like the design of

the new bat girl here I just wish that more would

have been done with her because at the end of

this we figure out who she is well Barbara figures

out who she is and Because Barbara's like look

if you cross the line I'm not Helping you. I'm

not saving you. I'm you know you know I mean

you'll go down and at the end of this it says

the end Question mark question mark question

mark. I really wish more would have been done

with with this character with Even if it was

just one of those you know passing pages in one

of the comics that you know we'll cover later

that later this year in Batman month when we

get to Kyle Higgins is run don't get me wrong

Kyle does an amazing job with With the characters

and the story he wanted to tell but it's just

one of those things where I just wish they wouldn't

have dropped This new character just introduce

her in one issue and then you know wham -bam.

Thank you, ma 'am. No more No, but we get somebody

like Harper Rowe Oh Don't remind me Oh stop Worst

characters ever Harper not so Harper's not as

bad, but Damien Oh like either one they should

have just kept this chick on Well, this is the

DC animated universe versus the new 52 so they

already made part of the regular 52 Other thing

for another time, but As I said the beginning

of this podcast this also actually includes issues

one and two from the 1999 Batman run Batman Beyond

Run, I should say. It's basically a... I have

that issue. You have this, do you? I like the

art in this. It's very show -accurate to the

show. As far as how Bruce looks, as far as how

the suit looks... Yeah, pretty much everything.

I mean, because this is published when the series

was going on. Actually, hell, this is written

by one of the DCAU series writers, Hilary J.

Bader. So, you know, that is pretty friggin'

awesome. See, that's why they should have made

another couple seasons. I know, I know. More

stories, more... I know, I know. It's funny seeing

old Bruce in the cape and cowl. And he's just

painting. Yeah, it is. It is. He's got the oxygen

mask on. The oxygen mask, yeah. It's so crazy.

And the colors in this are just nuts. I mean,

this doesn't even feel like the Neo Gotham that

we know. I do like how they kept the cave colors.

You know, the purple and black everywhere. I

thought that was great. since that's what happened

in the show. But this first chapter is basically

a Spellbinder story. I have never been a fan

of Spellbinder. I'm not, but I love this one

only because you see Bruce in the cape and cowl

again. Oh yeah, no, that's... That's like the

sheer lone reason alone why I like this episode,

or this issue. And then the second issue here

is an ink issue. Don't know it's alright. It's

kind of an ink stink, but it's Yeah, it uh It's

still Batman Beyond Yeah in animation True so

I wish they would have done something with this

like kind of to continue on from that episode

in cooling where we're not sure if ink is gone

or not but her daughter is still left to be you

know scared as all hell i wish they kind of would

have done that here to kind of continue on with

that story line with things daughter but uh...

and whatever state or creepy uh... overall i

absolutely love uh... the Dana Tan storyline

that's in this. Under Cloud got better when it

ended. The Batgirl Beyond story I thought was

great. I wish there was more of that. Overall,

this entire series, the 2012 series, has been

great. It really, really has. Absolutely love

10 ,000 Clowns. Like I said earlier, it's a story

I can go back to and read often. Final thoughts,

sir? I really like Ten Thousand Clowns. The Batgirl

Beyond I liked. Some of the other stories, not

so much. But overall, I'd say you can't go wrong

with Batman Beyond in general. For one it's probably

got the most solid continuity out of any of the

bat out of any of the DC comic series right meaning

that there's no spillover from other issues of

different comics or different lines or Craptastic

characters or convoluted story plots from the

new 52 or I mean, I know this is kind of you

know, just after new 52 started but Still, I

like the fact that it beats to its own drum and

it's not mixed in there and kind of alluded and

screwed up. Absolutely. So the next time we're

going to be talking about Batman Beyond will

be in this year's Batman Month in May. We're

going to be talking about the rewired trade paperback,

which is the first two storylines from Kyle Higgins'

run. Absolutely amazing So we'll be back for

that Over the next couple of weeks. I'm trying

to think what's going on in the pull bag. I actually

have no clue I am just so frazzled ladies and

gentlemen, but Okay, coming up into the pull

bag for February. We've got For week four we've

got the transformers robots in disguise and more

than meets the eye issue 29 with with Nicole

hailstorm and I and then also that week we're

gonna be releasing the pull bag episode 100 best

of the pull bag so It's essentially gonna be

a clip show folks It's not gonna be a clip show

in the sense of what ATTF episode 49 was where

it was like all things transformers This is your

life because the pull bag will be continuing

on past episode 100 but I'm just going to kind

of remind people of some of the past content

and conversations we've had because in three

years reaching a hundred episodes plus 25 basically

at this point if my math is right once we hit

this will be at a hundred almost a hundred thirty

episodes of the podcast because of the back issue

classics and not to mention the origins in the

interview so it's probably more strong close

to a hundred and fifty episodes but as far as

the overall number of episodes episode one hundred's

gonna be interesting uh... if anyone would like

to call in or send email uh... feedback for the

poll bag for episode one hundred which airs the

last wednesday in february uh... you can send

an email to me directly uh... t if you like it

gmail t f g one mike at gmail dot com where you

can send it to feedback at the cast radio dot

com uh... voicemail line is five oh two five

two six five eight two one be sure to leave some

sort of name screen name real name whatever uh...

and there's about a five to ten minute time limit

so we i don't talk to too long Again, email is

tfg1mike at gmail .com or feedback at geekcastradio

.com. Voicemail line 502 -526 -5821. Did you

have fun traveling 65 years into the future,

Steve? Let me go back. Let me go back. As they

say in Star Trek Generations. Good Lord. Alright,

that's gonna do it for us folks. Make your great

escape into comics and we will catch you next

time. It's true, Batsy! I know everything. And

kinda like the kid who peeks at his Christmas

presents, I must admit, it's sadly anticlimactic.

You've just heard the latest episode of The Pull

Bag, the GCRN's comic review and discussion podcast.

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