Posted By Dan Greenfield on Dec 28, 2020 | 4 comments

Welcome to 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 now 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.

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

We’ve now reached the FINAL FOUR — where the votes are expected to be very close.

— 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.

Here’s FINAL FOUR MATCH-UP #1: ALMOST GOT ’IM (Fred’s No. 1) vs. HEART OF ICE (Fred’s No. 2)

Written by Paul Dini. Directed by Eric Radomski.

“I love it when all the villains get together; it’s why the Batman ’66 movie is so great. All of these little vignettes are perfectly done by writer Paul Dini, and we even get the iconic Batman-strapped-to-the-giant-penny bit. It also has the best line of the entire series: ‘It was a big rock.’” — FVL

—

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

—

Now, which do YOU prefer? VOTE!

BATMADNESS FINAL FOUR MATCH #1: Which of these is the better BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES episode?

— 13th Dimension (@13th_Dimension) December 28, 2020

—

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

—

COMING TUESDAY: The Laughing Fish (Ryan’s No. 1) vs. Two-Face (Fred’s No. 3). Click here.