The Perfect Unit of Batman in Batman: The Animated Series

This year marked the 25^th anniversary of Batman: The Animated Series. It is, undoubtedly, the best adaptation of Batman in any media outside of comics. Its influence over the legacy of Batman, and the superhero genre in general, is undeniable.

The art deco style that Gotham City is rendered in not only gives the show this pulp quality that ties it perfectly with Batman’s influences, it has become synonymous with how Batman fans perceive Gotham City. Alan Burnett, one of the producers on the show, described the show’s look as “dark deco.” Paul Dini, who not only served as the story editor on the show but also wrote some of its best episodes, described it as “what if the 1939 World’s Fair had gone on another sixty years or so” and it really does feel that way. The world of Batman: The Animated Series is a world where supercomputers and rocket cars can co-exist with black-and-white TV screens and rotary dial telephones.

t introduced various characters that later went on to become part of the main canon in the comics, Harley Quinn perhaps being the most significant of the batch. It took what were then D-list characters and turned them into seminal pieces of Batman’s legacy. Look no further than what it did to Mr. Freeze with “Heart of Ice”. Originally called Mister Zero, the creators turned one of the “joke villains" from the 60s Batman comics into a fully fledged villain with a tragic backstory, and into an important member of Batman’s rogues gallery.

Its willingness to adapt its source resulted in some of its finest episodes. "The Laughing Fish" (inspired by the Steve Englehart and Marshall Rogers’ story of the same name from Detective Comics #475 – 476), "Appointment In Crime Alley" (Denny O'Neil and Dick Giordano's "There Is No Hope In Crime Alley," from Detective Comics #457), "The Demon's Quest" (Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams' "Daughter of the Demon" from Batman #232), “Joker’s Millions” (David Vern Reed and Dick Sprang's story of the same name from Detective Comics #180), and more.

In short, it created a world that felt cohesive, in its own way. You could do stories where the Joker wants to trademark a literal laughing fish and you could do stories where Batman questions his war on crime after a botched mission in the same world and it never felt out of place. No doubt Batman: The Animated Series became the blueprint for future superhero shows and helped launch an entire universe: Superman: The Animated Series, Justice League, Justice League Unlimited, Batman Beyond, etc.

This is not looking at it through nostalgia coloured glasses. I spent a good chunk of 2017 watching Batman: The Animated Series, one episode a day, along with the movies it inspired (Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, Batman and Mr. Freeze: Sub-Zero). Seeing as this year was the show’s 25^th anniversary, now felt a good time to revisit it. To be honest, even after all these years, it still holds up.

I wanted to make a list of and write about my favourite Batman: The Animated Series episodes, but it felt redundant. There are enough of those on the Internet already. I moved on to making a list of “must-see” episodes of the show, but somewhere along the way, it turned into picking those episodes that are the perfect unit of Batman. That is, if you show those episodes to someone not informed with Batman mythos, they’ll come out with a pretty good idea of Batman’s world.

One could argue that the perfect unit of Batman in Batman: The Animated Series is the show’s opening theme itself. In just under a minute, it tells you all there is to know about Batman: you see him fight criminals that are somehow beyond the police’s capabilities; his response to something as trivial as a bank robbery (debatable, I know) is to ride to the scene of crime in a giant black rocket car; he works in the shadows and beyond the reach of the law; and even when the criminals pull out guns, he sticks to fist fights and his gadgets.

My quest for finding the one perfect unit of Batman in Batman: The Animated Series seemed to boil down to finding the perfect episode of the show. So of course, I considered “Almost Got ‘Im”. Widely regarded as the best episode of the show, this seemed like an obvious choice. However, I felt something amiss, which in my opinion, is filled by another episode, “P.O.V.”

What makes “Almost Got ‘Im” already different than most episodes of Batman: The Animated Series is how it is structured. The same is true for “P.O.V.” as I’ll discuss later. The usual approach to a Batman: The Animated Series episode is to draw out sequences through moody set pieces, long no-dialogue scenes with Batman sulking in the shadows as Shirley Walker’s brilliant score heightens the tension and suspense. This approach made Batman: The Animated Series different than most animated, or even live-action, superhero shows where every episode seem to rush to the third act. “Almost Got ‘Im” is special because, on a certain level, it is not a single story told over twenty minutes. It is rather a collection of vignettes about Batman versus a member of his rogues gallery.

A poker game offered a perfect opportunity for fellow Batman villains to discuss their encounter with Batman where they “almost got ‘im.” But it is not only the fact that you see Batman take on Poison Ivy, Two-Face, Penguin, Joker, Harley Quinn in a single episode that makes “Almost Got ‘Im” one half of my perfect unit of Batman in Batman: The Animated Series. It is how much more we learn about Batman's world through it.

Not only do we learn about how the villains see Batman, we learn how the villains see each other. The episode uses backstories established in prior episodes to highlight the unfinished business between them. Take Poison Ivy and Two-Face, for example. Even if you are not familiar with their relationship, the episode offers you interesting breadcrumbs if you want to learn more. “We used to date,” as Poison Ivy says. The running gag of Killer Croc being treated as nitwit establishes a structured hierarchy among the villains themselves. There is tension between the members of Batman’s rogues gallery. Sure, they are united in their hatred for Batman, but that’s pretty much it.

Apart from this, no other episode of the show does a better job in establishing the different ways in which Batman’s villains hate him. This is offered through some good ol’ fashioned moustache-twirling villainy. Death by poisonous “exploding pumpkins”! Death by giant penny coin toss! Death in an “Aviary of Doom”! Death through an electric chair charged by laughter! This lets you see the villains in a new light. Their death traps are ridiculous, their gimmicks are absurd, but there is still something sinister running underneath.

Even though Alfred, Robin, and the rest of the Bat family are absent from this episode, it still manages to offer a peek into Batman’s relationship with an important ally: Catwoman. While the rest of his rogues gallery might want to kill him, there is something more to his relationship with Catwoman. When she shows up, they are on the same team, even though they might forever be on different sides of the law.

If “Almost Got ‘Im” defines how Batman’s villains see him, “P.O.V.” is how the police sees him. If “Almost Got ‘Im” is moustache-twirling villainy at its finest, “P.O.V.” is the opposite end of the spectrum, the “realistic” side of Batman mythos – gangsters, sting operations, corrupt cops, and so on.

Somewhat similar in structure to “Almost Got ‘Im”, “P.O.V.” uses vignettes over an overall frame story to tell its tale, too. This time, however, it’s three cops telling the same incident through their perspective, hence the title. Much like “Almost Got ‘Im”, “P.O.V.” manages to differ from the usual approach of a Batman: The Animated Series episode without sacrificing its love for noir.

A failed sting operation results in an internal investigation within the GCPD, with Detective Harvey Bullock, Captain Renee Montoya, and Officer Wilkes at the stake. Each offer their own account of the night’s event and their encounter with Batman. Again, it is not these vignettes or these short stories that make “P.O.V.” the other half of my perfect unit of Batman in Batman: The Animated Series. It is how much more we learn of the world around Batman through it. By the end of the episode, we are offered three versions of Batman.

“P.O.V.” does a great job in establishing that to an average citizen of Gotham City, Batman is very much an urban legend. The rookie cop, Wilkes, mentions in his account of the incident how it was the first time he had seen Batman in the flesh. There is a logical explanation to every aspect of his encounter with the Dark Knight, but the legend of Batman has been raised to such level of myth in Gotham City, that even a group of shurikens thrown out by Batman turn into “sparks flew from his fingertips.”

In the same twenty minutes run, however, “P.O.V.” also establishes how Batman is still very much just a man in a mask. Once Montoya deciphers the mystery of “Doc Hathcock,” we see Batman beaten, captured, and hung from the ceiling. Or so it would seem. Even before this, in her account of the events of the night, Montoya mentions how Batman is “buried alive” under a collapsed wall of the burning warehouse. For someone who can shoot “some kinda ray” by pointing his fingers, the Batman sounds rather human.

Apart from this, “P.O.V.” offers a look into the internal dynamics of the GCPD and why someone like the Batman might be needed in the city. There is an air of distrust among the cops; corruption is rampant within the force; there are too few good cops and far too many “on the take.” It does a great job in establishing Montoya as a rare clean cop in the force: She gets to have a team up with Batman! The fact that Commissioner Gordon cares about the city and protects those within the force whom he trusts is also made clear.

Detective Harvey Bullock, on the other hand, is a different story. Even if you are not a Batman fan, this episode makes his relationship with Batman clear: he does not like the man, regardless of the fact that Batman might have saved his life. Moreover, you get a clear sense that something is rather off about Bullock. He is lying, but the why of it is never made clear. Is he a good cop? Was he on the take as well? If so, why did he go in early? There are so many unanswered questions. Batman and Commissioner Gordon share some sort of mutual admiration is made somewhat clear in “Almost Got ‘Im,” which is why they work together, but Batman’s deal with Bullock is much more interesting, and this episode offers you just a titbit of it, leaving you hungry for more.

If the fact that Batman is an urban legend to some and just a man in a mask – albeit a resourceful one – to others is made clear in this episode, “P.O.V.” also establishes that Batman is still very much a superhero.

He sinks a goddamn ship.

***

A slightly reworked version of this post was featured on Comic Book Herald. You can read the piece here.

Bizarro Back Issues: That Time Amitabh Bachchan Was A Comic Book Superhero

At the peak of his popularity in the 70s, Amitabh Bachchan was everywhere. From films to commercials to even in politics, the 70s and the 80s belonged to Big B, long before he was even christened with that name. I’m a 90s kid, so although I did did miss out on the “angry young man” phase of the actor’s career, I’ve been fortunate enough to witness his “comeback” – with stellar performances in films like Mohabbatein (2000), Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham... (2001), Aks (2001), Black (2005), Sarkar (2005), Paa (2009), Piku (2015), and many more. Such was Bachchan’s popularity in the late 70s / early 80s that, as I learnt recently, he even had a comic book series under his name, where the actor would double as the vigilante Supremo. For almost two years, India Book House, under its comic book imprint Star Comics, published The Adventures of Amitabh Bachchan, which saw stories such as “The Lost Idol”, “Treasure Island”, “The Hijack”, and the one I stumbled upon recently and the one that sent me down this rabbit hole, “The Impostor”.

The comic book opens up with a handwritten note from Bachchan himself, thanking the young readers for their concern for his health. I assume this book was published after the actor’s near fatal accident on the sets of Coolie (1983). The pages on the copy I found have faded a bit, but from what I could make out, Gulzar was the “Script Consultant” on this series – yes, that Gulzar! – and a horde of writers and artists were responsible for this particular issue: Pammi Bakshi, Mohan Swaminathan, Anuradha Vaidya, Milind Mulick, Balasaheb Mandke, Shakun Chavan, and Pratap Mulick. Pammi Bakshi is credited as the “Editor/Author”, so I did a little digging. Apparently, she developed the series for India Book House, convincing Bachchan on the sets of his film Pukar (1983) to lend his name to the comics. Bachchan’s co-star in that film, Randhir Kapoor, had tagged him “Supremo” and the moniker seemed like a memorable name for a comic book character.

We are introduced to Sunil Saxena – “the prominent businessman who also has a fine record for philanthropy” – and his evil epic sideburns. In his defence though, epic sideburns were extremely popular at that time in India. We had just learnt about Elvis, you see. Three panels into his introduction and you can already tell something is fishy about this guy – it doesn’t matter that he just made a 100k donation to the Sevashram Children’s Home!

The story switches gear and we witness a daylight robbery. A gang of men with machine guns, matching uniforms, and their faces covered with handkerchiefs, storm into the State Bank Downtown branch on a busy morning. The robbers are led by Supremo himself!

Now, this was the first time I had seen Supremo in action and, um… let me just say I was taken aback. In my humble opinion, that is a terrible costume. I’m told Bachchan himself approved it from the many designs Pratap Mullick – legendary Indian comic book artist, best known for his run on Nagraj – had sent to him; which only begs the question: Why? I get that the character was heavily influenced by The Phantom, but not everyone can rock a pink unitard. That too with a loincloth over it. I hope that pendant has some interesting history. Maybe, in true Bollywood style, it was the aakhiri nishaani of Supremo’s mother? But more than that, I hope he can see in those ridiculous… sunglasses?

Incidents of Supremo and his minions popping out of a red van like jokers out of a clown car and robbing banks, jewellery stores, etc. increase day by day. The police are baffled how “the staunchest crime fighter” they knew could turn to a life of crime. Meanwhile, Bachchan learns of the “sensational” news while shooting for a film in Kashmir. Immediately, he applies for a leave for he must investigate who is smearing mud to his good name, as we Indians say. And because he has better workers’ rights than you and I do, his leave is approved instantly.

The Phantom influence on Supremo is far more prominent than I had thought, for Supremo too has his own private island with various animals living in harmony à la “The Ghost Who Walks”. But The Phantom is not the only classic comic book character Supremo takes inspiration from. Batman has his Robins, Supremo has Vijay and Anthony. Yup, Vijay and Anthony are named after two of Bachchan's most famous roles.

Anthony dresses way better than any kid I’ve ever known, to be honest.

To learn more about his impostor, Supremo goes undercover as a journalist to interview the guards at the banks and jewellery stores that were robbed recently. His disguise looks less like that of a journalist and more like that of Matches Malone, the criminal guise Batman uses to infiltrate Gotham’s criminal world from time to time. Nonetheless, the cover works and Supremo discovers a “peculiar kind of mud” at each location where the clown bandit car was parked. He takes a sample of the mud and goes to the Central Soil Research Institute, hoping that the scientists there will help him with further analysis of the red mud.

I checked, and although we don’t have a Central Soil Research Institute, we do have a Central Soil Salinity Research Institute in Karnal, Haryana. So yeah, close enough.

As it turns out, Supremo’s hunch was correct! That “peculiar kind of mud” is indeed not found in the city. With the help of a detailed soil map, Supremo learns that that special kind of red mud is found on the northern outskirts of the city, in a thickly forested area.

Supremo goes back to island to plan his next course of action, which although turns out to be just driving his car around looking for red mud, it gives us this glorious scene of Vijay and Anthony fishing by the lake where even though Anthony has his trousers half folded and his shirt off, he still has his top hat on. This is the coolest kid I’ve ever seen!

Eventually, they stumble upon a house in the forest. Given that it was pink in colour, I don’t see why it took them so long to find it. I mean, yeah, I get it, it’s deep in the jungle and everything, but it’s painted pink! After taking out the security, Supremo and Robins Vijay & Anthony sneak into the house only to walk straight into Impostor Supremo™ and his henchmen, who look suspiciously similar to Jethalal and Bulla.

Our heroes are locked in a room where the door is “electrically operated” but the “switch is outside,” while the bad guys walk away, presumably to rob another bank. Never to succumb under pressure, Supremo quickly hatches a plan to cause a short circuit, thereby unlocking the door to their cage. While Supremo replaces the fuse so they can have some light to investigate this pink house in the middle of the jungle, Vijay and Anthony discover the robbers’ plans. Since they are laid out in simple treasure hunt map style, Supremo and Vijay & Anthony waste no time in uncovering Impostor Supremo™’s next target: The head office of the Indian Bank!

Alas, Supremo is too late and, back in the city, Impostor Supremo™ has already taken hostages inside the bank and is making ludicrous demands to the negotiators outside. When Supremo finally does arrive on the scene, I was hoping for a who is the real Supremo? dilemma, but the police, and especially the Chief of Police, are quite trustworthy of Supremo. They will recognise “the staunchest crime fighter” anywhere!

With only half an hour at their disposal to meet the robbers’ demands, the Chief of Police, in his infinite wisdom, lets a vigilante take control of the operation. Supremo’s plan? He is going to switch off the lights in the bank building and the police will then storm in, shooting anyone standing.

That… does not sound right.

Right?

What?!

Supremo races to the top of the adjacent building, where he luckily stumbles on a “thick coil of rope”. I wonder what he would have done if he hadn’t found the rope. He has no superpowers, so he can’t fly off the edge of the building or jump across tall buildings in a single bound. Clearly, planning is not one of Supremo’s superpowers.

Supremo makes a loop of one end of the rope and tries to throw it around a pipe on the roof of the bank building, but since he is no cowboy (and he has no superpowers), he fails. Repeatedly. For ten minutes.

Fortunately, Supremo’s pet falcon, Shaheen – based on the falcon Allarakha from Bachchan’s film Coolie (1983) – arrives just in time to prevent Supremo from embarrassing himself further in front of the onlookers below.

After a “deathly journey” across the road, “about three hundred feet from ground level,” Supremo reaches the roof of the bank building. He descends cautiously and makes a quick assessment of the situation, instructing Shaheen to fly around the robbers to distract them while he throws a note to one of the hostages, asking them to “lie flat on the ground” when the lights go out. It would seem that Impostor Supremo™'s minions are worse shots than Stormtroopers because none of them could shoot Shaheen down!

Supremo then proceeds to locate the main switch and has a little déjà vu.

True to their word and unlike any police I’ve ever known, the cops storm in as soon as the lights go off. Safety of the hostages be damned, shoot anyone left standing!

Nonetheless, all’s well that ends well is what we believe in here in India. Now that the Impostor Supremo™ had been caught it was time to unmask him, Scooby Doo style.

Voilà!

I told you. Those sideburns were evil.

The story ends rather abruptly, with the Chief of Police thanking Supremo, but not Vijay & Anthony. Will we see friction in the family in the next issue? The comic does end with Anthony leaning on Supremo’s car, possibly breaking the fourth wall, staring directly into our souls and probably up to some nefarious scheme.

So, perhaps we will see some friction in the family indeed. But, then again, considering that the series halted publication years ago, maybe not.

***

A slightly reworked version of this post was featured on the Brown History Newsletter. You can read the piece here.

Bizarro Back Issues: That Time Vampirella Took On A Death Cult's Orgy Of Destruction

You know how you are just surfing the waves of the interwebs late in the night, jumping off one strange website to another, and you stumble upon the cover to an old comic book that just grabs your attention and that image is all you can think of for days, and you just have to find that book and read it no matter what?

No? Oh. Okay.

Let me just begin by saying that contrary to what you might believe, there actually are a few comic book characters I am rather not well-informed about. Vampirella, or rather, “Vampi,” is one of them. I’ve always wanted to read a few of her stories, and I think I did go through two volumes of the Master Series (by Grant Morrison and Mark Miller, and by Warren Ellis), but she never came across as an interesting enough character for me to put down my other books and make time for her. That is, of course, until I saw this glorious cover by Jose Gonzalez.

The reason why that cover got a hold of me is because the green-face in the background, who’s watching Vampirella let out a fart, is actually traditional facemasks worn by Kathakali dancers in India. Kathakali is one of the major forms of classical Indian dance. Known for its distinct moves where equal emphasis is paid to the story the dancers are trying to convey to the audience as to the dance moves themselves, I couldn’t fathom what would lead a group of Kathakali dancers to form a death cult. Or what is an orgy of destruction is.

The story opens with a recap of Vampirella #73 and introduces us to a Hindu cult in Calcutta. Since they are “bloodthirsty believers in Shiva the God of Destruction,” it is important that they are stopped from sacrificing the young virgin with their ceremonial dagger. No, the fact that human sacrifices were never a part of Hinduism does not count. Hindus sacrifice young virgins and that is it.

Thankfully, the evil schemes of Jadoo Bindu – whose first name literally translates to “magic” in Hindi – and his Council of Wizards are stopped by Vampirella and Adam Van Helsing, who I assume is related to that other famous Van Helsing.

God bless the righteous intruders.

We jump to the present, where Vampirella is running to the apartment of Conrad Van Helsing, who has to be blind for he approves of her son’s girlfriend fashion choices. Conrad informs Vampirella that the reason he summoned her is because Adam is dying.

oh shit boi waddup

It turns out Conrad is not that powerless to save his son. He has also summoned Kala, high priestess to the Temple of Vishnu the Preserver in Allahbad, India. With a sound effect of “Phuummmf!” Kala teleports herself halfway across the world in a jiffy and lands straight into the apartments of Conrad Van Helsing. In her haste, however, it would seem she forgot to put on a top. But don’t mind that, there are lives to be saved, tops be damned!

Kala reveals that someone has stolen Adam’s soul and because they are powerful psychics in their own right, taking on them individually might not be the best course of action. Kala, Conrad and Vampirella must join forces and perform a seance and penetrate the mystical barrier around Adam. As it would turn out, the remaining members of the Council of Wizards have hatched a plot of vengeance against Vampirella and Adan Van Helsing for killing their leader. Can’t say I blame them. When you lose a leader with such a fancy name as Jadoo Bindu, your cult does lose some of its charm.

Kala explains since Adam and Vampirella’s karma is entwined and because Conrad is too old (and also blind?) for battle, Vampirella must slip into the astral plane and rescue Adam. Interestingly, no one questions Kala when she pretty much says “not my problem your boy’s in coma, gurl” to Vampirella. (That’s not what she says; calm down.) Kala guides Vampirella in the astral plane leaving her at the entrance of some sort of tunnel with, hands down the best ashirwaad ever given to someone – “may Vishnu’s smile shine on you!”

If some random rishtedaar I had never seen before had said that to me, my life would have probably been so much better.

Coming out the tunnel Vampirella was doing just fine, but she gotta be down because she wanted to save Adam Van Helsing. She meets one of the many Lords of Karma. Chosen by the “spiritual hierarchy” to decide Vampirella’s case, he informs her that his decision would be final and there would be no appeal. Read enough comic books and you know there would be an appeal somewhere down the story. What follows next is a classic beat the boss to advance to the next level story. (I can’t recall the literary term for this particular genre of stories. Sue me.) The first boss? “Yama, the Dark Angel of Death”.

Now, considering who Yama is in Hindu mythology, I was expecting an epic mystic battle of sorts between “the girl from Drakulon” and the “reaper of souls”. Instead, Vampirella recalls Kala’s advice and relies on her wiles to defeat Yama in mere two panels. Which of course is followed by a random panel of a naked woman on a “rotating bed with mirrors”.

Vampirella’s next challenge is “Shiva’s destructive wife” herself, Kali!

I’m not an expert in Hindu mythology, but I’m pretty sure Shiva was never described as Kali’s “thunderous mate”. Nevertheless, Kali is a force to reckon with. In her most famous story, she takes on an entire army of demons, destroys them all and literally dances on their corpses. So yeah, Vampirella is in trouble.

Turns out, Kali is a sweetheart. When she sees that Vampirella is willing to kill to rescue her lover, Kali lets her pass. Hindu gods are pretty chill with their followers trying to kill them for love, or so it would seem. (Love does form the core premise for a lot of Indian stories.)

Next boss fight!

Maya.

(Not that one.)

Unlike the last two times, we actually do get a battle. A psychic duel no less! Unfortunately, Vampirella’s powers are no match for the “Mistress of Illusion”. About to be cast away to the ethereal plane by the Karmic Lord who has been hanging with her and silently judging her (like all your friends), Vampirella’s makes a desperate plea to Conrad and Kala across dimensions for some extra “collective thought-wave”. Kala’s plan to rescue Adam from Maya’s spell is pretty straightforward and one that Vampirella is an expert in. If mindless pleasure has locked Adam in a comatose state, a sharp sudden pain should snap him out of it.

Maya complains to the Karmic Lord who, rather than asking her to fill in the correct form and register her complaint in the Complaint Office of Hindu Dieties™ agrees with her assessment. But before he could have his say, the Top Guy himself, Brahm makes an appearance… or rather his eye does.

I am assuming Brahm is Brahma, the Hindu god of creation, one of the three most important gods in Hinduism, and not brahm as in भ्रम, i.e., hallucinations. Although, considering the story, that might explain a lot. Nevertheless, the eye of Brahm, chill as most Hindu gods (and their organs) are, reverses the decisions of the Karmic Lord because, well, love holds no bounds.

I think that his saying that blood when spilled for the cause of love creates good karma might explain all those honour killings across the country. We should slow down, though. We are kinda overdoing it, aren’t we? What will we ever do with all this good karma?

Finally, the Eye of Brahm returns Vampirella and Adam Van Helsing to their bodies in the physical plane with the classic sound effect of “…BRAHMMM-OM-OM-OM-OM”

Sure, the story had its share of problems, but we did learn something very important today, kids. Hindu gods are chill af, but they do appreciate when lovers commit murder for each other!

The Playlist Zone: HIP HOP FAMILY TREE

Volume 1: 1970s-1981


Volume 2: 1981-1983


Volume 3: 1981-1984


Volume 4: 1984-1985