When a series of mysterious bombings remind Bruce Wayne of his favorite childhood TVv show, Batman recruits out of work actor and star of the series, Simon Trent, to help find the perpetrator.
Credits:
Story: D. O'Flaherty & T. Ruegger
Teleplay: G. Wolf & T. Ruegger
Directed by: B. Kirkland
Supervising Composer: Shirley Walker
Music Composed by: Carl Johnson
Animation Services by: Spectrum Animation Studio
This one is a beloved classic in no small part because it features the voice of the original television Batman, Adam West. The former Batman guest stars as washed-up actor Simon Trent, who is doomed to be typecast for his performance as a pulp hero. It works mostly because of that metatextual reference, combined with some of the best animation of the series.
Bruce being inspired in part by Gray Ghost to become a hero is a cute idea and that many of his gadgets and setup are directly lifted from that series is a fun addition to the backstory. In the comics, Batman is similarly inspired by Zorro, having seen one of those films the night his parents die. (A nod to that is shown in the JLU episode Epilogue, where Amanda Waller and Phantasm plan to kill Terry McGinnis’s parents after seeing a new Gray Ghost film). There’s something humanizing about Batman modeling a part of his dark persona after a childhood fantasy.
I remember renting a VHS of this episode and a couple of Scarecrow stories including Dreams in Darkness a few times in my teens before the complete DVDs came out. As a result, I have a particular fondness for it. The episode is very much a love letter to Batman as a childhood hero. I suppose we all have our heroes we created mythologies about in our lives because they meant something to us as a child. It’s nice to get a glimpse of Bruce’s childhood before his parents died.
Read the full recap and commentary on Patreon.
The entry for episode 5, Pretty Poison is now unlocked for everyone. It’s the debut of Poison Ivy. Click the title card to read it.
Bruce Wayne's friend, and Gotham's District Attorney, Harvey Dent has been poisoned. It is up to Batman to discover just who is out to kill Dent and find an antidote before it is too late.