Evolution of the Batman (and Robin) - Batman Serial

And so it begins, a 30+ part feature following the Batman from his earliest days as a wee baby bat until he matured into The Dark Knight, and beyond... Batman's sidekicks Robin and Batgirl will also get their fair share of attention during this series. Hope you enjoy.

In May 1939, Batman appeared in the the pages of Detective Comics #27.

Robin, The Boy Wonder, debuted a year later in issue #38.

In 1943, The Dynamic Duo made their big screen debut in a 15 chapter movie serial, beginning with The Electrical Brain. The story focused on a US government agent Batman taking on Japanese agent Dr. Daka and his zombie making device.

The serials, made during World War II, have not aged so well as they are filled with racial slurs and poor production values. Also, Batman was not a vigilante, because of course, that would be wrong. On the plus side, the serials were responsible for introducing the bat cave along with its grandfather clock entrance to Batman lore.



The serial was popular enough to justify a sequel serial a few years later. And continued popularity paved the way for the BIF, BANG, POW 1960's television series and for nearly 70 years more of Caped Crusader adventures and counting.

Mmmmmmm, Batman Cereal.

Up Next: Batman and Robin Serial

Batman Serial

Flash: Pilot (1990) - Film Capsule

Heroes: The Flash

Villains: Pike

Diabolical Schemes: Back in the day, Pike was a crooked cop and partner to Barry Allen's (Flash) brother Jay. Jay took down Pike, now Pike wants revenge. He is bent on bringing "chaos" to the city with his biker gang.

Coolest Moment(s): I enjoyed the thought they put into side effects of super speed: torn clothes, melted shoes, enhanced hunger, and a weakness of vulnerability after "running out of gas."

Worst Moment: Barry's pre-Flash running suit with a super-wide V-neck was outrageous.

Review in 50 Words or Less: A decent pilot. Sure, the big-bad was not that scary, but he did leave his mark. And the origin was grounded in a fairly realistic world. The Batman 89 influence is felt, but not unappreciated. Makes a good case for the potential of a big budget Flash film.

Smallville's JSA Announced

As posted last week, Smallville is getting a lot of guest heroes this season (such as the previously mentioned Wonder Twins). Also on the list was the Justice Society. Well, now we know which Society members will be appearing: Hawkman, The Spectre, Doctor Fate, and The Atom (Green Lantern Alan Scott and Flash Jay Garrick will NOT be appearing), though others may also join the line-up.

EDIT: (ALAN SCOTT MAY APPEAR AFTER ALL)


I am interested to see how Hawkman translates to live -action TV. Last time wasn't so hot.

Wolverine Storms Disneyland

DISNEY TO BUY MARVEL! I am pretty sure this is big news.

Spotlight on Black Lightning

Black Lightning made his comics debut in 1977, but it wasn't until finally in 2009 that he made the jump to the TV screen appearing in a recurring role on Batman: The Brave and the Bold along with his team The Outsiders.

Batman took Katana, Metamorpho, and Black Lightning under his wing, until the Outsiders were trained to work as a team.



Although BL has only appeared in this one series to date, he has had a much larger influence on superhero shows over the past 30 years.

Shortly after the creation of Black Lightning, another African-American hero with electricity based powers (and without pants) joined the Super Friends line-up. Due to rights issues, Black Lightning was not included in the team line-up, but its safe to say he was at least a partial inspiration for the "Friend" Black Vulcan.

Years later, Justice League Unlimited played homage to the diversity inspired characters created for Super Friends (El Dorado, Black Vulcan, Apache Chief, and the Wonder Twins) with its own unique creations, the Ultimen. Justice League's take on the electricity character was named Juice, who also sported the trademark blue and gold colors of Black Lightning's costume.

In 2000, the Static Shock series debuted with an African American hero that also had electricity-based powers.

In the series' first episode, Static was shown in a costume very similar to that worn by Black Vulcan.

Later in the series, Static teamed up with a retired superhero, Soul Power, also similar to the original Black Lightning.

Like Black Lightning in the comics, Static Shock would go on to join the Justice League as shown in the Justice League Unlimited episode, The Once and Future Thing- Part 2: Time Warped.

But back to the man who is getting this spotlight. 2009 is not over, and before years end Black Lightning will appear again alongside the World's Finest, Batman and Superman in their upcoming team up movie voiced by Geordi La Forge. Hopefully we will be seeing much more of this historic hero, and less of imitators, in the years to come.

Count Your Many Squaders, Name Them One By One

The Super Hero Squad is set to debut on September 19th on Cartoon Network and the promotion for the series is heating up. From the hero montage, it looks like everyone from Avengers to X-Men to Fan 4 and their dogs are joining the show's lineup (sans one itsy-bitsy spider).

The villains are equally well represented.

Perhaps even more impressive is the all star line-up assembled to voice these characters. They have Luke Skywalker, Geordi, 6, Parkman, The Real Ice-Man, Newman, Sulu, Hercules. Wow!

I don't know if the show is going to be any good, but at least they aren't holding back on the A-listers like they did with that horrible 90's Avengers series. This looks like it could be a fun show. And at the least, my 4- year old daughter will soon know who The Punisher is.

The Justice League: A Super Friendly Tour (Part 17)

Justice League: The New Frontier

In 2008, DC released a direct to DVD feature based on the popular graphic novel DC: The New Frontier. The movie, set in the 1950's, depicted the formation fo the original Justice League to fight a global alien threat called the Center (which was actually a telepathic floating island that spewed out dinosaurs).

The team included the "Big Three," namely Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman. Batman was shown revising his look to be a bit less scary to kids - though he remained a vigilante - playing by his own rules in an age where masked heroes were not trusted and where the Justice Society had been disbanded.

Superman played the typical boy scout and was essentially a US government agent. He was taken out early in the big battle, necessitating that some of the other big guns step up.

Wonder Woman was still very much at odds with the male dominated society.

But the real heroes of the movie were Hal Jordan and the Flash. Hal's origin was told and he cam eto grips with his new found powers. He also got a large percentage of the screen time and became the hero Green Lantern that we all know and love.

Following the Center's defeat, a new age of heroes was ushered in.






Up Next: Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths

And that's all for now folks. The upcoming Crisis on Two Earth's movie has just been announced and should be released in Spring 2010 at which time the Super Friendly Tour will continue. In the meantime, a new weekly segment will begin next week titled: Evolution of the Batman. Stay tuned.

The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure * Super Friends * The All New Super Friends Hour * Challenge of the Super Friends * Legends of the Superheroes * The World's Greatest Super Friends * Super Friends (Shorts) * Super Friends (Lost Episodes) * Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show * The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians * Justice League of America (TV Pilot) * Justice League Unlimited on Batman Beyond * Justice League * Justice League Unlimited * Smallville * The Batman * Justice League: The New Frontier