Plot summary: A copycat Mad Bomber terrorises Gotham by mimicking Bruce’s favourite childhood TV show, The Gray Ghost, and only the washed-up star can help crack the case.
(Originally published on The Reel World September 6th, 2020)
Notes
Original Air Date: November 4th, 1992
Directed: Boyd Kirkland (5)
Written: Dennis O’Flaherty (1) (story), Garin Wolf (2) & Tom Reugger (4)
Animation: Spectrum Animation Studio (5)
Music: Carl Johnson (1)
This episode is most famous for Adam West’s guest starring role but had he turned the part down the whole thing would have been scrapped for fear of offending him.
Bruce Timm allegedly paid West $25,000 and gifted him the original Batman ‘66 costume as thanks for appearing in the episode.
Speaking of Timm, The Mad Bomber is drawn to look like him, while the video store clerk is drawn like Paul Dini, who made an effort to lose weight after seeing himself this way.
The ‘Mad Bomber’ episode of Gray Ghost was the 18th, much as this one is the 18th of BTAS.
Bruce Wayne still has his Gray Ghost memorabilia in the Batcave during Batman Beyond, set 50 years after this series.
If you look closely there’s a poster at the signing event at the end that mentions Matt Hagen, who would later become Clayface. However this was removed for Blu-Ray and digital releases of the show for some reason.
Recap
The episode begins in black and white with the opening of an episode of ‘The Gray Ghost’ called ‘The Mad Bomber’, which a young Bruce Wayne is utterly transfixed by. He’s got a little hat and a Gray Ghost doll. It’s cute as heck.
A full-colour explosion mirroring the one from the show brings down a building, with Batman leaping into action in the exact same way Gray Ghost did. He’s handed a note demanding one million dollars, signed by ‘The Mad Bomber’. Save for the city names, the two notes are word for word identical.
Bruce visits a man who claims to have tapes of every show ever made… except ‘The Gray Ghost’. He says nobody does and the studio that made the show burned down 20 years ago.
Looking through some old books, Bruce identifies the star of the show, Simon Trent. Alfred boasts that he doesn’t watch television but Bruce just ignores him.
Trent lives in Gotham, is behind on his rent and fails to book acting jobs because of being typecast. Despondent, he smashes up his Gray Ghost memorabilia.
Desperate for the money, Trent sells the original costume and a box of other memorabilia to an enthusiastic collector. He doesn’t even get much for it, because nobody buys the merch he’s already sold.
Simon awakes the next morning to find all of his stuff back on its shelf, including a repaired poster frame, along with a note that asks him to meet “a Friend” at the Gotham Arts School that evening.
Quite obviously, it’s Batman. Trent runs away, terrified, but Bruce catches up to him and explains the slate of bombings that seem to be mimicking an episode of The Gray Ghost. Simon claims to remember nothing about the show and wants to be left alone.
Returning to his apartment, Trent is lucky to not have a heart attack as Batman is waiting for him in the dark. Bruce finally gets through to Trent, who reveals his pristine collection of film reels. Bats takes the Mad Bomber episode and leaves, but not before getting in a dig about Trent not living up to his childhood expectations. Bit harsh.
Alfred and a beaming Bruce review the episode, which reveals the Mad Bomber used little remote control cars to carry out his attacks. Bruce recalls hearing a similar noise to the one that car makes during his meeting with Trent and warns the GCPD.
The GCPD stake out the library ahead of the attack, and sure enough a trio of little cars speed towards them. Snipers take out the first car, while Batman uses a freakin’ flamethrower on the second. The third just spins out and ‘The World’s Greatest Detective’ casually picks it up and starts examining it, despite it carrying a remote-controlled explosive payload. Fortunately it’s a decoy.
The three additional ones aren’t though! Just before Batman can die via humiliation (and triple explosion, I guess), a rope drops down and he clambers to safety, where he finds a fully-costumed Gray Ghost waiting. Trent thanks him for getting his stuff back and they endeavour to check the decoy car for fingerprints.
Easier said than done though, as a further fleet of little cars chase the Batmobile. Bruce lets Trent operate some of the defensive gadgetry which gives him a real kick. As does the Batcave and its side-room full of Gray Ghost merch.
Bruce immediately turns on his idol, as the only prints on the car belong to Trent, who points out he sold all the cars he had months ago. Again, Batman is The World’s Greatest Detective but a washed up actor puts it together quicker than him.
Batman confronts ‘Not Bruce Timm’, who delivers a supervillain monologue about how he needs to acquire more toys. In true The Incredibles fashion it was all a ploy on the part of the heroes, and Gray Ghost bursts through the window to take him down.
Some time later Summer Gleeson (remember her?) reports on the massively popular video release of The Gray Ghost series, with a costumed Trent signing merchandise for a huge line of fans, including Bruce Wayne. Cuuuute.
Best Performance
In what universe could it not be the late great Adam West? I don’t think it would be an exaggeration to call this one of the most charming castings in the history of pop culture, and West is absolutely game for it, attacking his lines with an earnest warmth. He already had a lot of experience in the realm of voice acting, and would go on to rack up a massive number of animation and video game credits right up until his passing in 2017, and that sincere passion for the medium can be heard in every scene.
While West worked steadily after Batman ended, he is more than up to the task of portraying a has-been actor unable to follow up on a huge role. Simon Trent’s story demands sympathy, and Adam West ensures total audience compliance.
But the real joy is in how exuberant West sounds when he gets to don his costume for one last hurrah teaming up with Batman. I don’t know what else I can say. If this doesn’t make you smile you may in fact be dead inside.
Props to Kevin Conroy too though, as he demonstrates a great deal of emotional range, utterly elated to meet somebody so intrinsic to his sense of self. But come on, it’s Adam West.
Ranking
This episode isn’t defined solely by Adam West’s phenomenal guest appearance, as it’s easily the best looking episode so far. A number of episodes were rushed by Bruce Timm’s own admission, with some shoddy work that he’d rather hadn’t aired. But this one was clearly incredibly important to him, and he likely ensured they pulled out all the stops.
Beyond the beautiful design of The Gray Ghost’s costume and paraphernalia and the show-within-a-show aesthetic (including a replication of the BTAS logo with Gray Ghost in Batman’s place), the episode is full of little flourishes that we don’t often see. One that really stood out to me was the usually static camera swooping over Jim Gordon’s shoulder towards a GCPD sniper.
The metatextuality extends beyond West’s involvement, with Gray Ghost styled after the character that inspired Batman in the first place: The Shadow. This is echoed in the narrative, which affords another compelling look into Bruce’s past and psyche.
While it’s somewhat pitiable that Bruce Wayne remained frozen in childhood, dressing up like the heroes of his youth to enact a juvenile war on crime, it’s undeniably heart-warming to see the big moody billionaire unable to stop a huge grin from creeping across his face when watching his beloved show as an adult. Just as the episode means a lot to Timm, the events within it mean a lot to Batman, and that’s just lovely.
- Heart of Ice
- Two-Face Part I
- Beware the Gray Ghost (NEW ENTRY)
- On Leather Wings
- Pretty Poison
- Two-Face Part II
- It’s Never Too Late
- See No Evil
- The Cat and the Claw Part I
- P.O.V.
- Christmas with the Joker
- Be a Clown
- The Cat and the Claw Part II
- Nothing to Fear
- The Last Laugh
- The Under-Dwellers
- The Forgotten
- I’ve Got Batman in My Basement
Villain Watch
The Mad Bomber (Bruce Timm) (first appearance)
In many ways this villain rings truer now than it did in 1992; An emotionally stunted nerd desperate to acquire more toys by any means necessary mimics something he saw on television, oblivious to the consequences. I feel seen.
Obviously he’s not much of a foil for Batman once his identity is uncovered, but he does manage to string everyone along with his Mad Bomber plot until then, and does have Bruce dead to rights in the alley before for Gray Ghost’s interference. That’s all WAY more than was necessary given how much of the episode gets out of Simon Trent and Bruce’s childhood memories.
But his minimal screen time and lack of emotional pathos hurt his ability to rank all that high, even if it is fun that he’s played by the show’s creator.
- Mr. Freeze
- Joker
- Two-Face
- Poison Ivy
- Catwoman
- Rupert Thorne
- Lloyd Ventrix
- Scarecrow
- Red Claw
- Arnold Stromwell
- Mad Bomber (NEW ENTRY)
- Man-Bat
- Penguin
- Sewer King
- Boss Biggis
The Matt Signal 
Leave a comment