Beware The Batman... And His Gun-Totting Butler

SOURCE: "Beware The Batman" CGI Animated Series Coming For 2013, "DC Nation" Updates

Right. So there's going to be a new CGI Batman cartoon. The style looks... well, like they tried to convert Bruce Timm's Batman designs into 3-D. It's not fair to judge until we see the cartoon in motion but... this just looks odd.

Odder still is the news of the cast, with Batman being assisted in his war on crime by a woman named Katana (no word on if she'll be the same one of Outsiders fame of if she'll have a soul-sucking sword, but I doubt it on both counts) and a gun-totting Alfred Pennyworth.

You heard me. A gun-totting Alfred Pennyworth.

...

A GUN-TOTTING ALFRED PENNYWORTH?!

I can deal with Alfred carrying a hunting rifle around Wayne Manor on the lookout for prowlers. I can even cope with him loading the bloody thing and not just using it to scare off intruders. But actually going out on the streets - WITH Batman - shooting at the bad guys?

*face palms*

On the bright side, the news is not all dark. The same block of new cartoons will apparently see a cartoon based on the Doom Patrol, which I expect will be aimed at young boys who love freaks, monsters and robots. Why do I make that guess? Because the third cartoon they announced is definitely aimed at young ladies and it definitely sounds the most promising on every front. The creator behind the new My Little Pony cartoon is working on a series of animated shorts teaming Wonder Girl, Batgirl & Supergirl called Super Best Friends Forever.

Why couldn't we have gotten THAT as a comic book instead of Catwoman?

One Good Thing And One Bad Thing About Doom Patrol #5

BAD THING: I had to read through an awful story with awful characters and awful art that had no real connection to Blackest Night to get to the Metal Men story at the end. It was so awful I can't even bring myself to show you a scan of it. I like you all too much for that. Yes, even YOU.

GOOD THING: The great Metal Men mini-comic after the main book to cleanse my mind of the waste of ink that is Doom Patrol.

The Final Verdict: Metal Men really needs to be its' own book. The Doom Patrol need to get blown up again. If they can do it heroically saving a small town, so much the better - but the key is that they need to die. Soon.

One Good Thing And One Bad Thing About Doom Patrol #4

BAD THING: You know those comics which claim to tie-in to a bigger storyline that are just an excuse to get the regular readers to care about the crossover and a means of suckering in all of the fans of the crossover who wouldn't buy this book any other way? This is one of those comics.

On the bright side, at least there's three pages of history explaining who the Black Lantern Doom Patrol members are and and who the current Doom Patrol is for those of us who don't read Doom Patrol. So at least you don't spend the whole book confused as to who is fighting who and why. That being said, there's no reason to buy this book if you're just interested in Blackest Night.


GOOD THING: The real treat comes at the end of the issue, where there is a non-Blackest Night affiliated story about The Metal Men.

Now I know what you're thinking - why do I care about the Metal Men all of a sudden? I don't. But I do care about anything Keith Giffen, J. M. DeMatteis and Kevin Maguire do together. Because it's always worth reading and frequently hilarious.