Saturday, October 8, 2016

Our Interview with The Fantasy Shop

We sat down with Scott Samson, Manager of the Fantasy Shop here in St. Louis, a local comic shop with several locations.




We encourage you to engage with your local comic shops, as they are fantastic resources for recomendations, as well as having wonderful and engaging programming (such as gaming, book clubs, etc).

Friday, October 7, 2016

Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders!

There's a new Batman movie on the horizon!

It's set to release digitally on Oct. 11th, and full DVD/Bluray release on November 1st. Following the trend set by The Killing Joke, DC will have a one-night limited theatrical release on Monday, October 10th.

It officially premieres at New York City comic con, going on this weekend, and a sequel has already been announced.

The voices for this movie may sound familiar for you, that's because they brought back the cast from the 60s Batman. Here's what Adam West had to say about reprising his role.

"'It's amazing when you say 'be back,' because it's like it never really went away,' West told the Daily News. 'Wherever I go they love Batman, and, you know, consequently, I learned to love 'Batman' because it gives people happy times. I guess I'm the funny Batman, which is okay to deliver the laughs.'
The Return of the Caped Crusaders that premieres at New York Comic Con, appears to follow the same satirical formula that delivered the laughs in the original show."


You can find the the trailer for this upcoming DC Animated Film on DC's website.

Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Getting to know your hosts - Scott

Hello!

This is Scott.



I'm 29, and I have been married to my beautiful wife for a little over 2 years now.  I've always been into movies, music, video games, and comics.  I am a longtime fan of all things Batman.  As a kid, I would rush home from school to catch the batman animated series on WB.  I consider the Batman Animated Series the best interpretation of Batman to ever grace the big or small screen.  Not only does the show have an amazing art direction, but it is complimented so well by the magnificent voice talents of Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill, and Arleen Sorkin just to name a few.  Exploring The Batcave is a great opportunity for me to share something I love with my wife, and also share our thoughts with everyone who listens.  I can't believe we didn't do this sooner. 

Getting to know your hosts-Sarah

Hey! I'm Sarah!



I'm one of the voices you hear in the podcast! Specifically, I'm the one who has never seen Batman: the animated series before. So I thought I'd talk a little about who I am, what my background is, and what my relationship with Batman is.

So, firstly, I should let you guys know that Scott and I are married. We got married in 2014, and we've been together for 5 years now. We are both fairly nerdy in our own ways, but in knowing each other we've brought each other into our interests.



I am 27, and I currently work part time as a pharmacy tech while going to school to complete my Master's degree. I took a break from school between my BA and my MA, so going back to school has been a bit of an adjustment for me. My concentration has been in Digital and New Media. In my undergrad I helped to establish and went on to run the college radio station. So being behind the microphone is a comfortable place for me. On top of running the station, I also had a weekly show with my dear friend for a school year.

I have always been a casual Batman fan, even prior to Scott getting me fully immersed in Batman culture. I had seen most of the movies, and was a fan of the Christopher Nolan run. I thought the other Batman movies were entertaining, but silly and campy. I certainly wasn't going out of my way for Batman, but I was familiar enough with all the major players.

A few years ago I helped a friend of mine make a Batman themed cake for her sister's birthday. Here are a few photos of that.



And at our wedding, we had some props and a photo booth. One of the pros we had was a Batman Mask. Here are a few photos from that.





So, I've gotten much more Batman exposure since then. I've read a few comics, seen a little more and of course talked about Batman A TON with Scott. So watching the animated series is one more step on my way of becoming a little more devout in my Batman Fandom.

Monday, October 3, 2016

More review, and some of the not-so-great parts

I found another project, similar to ours where someone went back and watched every episode of Batman: the Animated Series. This project made a vlog for every episode, every day until completed. He then published a short review of the series as a whole. Here is the article with the series review that also has links to playlists with all the review videos.

"I remember getting goosebumps the first time I saw the opening sequence. The opening is clearly an homage to the Max Fleischer Superman cartoons from the 1940s. There’s no dialogue or lyrics, just music and action. Even though it’s 60 seconds long, it works the same way a movie would."

Not all reviews are all favorable. This article is "10 Flaws From the Otherwise Perfect Batman the Animated Series" naming some character redesigns and specific episodes.

Nerdist also reviewed several of the series episodes, including this review of "The Underdwellers" which they call The worst of the best.

"I don’t like episodes like “Night of the Ninja” or its sequel “Day of the Samurai” at all; I think they’re boring and completely pointless. But, I’d gladly watch both of them than “The Underdwellers,” an episode so hokey and so pedestrian and so, weirdly, pandering, that it kind of devalues the work the series was so good at doing, which was to present grown-up stories to a kid-friendly audience. This one is just so, so… stupid. It’s like it came right out of the 1960s camp-tastic live action series but was just transposed on the darker-tinged Animated Series. I mean, the villain’s name is “Sewer King” for crying out soft."