Batman: The Brave And The Bold: Battle Of The Super-Heroes

 Last week, the Batman:The Brave and the Bold episode on Cartoon Network was 'The Battle of the Super-Heroes' and guest-starred Superman. The Source blog talked about it last week here:
 http://dcu.blog.dccomics.com/2011/03/25/batman-takes-on-the-man-of-steel-in-tonights-new-batman-the-brave-and-the-bold/

 I have always enjoyed this cartoon. Yes it is a little light-hearted but it works so well. Batman is often the straight man, gritting his teeth as lunacy happens around him. The episodes have veered from straight forward adventures (like battling Starro), to comedy (the excellent Bat-Mite episodes), to musical (the Music Meister!). But there has always been a very deep understanding about the history of the DCU put into the show. There are plenty of Easter Eggs for the more knowledgeable fans.

As a Superman fan, I loved this episode because of the homages and references. Many of them occurred in flashback scenes and are Silver Age silliness. I will only post the ones that struck me the most, but they are almost identical references to comics and with the right dialogue too! Sorry for the somewhat pixilated pictures.

In the episode, Superman gets effected by Red Kryptonite and becomes angry and evil. Hilarity ensues.

Early in the episode, Mr. Mxyzptlk shows up and uses his magic to put Jimmy through multiple of his incarnations. My favorite is the wolf-man because a kiss from Supergirl cures him in the comic Jimmy Olsen #44.

Later in the episode, Lois daydreams about what her life would be like if she married Superman and settled down including this dream like the cover of Lois Lane #23.

And Jimmy remembers some of his crazier adventures with Superman like this one from Jimmy Olsen #53.

But then Superman gets exposed to the Red K, setting himself up as king of Metropolis, like this famous cover from Action Comics #311.

And Jimmy and Lois tell Batman of how mean Superman has become, like burning a bathrobe gift like from this cover of Jimmy Olsen #30.

And taking Lana out for a beach side barbecue leaving Lois to pine, just like this cover from Lois Lane #26.

But all the references aren't Silver Age craziness. Because when Batman finally fights Superman, buying time for the Red K to wear off, he does it with some Dark Knight Returns kicks ...

 And Dark Knight Returns fisticuffs.

And trust me, there are more Easter Eggs in there. As a big time DC fan, I am really going to miss this show.

With everything in this episode, it would have been the perfect time for us to have seen Supergirl on the show. But instead we get a healthy dose of Krypto. And with Brave and Bold ending soon, I guess we will never see Kara here.

If you look hard enough around the internet, you can probably find this episode to watch. Here is the home page link on the Cartoon Network site: http://www.cartoonnetwork.com/tv_shows/batmanbb/index.html