Batman: The Brave And The Bold "Inside the Outsiders!" Talkback (Spoilers)

[James Harvey]

An all-new episode of Batman: The Brave And The Bold debuts tonight at 7:30pm (ET) on Cartoon Network!

Episode #26 - Inside the Outsiders!
Original Airdate - November 6th, 2009
Batman and the Outsiders are under a metaphysical attack by Psycho Pirate. Batman enters the Mindscape and helps Black Lightning, Katana and Metamorpho battle their own personal demons.

Comments?

Click here for more information on this episode!

[chdr]

Oh god, Black Lightning's nightmare just made my day.

"HOW CAN I RELAX WHEN SOMETHING LIKE THAT IS PLAYING IN A THEATER NEAR ME?!"

[Game Freak 4]

Originally Posted by chdr

Oh god, Black Lightning's nightmare just made my day.

"HOW CAN I RELAX WHEN SOMETHING LIKE THAT IS PLAYING IN A THEATER NEAR ME?!"

That movie can't be worse than what was shown in real life, can it?

[MetroSparkster]

There was a lot of unexpected/interesting stuff in this episode:

-Katana talking more often
-Black Lightning's tantrum over the little stuff...
-Actually thinking Psycho-Pirate killed those teens
-Bats smiling. SMILING! Happy thoughts! My number 1 weakness!

-What are Batman's happy thoughts?

[johnny139]

That was... alright. Entertaining, definitely, but not a homerun episode. I'm a fan of the Outsiders, but I don't think they've really done anything interesting with them yet.

Like Black Lightning's nightmare, though. Turns out he's just angry for the sake of anger. His trashing of Batman's costume was the highlight.

[HEATXZ]

Great episode
Great to see Psycho Pirate animated for the first time
Black Lighting Nightmare was funny XD
Next week Equinox the week after that Brand New Episode

[AJ1]

Great episode of Batman this week, I loved the opening with Catwoman giving Batman her phone number after Batman was flirting with her, awesome scene. I liked Kid Lightning or whatever his name was, I'm not too familiar with him from the comics so it was cool to see him in action in this episode, for a shortwhile there the episode had a strange anime feel to it, I kinda liked it.

[Temple Fugate]

If I was drinking water at the time, I would have totally done a spit-take when Batman busted into the room and found Psycho Pirate. Never expected them to put him in an episode. His use here was pretty clever, too.

It was better than the first Outsiders episode, but not by much. Unfortunately the Outsiders just aren't that interesting. Black Lightning was funny, but even his anger at trivial everyday annoyances got tiring quickly.

Psycho Pirate totally telegraphed his endgame after "killing" the Outsiders. Batman would have eventually figured out that he was still dreaming, but Pirate made it too easy for him. First he taunted Bats to get him riled up (the exact same tactic Batman saw him using on all three Outsiders), then he allowed the lab monitor to show that he was absorbing Batman's rage. He could have lasted at least another thirty seconds, which by the looks of things would have netted him a ton of power he could have then used against Batman.

Originally Posted by HEATXZ

Great to see Psycho Pirate animated for the first time

He was in the final season of JLU, although if by "animated" you meant "in motion," I can't recall if his character ever actually moved instead of being a static background element.

[AnimationX]

Originally Posted by chdr

Oh god, Black Lightning's nightmare just made my day.

"HOW CAN I RELAX WHEN SOMETHING LIKE THAT IS PLAYING IN A THEATER NEAR ME?!"

That was my favorite part of the episode to me too, I laughed out loud and laughed just as hard when he told Batman he should go after the director. This show is such a great hybrid of comedy and action that it makes me want to cry tears of joy, wasn't this the last episode of the season or something too? I hope we get more premiers soon if this is so.

[Yojimbo]

Katana's nightmare/backstory was my favorite part. I was always interested to see how they were going to change it from the comics.

Nice reversal in tone with this episode compared to two weeks ago. They even made Pirate salivate when Batman first burst into the room. Yeesh.

Originally Posted by AnimationX

This show is such a great hybrid of comedy and action that it makes me want to cry tears of joy, wasn't this the last episode of the season or something too? I hope we get more premiers soon if this is so.

No, there's one more episode for this season. Then hopefully, season two starts right after.

[chdr]

Originally Posted by Yojimbo

No, there's one more episode for this season. Then hopefully, season two starts right after.

It will.

[Yojimbo]

Originally Posted by chdr

It will.

Got a link or a screengrab? Inquiring minds want to know.

[Callonme]

Spoiler:

http://tvlistings.zap2it.com/tv/batm...EP010990160027

[Yojimbo]

Originally Posted by Callonme

Spoiler:

http://tvlistings.zap2it.com/tv/batm...EP010990160027

Ah yes, sounds interesting. Thank you for the link.

[The Penguin]

I don't know if I've managed to comment on this show here yet, but I continue to really enjoy it. I just find the feel and the style and the ways it reminds me of the 60s live action series to be awesome.

I loved the open with Catwoman holding Batman and Green Arrow. The way Batman and Catwoman were interacting with each other and Arrow's disgust was just great. I wonder if Batman will call her.

The Outsiders don't get me overly excited, but I still thought it was a pretty good episode and the look "inside the Outsiders" allowed us to get to know them a little better.

After Metamorpho was calmed down, I figured out that Psycho Pirate was working up to Batman the entire time. Thankfully, Batman figured it out too.

[Manhunter]

Originally Posted by MetroSparkster

-What are Batman's happy thoughts?

Maybe it had something to do with this episode's opening.

"FLIRTERERS!!!"

[Game Freak 4]

Originally Posted by Manhunter

Maybe it had something to do with this episode's opening.

"FLIRTERERS!!!"

I thought most people would think it involved reuniting with his parents.

[Aza]

I thought this episode was alright. I'm not a huge fan of this show, but then again thats how I was with Wolverine and the X-men and Iron Man armored adventures. So I'm hoping as I progress through this show my liking towards it will change.

[dtemplar]

I never thought Quark from Deep Space Nine would play Psycho Pirate. I thought it was Robert Englund.

[Brainatra]

Yeesh, thanks for nothing, Zap2It.com / Cartoon Network; I almost missed seeing this episode (saw it just a few moments ago), thinking they were back to reruns for some reason (maybe the lack of advertising, in favor of "idiotic live-action dreck du jour")... but anyway...

An interesting episode, mostly for seeing how they managed to retool the Psycho-Pirate into something Freddy Krueger-esque. Black Lightning's rage bits were funny, as well.

On to...

Old-but-amsuing Comic Book Trivia!

Since I've covered the Outsiders already, this one will be just two characters...

CATWOMAN: Notorious catburglar and would-be-if-she-weren't-villainous love interest for Bats, Selina Kyle debuted way back in "Batman" #1 in 1940 (the same issue the Joker first appeared in). Selina was created by Bats' creators himself, Bill Finger and Bob Kane.

Possessing great physical and mental prowess like her foe the Batman, Catwoman's been a persistent presence in the mythos for most of Batman's history (but not all---more below). Earlier comics featured her using various cat-based weaponry (a cat o'nine tails, cat-themed planes or cars), while more modern comics show her using mainly just a whip.

Catwoman's backstory has changed somewhat over the years. Catwoman first appeared as "the Cat" in "Batman" #1, and soon gained her full name "Catwoman". Her origin was revealed in "Batman" #62 in the early 50s as an airline stewardess who had previously suffered an amnesiac blow to the head, somehow making her fall into a life of crime; after recovering in #62, she helped Bats and Robin in a few succeeding stories (as a reformed villain), before returning to crime in "Detective Comics" #203. After several other appearances as a villain, Catwoman then vanished from the comics entirely, not to be seen again until her first Silver Age appearance in 1966, in "Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane" #70, after which Selina became a regular Batman comic presence until this day. (I assume the Comics Code might've explained her 10+-year disappearance from comics---maybe her costume was too revealing? Or the idea of a female committing crimes and constantly getting away from Bats being "bad"?)

Since the Earth-1 Catwoman (deemed as first appearing in "Lois Lane" #70) never had her own Silver Age/Earth-1 updated origin story (like many other Batman villains; the Bat-writers either weren't too keen on Earth-1 and -2 or just didn't care), it's assumed the previous origin/events outlined above also happened to Earth-1's Selina, with the addition that "Tec" #203 only happened on Earth-1.... because on Earth-2, Catwoman never returned to crime, instead staying reformed and eventually marrying that world's Bruce! (Earth-2's Selina also revealed that she made up the whole having-amnesia bit as a cover for her turning to crime out of dissatisfaction with her life [escaping an abusive husband, etc.] and enjoying stealing). The Earth-2 Mr. and Mrs. Wayne went on to have their only child, a daughter named Helena Wayne, aka the Huntress.

Post-Crisis, Catwoman's story has been given its own post-Crisis origin, though oddly including stuff like once having been a prostitute (despite, erm, her being a character they still market to *children*), etc. She's also gained her own comic book (with her badly-drawn... unless you're a hormonal 15-year-old...) in the 90s, and still gets miniseries, etc. to this day (as well as a God-awful live-action movie with Halle Berry... who's the *second* African-American woman to play Catwoman, after Eartha Kitt's brief turn as her in the 60s TV show).

Of course, as seen here, the Catwoman-Batman "relationship"'s one of the Batman comics' trademarks.

The costume in tonight's episode was the one she wore in most Golden Age (and a few early Silver Age-appearance) stories.

THE PSYCHO-PIRATE: The comics have featured two people to go by this name. The Golden Age comics' Psycho-Pirate was an ordinary older man named Charles Halstead who in the 40s used emotion-based crimes as his means of operating; he was eventually captured and put in jail by the Justice Society.

Years later (in the Silver Age), now near death, he told his jailmate (gangster Roger Hayden) all of his Psycho-Pirate emotion/psychology secrets, as well as the existence of the mythical "Medusa Masks", which Hayden (after leaving prison) eventually finds and uses its power to become the new Psycho-Pirate (complete with costume; this is the one used in tonight's episode, of course). The masks allow their wearer to project emotions of any type upon others. After various confrontations with the JSA, Hayden wound up caught up like everyone else in "Crisis on Infinite Earths" (as one of the Anti-Monitor's main minions), and winds up being one of the very few to remember the previous (destroyed) multiverse, being thrown into Arkham Asylum for "ranting constantly about multiple Earths". More recent stories, erm, haven't treated Hayden much better (see: his death by Black Adam in the crossover "Infinite Crisis": http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...38/Deathpp.PNG (probably NSFW, unless your coworkers are slasher film fans). One of the stupidest moments in that already-idiotic-beyond-belief storyline, and that's saying something...).

The Golden Age Pirate first appeared in "All Star Comics" #23, while his Silver Age successor first appeared in "Showcase" #56 in 1965. Both were created by Gardner Fox (the writer responsible for much of what we now take for granted about the DC universe outside of Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman, including the creation of the JSA *and* JLA and many of their foes...though Fox wrote various early Batman stories as well); the Golden Age one was co-created by a Joe Gallagher (some minor DC artist apparently; couldn't find out anything about him), while the Silver Age one was co-created by Murphy Anderson (an artist on various Silver Age stories, including famously teamed up as the inker for Silver Age Superman artist Curt Swan on a well-regarded run of Superman stories).

Next week:
Something to do with Equinox per previous remarks; will be back (if I don't forget/miss it somehow again)...

-B.