Batman Family Reunion – Episode 1

The first episode of the Batman Family Reunion is here!  Paul Kien and Shawn M. Myers are your guides through the first Batgirl/Robin team-up, the debut of Man-Bat, 2 other stories, and some surprises along the way.  So grab your copy of 1975's Batman Family #1 or download it to your iPad, and grab a seat at our picnic table and enjoy the potato salad and the company of the rest of your Bat-Kinfolk!

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25 responses to “Batman Family Reunion – Episode 1

  1. Welcome to the network, boys–hope you survive it!

    Great first episode, As a kid, I only bought BF sparingly, so a lot of this will be new to me. Loved all the various segments, highly entertaining!

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  2. Follow-up:

    1–I, too, have had “Non butler-like thoughts.”

    2–Yes, the Conway/Redondo KNIGHTS was meant to be an all-original treasury edition. Around the time, DC scaled back its new treasuries and the series was never finished. The pages, tragically, have never been printed anywhere. Some of the originals have appeared, and they are gorgeous. A true waste.

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  3. Great 1st episode fellas! You really hit the ground running, and I love your approach to the material. I came into Batman Family after it merged with Detective, but I have very fond memories of this era of DC, so I’m really looking forward to your coverage! Thanks for keeping the Bat-Signal shining on the network!

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  4. I’m really looking forward to this podcast. Batman Family was one of those books I picked up in back issues when I first started reading comics in the 1980s. The story I most associate with BF is the Joker’s Daughter saga.

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  5. I’m thrilled this new series is finally here. Episode 1 did NOT disappoint!

    I too loved Batgirl’s response to Robin’s chauvinism. Colonel Harry Summers called what Babs displays here “escalation dominance” — a decisive factor in many a conflict.

    You two can have the picture of Robin and Batgirl posing in the last panel. I’ll take the pics of Barbara addressing Congress at the top of the page [sigh]!

    Looking forward to more reunion fun next month! Hope there’s still some potato salad left…

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    1. Hi Mitch. Knightcast is on hiatus for the foreseeable future. Batman Family Reunion has taken on the feed. For a humorous take on the explanation, take a listen to the promo spot right before this one. We also talk a little about it at the beginning of this episode. Hope you stick with us! Paul

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  6. Batman Family was an important comic to me! I hadn’t fully realized it until this show was announced and I got so excited! #17 is one of the best comic books ever! There are stories, sequences and individual panels from this series that are indelibly etched into my memory! #12 was the first one I bought, and if you are seeking guests at the picnic, I’d love to yap about that ish! I’ll bring some butermilk biscuits!

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  7. Impressive podcast most impressive.This is Liz Anne Oswalt. I have this story with batgirl and Robin somewhere. Probably in the 70s reprint you’re talking about. Can’t remember where? But the art works very good. The story is what it is for this time.. And always liked the shipping of Robin and batgirl. I don’t care that the TV show originally had Babs with Batman. That was just weird. I would definitely say this was an earth two batgirl and Robin. Then again I came into comics right before the crisis so I couldn’t say for certain. I’m old just not that old.

    The story with Alfred is decent enough. I don’t really have anything to add to it. I always thought it was Beagle that was the bumbling Butler. Since I remember him appearing in the stories before he was replaced by Alfred. And the appearance thing happening because of these cereals. And the activity cast to play the Butler for Batman was a very skinny man who looks like what we now know as the appearance of Alfred. I will just skip the ads. I think the thing with the executioner holding up Batman to be auctioned off. It is for a criminal to be able to kill him not a bachelor auction. But, you never know. The Gordon story was fine. Though I do like him better as he became later. A tough ally who worked well with the Batman. The villains sending Batman off on a wild goose chase to catch them. While pretending to be
    Gordon. Was decent enough. But, they have had better ideas. Well the criminals Batman has fought in the past. And future. The artwork reminds me of the guy who drew the X-Men Warren Roth. Then the typical styles I’m used to in Batman comics.

    Man bat makes a decent character, but I do agree he makes a better antihero than a villain. It’s weird that it took three issues so the next time we see him to figure out what’s going on. The stories is Man bat and Batman were decent enough. Though it is weird that scientists in comics always decided to test their experiments on themselves. Never with a lab rat or something. Just panting I got this I’m going to take it. What could go wrong? The Alfred bit at the end was decent enough. At this point they brought the outsider back so many times they may as well be that in. I would like to see the character as an Earth three version fighting owl man and that group of villains. Teaming up with the regular and the jokester. Against the crime syndicate. I think that’s what the evil JLA is called. Any rate good first episode. The bat family was a long running comic for reason and pretty good. Can’t wait to hear the next podcast.

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  8. Excellent premiere to an excellent show!

    I have to say I have always wondered about the cover story. I have seen that plenty of times but never read the story so it was great to finally hear about it. As you say, the Babs moment at the end is the ka-pow. Don’t know why Benedict Arnold had a flaming sword but it is a cool visual. And didn’t know about the tie-in to First Issue Special. Very cool info.

    For me, I loved dollar comics and bought them when I could. I can’t wait to hear you cover the Michael Golden Demon stories, the standout memories for me as a kid!

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  9. Hooray, a new show on the KnightCast feed, and giving me an excuse to read more “new to me” comics on the DCU app! Batman Family was published before my new comic collecting started, but I did happen to get 2 issues back in the day, I forget how. But I’m looking forward to this, especially Batgirl-Robin stories. And wow, Mike Grell’s artwork is topnotch in issue #1! Worth the price of admission alone.

    Great job with the first episode. You both have such joy and enthusiasm for the stories. Thank you much, and see you next Bat-Fam-time, Bat-Fam-podcast!

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  10. Congratulations on the new show, the enthusiasm oozed from every pore of my smartphone… sorry, I started that sentence and had no idea how to finish it. Anyway, I can’t yet tell whose voice is whose, it’s almost like you’re Canadians, but I shall get there.

    I was also with Batman Family from the beginning, and also about ten when it started – I loved the idea, the format, the stories… but that logo stank to high heaven. Why would DC base the logo on one they’d not used for a few years, it’s not like it offered obvious room for expansion and transformation. Just look at the way ‘family’ is awkwardly added and the scalloped cape is squared off. Weirdly, though, I love the way YOU expanded it.

    As for the cover design, I adore boxed images, though they’re better when the surrounds are white.

    Superb spot on the Nick Cardy Shazam Batman cover figure – but poor Robin, can he never have top billing?

    I know I sound like I’m obsessed, but the Robin and Batgirl logos are just woeful.

    The problem with this issue is that there are no villains, well no actual Bat-villains – I had heard of Benedict Arnold but in those pre-Wikipedia days didn’t know what he was supposed to have betrayed. Super Hip’s high school? Thankfully, this story explained all.

    The art is just gorgeous, although Babs’ hair is a tad mumsy. One question, how did BA know what a camera was? And given the ‘spirit of America’ business, wouldn’t this have been a fine place to have Uncle Sam appear? Funnily enough, a couple of months earlier Elliot S! Maggin had Batgirl team up with Supergirl in Superman Family #171, to fight a reincarnated Cleopatra… I think the teacher turned writer was doing history that year.

    The Alfred story is cute, and the Man Bat a classic, though the Commissioner Gordon story is really boring. I pity anyone reading the Man Bat story on the DC app, with new recolouring… speaking of which, why is the Commissioner Gordon story in black and white, given they obviously had colour film at one point?

    Well done on the extra features, I especially love the bios of lesser-known creators.

    I’ve had a hostess Twinkie, it’s just shaving foam inside sugar. Every time a superhero claims you get a big delight in every bite, they are lying, and should be considered SSOV material.

    Is the image gallery working for anyone?

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    1. Twinkies were amazing and so were the baseball cards on the bottom of the box.

      Also, Shawn and Paul, great show. I have loved the cover to #1 for 30+ years and your show inspired me to finally buy this issue at my LCS so I could read before listening. Glad I bought it, glad I listened!

  11. Hey Martin! Thanks for the kind words. We will respond on air to most of your comments but I wanted to apologize for the image gallery. It was working fine previously, but yesterday I was getting ready for the image gallery for episode 2 and I messed it up! I haven’t had a chance to fix it yet. So check back in a few days and it should be working.

    PS Shawn will probably fight you over that dissing of Twinkies…

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