Chapter 29, Draft 4 – COMPLETE!

To have strength in yourself is conviction indeed

But when your peers falter what then will you need?

Will it be faith if your conviction is strong?

Or is murder the lie you’ve been told all along?

 

Another chapter done. In the previous draft I had about five characters standing around waiting while an amazing event took place twenty feet away. 😲

Yeah, pretty silly. No longer! They’re all on a mission, so we get some private time between two characters that you don’t even know about yet. But you’re going to know them by the time you get this far in book two. And you shall not be disappointed by what happens here.

Kim had one more thing to say about the end of the chapter: I got the cliffhanger wrong again. Or rather, I had the cliffhanger too early, and then the chapter ended at a LESSER cliffhanger a page or two later.

Easy fix. Just move the chapter break earlier; put the rest at the start of chapter 30.

And I trust Kim when it comes to cliffhangers. Hers are FAMOUS in the writing group she’s part of.

This also concludes the first part of the book’s finale. Next up is part two of the finale and a major scenery change.

Now let’s review something. I was excited for this one:

Batman: Caped Crusader

I love the original Animated Series. At the time, I had only read the ‘Knightfall’ storyline. It’s the one where Bane sets loose every villain in Arkham Asylum. It’s such a great way to get introduced to the characters, and the animated series expanded on everything I had read. So how does this new show compare?

I’ll just be going over my quick thoughts on the episodes. But it will have spoilers. And yes, this version of Batman changes things up. So don’t go in thinking you don’t need a spoiler warning!

1 – Wow, what a start! Hoods getting shot and killed? Mild swears? And zounds, none of it is too over-the-top. Tasteful, just the way I like it.

And then Penguin shows up.

I’ll be honest, When the monocle-wearing singer came out I thought she was just Pengy’s opening act. But then it hit me: THEY MADE PENGUIN A WOMAN!?

Sounds like an interesting idea! I may have to steal it. Or maybe I already did, future Abandonment Party readers. Yeah, you’ll know what I mean. 😉

This episode goes big all the way until the end. Turns out Penguin had a mortar disguised as a decorative umbrella on top of that ship you see in the video. Devious. And I love the total destruction of police HQ at the end. A+ episode.

2 – Now we’ve got Clayface. They choose to focus on the ‘actor’ side of him, just like that new Suicide Squad Isekai show.

I was kept guessing because Basil Karlo was killed quite early, and I know that he’s Clayface in the comics. “Is this misdirection? Are they making someone else become Clayface in this? They changed the Penguin, after all.”

Then Batman checks the corpse of ‘Basil’ and gets quite an odd surprise.

I did not enjoy the ending fight though. Seems this Clayface can’t actually shapeshift his body and limbs to become spiked balls and other deadly weapons. He gets punched in the face until he relents. Boring.

3 – Catwoman appears, and she is not the clever and street-smart thief we know and love. She’s just some spoiled aristocrat that needs some quick cash. Pretty silly. She has enough money to build a ‘cat car’ though!?

Martha’s pearls are what she’s after at the museum, and that gives us a reason to take a BRIEF look into Bruce’s past.

And I am grateful they kept the flashbacks concise. We don’t need to see ‘the murders’ yet again.

4 – Firebug, NOT FIREFLY, shows up in this one. And this is a rare case where the new series outdoes the original ‘BtaS.’

See, in the original animated series, the episode ‘Torch Song’ features Firefly as the villain. He sets things on fire. He wants to get back at his ex-girlfriend. And yet the episode does nothing to show you WHY Firefly uses fire. Sure, he’s a special effects guy that specializes in pyrotechnics for a rock star show. Concert? Whatever you call them. I don’t get out often. 😅

But it doesn’t capture the MADNESS of Firefly.

This new series remedies that. This Firebug is insane. You see him alone in his cell, mimicking the action of flicking a lighter as he stares with longing eyes. When he’s set free with his fuel tanks and Firebug suit, he’s happy again. You see things from his point of view: The entire city block is ablaze. Everyone appears to him as immolated wraiths. Children are burning as they dance through the streets with wide grins.

And Firebug loves it. Time to bring his gift to the world. THIS is the madness that was missing from the original!

Too bad they had Bullock kill him. 😐

5 – At last! Harley Quinn finally appears. Where’s that eye rolling emoji? 🙄

Actually, Harleen Quinzel has been in almost every episode so far. As a normal psychologist. But now she struts her stuff in full harlequin garb.

So yes, Harley Quinn has now appeared in a Batman series BEFORE Joker. The saturation is complete. Harley absolute! 🤑

Her ‘playpen’ was pretty twisted, though. All those rich men, trapped in glass cages. Harley brainwashes them into giving away all their money. And no, she doesn’t use magic, hypnosis, or alien tech to do it. She brainwashes the real-world way: by humiliating the victim until they agree with her.

She tickles them while they’re painted in clown makeup. She dresses one up like a baby. Why, she even forces people to go shopping wearing surgical masks or else they can’t buy food!

Oh, whoops, that last example was from something else. 😑

6 – So now that the series has established that its villains are based in reality as much as possible, let’s see who Batman’s up against next:

A ghost horseman! Yes, a real ghost. He has the powers of teleportation; fires spectral bullets from his pistol; and can become intangible, freezing Batman’s fist as it passes through him.

And Batman is as wary as the audience surely is. He assumes it’s all a trick. But when he sees the otherworldly powers for himself, he doesn’t freak out. He just buckles down and thinks: “Okay. How do I defeat a ghost?”

Batman does what needs to be done: he visits a witch doctor, learns a magic spell, and exorcises that filthy specter. Great episode, because this is the LAST thing I was expecting to experience on this show.

7 – Onomatopoeia. A hitman that shouts out the sound effects of his attack moves as he does them. “BANG!” “WHOOSH!”

I think it’s pretty stupid. He gets beat down just like any other flunky, so what’s the point?

But man, this villain was cool on the Superman and Lois show. They had sonic powers that actually made the sounds become real attacks that could hurt the Man of Steel. Kind of like Apoo from One Piece.

THIS episode of Batman seems tame in comparison. 😴

8 – And now we have some vampire girl. No idea who she’s supposed to be. I’m beginning to lose interest in the show at this point. No Riddler. No Joker. Just obscure characters these past two episodes, and the season’s almost over. 😣

But what’s this!? In the final few minutes of the show, Harvey Dent’s deal with Thorne has gone awry! He’s splashed in the face with acid and… Two Face is born!

9 – Here we go. Two Face on the rampage, getting all the dark justice he can stomach. In a twist, BRUCE is the one that pushes him over the edge. Alfred scolds him, and then Batman, Montoya, and Gordon scramble to find Harvey as bodies pile up on his way to Thorne.

Batman manages to find Two Face before he can finish off Thorne and his son, and Harvey surrenders to the police.

The scarred half of the face is the one that seems thankful that ‘he’ was stopped before he killed anyone else.

10 – Wow, did I say this was getting boring? With Two Face regretting his actions, Thorne is now the one out for revenge. And he sends every crooked cop in the city on a massive manhunt as Two Face is in transit to safety.

Most of the episode takes place at the docks, where the fog is rolling in and Batman, Barbara, and Gordon are all fighting for their lives to protect Harvey.

Did I mention Bullock is one of the crooked cops in question? Yeah, I couldn’t believe it. He has a partner named Flass that ends up SHOOTING Barbara. Or at least, he aims for her. Harvey is the one that takes the fatal bullet.

Then I almost peed my pants upon seeing what happened next: In a furious rage, Batman slugs Flass, picks up his pistol, and fires six shots at him! 😲

My bro was watching with me. (We were using Dad’s Amazon Prime account. Remember, I have to mooch.) He actually let out a “WHAAAAAAT!?”

But I knew better. If Batman shot someone to death in this new show it would have been ALL OVER my YouTube feed. “They turned Batman into Punisher!” That sort of thing.

And it was only a fake out: Batman fired six bullets into the wooden crate behind Flass’ head. He then lets out a primal howl and tosses the pistol into the water.

With Harvey dead, Batman grieves in the Batcave. However, he has some new allies, and they’re going to work to make Gotham better; even if it seems impossible.

He also FINALLY calls Alfred by his first name instead of just “Pennyworth.”

But it seems there’s one surprise left! In the season-ending stinger we get… well, since I’ve been looking through YouTube videos this whole time let’s just put it up:

JOKER!? IN A BATMAN SHOW!? 😅

I didn’t notice until now, but those first corpses you see only have half-smiles on their faces. And Joker demands PERFECT grins on his victims. 😆

See you next time, in season two! And Abandonment Party 2!