Batman trained for years to be the best at not being able to distinguish reality from fiction
on March 28, 2011 at 12:01 amIf I’d known that I’d end up doing a strip about the Gray Ghost this week, I probably would have held off last week’s toy review until today. Oh well.
I must say that I did enjoy that episode though.
Same here. Great use of Adam West.
To be honest, that was perhaps one of the best ways to reference the older show. And Adam West was good in it.
That’s what you get for having superhero fans!
I now demand someone get video/audio of Kevin Conroy squeeing.
I’d squee too if I saw Kevin Conroy dressing as Batman.
You know, you’ve ruined that episode for me. And it was my favorite.
Your new favorite is now “Baby Doll.”
Is that your way of saying “I didn’t mean to”?
The Nostalgia Critic / Familiar Faces review of that episode was hilarious. It made them both cry.
When did they do that? I wanna see it!
Link! Link! Link!
http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/teamt/cr/ff/27744–36-baby-doll
“Baby Doll” is effing awesome. also, “The Man Who Killed Batman” is one of my favorites.
Please, please tell me that Batman’s ‘Squee’ face is going to be added to the Gravatars…
I second this request. I second it so hard.
Batman saying “Squee” is the high-point of this strip. It’s downhill from here, there’s no way you can top this…
the only thing to make this better would be for ethan to do the same w/one of the batman actors
They probably all have restraining orders against him at this point.
As does Joel Schumacher, but that’s normal. I think if you’ve ever bought a Batman comic your name gets added to the list. Apparently he’d really like it if people stopped sending him hornets nests and live sharks.
Oh, it’s fun seeing Batman act loonier than a guy voiced by Adam Weeeest…
“I’ll come out when they all leave.”
Oh Batman. You are such a fanboy…..
It’s pages like this that remind me why I liked this comic in the first place.
This was the best episode, because Adam West was in it.
Re-watch the episode dude. Simon Trent plays dress up of his own accord. All Batman ever asked him for was to recall events pertaining to the production of the old series…
Aaaaaaaaand that Simon Trent was a bad man because he wouldn’t help him solve crimes, not living up to the fictional character he portrayed 20 years ago. Which is totally unreasonable. Batman was being a dick.
But to be fair Willis, the Police do the exact same thing when interviewing witnesses or people of interest who could have information pertaining to a crime. They will use guilt trip, aggressive tactics and in some cases, threats to get the information they need and to get said people to help with the investigation.
Batman asked for information, and was disappointed that Simion wouldn’t help. Simon wasn’t only his childhood hero. It was a manipulative move, yes, but hardly his worst action to date. Its not like he hung Simon off the ledge of a rooftop, while threatening to breaking his ankles if he didn’t put on a costume…. (Excuse while I imagine that mental image and laugh, because it’s Adam West’s voice)
And like Buzz pointed out, Simon was the one who decided to put the costume and go with Batman. Although I will concede that the fact Batman lets a 65 year old actor join him on the mission is a bit suspect on his grasp of reality. Of course this is also the guy who let a 10 year old be his sidekick, so…
Repeatedly let 10 year olds be his sidekicks.
In his defense, Dick Grayson turned out pretty well…
Actually, there has been only one occasion where he selected a ten year old to be his sidekick.
Dick was the only 10 year old sidekick he had. Jason Todd was 13 when Batman took him in. Tim Drake was 14 when he started his training, but was 15 when he was allowed to go into the field as Robin. Stephanie Brown was 17. And Damian Wayne meanwhile was selected by Dick Grayson to be Robin, not Bruce.
Let’s see…
Jason Todd was beaten by the Joker, then blown up and killed. Tim Drake lost his dad to Capt Boomerang. Stephanie Brown was beaten almost to death, then shot by Black Mask. Thank God Batman has a secret identity or the cost of insurance for Damien would be astronomical.
PS- No I don’t care that Superboy punched a $#%^& wall and brought Jason back to life, he was dead.
I’m not really sure how those incidents factor into Batman’s understanding of reality, considering the fact barely factors into them.
Jason’s death was caused by his own impatience and inability to follow orders. Batman had repeatedly told Jason to not get involved and infact had grounded Jason from being Robin at one point. Jason repeatedly disobeyed orders, until at last his decision resulted him going into a situations alone that he wasn’t prepared for.
Tim’s father meanwhile wasn’t because of Batman or because of Tim’s age but because Tim had family. Jean Lorring hired Boomerang to targeted Tim because he was one of the few heroes who had proper family. Boomerang didn’t even know Tim was Robin and the fact Tim was Batman’s partner didn’t factor into anything. It was because Robin was a hero in his own right that he was a target.
As for Stephanie, again, she was 17 when she became Robin and then was “killed” shortly after. She was a legal adult who’d been acting as a vigilante for solo for a couple of years before. Her age and his grasp of reality doesn’t factor into things. Furthermore, she had been fired by Batman and ordered to give up being a hero. From that point forward the actions that led to her “death” were of her own actions and faulty decisions.
Also Jason Todd was about 17 years old when he died, so he was hardly a child at that point.
I tend to think of people who try to withhold clues about ongoing terrorist activity just because they’re bitter about being typecast as “bad”, yeah.
It was ridiculous that he was the only guy in the world with that episode, especially since it used to be a popular TV show, but the plot made sure Batman didn’t have anyone else to lean on.
At least they explained that. THe network’s copies of the whole series got destroyed in a fire.
Heck, I wish the network had wiped it deliberately. IT would’ve been a nice nod to Doctor who and/or Monty Python fans.
That’s what I loved about Time Crash. Tennant’s Doctor basically acts like an excited fanboy over Davison’s, which is hilarious because apparently that’s how Tennant actually feels.
Not often you get to see a character squee over himself.
Tennant and Moffat (which always amuses me, since Davison’s real last name is Moffat, but they’re not related).
And now Tennant is married to Davison’s daughter, so they can create little twice-over-Doctor’d-babies (If they have a girl, they need to name her Susan or Jennifer. NEED. >_>), and he can fanboy his father-in-law.
PD’s original surname was Moffet, not Moffat, as I rcall
>At least they explained that. THe network’s copies of the whole series got destroyed in a fire.
And similar things have actually happened several times in real life.
(I’m Batman)
Thank you.
So The Grey Ghost makes Batman squee like Harley Quinn. That is disturbing.
This and the TNI strip for the week…two DC Animated jokes in one day. Very nicely done sir.
The guy dressed up like a giant bat, spent billions of dollars on a cave, an arsenal of weapons, shocking vehicles and an financed a super-hero team and orbiting space station.
I think the boat on reality kinda sailed already…
When you’re that rich, you don’t abide by reality, you make your own reality.
((from “Public Enemies”))
Superman: What kid has this kind of money?
Batman: *I* had this kind of money.
Remember, when you’re rich, you’re not “Crazy” you’re delightfully eccentric.
Thanks for the Grey Ghost art! Great episode no matter what you think!
And 45 years later, Adam West plays the mayor of Quahog, RI – who happens to be named Adam West!
I never thought I’d laugh that hard at the sentence “So this is how I die”. Kudos, Willis.
I have this strange feeling that in the real world Bruce Wayne would have much in common with Charlie Sheen – living in his giant mansion and funding his own sexual and fanboy fantasies. On the other hand if I had his billions I would think nothing of moving to a giant mansion and paying porn stars to dress as the various Batman villainesses.
What an excellent idea. [cue the villain *sting* from the old TV series.]
It was a good episode, but not one of my favourites. I really did enjoy the first Christmas Special with the Joker.
Oh what I’d give to be dashing through the snow in a rocket powered tree, out of arkham I’d go, laughing all the weeeeeeeeeee.
Yeah, Bats probably had a fanboy moment working this case.
Second panel really captures the spirit of the animated show. It’s like Willis was channeling Bruce Timm!
And the villian in that ep looks a lot like…Bruce Timm. Fun fact!
Voiced by, too.
So, does this mean that Samuel L. Jackson doesn’t really carry a wallet that says “Bad Motherfucker”?
But he didn’t say, “I’m Batman.” So is that the real Batman?
The fact that the Squee overtook that instinct says it all, really.
I just watched this episode last week and thought the same thing. XD
On the plus side, if Bruce were a saner person and less of a fanboy, he probably would’ve suspected Trent was involved (more than he did? I forget, but I think he did briefly).. and when Batman suspects you of something, he shows up in your house while you’re in the shower…
I guess it would’ve been less dramatic if he went to the episode’s writer’s house and had HIM help.
The AV Club JUST did a review of “The Gray Ghost” a couple of weeks ago:
http://www.avclub.com/articles/see-no-evilbeware-the-gray-ghost,52759/
They’re reviewing the entire series two episodes a week.
If that were the real Batman he’d have said so at least once in that strip. Obviously a fraud.
Though I suppose it could be implied in the fourth panel.
In reality Bruce Wayne actually owned the toy store. Once he found out that the Simon Trent was selling a ton of Gray Ghost merchandise he allowed the shop manager to blow some stuff up using tatics from a episode that he never saw because they only aired it once. Then because he’s the greatest detective ever he knew Simon Trent had a copy of all the episodes. As Batman he used scare tatics to get the real of the one episode he never saw. He causally took his time while the mad bomber was blowing stuff up to get comfortable in his home thether with some popcorn and watched the episode. He probably blogged about it later too.
‘Fearless Ferret’, anyone?
… Somehow I can imagine Adam West’s voice saying this. Even though it’s been forever.
While reading this strip, I was watching Family Guy, and Mayor Adam West appeared and started talking. WIN!