/ Cinema readers probably know that the aesthetics of “Batman: The Animated Series” is part of what made the show such a success. The “Dark Deco” look, as we knew, was an extension of the series’s desire to tell much more mature scenarios and treat children as if they were intelligent enough to understand them. The backgrounds of the Carte Noire and the designs inspired by the film Noir have spoken to this desire to tell more stories for adults, with “BTAS” manufacturing an immersive and oppressive city of Gotham which seemed really unique in the middle of the relatively eccentric designs of the Fox Kids series like “Taz-Mania” and “Eek! The Cat”.
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With other visual influences ranging from Alfred Hitchcock’s films to Tim Burton’s Batman films, you may not expect that “BTAS” became a full Western during its 1992-1995 race. But that’s exactly what he did in an episode of season 2 which, although he does not remember one of the Best “Batman: The Animated Series” episodesThere remains a memorable entry into the series, if only for the unique in the middle of the other payments – visually and otherwise.
Not that the “BTAS” did not take risks. The program has proven its desire to develop on Batman Lore, presenting a complete story for Mr. Freeze and inventing the now extremely popular character of Harley Quinn, who was not Batman’s only villain created by the series. But the show was not necessarily known to change its very important tone, which makes “showdown”, with its old West, so interesting.
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Showdown presented an anti-hero DC in Batman: The Animated Series
Love like the eighty-two episode of “Batman: The Animated Series”, “Showdown” made its debut after the show entered its time “The Adventures of Batman & Robin”. For his second season, Fox demanded that Robin appear in each episode, leading to A rejected episode that would have presented a beloved DC hero. This studio request was marked by the change of title of the program which accompanied the beginnings of the second season in 1994. On September 12, 1995, when “Showdown” was broadcast, the children were very used to Batman, venturing next to his younger acolyte – which is exactly how “Showdown” begins, while the dynamic duo was descending for a retirement home broken the dynamic duo. Things quickly take a brutal turn, however, after the pair discovered a band left by the villain and listen to it in the Batmobile. The majority of the rest of the episode take place mainly in flashbacks, during which we are entitled to a full western.
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“Showdown” was written by the Texan author Joe R. Lansdale, who, in addition to being a contributor’s writer on “BTAS”, wrote novels and several comics acclaimed by criticism featuring the character of Bounty Hunter of DC, Jonah Hex. It was this anti-hero, which appeared for the first time in “All-Star Western” # 10 in 1972, that Lansdale brought to “BTAS” in “Showdown”. The episode flashback at 1883 presents Hex, expressed by Bill McKinney, visiting the hole in the city of Devil to find an outlaw named Arkady Duvall. His research brings him to a neighboring mountain where Ra’s Al Ghul builds a giant airship designed to stop the construction of a nearby railroad and to finally help take control of the US government. Duvall is part of the crew which contributes to supervising the construction. Hex is discovered hoping for the operation and is captured by Ra’s and his gang, but he ends up escaping, thwarting the wicked attempt to take control of the United States
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The episode ends in the current one, Batman and Robin learning that Duvall was in fact the son of RA who finally found himself in the care house since the start of the episode. It seems that Ra’s Jr. has received a longer lifespan after exposure to the same Lazarus pit of which Ra her extended lifespan. As such, Batman Rogue was at the care house to recover his son, which seems to be sufficient for the black knight to let his former adversary go.
Several influences have made showdown an episode of Memorable Batman
Joe Lansdale explained how he wanted to portray Jonah Hex in an episode of “Batman: the animated podcast,” Explaining how he was considering a version of the eastern Texan of the anti-hero who was a Confederate and somewhat “taken as a man of his time, and yet a man evolving out of the time”. The writer continued:
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“I wanted to bring the supernatural element, and I wanted him not to be a guy who came from a family where people had money. I wanted him to be the kind of poor people I knew as I grow up, and I felt that I could give this more realistic vision. And I also wanted to show that his advanced views on things were changing, which had a form of cynicism in some cases, satir in some cases, humor. “
Lansdale and her sensitivity are a large part of the reason why “BTAS” made such a big change with “Showdown”, but there were also other influences in play. The story itself came from the director “BTAS” Kevin Altieri, the co-creator Bruce Timm and the writer Paul Dini, and the whole episode was influenced by the novels and the news of George Macdonald Fraser “The Flashman Papers”, with the creators taking major clues to the protagonist Harry Flashman for the character of Arkady Duvall. Even more interesting is the fact that Duvall was expressed by The star of “Clockwork Orange” Malcolm McDowellWho then expressed the villain Metallo in “Superman: The Animated Series”. Jonah Hex would also make his second appearance of DC Animated Universe in a 2005 episode of “Justice League Unlimited”.
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“Showdown” remains one of the most unique episodes of “BTAS”, and although he is not responsible for major additions to Batman Lore, it is remarkable to prove that writers and artists could develop a convincing story that has retained the tone of the series.
