Review: Batman TBATB "Invasion of the Secret Santas!"

Mayhem, attempted murder, and the death of Batman's parents. And Santa getting kicked in the face. 

Merry Christmas!

Recap: Batman TBATB "Invasion of the Secret Santas!"

Well, Merry Christmas everybody! And Hannukah, Kwanzaa, and all those other winter holidays that get pushed aside to make room for the birthday of a carpenter. Sorry about that. Anyway, this'll make up for that, maybe possibly. A Christmas Recap! A Batman one! I mean, if there's one thing that Batman loves, it's Christmas!

Okay, maybe not. Christmas doesn't usually end well for him...

But it ends worse for the bad guys.

Oh yeah, let's recap.

Ho ho HORROR.

Character Assassination: Batman Returns

Well, Christmastime is upon us yet again. And nothing says "Christmas cheer" like death!
...well, not really. Unless you're Tim Burton, maker of two of my favorite Christmas movies: The Nightmare Before Christmas and Batman Returns.

I could go on and on about Batman Returns (and I probably will at some point), but let's focus on one of the most debated aspects of that movie: the death of Selina Kyle.
...merry Christmas?

What can I say about this picture that the internet hasn't already?

Sketchbook: Grim Reaper Redesign

"How about a Grim Reaper redesign? That ridiculous mask..."
-Anonymous

Ridiculous indeed, yet so iconic in its own way.

Just look at that goofy outfit. It screams "diabolical mastermind," but the character's more of a schemer, at best. It always ends up redesigned in adaptations, whether it be cartoons, videogames, or beyond.

And by "beyond," I mean "back from the dead as a Horseman of Apocalypse."

Like with the Top, I gave myself a few handicaps to prevent an all-out radical redesign.

1. Keep the blue and purple color scheme.
2. Work the Galactus-esque head fins in somhow.
3. For any superfluous additions, function over form.

Let's see what I came up with!

Top Ten Team-Ups of Batman: the Brave and the Bold

Before I start, I’d like to remind you all that this is only my personal list, and you are allowed to disagree. In fact, I’d love to hear any of your favorite TBATB team-ups in the comments section! I'd also like to say that this doesn't mean I necessarily dislike the other team-ups. These are just my favorites.

Also, before I begin the list proper, I’d like to bring attention to the fact that there was also a comic book tie-in to the show that was much freer in which characters it could, and did, use. Specifically, I’d like to honorably mention the top two team-ups from that series.

Batman, Brother Power, and Super Hip

Hello, Sixties. Glad you're back.

This is just about as sixties as it gets. Batman teams up with a living mannequin from a hippie commune and the super-powered alter ego of Tadwallader Jutefruce (Bob Hope’s nephew) to battle against Mad Mod, an evil clothes maker. No more explanation necessary; that’s just awesome.

All the Robins

Spoiler Alert: He doesn't die at dawn.

The Phantom Stranger reaches across time and brings together every Robin to save Batman. Carrie Kelley, Damian Wayne, Stephanie Brown, and more. Again, no more explanation necessary; that’s just awesome.

And now, on with the list! Let's go!

Sketchbook: Future Foundation Thing

Like the last sketch I uploaded, this is also a left over from my planned videos. I drew about a dozen drawings to be used in an intro sequence, alongside some footage of myself drawing.

Sketchbook: CS Captain Atom Title Card

Some of you who've been here since the beginning may remember that this site was originally going to host videos before Blip rejected my application, hence the switch to text-based reviews.

My first Character Study, the one on Captain Atom, remained relatively unchanged, but with a few changes. Most notably, I took out a lot of the visuals that would have been present in the video version. Among those visuals was a title card.

Review: Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. "Of Moles and Men"

This episode was, like a few before it, just a load of “meh.” I really can’t go into much depth about most of this episode’s facets, so instead I’m going to resort to a list of the good and bad parts of this episode, with a little explanation for each, before I get to the main chunk of my criticism.

Recap: Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. "Of Moles and Men"

Well, here we are again. The last episode I need to catch up on before getting to "Wendigo Apocalypse," the first really good episode. How does this one stack up? Well, it's either "meh" or the worst episode in the series.

Let us begin.

Why do I get the feeling that this episode ends with Hulk putting Skaar down after he kills a lady?

Sketchbook: Deadman

It's Deadman, the dead man!

Sketchbook: 11 Doctors Study

I had this notion in my head to create a Doctor Who fancomic, and I still have the unfinished script and the rough plot saved on my computer. Who knows? If I ever get around to making it, I'll post it on the site. But this is the art I made to see if I could distinctly draw each Doctor. Yes, each one would show up in the story.

Sketchbook: Earth-2 Superman, Assorted

Re-read Earth-2 Vol. 1 the other day.
I still love it.

FYI: The NewtCave, December 2013

I'm sure that those of you who take notice of such things have noticed that the posts that weren't set to auto-update have been going up either a bit late or very late.

Long story short, I've been getting very little sleep all this week, and I've run out of pre-prepared posts that I can auto-schedule. Not only that, but (being a college student) I'm only, like, 8 days away from finals week. Already this week I've retaken an exam, given two presentations, and I have one more presentation and a project to turn in next week alongside 4 exams and a paper due the week after that.

Naturally, this leaves little time for updating the NewtCave.

As such, the NewtCave will be undergoing a bit of a temporary slimdown. Here are the details.

1.  Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. Recaps/Reviews will still be posted.
2.  Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. View Logs at the Critical Cablebox blog will still be posted.
3. Character Studies, Character Assassinations will be put on hiatus until at least the 20th of December.
4.  To compensate for the slimdown of content, there will be sketches uploaded every day starting tomorrow. (Because I can churn those posts out easily.)
5.  There WILL be special Christmas updates.
6.  I will be making an effort to go back and reformat/spellcheck some of these last few posts. No cops with walkie-talkies, or CGI AT-AT's, just doing the basic editing work I should have done before hitting "Publish."

I apologize for the temporary slimdown, and I promise that I will be building up a buffer of posts during this time to get the NewtCave fully back on track by the end of the month.

Review: Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. "Hulks on Ice"

Ugh. This episode.

Recap: Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. "Hulks on Ice"

Look, it's called "Hulks on Ice." How good could it be?

Ice makes everything worse. Except for cream.