Top Five Batman: The Brave & The Bold Episodes

Like most millennial comic book fans my age, I am pretty evangelical about the DC animated universe. The group of shows that ran from 1992-2006 that was tremendously adapted the DC Universe to animation and added so much to the lore of so many of the characters. This group of shows includes Batman: The Animated Series, Superman: The Animated Series, Batman Beyond, Static Shock, Justice League, and Justice League Unlimited.

These shows were my entry point for the DC characters and their depictions of said characters are foundational to me. However, with that being said, I love all of the animated DC shows that came afterward as well. Especially Batman: The Brave & The Bold which we are here to talk about today.

Back in the day, there was an attempt to start a Batman animated project every time there was a new Batman movie. Batman: The Animated Series happened because of what a smash success Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman film was and then premiered the same year as Burton’s Batman Returns sequel. Around the time Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins came out the animated series The Batman came out, a show that I want to interview my brother about sometime, he adored that show. Batman: The Brave & The Bold was the animated series that came out the same year as Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight came out and, to be honest, tonally? The two projects could not be more different.

I was fifteen going on sixteen when The Dark Knight movie came out and like most people in the world who saw it, I loved it, it was the perfect dark Batman crime epic. However, at the same time, I was knee-deep in Grant Morrison, Andy Kubert, JH Williams III, and Tony Daniel’s run on the Batman comic title which was taking 50’s and 60’s Batman stories and expanding on them earnestly and sinisterly. Batman: The Brave & The Bold was much closer to the Batman comic at the time than it was to The Dark Knight movie. And I loved that.

Named after the iconic DC comics series that often saw Batman team up with another character in the DC Universe and shine a light on them, the premise of the animated series is identical. Every episode sees Batman tea, up with at least two different DC characters, one in a cold open before the title sequence happens, and another main team-up that takes up the bulk of the episode. Tonally the show was unapologetically affectionate for the silver and bronze age of DC Comics, it had a great dry sense of humor, and its art style had a Dick Sprang flare to it. It wasn’t trying to be cool, and that’s part of what made it so cool to me and my friends who read comics.

The show lasted for sixty-five episodes and has one of the best finales of any DC animated show. The entire series is on the streaming service MAX and I highly recommend watching it. And right now I am going to give you my five favorite episodes of the show. If you watch these and don’t like the show? The show is not for you, and that’s okay, but if the show is for you? You are my people.

One big reason I decided to focus on this show this week is because it is the DC cartoon that focuses on Plastic Man the most, and as we all know I have a Plastic Man/Wonder Woman team-up story coming out in the pages of Batman: The Brave & The Bold #19 and 20, starting next month! But…back to the top five episodes of the cartoon…

#5: MITEFALL!

Season Three, Episode Thirteen. Written by Paul Dini. Directed by Ben Jones.

I did a lot of soul-searching before I decided whether I would make the first entry on this list the finale of the show…but it’s an outstanding finale. On top of being a deep love letter to DC’s Silver and Bronze Ages, Batman: The Brave & The Bold was always a show for people who watched TV. Before streaming, people who watched TV on every channel, people who somehow knew about every show from every decade, people who knew about the actors who were on those shows, and knew all the “tropes” of TV. On top of being a self-aware goodbye on par with the best of meta/self-aware television, this episode features TV Icon Henry Winkler as Ambush Bug and the late great Paul Reubeuns as Batman: The Brave & The Bold’s most critical viewer Bat-Mite, for those two performances alone this is a must-watch. It’s also a little melancholy. It’s a finale that says “Hey, we may have not been your favorite animated version of Batman, we know there’s another one coming up soon, but we did our best.” Not everyone wants a funny Batman show. I would argue the show had so much more to it than that, and it’s certainly one of my favorites. But I’m always going to applaud an earnest underdog ending and this episode is certainly that.

#4: Long Arm of the Law

Season Two, Episode Two. Written by James Krieg. Directed by Ben Jones

As indicated earlier, Plastic Man is on a lot of this show, especially in the first season. He is one of Batman’s main crime-fighting partners. And someone Batman is actively trying to rehabilitate despite Plastic Man’s eccentricities. The second season of the show gives us “The Long Arm Of the Law” where we get to spend a day in the life with Plastic Man, his sidekick Woozy Winks, his loving partner Ramona (certainly named for legendary comic artist Ramonda Fradon) and Baby Plas who is indeed a baby with Plastic Man goggles. Plastic Man, Batman, and Woozy Winks (in a phenomenal vocal performance by the legendary Stephen Root) have to team up to take down Kite-Man, Plastic Man’s former boss who wants his revenge because Plastic Man turned on him. It should be noted as well that Plastic Man on this show was voiced by animation legend Tom Kenny, who just does a phenomenal job it is a great voice for the character.

#3: Sidekicks Assemble!

Season Two, Episode Six. Written by Marsha Griffin. Directed by Michael Chang.

One of my favorite aspects of Batman: The Brave & The Bold is that is a fully realized version of the DC universe that has been going on for a while before the viewers join the show. Batman has been a member of the Justice League, he’s had sidekicks, the Justice Society were heroes in the forties, and everyone knows each other. It feels more like an old-school comic in that you’re joining the universe media-res instead of everything being “The first…” story. It’s refreshing and a nice choice after fourteen years of the DCAU.

This episode finds three of the Justice League’s sidekicks, a bit on the older side of things, and tired of being bossed around by their proteges. Robin, Aqualad, and Speedy team up to save the world from Ra’s Al Ghul and prove they're ready to move up in the superhero game only to run afoul of Ra’s daughter/protege Talia Al Ghul. It’s a really smart, well-constructed episode and if you are a fan of the DC sidekicks I cannot imagine you not liking this episode. It also has one of the show’s funniest bits where the sidekicks accuse their mentors of not always being the most thoughtful. Green Arrow, a great silver age version of the character who is a recurring joy of this show, says he has always treated his sidekick well only to cut back to a flashback of the two in the middle of a swamp with a group of crocodile’s about to eat Green Arrow’s bow he lost. Green Arrow shouts at Speedy “Quick, retrieve my bow from that crocodile pit!” and while Speedy in the present is an older teenager, in this flashback, he is a child and it is hilariously awful on the part of my favorite DC Character.

#2: Chill of the Night!

Season Two, Episode Eleven. Written by Paul Dini. Directed by Michael Chang

Paul Dini has written more great Batman stories than almost anyone, and he’s done it in basically every medium the character exists in. This is one of the show’s most well-remembered episodes, I remember at the time people praising it saying it was “dark” and closer to Batman: The Animated Series in tone, and that is partially true, something I think Paul was aware of when writing the episode. The first couple minutes are very heavily B:TAS coded as we learn that Batman is finally close to tracking down the man who murdered his parents in Crime Alley Joe Chill, and while those few minutes are great they don’t feel like the rest of the series we have been watching. Then, Paul shows us one of his many gifts, he always knows the rules of the show or comic he’s working in, he stays true to his vision of the characters, but also makes the most of the sandbox he’s in. Iconic DC cosmic characters The Spectre and Phantom Stranger arrive, voiced by the brilliant actors Mark Hamill and the late great Kevin Conroy respectively, are watching Batman from afar as he considers taking Joe Chill’s life in a great act of vengeance. And they place a bet. If Batman acts on his vengeful desires, he will become a weapon of the Spectre forever, but if Batman doesn’t act on those desires and lets justice prevail, Phantom Stranger wins the day. I love the Spectre and Phantom Stranger, but they are tough characters to write, Paul writes them brilliantly, with it helping that the dialogue is delivered by two old friends. In the spirit of the show, Paul also delivers one of the show’s most inventive team-ups with Batman. “Chill of the Night” is a fantastic episode of the show, a great display of Paul Dini’s gifts as a Batman writer, a way to show what this incarnation of Batman was capable of on its best day, a wonderful reunion of many bat-actors, and it has a wonderful ending I won’t spoil. Also, one person I haven’t talked about on this list yet, Diedrich Bader, the great actor who voices Batman on this show, gets to deliver a grand, dark, operatic performance here and silence any critics who didn’t think he was a wonderful Batman. It’s great stuff.

#1: Aquaman’s Outrageous Adventure.

Season Two, Episode Four. Written by Steven Melching. Directed by Ben Jones.

Batman: The Brave & The Bold’s greatest character was legendary voice actor John DiMaggio’s portrayal of Aquaman. A decade before the world would be introduced to Jason Momoa’s “Hell Yeah” version of the character, John DiMaggio and the creative team behind this show gave the “Outrageous” Aquaman. My favorite version of the iconic DC mainstay.

An Aquaman who is boisterous, loud, loves crime-fighting, loves spinning his own fish tales, and who to the delight of fans everywhere yells the word “Outrageous” better than any other character who has ever been on television or film. This episode finds Aquaman on a cross-country road trip with his wife Mera and his son Aqua-Baby, who, in a brilliant move by the writers, is not only alive but is wearing the ocean-blue Aquaman suit from the eighties and who is a little emo boy. Mera makes Aquaman promise to take a break from crime fighting on this vacation and focus on their family, but he can’t do it. Everywhere they stop on this road trip, he ends up running off and secretly teaming up with a nearby superhero. It’s a premise that only works because this show has earned it and has led to this point over almost thirty episodes. It feels like a weird Silver Age comic, it feels like a strange seventies episode of a sitcom, and it is the pinnacle of what was great about Batman: The Brave & The Bold.

Those are my top five favorite episodes of Batman: The Brave & The Bold. Check them out, and the whole show, on MAX if you have an opportunity. If you are a DC fan, I do not think you will regret it.

LA Comic Con Reflections

One of my goals for this year was to table at a Comic Con for the first time. For those who don’t know, that means that you apply for a table at a convention’s Artist Alley, where comic creators, print artists, craft makers, toy makers, and people of various creative disciplines get a table and can interact with fans and show off their work.

I chose to try to do this at the LA Comic Con because I live in LA, and it was the easiest one to get to, I had been to the show in years past and thought it was fun, their list of guests becomes more and more impressive with each show, and from a self-preservation standpoint if everything went wrong and I had a terrible time I could go back home. I applied earlier this year to do the show and it appeared that I applied too late.

Months went by, and other great things were happening for me, but it bothered me that I had missed the window to the show. As I have previously discussed, I have never really had the opportunity to interact with fans in real life before as a comic writer. When my mini-series Man-Bat came out, that was during the pandemic, and despite being offered the opportunity to do a store signing for it, it didn’t feel right. This year now being a full-time comic writer and having a lot of new writing credits over the last few months and in the months ahead, now felt like the right time. But…I had missed the window.

Then, a few weeks ago, I received an email from LA Comic Con telling me they had opened up more Artist Alley tables and asked me if I still wanted to get one. The opportunity I had wanted had come back around and? I was not sure about it. I didn’t know if I could get everything together I needed to in a few weeks. But…then I remembered something important. As a freelance comic book writer, I am always hoping opportunities come up, and when one that is exactly something I wanted comes up, even if it’s not when I expected? It would be silly to say no. So I said yes and I went to work getting everything I needed together for the show.

This is where I have to thank two very important people. First, my good friend and incredible comic book letterer, cartoonist, and designer Tom Napolitano. Tom and I were already doing something else, and when I got the table, I emailed him immediately and said, “Tom, I can’t go to the show without a banner. Would you be willing to put something together for me?” Tom didn’t hesitate, and the next day, I had something professional and charming to bring to the show that got me compliments. Including one mother and daughter duo who said, “We like that you are the same man from your banner.” Tom is the best; he’s someone I hope to always work with and be buddies with, and he came through for me in a big way.

The second person I want to thank is comic book writer extraordinaire and another A+ dude, Henry Barajas. Henry and I have been friends for a few years, and I was really fortunate to get to work with Henry on an outstanding short story in Batman Urban Legends #18 called “Blood in and Blood Out” a Batman and Etrigan The Demon team-up story drawn by the outstanding Serg Acuna. I have always known him to be incredibly professional, kind, creative, and level-headed. He’s also done a ton of comic conventions as a creator. We are both LA locals so I asked him to get coffee to tell me what I needed know, and he didn’t skip a detail. He told me everything I needed to do, everything I needed to get, and what to be prepared for. I treated his word as gospel and I am not disappointed. Henry set me up for success. We also went to the show all three days together and he was an outstanding Convention friend on top of being a great real life friend. Currently, Henry writes the comic strip Gil Thorp and on 11/27/24 (the very same day that Batman: The Brave & The Bold #19 by Nikola Čižmešija and I releases) the first issue of Green Hornet/Miss Fury, a mini-series from Dynamite Entertainment, will be coming out that Henry co-wrote with the great Alex Segura and artist Federico Sorressa.

The show itself this past weekend could not have been a more magical and life-affirming experience for me. I met hundreds of very kind people who were so excited about stories and artwork. And I got to live out my dream of sharing my comics with people, signing them, and feeling like a comic writer. I know I’m a comic writer, I have written a lot of comics, and I’ve seen my name in print. However, there’s something about signing and handing a comic to someone that feels essential to the journey of being a comic writer, I can’t quite articulate it.

A lot of people came back more than once. And folks who got books from me one day were kind enough to come back the next day and tell me they enjoyed them, that was something really special too. I kept my expectations fairly low so I wouldn’t be disappointed, my biggest goal was to be present and enjoy the experience, no matter how it went. I was just proud that I took the opportunity to do the show. And I’m thrilled to report that my expectations were exceeded a thousand-fold. To be that unbelievably happy for three days was a great gift, and I cannot wait to table at another Comic Convention and meet more readers.

If you were someone I met or interacted with this weekend at the show thank you so much for making things incredible for me. I’m going to hold on to this experience, remember it, and use it to keep propelling me forward as I continue to pursue this comic book writing dream of mine.

That’s it! Next week we are going to be talking about five crime movies I love, and recommend, definitely come back for that.

Stay safe!

—Dave Wielgosz