BATMADNESS — ELITE EIGHT Match 2: HEART OF ICE vs. ROBIN’S RECKONING

VOTE in BATMADNESS: The Animated Tournament…

Welcome to BATMADNESS: The Animated Tournament — your chance to VOTE for the greatest Batman: The Animated Series episode of all time.

Writer Fred Van Lente, a 13th Dimension regular, and his artistic collaborator Ryan Dunlavey have produced The Comic Book History of Animation — a five-part series whose Issue #2 is out Dec. 23 from IDW. To celebrate, we’re holding a tourney to pick the best episode from the greatest comic-book animated series of them all — and YOU get to decide.

Issue #2 is due Dec. 23

Fred and Ryan seeded eight episodes each for a Sweet 16 and we’ll be pairing them off until we have a champion in January. (Click here to follow the whole tournament.)

We’ve now reached the ELITE EIGHT — and we haven’t had an upset yet, so things are really gonna get interesting.

HOW TO VOTE: You can pick your choice two ways: 1) Note it in the comments below; or 2) Take part in our Twitter poll, also below. Votes will be tabulated and the winner will be announced in the following round.

We’re up to ELITE EIGHT MATCH-UP #2: HEART OF ICE (Fred’s No. 2) vs. ROBIN’S RECKONING (Ryan’s No. 3)

Written by Paul Dini. Directed by Bruce Timm.

“Another great tragic, villain-based episode and debut script from BTAS co-MVP Paul Dini. It’s a particularly brilliant little detail that Batman catches a cold from Mr. Freeze, so Alfred gives him a Thermos of hot chicken soup that later becomes an important plot device. Listen for Mark Hamill in a pre-Joker performance as a scumbag executive.” — FVL

Written by Randy Rogel. Directed by Dick Sebast.

“Batman’s back story has been told countless times but here Robin finally gets the on-screen origin he deserves and it’s even more harrowing than Batman’s — giving us some of the richest character moments (in ANY medium) between the two heroes. The high-stakes drama of this two-parter where Batman finally tracks down the man who killed Robin’s parents never lets up for an instant, and the animation (especially the sequence of the Graysons’ murder) is a master class in ‘less is more’ storytelling.” — RD

Now, which do YOU prefer? VOTE!

For the complete BATMADNESS: The Animated Tournament: Click here.

NEXT: Two-Face (Fred’s No. 3) vs. Harley and Ivy (Ryan’s No. 2). Click here.

Author: Dan Greenfield

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7 Comments

  1. Robin’s Reckoning…

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  2. This one’s REALLY tough. (Heart of Ice was going to be one of my first choices before Fred beat me to it!) Each episode is the character’s definitive origin story and is full of high drama and great animation. BUT Robin’s Reckoning has the edge on storytelling (but just barely), and Batman plays a central role in the story – unlike Heart of Ice where it’s Fries’ story and Batman is a secondary player. So Robin’s Reckining gets my vote.

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    • I voted for Robin’s Reckoning, too (though on Twitter, Dan, don’t count me twice)

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      • I voted for Robin’s Reckoning, but it wasn’t even close. I was kinda surprised.

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  3. Wow, that’s tough. “Robin’s Reckoning” is more important to the series regulars, so I have to go with that one. But it hurts.

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