10.22
Issue #3 or “The One Where Larger Than Life Heroes Come In Small Packages!”
This time we’re going to take a look at the episode that put the batty in Batman. In this episode, we see both Aquaman and the Atom team up to save Batman from a deadly disease by shrinking and traveling into his body to destroy the virus before it’s too late. Yes, the general concept of story is not all too original, but where this counts is in the execution. The Atom is the more serious of the two and always looking for the most peaceful and more thoughtful way through a situation while Aquaman (being the adventurous king with the heart of a Beluga whale) is the one always looking for action and the simplest way through.
At the same time, Batman searches for the villain who infected him with the deadly disease before it’s too late for him. Not to mention there’s an entire country put at risk! The clock is counting down, fellow adventurers! Can our tremendous trio of tactical terrifics save the day from this particular peril?
Stay tuned, the barn is about to be burned.
#3 – Journey to the Center of the Bat!
Written by: Matt Wayne
Directed by: Michael Chang
Principle Cast:
Diedrich Bader as Batman
John DiMaggio as Aquaman
James Sie as The Atom (Dr. Ryan Choi)
Dee Bradley Baker as The Brain / Chemo
The episode begins in the depths of a laboratory. Dr. Ryan Choi is a scientist working on a very important experiment that could change the world forever. That is, until he is interrupted by an emergency phone call and is forced to cut it short. The inappropriately timed call is from Aquaman who wants to make some small talk before remembering why it was he was calling the first place.
It seems Aquaman and Batman was fighting the villain known as “Chemo” who appropriately is composed of harmful chemicals. The pair was taken aback when Chemo… well… vomited on Batman. And now the caped crusader is not looking too well. Which is not surprising since Chemo isn’t exactly an eco-friendly bad guy. But of course Aquaman isn’t worried one bit unlike his fellow heroes.
Aquaman never seems to be frazzled for long, even when it is a life or death situation he never fails to assume the best. While Atom quickly becomes annoyed at Aquaman’s boisterous personality, Dr. Choi is still willing to help without much question. He is, after all, a superhero which is why he was called in the first place.
Dr. Choi then transforms into The Atom and jumps through the phone lines by shrinking to the size of a sub-atomic particle. He then rode along the electrons through the phone wires impressing Aquaman with his skills. Aquaman doesn’t really understand what he did, but is still just as excited to see his friend.
“You don’t know what kind of doctor I am, do you?”
“A hero doctor! Through and through!”
The Atom tells the two that the chemicals will slowly overtake Batman’s body before slowly disabling him and then eventually taking his life. There isn’t much time, so Atom takes Aquaman with him (reluctantly) into Batman’s body by using his shrinking powers to fight off the disease. Batman is ordered to stay still or the organisms will spread faster. He should wait for the two to succeed in their mission before moving again or things will get worse faster for him.
So when Batman ignores his friend’s advice, he finds moving much harder. Chemo is headed toward the city and he needs to stop the overgrown vomit bag before it’s too late. He hops into the Bat-boat and speeds off toward him. The navy fires everything they have, but Chemo simply refuses to slow down. Batman joins in their assault and just as Atom said, he soon loses all motor control as he begins speeding toward the towering terror.
Things are not looking too good for our caped crusader already, but he should be having better luck than our puny protagonists.
Aquaman and Atom land in Batman’s body and begin looking for the source of the problem from Batman’s lung. They are both rather impressed at their location, though for different reasons, but quickly decide that they must hurry. After ribbing at each other’s expense, they swim off to find… a little insect injecting bile inside of Batman’s body and spreading the disease further.
Ick.
Apparently this is the bug they need to destroy, but both are torn between how to approach their foe before Aquaman makes the decision for them and tears through it himself with his sword made of water.
The good king of the sea slices the pest in two with his conjured sword, but it isn’t enough. The bug splits itself into two once more and continues on with its violent vomiting. Atom chastises Aquaman for not thinking and takes it upon himself to electrocute them with his ray instead, which promptly stops the multiplying insects cold.
Momentarily, anyway.
It doesn’t completely stop them from replicating and they begin charging through Batman to attack the pair of pint-sized pair with a newfound rage. The bugs are spreading fast, and they seem to be getting more powerful by the minute.
Atom questions why they’re spreading so fast and if it’s because Batman didn’t listen to his orders. Aquaman already knew he wouldn’t listen to doctor’s orders because he’s Batman and laughs at the idea that he would have stayed still. The Caped Crusader has fought crime in traction, for crying out loud. Aquaman pulls Atom to safety toward the rushing blood vessels for an escape.
“Worry not, poindexter! I shall lead us to safer ground!”
“Wait! At our size, blood vessels are raging rivers of death!”
“Not if I summon a sturdy steed!”
Using his powers to summon water dwelling creatures… inside Batman’s blood stream… despite Atom’s protests that there are no animals living inside Batman, Aquaman’s powers summon:
A… lymphocyte. The neighs like a horse.
They ride the… uh… horse… through the blood stream with the bile-filled bugs in pursuit as Atom uses his gun to fight off the quickly approaching hoards from behind though despite being overwhelmed by the swarm of puking parasites, it doesn’t seem to affect Aquaman’s demeanour much at all.
He in fact just thinks of it as an even bigger adventure.
“Hahaha, I’m king of the sea!” He shouts as he rides a lymphocyte like a stallion through Batman’s bloodstream and slices through the pesky parasites like a hot knife through butter.
It’s important to mention that in “The Brave & The Bold”, (since his first appearance was not covered in any of our issues) Aquaman is in fact the king of the sea. He has an undying thirst for action and adventure and never fails to smile at a challenge. This leaves little wonder for why the cautious Dr. Choi is more than a little perplexed at his brash behavior and wonders why he doesn’t ever stop to consider an alternative. He’s simply too amped up to listen to anyone, least of all the good doctor who always wants him to do what he doesn’t want to.
Meanwhile, Batman uses his voice commands to keep Chemo busy by dodging his puke shots in the Bat-boat. He transforms it into the Batwing and takes off into the sky. Though it fires concussive grenades at the monstrous monster, it still fails to stop its pursuit. Chemo easily knocks it back into the ocean once again and leaves our hero wondering if his friends are having better luck than he is.
Atom and Aquaman make it to safety and the lymphocyte (which the sea king calls “Platelet”- yes, that’s what he names it) attempts to give Aquaman a big hug which Atom interprets as the “stallion” trying to absorb and break him down in order to destroy him since he’s a foreign body. They look up from their position to find hundreds upon thousands of the little bugs waiting for them up ahead and try to concoct a plan.
“Neptune’s beard, they’re everywhere!”
“And we’re not going to be able to beat them head on.”
“Not the way you fight, no.”
Atom ignores the barb and tells his compatriot that they must find the seed cell in order to destroy all the others at once. There’s only one thing to do; jump on Platelet and ride the lymphocyte into Batman’s brain to stop the bugs!
That’s a sentence.
Chemo continues his charge toward the city, now batting navy ships out of his way while Batman continues on his desperate pursuit. The grotesque giant steals a nuke from a launch base (!) which lets Batman think that he must be operating under someone’s direction. Soon enough he gets a transmission that tells him exactly what he has guessed.
The Brain is the brain behind the attack! How ironic!
Chemo eats the nuke (!) and stomps off toward the city. Now Batman has even less options as he chases after the vomiting villain. The Brain gives the people an ultimatum to submit to his rule or he will send Chemo over to the city and detonate the nuke inside the beast that will wipe out the country. The only one still standing in his way is good old Batman who is lying helpless in the damaged Batwing floating uselessly on the open ocean.
The Brain orders Chemo to crush Batman in the vehicle, but Batman ejects at the right height as he’s lifted up and soars through the sea sky without being able to move and lands… in Chemo’s mouth.
As Batman plummets to his warm liquid death, Atom and Aquaman (and Platelet) make their way to Batman’s big brain in time to see a giant insect hugging it which is the very creature stopping Batman’s movements. They distract it to which the creature summons more puke-filled bugs embedded in Batman’s brain to attack the heroes and keep them from reaching their goal.
While the three heroes are swarmed, Chemo enters the city ready to detonate the nuke while Batman (now free to move thanks to the distraction currently unfolding inside his head) swims toward the nuke and disables it while it floats suspended in the bile.
With his little remaining strength he blows a hole in Chemo’s stomach which leaves the monster to puke out the vomit from the blown hole into the street. Eventually he drains of his precious puke and the giant booger-like being dissolves. Batman is washed away back to the dock where he scans the sea for a nearby submarine amongst the wreckage of ships which must house the one he’s looking for.
Aquaman shoves Atom off of Platelet and the pair charges off toward the swarm of death ahead. He tells him that he will distract them so that Atom is free to hit the big bug and destroy it, but the hasty plan doesn’t go as he hoped for. There are just too many of them.
While Aquaman charges into glory, Batman detonates a hole in the roof of the Brain’s sub and finally meets him face to mechanical brain-thing face. Batman is looking ragged and wobbling in his walk, yet still tells The Brain he’s going to take him in.
Batman stumbles over himself to the ground and knocks the Brain over which leads to an epic battle between the two juggernauts.
But inside his head, all is not going well. Platelet is shredded into pieces as Aquaman is tossed to the ground in his charge. Atom loses his cool after the trusty steed’s death finally deciding that Aquaman might have the right idea in this case. Enough is enough!
Let’s get outrageous.
“What about the plan?”
“Blah, blah, blah… Let’s punch ‘em!”
Atom makes a final gambit during the brawl and sticks the device directly into the creature’s brain and blows it sky-high. The beasts instantly cry with pain and are dissolved into nothing once again. Our two heroes stand alone and triumphant.
Batman’s life has been saved.
As a result, back on the submarine the Dark Knight regains his strength. It takes him seconds to take the Brain down swiftly in order to save the world from his sickening schemes!
Aquaman pats his clever friend on the back and admires his guts and smarts, and Atom says (basically) the same to his fish-like friend. Though Platelet died, it was not in vain. Even though the lymphocyte didn’t last long, they don’t usually, it’s best to remember the good times they had. Good times like beating buggy beasts belching bile into a sick man’s organs while he in turn saves the world from a vomit monster. Truly a battle they will never forget.
The episode ends as our remaining heroes make a swim for the only way out- Batman’s tear ducts. They might be looking for that for a while.
“Come then, let us honor Platelet and live as heroes!”
It’s important to mention one thing about this episode. It is pretty off the wall. Obviously. But there was another thing to take notice, that being that it was enjoyable while being so. While some episodes in the series are more action-based, some are more serious, and some are a combination of the two, there are still other episodes such as this that mainly exist to be strange and out of the blue in order to have you enjoying the adventure.
Most episodes with Aquaman are like this, but as great as the show is with comedy, this might be one of the funniest in the entire show’s run. He would also team up with the Atom again after this, mainly due to how successful this episode was.
The Silver Age can sometimes be like this, however, and so can Batman. Just because certain stories can go a specific way or only be told one way, it doesn’t mean there can’t be other stories that constantly surprise you with sharp turns while you’re heading that way. Some stories can only be done like this. Of course Batman saves the day, but how many times does he blow a hole through a vicious vomit monster’s stomach after disabling a nuke and riding the ejecting fluids to safety?
Not very often, I’d wager.
Until next time, Bat-fans! Same brave blog, same bold place!