Glenn Walker is a writer who knows pop culture. He loves, hates, and lives pop culture. He knows too freaking much about pop culture, and here's where he talks about it all: movies, music, comics, television, and the rest... Welcome to Hell.
Batman: Assault on Arkham ~ I had this one tucked away for a while before I actually ever looked at it. The reason being I thought it was connected to those awful Batman Arkham videogames that I can't stand. I knew it was an animated feature, but the idea that it might be based in that weird game universe really put me off. However when I did finally get around to watching it, I was pleasantly surprised. This is nothing like I expected.
Assault on Arkham is not even technically a Batman feature, it's about the Suicide Squad, possibly a preview to hip folks as to what to expect in the upcoming film of the same name. And it's also not strictly a superhero flick either. This has the flavor and style of a heist movie circa the turn of the century, slick, cool, very new age Oceans 11. The villains are gathered, begrudgingly work together, and pull off what they need to despite clashing personalities. Yes, it has standard Suicide Squad procedure, but the way it's pulled off is so well done and heist genre. I loved it.
There were places where I was pulled out of the story, notably some weird anime bits, characters who looked too much alike, the Joker mugging for the camera, and of course the creepy Penguin with a British accent and eating fish whole, bones and all. The characters have chemistry, and the dual stories of them breaking into Arkham while Batman searches for the Joker's dirty bomb and follows them in, are enticing.
This was better than I thought it would be, highlighted by "Batman The Animated Series" voice veteran Kevin Conroy, and Hynden Walch, who does a wonderful approximation of Arleen Sorkin's Harley Quinn. An entertaining 76 minutes with a wild score by Robert J. Kral, and some great lines - worth the time.
I have to say however, if the upcoming Suicide Squad movie, despite how that trailer looks, is anything like this, I can't wait to see it now.
The state of the Arrow when last we met was a bit mangled and different than usual. Oliver is back from the dead, and proposing that Merlyn train him to defeat R'as Al Ghul. Felicity is on the outs with Oliver and pretty much stands with everyone else regarding Merlyn. Laurel has joined Team Arrow as the new Canary, and her dimwitted dad doesn't seem to know she's not the late Sara. That's just the basics, got it? You can catch up on the rest of this season so far here, and the entire series here.
We open on, believe it or not, both Canaries engaged in combat with each other. Welcome back, Sara. Good to see that "The Sopranos" and "Breaking Bad" aren't the only shows where a character's death doesn't mean the actor us out of work. I still think Sara makes a better Black Canary, more believable, and closer to the comics. Canary is curvy, not Cassidy.
Werner Zytle, Vertigo, or the second Vertigo (although neither is even close to the comics version of the character) has escaped prison, so the cat is out of the bag as to why Laurel believes she's fighting her dead sister. But that's not the big deal that happened early in the episode. Oliver came clean with Thea, showed her the Arrowcave, and told her that he's the Arrow. Surprise, she's happy, with Oliver. Malcolm, not so much.
Speaking of the kinder gentler post-resurrection Arrow, he seems to be back to his old self inexplicably when it comes to Laurel. Weirdly he's more welcoming to Merlyn and Thea than he is to Laurel. One would think with R'as on his way to Starling, Oliver would want as much help as possible. And it's a shame that Oliver is more concerned with babysitting her than stopping Vertigo's pointless homicidal super-villainy, but then again in this episode, he's more plot device than plot, or even character.
Flashback Hong Kong has become something interesting, at least temporarily. At best the flashback sequences run hot and cold. Now it's not Oliver I'm thinking about in the recent ones, but Tatsu and Maseo. What is wrong with both of them? In the present they are under the thumb of the evil R'as and in the past, Amanda Waller. Why have they allowed themselves into these situations with such people?
I started this review talking about the status quo of Team Arrow. Now we are looking at a whole new dynamic - Laurel part of the team, Thea in on Team Arrow, and also Quentin finally aware of the doings of his daughters. I did however keep waiting for Thea to express surprise that everyone she knows is in on the secret but her.
Nice but obscure shout out with Daggett Pharmaceuticals - in "Batman The Animated Series," Roland Daggett and his chemical company Daggett Industries caused much chaos such as turning Catwoman into a real cat-woman, and creating the shape-shifting super-villain Clayface. Just like "The Flash" keeps referencing Firestorm, it seems "Arrow" just can't get enough Batman.
I'm glad the hipster deejay from the League of Assassins subplot is done with. It was getting old, but did move things forward to the next level. The training begins next time with Oliver and Thea on Flashback Island, and Flashback Oliver and Maseo in Starling City. That should be interesting.
Justice League Doom ~ This straight-to-DVD animated movie is the latest and quite possibly the final chapter in the "Justice League" series. With the death of guiding force Dwayne McDuffie, the Animated DC Universe that began with "Batman The Animated Series" in the early 1990s may be drawing to a close. If nothing else, it's the most recent reunion of the voice cast we all know and love.
This edition, based on the comic story "Tower of Babel" by Mark Waid, is a good note to end on, as it's one of the League's greatest adventures, and this animated version also includes a new version of the Legion of Doom, bringing things full circle in several ways. McDuffie takes Waid's tale of Batman at his most paranoid - building a contingency plan should the League go rogue which of course the bad guys get hold of, and spins it with the magic of the old animated series.
The new Legion of Doom, led by Vandal Savage holds few surprises - Metallo, Cheetah, Star Sapphire, but a new Mirror Master and especially Ma'alefa'ak are surprises, but Bane is a no-brainer as the baddie in this summer's The Dark Knight Rises. Despite the massive scale of this sinister plot, it's still a rather lame Legion of Doom in my eyes. I would have rather had more villains, especially for a final hurrah, and villains who would have done something more interesting than simply punch back.
The inclusion of Cyborg into the Justice League is an intriguing one, and copying the same move from the comics. I realize it's done for the sake of political correctness, with John Stewart out in favor of movie Lantern Hal Jordan, but really, are we now taking cues from the Super Friends cartoons of decades gone by? And there are other young heroes more deserving to graduate to the League before Cyborg in my opinion.
Justice League Doom is not a great animated feature, but it's not a bad one either. Kevin Conroy and Nathan Fillian are the voice standouts, and there are lots of special features. Good to own, better to rent.
It's March Madness at Biff Bam Pop! and that doesn't have anything to do with brackets, unless they are brackets on barred doors keeping the insanity in. March Madness on the BBP! site is all about madness in all its forms.
My latest contribution is a short tour of the prison hospital outside DC Comics' Gotham City - Arkham Asylum - housing some of the Batman's most fearsome, and most mad, super-foes. You can check it out here.
The madness doesn't end there however, you can check out all the stories for March Madness at Biff Bam Pop! here.
Cartoon Network’s hit series “Batman: The Brave and the Bold” will be taking a ride on the crazy train soon. The program, which features an old school Batman teaming up with various other superheroes to fight crime and defeat costumed baddies, welcomes a few familiar names back onto the small screen on May 29th.
Paul Dini, who was instrumental in the ongoing creation of Fox’s award-winning “Batman: The Animated Series” during the 1990s, comes on board to write a special episode featuring another name from the past, Bat-Mite! In the episode titled “Legends of the Dark-Mite!” Bat-Mite (voiced by Paul Reubens AKA Pee-Wee Herman) kidnaps Batman and takes him to the Fifth Dimension where hilarity literally ensues. Lots of old school versions of Batman’s enemies show up to the party as well, with more than one nod to the Looney Tunes cartoons of yesteryear. Don’t miss it!
