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LITTLE FACTS AND BLOOPERS
(by Tim "TWO-FACE" Leighton)
Here is a section that just points out various
little facts and bloopers that we have noticed while watching BTAS and STAS
countless times. If you have anything to contribute, feel free to do so!
Enjoy!
CONBTRIBUTED BY STAFF:
I'm snow blind! Ack!
CONTRIBUTED BY OTHERS:
(by "Peter Ashworth")
1) In "Sub-Zero", when Bruce and Alfred stop their car and notice
the Dr. Belson's overturned car, they're perplexed by the amount of water on
the road. Alfred comments that there isn't "a cloud in the sky",
yet, as the camera angle of alfred clearly shows, there is an enormous (full
width of the screen) bank of clouds overhead.
(by "Dr. Midnite")
2) In the BEYOND episode "Rats", the collection of junk that the
"rat-boy" has includes a Beppo the monkey doll seen in the Superman
episode "Monkey Fun".
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MERCHANDISING: WHERE THE REAL BAT-CASH IS MADE
(by anyone that wants to contribute)
Hello! We have a fellow subscriber, Steve Nauert,
on board to fill the void know as this column for this week's newsletter.
Let's see what he has to say for us, shall we?
BATMAN BEYOND LANDS - AT BURGER KING?
(by Steve Nauert)
As soon as the dust settles at your local Burger
King and the Pokemon toys are gone, there will be the dawn of the Bat! That is
right, after a year with great ratings on the air, BATMAN BEYOND is getting
kids meal toys! After McDonalds' last Batman promotion years ago (the BATMAN
FOREVER and related "animated" toys) fans were left wanting more -
and it finally came!
Details about the toys are not known very clear
now, but speculation leads us to believe there will be about 8 toys: four
vehicles, four figures. If you go to the Burger King website and click on
there bat link graphic indicate there will be toys of batman, the Jokerz
Leader J-Man, as well as Inque and Blight. Other than this nothing is known.
Can it really be possible that Burger king will make toys of all the villains
Hasbro has given the shaft.
By the way, I currently have obtained a BB Blight
figure and this is a great toy with a mediocre accessory. The glow in the dark
affect is magnificent and well worth your Bat Cash!
The BATMAN BEYOND madness starts JANUARY 3rd!
Thanks for reading!
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COMIC REVIEWS
(GOTHAM ADVENTURES by Tim "TWO-FACE" Leighton)
(BATMAN BEYOND by Tim Wan)
Welcome a new member to the newsletter staff,
everyone! Tim Wan (many will know him for his great BATMAN BEYOND site - check
out the links section for more) has hopped aboard to help me with the
comic-reviewing duties. I will still be covering GOTHAM ADVENTURES, but
the OTHER Tim will be covering all issues of the ongoing BATMAN BEYOND series.
Let's put our hands together and welcome him to the newsletter!
BATMAN BEYOND (ongoing)
ISSUE: "Zoologically Speaking" (#3)
WRITTEN BY: Hilary J. Bader
PENCILLED BY: Craig Rousseau
INKED BY: Rob Leigh
ISSUED: November 24, 1999 (cover date, January 2000)
RATING (out of 5): ***1/2
First of all, an interesting tidbit, Batman Beyond
#3 was originally slated to cover the return of the Terrific Trio, but was
canceled when Marvel complained about their similarity to the Fantastic Four.
Instead we get the return of another "dead" villain. It’s
unfortunate that the Terrific Trio was ditched, as I thought they had
potential but were definitely written poorly in their first episode.
Anyway, the comic titled "Zoologically
Speaking" marks the return of the Splicers. For those that didn’t catch
the season premiere of Batman Beyond, splicers are humans that have combined
their human DNA with animal DNA to become creatures will human smarts and
logic, but animal strength.
The comic opens with a dramatic battle between
Batman and an alligator splicer. Along the way, a monkey splicer who can
barely speak English helps the alligator escape. Both of these new splicers
are far more "animal" than their predecessors from the cartoon.
Bruce and Terry can only conclude that Dr. Cuvier has returned, and is
attempting to improve the splicer formula. I don’t know if I can tell
anymore without spoiling too much of the story, but let’s just say that
Batman makes a new ally, Terry gets in a bar fight, and the ending is touching
(as touching as comics can get anyway).
There are some down points to the issue as it
seems to try and cram too much into the pages, and if there’s anything worse
than a bad story it’s no story. Dr. Cuvier’s resurrection is never
explained, since the last time we saw him he was merely a walking piece of
meat.
Overall the Batman Beyond comic line seems to have
rebounded from a poor sophomore effort, and this issue is step in the right
direction. It’s not better than the first episode, and certainly not better
than the Batman vs. Batman story in Issue #1.
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COMIC SCHEDULES & COVERING THE BASICS
This section gives a little bit more
indepth look into each monthly issue of BATMAN: GOTHAM ADVENTURES and SUPERMAN
ADVENTURES. Below each comic listing is a link to the cover of that comic.
TALK ABOUT SERVICE!
The price is $1.99 in the US and...grrrrr...a whopping $3.25 in
Canada. (Both our editors and many subscribers are Canadian, hence the
"grrr".)
If we are unsure of the exact date of when an issue is being
released, just check out "DIRECT CURRENTS" at
http://www.dccomics.com
for details.
BATMAN: GOTHAM ADVENTURES #22
January 5th?
Synopsis: Commissioner Gordon and Batgirl are in the spotlight of the first
animated comic to hit the shelves in 2000!
BATMAN BEYOND #4 (ongoing)
December 22nd?
Synopsis: The Royal Flush Gang returns.
Cover: Unavailable
FOLLOWING MONTH: Issue #4.
Synopsis: The Royal Flush Gang returns.
Cover: Unavailable
SUPERMAN ADVENTURES #40
December 8th?
Synopsis: Unavailable
Cover: Unavailable
NEXT MONTH:
Synopsis: Mark Millar's final issue of SUPERMAN ADVENTURES.
Cover: Unavailable
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NEWS AND RUMORS
ALL-ENCOMPASSING/OTHER
-The Canadian TV channel GLOBAL (which airs BTAS and BATMAN BEYOND) finally
has a website of their own. Want to check it out? Here's the link:
http://www.GlobalTv.com
-THE BATMAN BEYOND INFO PAGE will be holding a contest. The prize and rules of
the contest are posted up at the site:
http://www.rogue-spear.com/BB
-Thanx to
www.batmanbeyondvideo.com,
the newsletter has aquired the OFFICIAL episode list to the BATMAN BEYOND
tapes becuase released Dec. 21st:
BATMAN: TECH WARS
Ep #1 - HEROES
Ep #2 - LOST SOUL
Ep #3 - SPLICERS
BATMAN: DISSAPEARING INQUE
Ep #1 - BLACK OUT
Ep #2 - DISSAPEARING INQUE
Ep #3 - SHRIEK
BATMAN: SCHOOL DAYZ
Ep #1 - GOLEM
Ep #2 - THE WINNING EDGE
Ep #3 - DEAD MAN'S HAND
All three tapes are scheudled to be released Dec.
21st at all music store/video store outlets.
-Don't forget that MASK OF THE PHANTASM and SUB-ZERO will be released on DVD
on December 21! Just in time for Christmas!
-Terry Beatty has been and will be selling Gotham Adventures and Batman Beyond
original art on ebay. His Seller ID is:
wlee@muscanet.com
Do yourself a favor and check out some great art!
"CURRENT" ANIMATED SERIES'
-The final SUPERMAN episode 'Legacy' could air as soon as January!
-BTAS/STAS will return in the fall of 2001 with NEW EPISODES, when Batman
Beyond goes on hiatus.
-Then again, there is ALSO word that BTAS/STAS WON'T return. So which do
we believe? Hopefully
the first...
BATMAN BEYOND
-The name of the upcoming BATMAN BEYOND direct-to-video movie will be BATMAN
BEYOND: RETURN OF THE JOKER. Comics Continuum spoke to BB producer Paul Dini
about the upcoming film. Dini revealed what was up with the upcoming feature
saying, "Mark Hamill is back playing several key roles, one of which is,
of course, the Joker, who has miraculously turned up in the time of Batman
Beyond… The other role is sort of a surprise, and that's all I'll say about
it now."
Dini continues, "I will say that for long-time
Bat-fans, this is the big story they've been demanding for two years, bridging
the gap between the classic Batman Animated series and Batman Beyond. Nearly a
fourth of the film is a flashback which shows the classic Bat-team in action,
dealing with a problem that is not fully resolved until Terry McGinnis enters
the picture decades later… Throughout the film a number of secrets will be
revealed, including what happened to Robin, Batgirl and Nightwing, as well as
the details of that fateful night years before when the first Batman fought
the Joker one last time… Fans will also learn secrets about Terry's past and
his reason for continuing to be Batman long after he's avenged his father's
death. In addition to this, we've got a bunch of new villains, appearances by
a few old ones and many more surprises."
-YTV will resme normal programming schedule after the Christmas holiday.
BATMAN BEYOND is slated to return on the shedule either the weekend of
December 25th-26th, or the following weekend.
-Synopses of episodes #17 through 36 have now been posted, thanks to the COMIC
BOOK CONTINUUM.
Check out of BATMAN: THE ANIMATED NEWSLETTER for a complete listing.
ANIMATED COMICS
-The long-procrastinated Harley & Ivy miniseries will be released in late
2000.
-Here's a link for an article regarding Mark Millar's last issue of SUPERMAN
ADVENTURES, coming in January:
http://www.wizardworld.com/news/dc/
superman_adventures/announcement.html
-After Mark Millar leaves SUPERMAN ADVENTUERS, long-time fan-favourite Ty
Templeton (GOTHAM ADVENTUERS) will jump one board for a few issues.
-Northern Canada is the backdrop, the kidnapping of oil is the crime, and Ra's
Al Ghul is the villain in of GOTHAM ADVENTURES. This issue comes out
on February 2nd. The cover can be found here:
http://www.comicscontinuum.com/stories/9911/16/bmga23th.jpg
-GOTHAM ADVENTURES #24: Batman and Batgirl must track down the missing
Nightwing and Robin, who are being held by a villain who has outwitted them
both. Batman can track the heroes down, but will he follow their footsteps
right into a trap? This issue also features Killer Croc. Ships on March
1.
-BATMAN BEYOND #7: Batman takes on the Jokerz gang to save the life of...Terry
McGinnis? Nothing is what it seems as Terry learns the secret connection
between Batman and his brother, Matt, forcing him to doubt everything he
believes in. But who's really behind these "revelations"? Ships on
March 22.
-Min S. Ku, a storyboard artist for BATMAN BEYOND will be pencilling SUPERMAN
ADVENTURES #43. Ku got his start thanx to a Wizard article done on his work.
Aside from working on Beyond story boards he'll be guest pencilling some
Marvel and DC titles int he near future. SUPERMAN ADVENTURES #43 is slated for
a March release.