Ten Best Batman Comic Team-Up’s with DC characters

Three years ago I talked about Batman team-up's with characters from different franchises and/or comic companies. That's all and well good, but what about team up's with his fellow DC heroes? Aside from Superman, who will always be The World's Finest, that's one area I never covered. So let's talk about some of them.

The funny thing about Batman is whikle he is a dark loner, he also works great with other heroes. He's had real partners including Robin, The Outsiders, and every version of The JLA. This is because despite his grim style he is also a good teacher. The other heroes respect him and look up to him, and while Batman has flaws he is always willing to offer guidance. It also helps that since he has no godlike powers, others probably feel less intimated than they do with someone like Superman who can save the day all by himself. I said before when I discovered the old Brace and The Bold series I loved them. Here are ten of my favorite Batman team up's with DC characters.

And yes I know about the Brave and The Bold cartoon but I've never watched it. Let's limit to this comics, and no team books since that's not the same.







The Joker

Yeah how does this work? To be fair it probably wouldn't fly today. But back in the old days, before The Joker was so psychotic it was almost ludicrous, these two teamed up a couple times. Remember, Joker my be a homicidal maniac but he's also smart. So when his talents can be used to help, why not take advantage of it? He teamed up with others in his rogue's gallery but these are the memorable one's

A Look at Superman On Film

It’s funny how time can change. When I posted this the first time in 2011, I never thought we’d get not one but two more supermen not to mention a Supergirl series. Here is a re-post the most changes being the end when I added to the list. I apparently had video links at some point but they’re long gone. I also changed the title since this is more about the film versions than the general overview it was supposed to be.

Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound! (“Look! Up in the sky!” “It’s a bird!” “It’s a plane!” “It’s Superman!”)… Yes, it’s Superman … strange visitor from another planet, who came to Earth with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men! Superman … who can change the course of mighty rivers, bend steel in his bare hands, and who, disguised as Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper, fights a never-ending battle for truth, justice, and the American way!

Superman is THE man. I always said that Green Lantern brought me to comic books, but it was Superman that made me fall in love with them. It’s not just because he can fly and has really cool powers. It’s his whole attitude that makes him likable. With his powers he could rule the world, but does he? Of course not, he helps people expecting nothing in return. Superman is a symbol we need, and have needed for over eighty years now.





So, I thought it would be fun to list off some of the people who have made this character come to life. But first, let’s discuss my favorite comic book version. Superman has been brought to life by some legendary people including Curt Swan, Marv Wolfman, Roger Stern, and Jerry Ordway. However, this is my favorite:



The John Byrne Superman, circa 1986-1988. John Byrne relaunched the character with his Man of Steel mini-series twenty-five years ago. This was THE version for me; it made me love the character. No longer an all-powerful demi god like in the 70’s, he was a down to Earth Kansas farm boy. Clark Kent was the real person and Superman was just a name he used to operate in public. This enabled Clark to be more human, rather than just a stereotypical klutz. John Byrne only worked on Superman for a couple years, but his issues are among my favorite stories ever and I still cherish them to this day.

Five Early Ideas That Never Materialized From Great Sitcoms

Sometimes creators know exactly what a show will be when they have the idea, and other times it’s not so easy. The other day I talked about failed concepts that made it on the screen but didn’t work out. Sometimes ideas never even see the light of day. For instance, Empty Nest was supposed to be about a couple dealing with there daughters taking off for college. It was changed to the Richard Mulligan led show (but the original pilot was made, as a backdoor pilot in The Golden Girls). It’s funny to hear the original pitches for our favorite shows, and wonder what could have been.

Here are five examples :





The Cosby Show

Marcy Carsey and Tom Werner went to Cosby for the show, and his first idea wasn’t quite what we’d get. Cosby believed that both parents should have blue collar jobs. The father be a limousine driver, who owned the car, and the mother an electrician. It was Cosby’s wife who suggested he change it so that the Huxtable’s would be upper middle class.







Home Improvement

When Tim Allen began making his sitcom it was first called Hammer Time. That really didn’t last long. What was supposed to stick was Stephen Tobolowsky. He was supposed to play the tool time co-host Glen. When Tobolowsky couldn’t become available they created Al to fill in. Of course, Al would end up sticking and we never met Glen. Oh and did you know Frances Fisher was originally Jill?

Five Failed Early Ideas From Great Sitcoms

Awhile back I discussed how someone had the brilliant idea to ad lyrics to the theme of Seinfeld. An idea that was quickly changed when they realized how awful it was. Other ideas were quietly phased out especially the fact that there was supposed to be more standup between the segments.

 

 

When a sitcom is getting started, creators will throw all kinds of ideas out to see what will stick and what wont. It’s a natural part of the process for any show. Some ideas last, like Wilson hiding his face on Home Improvement. Others get forgotten, like how Raj went from not being able to speak to woman to being able to on The Big Bang Theory after the gag got old. And while lots of bad ideas never see the light of day, others will. But the idea is so off the mark it’ll appear for an episode or two before being abandoned. These ideas are so ridiculous you almost wonder why it even made it to concept, let alone screen.. Here are five early abandoned sitcom ideas which I never understood :




King of Queens, Carrie’s Sister

Lisa Rieffel is a fine actress, so the fact that the character vanished isn’t her fault. The character of Sara Spooner was Carrie’s sister, and Arthur’s other daughter, and was supposed to live with Doug and Carrie also. And she does, for about three episode before she vanishes. Why did the creators think they needed this extra character? Wasn’t Arthur enough? I guess so.

Top 5 TV Transformation Sequences (re-post)

This was written in 2012, in a rush. That happens a lot I’ll just kind of throw the article together and post it. Those who read my articles a lot may be able to tell the one’s that get a little more care than the others. This one is just bad. Granted it was an easy idea, but it doesn’t work for one little reason. no pics and no videos. I’m sure there were videos, or at least links, at some point. So here it is again a little cooler this time.

One of the coolest part of some cartoons is when the hero appears in a cool transformation sequence. Some shows just have the heroes mobilize in a cool way, but others will have a character who is not so amazing transform into the cool hero in a flashy sequence which usually has the coolest animation and is obviously where the money went to. Here are my favorite of these. These are the kick ass moments that we lived for, we waited for these moments and loved every second of them. This can happen in live action to, like on The Hulk. I wanted to show a clip, but alas could not find a good one.




#5.Captain Planet
Yeah, this show was lame. It was preachy and a bit contrived. But the scene where Captain Planet is summoned is a favorite, and is the one cool thing this show generated. Let our powers combine! Wind! Water! Heart! Whatever that meant…

Five Comic Book Retcons That Stuck

Oh how DC Comics loves their retcons. Of course, Marvel does also but I’m a DC guy so I can’t comment on them. Many times a character will get a retcon, and given enough time that retcon will kind of disappear, be reversed or just become insignificant. But once in awhile a retcon comes in the form of a new or improved character. And if lucky, the change works well enough that it sticks around and helps to give us a new character who truly rocks.




Oh and it should be noted these are all the old versions of the characters, pre-New 52.





Supergirl

Going waayy back for this one. Back in the olden days, it was decided to give Superman a counterpart. So we were introduced to Kara Zor-El aka Supergirl. How could this be when Krypton exploded leaving Kal-El the sole survivor? Weell, let’s just say the backstory in the original story is real lame. Though the basic idea lasted, that Argo City was somehow spared the destruction and then Kara’s father sent her to Earth the same as Kal’s. The story even served as the basis for the Supergirl movie and current TV show (in altered forms). This little retcon gave a great new character, so great that even after being killed off in 1985 DC kept trying to find ways to reinvent her. Some better than others.

Five Forgotten TV Award Shows

Well we’ve entered award season with The Golden Globes that aired last weekend. Course we got a bunch of biggies coming leading up to the Oscars. Not to mention Grammy’s, Tonys, and Emmy’s in the fall. And several in between those. Award shows used to be a bigger deal, with the whole spectacle of the music and fashion and seeing all your favorite stars together. Though it always irked me when they would say “every star” is at the event, yeah I don’t think that was true. Still, award shows were and still are quite fun.

But the funny thing is all the award shows that aired, briefly, and then were forgotten. These were “fake” award shows so to speak, which no one took seriously. Oh sure sometimes they hit, like The People’s Choice Awards which are still on (even if they aren’t the same being owned by E!). The SAG awards came along twenty-five years ago and are still going strong. And of course VH1, MTV and Nickelodeon have famous award shows targeted to their respective demographics. But many others just kind of..fade away. This was especially a thing in the 90’s when creators apparently decided people would watch ANY award show they put on. This was not correct. Here are some award shows which came, and went.



TV Guide Awards

Oh man, you just had to feel bad for this one. You knew it was gonna bomb, and it sure did. While I admire the attempt to give TV a little more attention, this was not the venue. It’s what it sounds like, TV Guide giving out awards. This was a “winner has been notified they won ahead of time” show so that the nominee would show up. And the top prize was the “Best Show You’re Not Watching” award. Wow what an ego boost.

What I Loved in the 80’s-Food and Drinks (re-post)

Last time I promised this year I’d do some re-postings of articles as well as follow ups.  The other day was a follow-up, so let’s try a re-write of an early article which could have been sooo much better. I wrote the original article way back in 2011, and there are lots of things I don’t like about it. The article is limited to five items, for some reason. I didn’t go into a lot for most of them, and the pics are long gone. It’s also a bad title, these are more snacks and junk food. So here is a larger look at this topic. I am leaving off cereal because that is an area I covered more in depth elsewhere.

Every generation has that food item, or items, that we loved as a child and then wondered what the heck happened to it when we grew up. I loved being a child of the 80’s. The TV was great, the movies were great, and the music was great. Heck, even the food was great. The 80’s had a lot of unique foods, some I loved and others were more a curiosity. Here are ten examples from my childhood :



Tab Soda

I always loved the scene in Back to the Future when Marty tries to order a Tab in 1955. Course kids today are probably scratching their heads at that joke, but yes Tab was a think in the 80s. I don’t remember ever trying it, but it was all over the place. Until Diet Coke came along anyway. Oh and yes there was also such a thing as “Pepsi Free”.

Next 5 Movies I Loved When They Came Out But Now I Hate

Welcome to 2019 my friends. So sometime this year, if all goes well, I will publish my 1000th blog. That is just amazing to me, that I have been doing this for so long now. I’d love to time it on the actual anniversary in August but only time will tell on that one. I decided that the way to celebrate is to borrow a page from the book of Linkara. I am going to spend time this year going back to old blog’s and either republishing (since like many video reviewers I am not fond of my early stuff) or following up on them. This is because as year’s pass opinions change and very often examples that didn’t exist eight years ago do now. For instance, I once said Kevin Spacey was the worst Lex Luthor on film. Silly me, then I saw Aaron Eisenberg. Of course there will be new stuff, including a lot of Batman talk I hope as Detective Comics hits 1000, but that’s my focus for 2019.

So let’s ring in the new year and start to celebrate this milestone today, with this little follow up:




I talked a long while back about how when I certain movies the first time I didn’t realize how bad they were. Like when I saw “The Phantom Menace” I was so excited to see a Star Wars movie I totally overlooked how bad that movie is. I later figured it out when I couldn’t sit through the DVD.

 

That happens sometimes, we get so hyped about a movie we don’t realize at first just how lame it is. Then we re-watch it and…yeah. Pretty bad. I did five of these but over the last eight years or so I have discovered five more examples for what I mean. These aren’t guilty pleasures, movies I knew were lame and still love them, these are movies I am embarrassed to say I loved at one time. And yes “Hate” is a little harsh let’s say I understand they aren’t very good.





Green Lantern

Yeah this is a huge one for me. I had waited years to see this. My favorite super-hero growing up, who I even wanted to dress up as for Halloween, finally on the big screen! So I watched it and loved it. Looking back though, it’s not a perfect movie. It’s not god awful, but there are problems with it. My favorite is the scene where Hal first becomes Green Lantern only to..go to a bar with his girlfriend. The pacing was all over the place with this one. Nostalgia Critic summed it up when he said it looks like Green Lantern, but it doesn’t feel like Green Lantern.