Category Archives: Batman

Because Last Week Was Batman Comedy Week, Apparently

Because I am not privy to the machinations of NBC, I don’t know if this was planned or just coincidence, but two NBC shows ran jokes about Batman last week. Extended jokes, complete with costume; not just a punchline. First of all, Batman is never not relevant. Second of all, if it was a coincidence, how did that happen? Other than Batman just being generally awesome.

Sadly, neither one was very funny. If you want funny Batman sketches, go to College Humor.

But first we have a noble effort by Saturday Night Live. I haven’t watched them in years, but I guess they do digital shorts now? As opposed to live sketches? Where’d that come from? Anyway, Steve Buscemi as Commissioner Gordon is awesome.

Second is the show Community, which is an amazing show, yet is on the verge of being cancelled. Why? BECAUSE WE CAN’T HAVE NICE THINGS!

How is it that a TV show where one character does an extended Batman riff – in costume! – isn’t the most popular show on TV?

My Greatest Regret is Never Finishing Lego Batman

I don’t know why I never finished that game. It was custom made for me to enjoy: Legos, Batman and a fully playable Robin! Was I insane? Did I have something wrong with me? Hell, I already owned the Lego Batmobile set. It’s sitting on my DVD shelf right now. I didn’t even buy Lego Batman the game myself, I got it for Christmas! And it was a brilliant Christmas present! Yet for some foolish reason or anything, I barely touched that game and eventually traded it in for another game.

Well the universe has decided to give me a chance to make amends. The sequel, Lego Batman 2: Super Heroes, was announced Monday.

Or at least someone uncovered this teaser image:

There is so much awesome in this one picture, I can barely stand it

That’s pretty cool news. New Batman video games are always fun. I absolutely loved the Lego Sar Wars games when I played them, yet for some reason I never got into Lego Batman, Lego Harry Potter or Lego Indiana Jones. They’re an absolute blast to play! Little Lego characters running around a Lego world, collecting bricks and building items. It’s adorable. And again, fully playable Robin! That game should have been my Holy Grail. But alas, it couldn’t hold my interest.

Possibly because there were no Lego lightsabers in the Batman game.

So a sequel should be fun. Batman and Superman teaming up, along with Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and who knows who else (Robin?). Hopefully this time they’ll make it online co-op. Maybe that will be the key.

I Have the Power to Move Mountains – Or At Least Batman

I’ve done it! I’ve made the potentially impossible happen! I wrote a few articles about the video game Batman: Arkham City, and the universe answered! Though it’s probably completely unreasonable for me to even suggest such a thing, it looks like the game developer Rocksteady has heard my plea and is answering in kind.

The Batcave is coming to Arkham City!

The news was recently Twittered that new downloadable content will feature the Batcave. In what capacity, I don’t yet know.

Is that what the kids are calling it these days? 'Twittered'?

The Nightwing DLC gave us the keys to Wayne Manor, so I have high hopes for the Batcave. And regular readers may recall that I once wrote a list of 6 Things I Want in the Third Batman: Arkham Game. It’s been one of my most popular lists. Right there at #2 is The Batcave/Wayne Manor. Granted we’re going to visit both in the second Batman: Arkham game, but I have to imagine that Rocksteady saw my list and decided to make it happen sooner rather than later.

What’s that you say? It’s almost astronomically impossible that Rocksteady saw my dinky little blog post? And that they themselves could conceive of a plan as simple as ‘let’s add the Batcave’?

Well to that I say, a pox upon you! Let me have my moment.

I also want a Batcave

6 Comic Books that Should Become TV Shows

The announcement yesterday that the Syfy Network has ordered a pilot script for obscure DC superhero Booster Gold got me thinking: what other comic book superheroes or stories would make for great live-action TV? We already know that superhero movies are a huge hit in Hollywood, and there are decades worth of superhero cartoons from Marvel Comics, DC and also some indie publishers. Even live-action shows based on comic books have been successful. The Walking Dead is currently kicking ass on AMC. And Smallville, the story of Superman as a teenager, ran for a whopping 10 seasons on the CW!

And heck, Booster Gold even appeared in live action during an episode of Smallville. That show gave us our first on-screen, live-action Justice League years before The Avengers movie will hit theaters.

And they did it with explosions and crappy green screen effects!

New shows and programs flood our boob tubes every year, like flinging a bunch of crap against a wall and hoping something sticks. Sometimes they’re a surprise success, sometimes they are canceled after one or two episodes and sometimes, like the Wonder Woman pilot, they never get broadcast at all. TV is a funny world.

Well here are 6 Comic Books that I think Should Become TV Shows! And I mean only live-action, no cartoons.

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Review: Calling All Robins

For my 200th post at Henchman-4-Hire, I want ALL the Robins! But 200 posts, that’s a pretty big achievement, right? I hope so, and I hope to write 200 more. I’m really enjoying blogging, and we’ve definitely increased our readership since the site opened. I take that as a good sign. Though I wish we saw more comments. C’mon everybody! Fire off a comment or two after some of my posts. Tell me what you think. Tell me what else you want to read!

Calling ALL the Robins!

At any rate, to celebrate the 200th post I’ve picked a very special comic book to review: Batman: The Brave and the Bold #13. It’s a comic book based on a now cancelled TV show, but it’s special because it’s the very first time, in all of comicdom, that all of the Robins team up in one adventure in order to help Batman!

Calling all Robins…Batman Dies at Dawn!

How nifty is that?

Comic rating: 3/5: Alright.

Not very nifty as a story, but wonderfully nifty as a concept. Longtime readers of this blog will know that I’m a HUGE Robin fan. I love the character even more than Batman. So any Robin-focused story is cool by me. So I figured it would be a fun idea to spend my 200th post talking about a comic book that revels in ultimate Robin goodness. The story is flimsy, the characterizations are sparse, but dammit if this isn’t a comic where Dick, Jason, Tim, Stephanie, Damian and even Carrie Kelly team up in order to save the Batman!

That’s good comic books, people.

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