The New 52 Teen Titans Vol 1: It's Our Right to Fight Review

The Teen Titans are an iconic team, featuring Robin, Beast Boy, Starfire, Kid Flash, Superboy, and Wonder Girl. You'll be happy to know that this team has only about half of that.

The New 52 has this problem of fixing things that aren't broken (and not fixing the broken parts). Like taking Tim Drake and no longer having him been Robin he's just straight Red Robin. The problem is that in this he mentions being Robin... what? Yes, it's totally confusing, not to mention, unnecessary.

Reading this version of Teen Titans was similar to what it would be like waking up inside the dreams in Inception. Everything seems somewhat familiar, yet it's muddled and cloudy.

The characters include the previously mentioned Red Robin, Superboy (wearing a Tron style costume and bro-tastic barcode Superman "S" tattoo), Kid Flash, and Wonder Girl. Beast Boy and Starfire have been replaced with generic and boring "heroes" whose names are not worth learning: a cloud lady and a giant spider lady that acts like the Hulk.

By far one of the worst new characters is Bunker. First off, his name makes absolutely zero sense, he doesn't turn into rock or conjured protective force fields. He can create lavender constructs such as giant fists or part of a brick wall. Secondly, his costume is just plain awful, it's maroon and purple. Lastly, DC tried to make Bunker (aka Miguel Barragan) the "Miles Morales Spider-Man" of the Titans. What I mean is they tried to cram several minority qualities into him by making him both gay and Hispanic. Now before you jump to conclusions, I am all for diversity in comics, but diversity means making people on a team diverse not shoveling ever single diverse quality into one character. I'm fine with him being both gay and Hispanic, because honestly it doesn't matter. As long as he kicks ass, I don't care.

My main problem is that DC tries to ram it down your throat by making it so obvious and not being tasteful. For instance, every other word he says is some cookie cutter Spanish word that makes Speedy Gonazles look politically correct. Also, when they travel to a different place he always has a ton of clothes with him and is constantly changing outfits. It's basically a caricature and it comes off very tasteless. Come on, DC if you're going to diversify characters, do it correctly and don't make it an over the top farce of how you think people would act.

Despite all of this the story is somewhat decent. It's the same story we've seen before, people are after a hero, the Teen Titans are protecting her, Superboy is bad, etc. But it plays out really well.

There's an awesome part where Kid Flash's costume gets destroyed so he runs and gets an old Robin costume (yeah I know) and draws a lightning bolt over the "R."

I would hope that in the future of this title we see Beast Boy and some other more familiar and useful faces. Also, I hope they have gotten the "hey we're being diverse" attitude out of the way and can really start giving meaningful and tactful story lines to Bunker and the other two characters.

Teen Titans Vol 1: It's Our Right to Fight gets a 6 out of 10 Red Robins.

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Batman Live: World Arena Tour Review

Batman Live: World Arena Tour is a stage show featuring the Dark Knight in the iconic retelling of Robin's origin. Bruce is present when the the Graysons are murdered and takes young Dick Grayson under his wing. Dick runs away from Wayne Manor in search of his parents' killer, while Batman does the same. Eventually, Dick takes the mantle of Robin and stands at Batman's side to save Gotham from the myriad of villains the Joker has released in Arkham Asylum. Will Batman and Robin be able to stop the Joker from taking over Arkham and save Gotham City in time?

Originating last year in the United Kingdom, Batman Live has brought Gotham City and all of it's heroes and villains stateside!

This show is massive! There are a ton of different locations and great set pieces. Joker's Hot Air Balloon, Gotham's rooftops, and of course a sleek new version of the Batmobile all make an appearance. The sets are all so different and the changes were seemless during the different scenes. The costumes and actors are fantastic! You really feel immersed in Gotham City.

A giant 415,750 pixel screen (in the shape of a Bat of course) serves as the background of the stage. This background transforms to various locales such as the Gotham Cityscape, Wayne Manor, Haly's Circus, Arkham Asylum, and (obviously) the Batcave. This screen also serves as transitions between scenes by zooming out to a comic book and zooming into separate panels to change settings. Also, flashbacks, a Batmobile chase, and the Batcomputer screen, are all done on this screen in comic and CGI form. DC regular Jim Lee ("Batman: Hush") did all of the comic artwork for the show. Doors within the screen are where the actors and props come out of, creating a very unique effect.

All of the fight scenes are choreographed wonderfully and flow really well. The action is exactly what you would expect from Batman. Most sequences are acrobatic in nature, but it works with the themes and settings within the story.

The story drags a bit in places and for being about Robin, he isn't in it much as the Boy Wonder. I was initially worried that it would be geared more towards children, but it is actually fun for all ages. There is the perfect combination of comedy, excitement, action, and adventure that makes it fun for the whole family.

Be sure to check out Batman Live: World Arena Tour in your area!

Batman Live Tour Dates

Batman Live: World Arena Tour is an 8 out of 10 Flying Graysons!

RAWR(for more)

DC's Answer to Mighty Muggs?

Batman Cosbabies should be hitting your local comic store soon (not sure if they'll be at general retailers or not). Batman X2, Catwoman, The Joker, Batgirl, Two Face, and Robin.

They sure are cute. I just don't know where I'd put them with all the Mighty Muggs I have.

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Review: The Batman Season Five!

Allow me to start of by saying I was NOT a fan of this show when it first started. I thought it was poorly written and executed. I was against the changes to the rogues gallery, most especially The Joker. I just felt it was a poor example and yet another let down for Batman fans. That said, I did not give up on the show. I would check in every now and then just to see how it was coming along. Much to my surprise, it got better with age. Each season seemed to be better than the previous. Granted, it never reached the brilliance of the 90's Batman: The Animated Series (I doubt any show ever will but Justice League Unlimited came pretty close.).


Season five of The Batman brings us the Justice League, in fact the show might as well be called Batman and (insert Justice Leaguer here). A league member appears in practically every other episode of the 13 presented here in the final season. Now this isn't necessarily a bad thing it just makes this season feel like an extended pilot for a new Justice League show that we aren't going to be getting. It feels a little familiar. It's reminiscent of the recent Justice League cartoons but isn't as strong in story or action. It was pretty cool to see these characters again in a new (kinda) way.


I kind of feel like introducing the Justice League sort of took over the season and The Bat Family (Robin and Batgirl) kinda just took a back seat. It became less about Batman and more about these new heroes he is joining with.

That's about my only complaint. The season has some great stuff. Robin playing a character named Nightwing in an MMO type game is just one of them. It's a fun season and it made me reconsider my dislike of the earlier seasons. I may break down and pick up the first four and give this show another chance.

This is the final season of The Batman and unfortunately, it does not have that great of an ending. It just sort of ends. Maybe this is just a pitfall of cartoons and a satisfying ending isn't really necessary? I dunno, I just wanted something more. This ending just felt like it was leading into a new Justice League show. Which it unfortunately is not.

Besides that though it really is worth the relatively low price to pick it up. (Amazon has it for $13.99 right now!)

How about if you could get it for FREE? Warner Bros. was kind enough to send me five (yes FIVE) copies of The Batman Season 5 to giveaway!

So this is pretty much the first major giveaway for Pop Culture Beast! (Thanks WB!!)

I'll make it easy. The first five people to contact me with their name and mailing address will win a copy! Easy as that.

Just fire an email to garon@popculturebeast.com. Don't forget your name and address!

RAWR(for more)