JLI Podcast – Meanwhile… Batman: The Brave and the Bold

Chris & Cindy Franklin join The Irredeemable Shag to discuss the JLI appearances on the animated series, BATMAN: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD! We chat about each of the JLI appearances, the characters and voice actors, and spotlight the episode, “Time Out for Vengeance” written by J.M. DeMatteis! Finally, we wrap up with YOUR listener feedback!

Have a question or comment? Looking for more great content?

This episode brought to you by InStockTrades: http://instocktrades.com

Follow the JLI Podcast:

This podcast is a proud member of the FIRE AND WATER PODCAST NETWORK:

This has been the JLI Podcast! Wanna make somethin’ of it?

17 responses to “JLI Podcast – Meanwhile… Batman: The Brave and the Bold

  1. You know I did’nt watch this all the time it was often too busy for me! Cold open where Batman kerphraps into a team up he has no business in GREEN lantren CORPE (UH WHY is there a team up with the whole corpe but NOT Hal?! WHO HATES ME THAT MUCH. I mean sombody likes Firestrom so that good!
    But you know whAT WAS really good? THE ART! I loved when the Joker, Catwoman, superman show up and even remember the Dan Garret Blue beetle look cool. If you read enough 40s blue beetle A never looked B was rarely EVER exactly in the same costume!
    also I LOVE THE SPECTRE!

    1
  2. Interesting thing to note. Chris promoted the trade paperback for Justice League Infinite which was a continuation of the Timmverse’s JLU. BUT! It’s written by J.M. DeMatteis and it’s initials are J.L.I.!

    As for the voice casting of Guy Gardner, I always likened Guy to Back to the Future’s Biff Tannen.
    As a result I always heard Thomas Wilson’s voice in my head AS Guy. Well, Thomas Wilson is no stranger to voice work since he actually continued playing Biff (and his ancestors and Descendent’s) in the Back to the Future animated series as well as playing Tony Zucco in the Batman the Animated Series two-parter, Robin’s Reckoning.

    1
  3. Great episode. It reminded me of how much fun my kids and I had watching it the first time around. I prefer this version of Batman when he’s competent not super intense about it.

    I originally missed most of the episodes and hope to find it included in some streaming service I already subscribe to without having to pay extra.

    It also has an instantly classic theme song with the syncopation and horn section and percussion on top of that classic clave rhythm. (We all known it from many pop songs like “I Want Candy” and “Faith”.) Though now in the middle I expect to hear Siskoid’s booming voice to announce two famous comic book characters.

    And on a completely random topic of “I need to pay closer attention when listening to the promos for the other shows” I’ll leave this complete misunderstanding of what I heard and had to rewind three times before I realized what was really being said, compared to what my brain was interpreting:

    “JSA in the 90s. We’ll delve into the tennis shoe Justice Society of America ongoing series.”

    1
  4. I watched every episode of Brave and the Bold back when it came out, and I really need to give it a rewatch, just need to find the time. I loved it! Such glorious Silver Age shenanigans and fantastic guest stars. Put me down as another fan of Booster teaming up with Ted Blue Beetle, where Ted has to explain to Booster and Batman like a parent “I like you both, but in different ways.” It’s just pure joy!

    As this series built the JLI, I was in heaven. I even forgave it for sidelining the potential Batman and the Outsiders spinoff. 😉

    I may have missed this comment on the podcast, but this network should have appreciated the team up of Fire and Aquaman. Sure, it’s Firestorm and Aquaman, but soooo close!

  5. I wonder full episode I remember watching this episode of Batman Brave and the bold and remembered the Roman Batman being my favorite of past Batman . I also liked that wild cat was treated as a mentor for both Batman and the outsiders . I think in Batman Brave in the bold didn’t space Gosht show up in a cold opening once ?

  6. Cindy, Christopher and Shag, how could this not be a top episode?

    So this Equinox has nothing to do with Power Girl’s son, who was a combination of light and darkness? The one who was instantly Mopeed?

    1. We don’t talk about that Equinox, he’s been banished to Comic Book Limbo along with Carol Danvers’s strangely similar son (two Nickles etc, etc) until they apologise for what they’ve done! 😀

        1. AND the name of a villain created for Marvel Team-Up #23, who had the powers of both the Human Torch and Iceman. But all unrelated to the B&B animated Equinox, of course.

          1
          1. Yeah, it only works twice a year!

            I liked the Marvel guy. Good art makes such a difference.

  7. This was a lot of fun, and since I am catching up on the JLUcast, it was great to hear Chris and Cindy show up here to talk about Brave and the Bold with you. They were the perfect co-hosts for this episode. It almost feels like you know what you are doing when you book your guests.

    I discovered Brave and the Bold after it aired, and binged it pretty hard because it felt like a breath of fresh air when it comes to Batman. It gave me “The Tick” vibes, and was just outside the line enough not to be an all-out parody. Although I haven’t seen it in a long time to know if the humor holds up.

    I loved seeing a Batman that was more about justice than vengeance, and that invoked a version of Batman that was pre-Frank Miller. Although, to be fair, even Miller made sure to point out Bruce’s obsession with justice in The Dark Knight Returns at one point. But, thanks to his work on the character, over the years, we’ve been getting darker and darker iterations of Batman, that I imagine the next film might just be a blacked out screen for 3 hours.

    We need a more square-jawed Batman, and like the three of you noted on the pod, there is room for a lot of different interpretations, and we should make room for all of them because you never know where the next great Batman content will come from. I definitely did not predict Lego Batman to be something that people would like. I hope james Gunn takes note and tries to separate his Batman from the Pat-Bat. Just to give us a different flavor.

    The JLI having a presence in this show makes a ton of sense, and you almost wish they explored more of it. A lot of the humor translates between the comic and this series, but like JLI, Brave and the Bold wasn’t just a farce looking to make the next joke. And while this JLI wasn’t as rewarding as some other appearances they have had since the Giffen/Dematteis run ended, I am really glad you covered this.

  8. Fun show and great commentary. Uncle Chris, did you ask J.M. DeMatteis about his original ending for “Shadow of the Bat”? I wonder if it would have been revealed that this story took place on another parallel Earth (like the one with Abraham Lincoln and the steampunk-cyborg John Wilkes Booth) and “our” Batman was observing it and made a note never to visit that soon-to-be “vampire Earth.”

    1. If I recall correctly, Mr. DeMatteis said the episode was pretty much as he conceived the story, EXCEPT the reveal at the end that Batman was hallucinating from Dala’s “vampire” bite. In the original script, she did indeed turn Batman into a vampire, and he did indeed vampirize the JLI! I guess Cartoon Network got cold feet about showing Batman as a monster “killing” his teammates, more or less, even if the effects were reversed later.

  9. Since BTAS I don’t think there’s been a terrible animated DC series, which obviously includes this show which was a love letter to the whole Silver Age. That said it obviously was missing one very important JLI/JLE member that never appeared in the show…. and I’m not sure why I did such a build up you all know I’m talking about Power Girl, again!

    There was however an all-ages comic based on the series, and not only did she appear in the first issue but it was set in London of all places (one with brownstones and fire hydrants but no one’s perfect!). For the curious, I’ve done a review on my site of the comic, that gives a substantial portion of the issue over to Power Girl.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *