Last night's "Death Race To Oblivion" was exactly the kind of thing Brave and the Bold feels like it was created to do: From the ridiculous-yet-awesome concept (Mongul forces everyone to have a super drag race, with the survival of Earth hanging in the balance) to the choice of guest-stars (Guy Gardner? Plastic Man and Woozy Winks?), everything was just fun; enjoyably fluffy, sure, but well done and completely watchable. Like the best episodes of the series, "Death Race" worked on both the fanboy level and the - for want of a better way of putting it - childlike sense of wonder level, with a special sidestep into the dreams of car fetishists this time around (Oh, come on, who didn't like seeing the Jokermobile again?). It may not have had the crossover appeal of an NPH guestspot, but in many ways, "Death Race" was the perfect example of the series at its best, making less than obvious choices to come up with something that's obviously fun. If the rest of the second season (of which this was the first official episode) is this good, then we're in for a treat.

On October 28th, NBC is airing a Monsters vs. Aliens Halloween special, Monsters vs. Aliens: Mutant Pumpkins from Outer Space. Our heroes will return to Modesto when a new alien presence is detected just before Halloween. It being Halloween, they naturally find that the city's pumpkins have transformed into mutant aliens and are wreaking havoc on the town.

The video below contains five clips from the special, in which we witness the pumpkins' alien origins, learn what Susan dresses as for Halloween, and watch the Missing Link try to impress his fellow trick-or-treaters.

[Collider]

NPH's episode, "The Mayhem of the Music Meister" premiered at Comic Con, where it wormed its catchy way into our hearts. UK and Canadian fans have already seen the episode in its entirety, but those looking to catch it on Cartoon Network in the US will have to wait until October 23.

[via Topless Robot]

Here's the trailer for the new season again, this year looks packed with lunacy and clone free! First person to start the real life orchard street wolf pack larp crew, and sends pictures will get all of my love.

Joyce wrote and illustrated the book A Day with Wilbur Robinson, which was eventually optioned by Disney and turned into a film about an orphaned boy genius who travels to a bizarre and wondrous future to foil the plans of the Bowler Hat Guy, who wants to keep this future from every happening. Joyce also provided concept art for movie, and shows them side-by-side with Disney's final products:

[William Joyce]

Space Ghost
Twenty-eight years before he became a talk show host, Space Ghost hit the airwaves with a wonderful design (from comic book legend Alex Toth) and... well, not much else to his credit, really. Fighting generic alien villains (Most of whom would go on to become the crew of Space Ghost Coast-to-Coast) in equally generic cartoons, Adult Swim's 1994 parody revamp may end up being the best thing that ever happened to him... It was definitely the most interesting.

Birdman
Another character rescued from obscurity by Adult Swim (And, again, Harvey Birdman: Attorney At Law is probably the best thing that happened to the character), Birdman shares lots of other things with Space Ghost - He comes from the same time period, was also designed by Alex Toth, and had a short career, only lasting two years before cancellation. Still, at least Birdman - whose Egyptian connection would later be co-opted by his inspiration, DC's Hawkman - only had one annoying sidekick, the on-the-nose named Birdboy.

The Herculoids
A Space Ghost spin-off, The Herculoids were an alien superteam made up of a dragon, a "rock ape," a rhino with ten legs, two giant amoebas and some humans. According to the opening credits, they were all-strong, all-brave and all-heroes, but I'd rather go with "all-awkward, all-half-a-good-idea and all-canceled-in-two-years." Gleep and Gloop, we hardly knew you.

Galaxy Trio
Weirdly enough my favorite of all of these characters (There's just something about this mash-up of Legion of Super-Heroes and Fantastic Four that gets me, I can't deny it), this trilogy of uninventive characters - Vapor Man, Gravity Girl and Meteor Man who, despite his name, can grow or shrink any part of his body at will. Get all your innuendo out now, people - managed to last two years fighting crime as part of the Galactic Patrol interstellar police force. Okay, I admit it; I would totally watch a Galaxy Trio Vs. Space Ghost crime-off.

Mightor
Another product of the 1967 rush of mediocre cartoons - With the exception of Space Ghost (1966), all of the above shows were produced by Hanna Barbera during the same time, which says a lot about the faith they had in that Batman fad lasting - Mightor was proof that superheroics and prehistorics shouldn't mix. When teenage caveman Tor raises his magic club in the air, he becomes the mighty Mightor, who looks very like Space Ghost, fighting... well, dinosaurs and whatever random crime happened back in caveman days. You can guess why this one didn't really have the legs to last beyond a couple of years.

Space Angel
Of all the shows deserving resurrection, Space Angel is the best. Firstly, the name - which also happens to be the nickname of its lead character, Scott McCloud (No, not the guy who wrote Understanding Comics), an astronaut who works for the Earth Bureau of Investigation's Interplanetary Space Force alongside the just-as-wonderfully-named Crystal Mace and Taurus. Fighting off threats to Earth alongside his counterparts from Mars, Venus and other local planets, Space Angel's daily five-minute adventures made up in thrills what they lacked in animation (They look like motion comics). Someone get George Clooney on the phone: We've found his Iron Man.

Super Chicken
From the same people who brought you Rocky and Bullwinkle, Chicken gave the world the world's first Bostonian chicken, and for that alone it should be considered a national treasure. Which, considering the actual quality of the show, is probably a good thing.

Roger Ramjet
For some reason, my childhood was plagued by Roger Ramjet reruns, so you'll never be able to convince me that this square-jawed dull-witted patriot is anything other than "that crappily-animated cartoon that's keeping me from new episodes of Spider-Man And His Amazing Friends." Sorry, everyone.

The Mighty Heroes
Early work by Ralph Bakshi, Heroes was the result of an improvised pitch surprisingly greenlit, and the lack of planning shows up in characters like Diaper Man (He's a supersmart baby!) and Rope Man (He's a man made out of rope!). Mighty Mouse, who shared a show with these losers, must've been ashamed.

The Impossibles
What happens when you cross Beatlemania with Batmania? You get 1966's The Impossibles, in which three rock'n'roll stars put down their guitars and take up crimefighting when the need strikes - and mysterious boss Big D calls. As a reminder of the crazy zeitgeist of the era, it's fine, but as anything else...? I'm not convinced.

Danger Planet comes out of the Cartoonstitute think tank, which produced 14 shorts in the hopes of turning some of them into series for Cartoon Network. In addition to Danger Planet, Drymon contributed a second short to the Cartoonstitute, promisingly titled Stockboys of the Apocalypse.

[via Cartoon Brew]

The Bounty Hunters

Last season, we met Cad Bane, the blue-skinned bounty hunter working for Ziro the Hutt. And this season, the bounty hunters will take on a more central role, with Cad Bane and his fellows joining forces with the Separatists (for a price, of course) against the Jedi. Clone Wars creator Dave Filoni says the bounty hunters have given them an opportunity to get away from the clones vs. droids formula, and give Anakin, Ahsoka, and the rest of the Jedi a more colorful set of foes.

In tonight's two-part episode, Rise of the Bounty Hunters, we'll see plenty of Cad Bane when the bounty hunter infiltrates the Jedi Temple to steal a Holocron. You can also check out the concept art of Bane and the other bounty hunters we posted last week.

A New Padawan

Ahsoka isn't the only padawan fighting the Clone Wars, and this season we'll meet Luminara Unduli's padawan, Barriss Offee (who also appeared briefly in Attack of the Clones and featured in the 2003 Clone Wars series). With Barriss, Ahsoka gets a peer, and we will sometimes see how the two fare on missions together without their masters. Barriss' relationship with Luminara also provides a stark contrast to Ahsoka's relationship with Anakin. We'll get to consider the pros and cons of Anakin and Ahsoka's somewhat unorthodox relationship, and the consequences of Anakin's fierce attachment to his padawan.

Shades of Gray

Although many members of the Clone Wars team said young fans appreciate the show because the heroes are the good that triumphs over evil, Filoni says we'll see more shades of gray this season. We'll be breaking out of the clones good, droids bad mold, and exploring instances where our heroes do questionable things for what they believe is the greater good. Anakin, notably, will do something that horrifies his fellow Jedi because he fears Ahsoka's life is in danger, and we will start to see that slide that brought a once-committed Jedi to the Dark Side.

The Specter of Death

No, Ahsoka doesn't die this season, and Ashley Eckstein, who voices Ahsoka, doesn't know if her character's fate is sealed. But death is a very present force in the new season. Ahsoka and Barriss will be confronted with the reality that being a Jedi may mean a short life for both of them. And even as she's accustomed to death as a part of war, Ahsoka will be forced to consider killing an innocent person to prevent an even greater tragedy.

Zombies

As we get closer to Halloween, expect a fun horror episode, one with shades of Night of the Living Dead and the Alien movies. And, though zombified aliens are good for some gentle scares, there's a monster in this episode far more frightening than the walking dead.

The one-hour Clone Wars second season premiere airs tonight at 8pm on Cartoon Network.

Juan Molinet [Flickr via mashKULTURE]

War of the Worlds
Revista Colectiva - Supermarket Edition
Wintertime
Hidden Monster, Crouching Tiger
Candynaut
Golden Slumbers
Teen Wolf
Midnight Snack
Somewhere in Japan
First Day at Work
Robotono
Space Monkey
Harald the Viking

In Xombie, a zombie named Dirge has somehow managed to retain his human consciousness, though not his memories, and tries to live a quietly life with his undead dog Cerberus until he eventually decays into oblivion. But when a human girl, Zoe, falls from a helicopter into zombie-infested territory, Dirge takes it upon himself to perform one last good deed before he falls apart and guide her to the city of human survivors. The task puts them both in the path of a millennia-old Egyptian mummy woman and a reanimated Velociraptor. Xombie creator James Farr began the story as an online Flash cartoon, then penned a comic book sequel, Xombie: Reanimated.

The Hollywood Reporter reports that Farr, a homicide detective, is currently in negotiations with DreamWorks for the rights to Xombie, with Kurtzman and Orci in talks in produce. No word yet on whether the pair could write the screenplay as well, nor whether the planned adaptation would be animated or live-action.

'Xombie' getting the Kurtzman/Orci treatment at DreamWorks [The Hollywood Reporter]
[Xombie Online]

Variety is reporting that He-Man is all but being abandoned by the WB, which is a very very good thing. The original script written by Justin Marks was swapped out by Producer Joel Silver for a more realistic and "gritty" take on Prince Adam, which meant a Dark Knight-inspired brooding, morally conflicted He-Man or something like that. I'd love to see how they would go about explaining Battle Cat or Orko, if they'd included them at all. If we're going to do He-Man lets just go full-on Beastmaster with it, shall we? Tiny shorts and all.

So there's one toy/studio movie partnership down. Mattel will no doubt take the property to another studio, but still, it gives us time. Now if we could just get them to drop the Hot Wheels and Viewmaster films.

We open, quite appropriately, with the tanks that once contained Hank and Dean's clones, emptied at the end of last season. They don't look quite empty. Is Dr. Venture growing new clones, or is there a new project running? And who'd this new bodyguard.
Now we're back to the season finale, with the Monarch's henchman running around the Venture Compound lawn, with the slaughtered Hank and Dean clones at their feet.
Rusty runs through the Venture Compound while pursued by a violet light, possibly from a certain flying cocoon?
Well, something is going down with those cloning tanks. Sadly, we still don't get a very clear picture of what's inside of them.
And there are Nazis in the cloning room. Are we having a Boys from Brazil moment? Are they looking to clone Hitler? Or Girl Hitler?
Oh, and Rusty's there, too. Hi, Rusty!
Oof. Whatever the Nazis are up to, it doesn't seem to end well for them. Or maybe it turns them into supermen in a glowy, painful way.
It looks like Rusty wastes no time replacing H.E.L.P.eR. An Astro Boy send-up kills a snake in Brock's old room.
The Sovereign of the Guild of Calamitous Attempt makes a return...
...and yes, he's still David Bowie.
An aged Phantom Limb (with his hands now clearly visible) plays the tuba. (Edit: Several commenters note that this is probably one of Phantom Limb's Fantomas ancestors, which makes much more sense given the presence of Buddy Holly. Good call, folks.)
And he appears to be trying to jam with Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper.
21 still lives with his mom. It's nice to know some things don't change.
And we take a moment while Pete White and Master Billy Quizboy dance and mix drinks. But what are those things around their necks? Evidence of spinal cord injuries, or mind control collars?
Evidently, Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer are channeling Avatar. I wonder if this could be anything other than a dream sequence, but in Venture Bros., anything is possible.
Finally, we see Brock, but what happened to his beautiful mullet?
Time has not been kind to hunchback Dean, but he still keeps around mementos of his prettier youth.
Seriously, who gave Hank a gun? I do dig the hair, though.
It looks like another showdown on the Venture lawn. Are those blotches of orange butterfly wings?
Rusty plummets from the top of the Venture compound, possibly in the same episode as image #3.
A somewhat udder-looking gun from the Cocoon. I wonder, do the different canons fire different materials?
What unholy slash fic did this come out of? Also, Billy looks kind of hungover.
General speculation is that this is Captain Sunshine, finally getting revenge on the Monarch for the death of Wonder Boy.
And there goes the Monarch screen.
Dean starts going off about how he loves Hitler. Commenter m-d suggests that he's talking about Girl Hitler, and I suspect he's right. Perhaps this is related to the Nazis in the cloning lab? Also, is that Sergeant Hatred? What is that on his face?
Hank is not only growing his hair to look like Brock's (or at least like Brock's used to), he's spending some questionable time with Dermott Fictel, who might be Brock's son.
Rusty meets 21's LARP crew. He seems less concerned about what 21 is doing there in the first place than all the graffiti on the X-1, making me wonder if he's Rusty's new bodyguard.
It looks like Sergeant Hatred is still hanging around the Ventures. Is he locked in that room to protect Hank and Dean from his urges?
This may take place after Captain Sunshine's attack, as the Monarch screen is now resting on a makeshift stand. Also, the casual way Rusty asks Dr. Mrs. Monarch for 21 suggests that whatever 21 is doing with Rusty, it's no secret from his employers.
The Monarch asks 21 to kill the cab driver downstairs. Funny, the Monarch used to just kill cab drivers himself.
Also, grief has not treated 21 kindly.
Dean really had no chance when Rusty put him in that first speedsuit. Now he's going to be wearing those things for the rest of his life. And Rusty seems be telling Dean about arch-nemeses like he's explaining the Facts of Life. At least he seems to be paying attention to one of his kids.
Commenter tnmnsquare wondered if this was a Spider Jerusalem reference, but I think the bald head just makes it look that way. Those are ordinary 3D glasses — from the future.
I have no words for what is going on here.
Really, none.
Dean's body withers into dust, and we're out. Can't wait for November.

When last we left The Venture Bros., Hank and Dean's clones had been sacrificed during an all-out assault on the Venture compound, Brock had quit his job as the Ventures' bodyguard, and Henchman 21 was holding the decapitated head of his bosom buddy, Henchman 24.

The creators have promised that now that their clones have been destroyed, Hank and Dean will actually age past their perpetual sixteen years, physically if not mentally. Dean may be harboring sympathetic feelings for fascist dictators, but at least now Hank has better hair.

Now that Brock has quit the bodyguarding business, it looks like Rusty will be employing a new bodyguard (Brock will reappear, but it may be a few episodes before we see him). With all of the interactions between 21 (or Gary, if you prefer) and Rusty, I can't help but wonder if 21 is Rusty's new bodyguard, perhaps moonlighting when he's not working for the Monarch. Also, I wonder how far we have to get into the season before Sergeant Hatred decides Master Billy Quizboy is the perfect outlet for his pederastic urges. Sadly, we'll have to wait until November for the full episodes to begin.

[via AICN]

A classic of 1970s Filmation technology - which, if you're me, reminds you of that old Tarzan cartoon, although they also did the He-Man And The Masters Of The Universe cartoon in the '80s - Return brought Planet Of The Apes to Saturday mornings, complete with the limited animation and low budget that comes with that move. But that doesn't stop it being a particularly fun, guilty, pleasure. Check out the episode above and then head over to Hulu for the rest. You know you want to.

We've Neil Patrick Harris' guest-shot on the animated Batman show before, but the episode in question - "Mayhem of The Music Meister," one of the series' upcoming second season episodes, which start on Cartoon Network later this year - was premiered at San Diego Comic-Con today, and it's not just the best episode of Brave and The Bold so far, it might also be the thing that replaces Dr. Horrible in your heart. Sure, it may not have Nathan Fillion, but it does have a giant telepathic gorilla waltzing with Aquaman, a nefarious plot to become the richest man on Earth by uniting us all in a mind-controlled musical utopia, and more visual in-jokes about both comics and music than you'd think could be fitted into half an hour... Oh, and some songs that are - heresy! - catchier than the Whedon family's efforts.

We'll be bringing you the highlights of the panel, as well as our conversation with producers Michael Jelenic and James Tucker, soon. Batman: The Brave And The Bold returns later this year, and DVDs of the first season are released August 25th and November 12th.

Last Tuesday io9 was a guest of Paramount, along with a few other reporters, on the set M. Night Shyamalan's latest film, The Last Airbender. We headed over to Night's favorite cinematic city Philadelphia, to see what the the director of The Sixth Sense would do with an expansive fantasy world. Night is, in a sense, building an entire world with only the cartoon and a specific, but loyal, following of fans to keep him in check (some of the biggest fans being his own daughters, who were the inspiration behind his tackling the project).

For those of you not familiar with the Avatar world, the fantastical realm is divided up into four nations: Earth, Air, Water and Fire. They lived together in peace, until the Fire Nation took out the other three, plummeting the land into war. Many years later, a bald little boy Aang (played by the adorable and new Noah Ringer) awakens to find he is the last of his kind, the Airbenders and the balance of the nation's future rests on his shoulders. Together with his newly acquired friends, a rowdy brother and sister pair Sokka (Jackson Rathbone) and the waterbending Katara (Nicola Peltz), the three set out to put the nation back on the track towards peace.

Unfortunately for them, the Fire Nation isn't too keen on the idea of Aang, and sends out a giant army after him (which you can see in the teaser) along with Prince Zuko (Slumdog Millionaire's Dev Patel) who's full of spite and anger. We're actually quite excited to see this total departure from Patel's previous role.

While I'm still not sure how this film is going to be marketed to those over 20 and unaware of the Airbender franchise, Night's new world certainly has a gorgeous backdrop going for it. Each set we walked on was more expansive and detailed than the last. The ice cave that holds the Moon Spirit was completely transformed into a strange and ethereal space, with a towering cherry tree looming over a reflecting pond. Every single blossom on the twisted branches was hand painted individually, with three different shades of pink. It truly felt like a mysterious oasis where brilliant green mold grows over ice.

But that wasn't even the kicker. Night has constructed a life size representation of the Fire Nation battleships, that can unleash furious fire power and where Dev Patel told us he'd spar with his crew. Dusty crumbling temples were erected, with gold statues of past Avatars, and even those can't compare to Airbender's pièce de résistance world-building moment, which just so happens to be the largest set ever built on the East Coast... which we're saving to tell you more about later.

So how much did they diverge from the cartoon, to make a story about warring nations and it's citizens who can bend the elements believable? Producer Frank Marshall explained that they have high hopes to stick to a PG rating. "I'm not even sure we want to get in the PG-13 realm," he explained.

But the director did have to whittle some things away. While taking a break from filming in the dusty floors of the North Air Temple Night told us what had to be cut: "I took away a little bit of the slapsticky stuff that was there for the little little kids, the fart jokes and things like that. We weeded that stuff away and the other stuff came out. We grounded Katara's brother, who's the comic relief in the show. We grounded him, and that really did wonderful things for the whole theme of the movie."

For a man building an entire world, he seems supremely calm and focused on set, but I was relieved to see that even he was at times overwhelmed by the sheer size of this project, "There are two and a half weeks left of not being as scared to death, but there were plenty of days where I was scared to death of what I'm doing." This film is really the first time Night has worked with elaborate CG backgrounds, or worked on constructing his own franchise, for that matter.

But I know you all want to know, what of Appa the giant white Sky Bison who flies? You've been asking ever since the film was announced. How will is it even possible to bring such a mythical creature to life? While we got to glimpse the enormous white furry top half of the magical six-legged creature (who will be part mechanical and part CG, the top half being mecha for the actors). Production Designer, Philip Messina, answered our Appa questions, reassuring us all that "I think once you see him on screen, you will see the Appa from the cartoon realm brought to life, but [that] still has the essence of his character. He has a character and a personality, he's an actor in the film to some extent."

Good luck getting those six-legs in order, guys. Even though the crew has recently wrapped filming, they still have a long road ahead of them.

The official movie site is now up and running and has HQ trailers available for download.

When we last interviewed co-creator David X. Cohen, he showed had high hopes thatFuturama would get picked back up, after it's long DVD movie hiatus. In fact, he believed this so much he even discussed what the writers had in mind for the Planet Express crew.

Collider is now reporting from their inside source that Futurama will be back on Comedy Central with 13 new episodes.

If true — and I see no real reason why it wouldn't be, since the cast and crew have been hinting at this happening for months — it's a good thing. We need smart new cartoons on TV, and Cohen and crew know how to do just that. All glory to the Hypno Toad.

Given the show's well-established love of easter eggs to eras gone by - Especially the design style of former Batman artist Dick Sprang, given full reign in the second half of this episode - and the past of episode writer Paul Dini, it's maybe unsurprising that "Legends of The Bat-Mite" felt as much like a great lost Looney Tunes cartoon at times as an episode of B&B, but that didn't detract from just how much fun the episode was. The pre-credits opening (where the guest-star was Ace, The Bat Hound) should've been a clue, but by the time Batman's fight with various imaginary holiday-themed creations (including mutant Easter bunnies and biker Santas) was interrupted by a parody of a comic-con panel where Batman fanboys complained that this Batman wasn't the grim urban avenger they were used to, it was clear that this was the kind of episode created out of the particular mix of love, anger and comedy that made shows like Pinky And The Brain, Animaniacs and Freakazoid so enjoyable way back when.

As much a celebration of old-school cartooning (Complete with Bat-Mite's "That's all, folks!" at the end of the episode) as a story in and of itself - The sequence in the second half, wherein Bat-Mite tried and failed to take on the role of Batman, looked like something from the more surrealism-influenced cartoons of the '50s, as if the Warner Bros cartoonists of the era tried to create something in answer to Disney's Fantasia - this episode was over-the-top, beautiful to look at and easily the best thing on television for a long time for cartoon geeks like me. It was also a welcome surprise, departing from the show's usual formula, which has been seeming a little bit more... well, formulaic, over recent weeks. It'd be completely counter-intuitive to want more of this every week - Part of its strength was that it was so unexpected, after all - but if some of this episode's passion can find its way into every other episode...? This really will end up being the greatest superhero cartoon ever.

Booster Gold - the future schmuck who stole his supersuit and traveled back to the 21st century to become a fully-licensed superhero with more corporate sponsorships than he can handle - is, on the one hand, ideal fodder for cartoons like Brave and Bold (or JLU, which had a similar episode with the character), because you get to show him overcoming his selfish tendencies and - hey! - becoming a "true" hero in a way that other characters just don't offer, because they start out as good guys. But the problem with this is, Booster is more fun before his moment of revelation. After he sees the error of his ways, he becomes just another good guy with a troubled past and fairly generic powers (Okay, his robotic sidekick Skeets - this time, with the voice of Stimpy - stands out. But otherwise? Not so much). The lesson to kids, therefore, isn't the Han Solo "rogues are cool if they mean well" one, but "Hey, aren't dicks much cooler than good guys?" And that's not really the kind of thing we're supposed to be teaching the future of humanity, last time I checked.

Thankfully, last night's episode - "Menace of the Conqueror Caveman!" - managed to avoid that pitfall by managing to have Booster miss the point of his entire character arc. There's something to be said for the series' quirkiness that Batman can end an episode trying to spell out the moral for the audience, only to be interrupted by Booster trying to set up a toyline and book deal spinning out've the adventure, and it feels completely right. It's a good thing, considering that the rest of the episode - despite the presence of Michael Dorn as villain K'rull (or Vandal Savage, as he really was, even in the pre-release press; I'm guessing there were some rights issues over the name in the end) - was a disappointment after last week's particularly insane, inventive episode. Without the cynicism of Booster's non-arc, this would've been a well-done episode of any generic superhero show... which, while still enjoyable, is nowhere near as good as what this series is capable of. I hold out more hope for next week's episode, and not because of guest-star Robin (Even if it is surly teen Robin); no, I'm waiting for Crazy Quilt to get his day in the sun again. Supervillains need their bedsheet-inspired figureheads.

Even for those who don't appreciate Brave and Bold's clear and colorful visuals - It's the best looking cartoon since Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends, if you ask me - the series' blend of kid-friendly simple plots and action with more adult-orientated jokes and just plain weirdness was out in full force in last night's "Night Of The Huntress." On the one hand, the story was simply Batman teaming up with the Huntress and Blue Beetle to capture villains after a jailbreak, and then capturing them, but the real joy was in the details: Mrs. Manface, a beautiful woman with the face of a permanently be-stubbled man (Surely a nod to Venture Bros' Dr. Girlfriend)? Polecat Perkins, a supervillain whose power seems to be incredibly bad body odor? The Batmobile transforming into a giant robot, just so Batman can slug it out with a guy in a giant robot suit? These are signs that writer Adam Beechen was happily letting his sense of the ridiculous run amok, and it made for the most enjoyable 30 minutes of television you could find last night.

Anyone looking to Brave and Bold for something close to the famous 1990s Bruce Timm version of Batman - or even the lesser, but still enjoyable, Justice League/Justice League Unlimited shows - won't find what they're looking for with this show; it's much more comedy than drama, and also skewing at a younger (at heart, at least) audience. But that gives it the freedom to throw credibility out of the window in favor of giving you what you want to see, and it's all the better for doing so. Batman: The Brave And The Bold takes a fresh look at its characters and ignores the continuity and fan-worship that's been built up around them for years by an aging readership, and comes up with something that, ironically, demonstrates their appeal more ably than any of their comics have managed in years. Last night's episode was a great example, and a sign of twelve more weeks of awesome to come.