The main plot of the episode was the android hero Red Tornado‘s attempt to experience the Christmas Spirit. I know many Batman fans avoid this series for fear that it is directed toward little kids, but honestly it’s so much fun that not watching is a crime. I say again that this cartoon is the most inventive and fun-loving cartoon I have seen in ages. The dreaded Sportmaster (last seen in the Justice League two-parter Legends) crashed a bowling tournament, proclaimed that bowling is not even a ‘real sport’ and then trapped the bowlers in giant perspex pins. The pre-credit sequence was an absolute joy of ideas gone mad as Blue Beetle assisted Batman in a bout with the Sportmaster (yes, an actual character from the Golden Age of National Comics). Not many programs (let alone cartoons) can do that!

My dislike of the holiday season made watching this episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold that much more fun as it succeeded in lampooning the Christmas Season while also acting as a rather touching holiday episode. About the only things I have any use for around this time every year is eating meals with my wife, crazy Rankin Bass programs from the 60’s and time off from work. I’m all for good will toward men and all, but I cannot stand long lines, crazy drivers and watching a society dwindling down the drain of the 21st Century writhing in its own excess. As some of you may know, I hate the holidays.

Batman brave and the bold christmas