Archie Meets Batman '66

The combined forces of the Joker, Riddler, Penguin and Catwoman descend on Riverdale in their bid to take over the world. Figuring that Batman is the reason they can't conquer Gotham City, the villains of the United Underworld embark in their most devious caper yet in Archie Andrews' backyard! Aided by the enchanting songs of the Siren, the fiends manage to enslave the adults of Riverdale. But for some reason, the lyrics just don't affect the teenage population. 

With the Bookworm on the loose in Gotham, Batman can't afford to leave the big city. So the Caped Crusader sends Robin and Batgirl in his place. Meet Dick Grayson and Barbara Gordon, the newest students of Riverdale High School. Along with Archie and his gang, these young heroes may be the last line of defense between 4 of Batman's most deadliest enemies and the fate of the free world!

Regular Batman '66 writer Jeff Parker pens this swinging 60s era crossover. There's a lot of the magic of that monthly series in this book. But of the Batman '66 crossovers, this is probably my least favorite. The other team-ups made by the Dynamic Duo involved other live action characters like the Green Hornet and the Man from UNCLE. Those stories felt like natural progressions of the TV show. Having Batman, Robin and the rest interact with the Archie gang felt more like those Scooby-Doo cartoon crossovers from the 70s. 

The artwork by Dan Parent was superior as ever. The definitive modern era Archie artist proves that he's got the chops to tackle the Batman '66 universe. And then there's the covers! A half-dozen regular cover masterpieces from Michael Allred (Madman). Plus, there are literally dozens of variant covers by many amazing artists such as Joe Giella, Jerry Ordway and Art Baltazar. 

I must make one giant complaint. There's a great Batman '66/Archie connection that would have made a great capper to this story. Unfortunately, Jeff Parker ruined the moment by having Bruce Wayne flippantly ruin things with an off-the-cuff but it all makes sense sort of observation a couple of issues prior to the ending.

Plus- isn't Barbara Gordon an adult on the Batman '66 series? So why isn't she susceptible to the Siren's call like the other adults? Okay- so I had 2 complaints!

I had read issue #1 a long time ago when it first came out in 2018. And then I had forgotten all about it until just recently. Worth the wait. Just not as perfect as I had built things up to be in my head.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

The Batman

Thanks to a free preview weekend of HBO/Cinemax, I'm catching up on a few movies I missed in 2022. First up is Matt Reeves' The Batman. 

There was a lot of push back on casting Robert 'Twilight' Pattinson as Batman. But he did a decent job. I don't think he was the best to have ever donned the cowl and cape. However, he was a heck of a lot better than George Clooney and Val Kilmer. With Pattinson, I thought his Bruce Wayne was far better than his Dark Knight. I think if we could have took Christian Bale's Batman and used Pattinson's Bruce Wayne, we would have had a perfect character here.

Jeffrey Wright's (Casino Royale) take on Jim Gordon was by far one of the best ever. Probably only Gary Oldman's version was better and that's just because of how epic Oldman is as an actor. I've heard that a GCPD series is being developed and if Jeffrey Wright is going to be on this, playing a major role, I very much might need to sign up for HBOMax. 

Speaking of the GCPD, it was refreshing to have a Batman movie that was more driven by mystery than action. A mysterious serial killer calling himself The Riddler is systematically killing corrupt members of Gotham City government. When this killer begins sending personalized calling cards to the Batman, the GCPD is forced to work mano a mano with the masked vigilante on this case. 

Other than on the 1966 series, I don't think I've ever encountered a live action version of Batman in which the Dark Knight is on scene in public working with police officers and detectives to solve crimes. Christopher Nolan's trilogy tried to accomplish this but there was a lot more subterfuge involved in all that. It was a refreshing change to see these corrupt Gotham City cops getting freaked out by the presence of an amateur sleuth dressed as a bat, operating in front of all of them.

When this film does dip its toe into action packed waters, I get bored. There was this very unnecessary scene in which the Penguin is being chased on a Gotham freeway by the Bat and the carnage was just gratuitous. Like 7 semis explode and you know a lot of folks died from that destruction and yet Batman doesn't seem to have any remorse over that. 

Kudos however to the actor and make-up team behind The Penguin. I learned in the credits that Cobblepot was played by Colin Farrell and I was stunned. He looks and sounds nothing like Farrell has in any of the few films I have seen him in like 2003's Daredevil. When I realized just who was under all that makeup, you could have knocked me over with a feather. It's that good of a transformation.

Another great transformation is that of Zoe Kravitz (Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald) as Seline Kyle. In Frank Miller's Batman: Year One, Selina is portrayed as a light-skinned black woman with short bangs. Well, chalk another mark up for the make-up department as Kravitz's Catwoman looks like she was Miller's artwork come to life. 

I'm seeing on Wikipedia that Matt Reeves (Cloverfield) hopes to make a trilogy with the Pattinson Batman and that part 2 is currently in some sort of pre-production mode. Even though this wasn't my favorite Batman film, I definitely want to see more if only for another mystery. Batman is a detective you know. But it might be how Jim Gordon rises the ranks to police commissioner that I find more interesting than what Bat-tinson does...

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.