The Batman Adventures Annual #2 1995: Demons

After demolishing a building in Gotham, late working citizens within among the casualties, R'as Al Ghul and his men locate an ancient Mayan tablet the villain had searched over two centuries for. Batman attempts to apprehend R'as, but is beaten unconscious and left among the rubble. Escaping with his life, Batman finds his way to the high rise condominium of occult expert Jason Blood, who'd helped Police Commissioner Gordon solve the tarot murder case. 

Blood's experience in the supernatural led the Dark Knight Detective to him, where the famed demonologist recant the tale of his first battle against fellow immortal R'as Al Ghul for possession of the Mayan tablet. The two are abruptly interrupted by Talia, who tranquilizes them so her father's evil scheme to release the pestilent demon Haahk upon mankind will not be foiled!

Finally alone with the tablet, R'as summons the dreaded Haahk from the depths of Hell, who promptly kills the henchmen present. R'as can barely control the demon under possession of the profane tablet, who reluctantly agrees heed the villain's bidding.

When Batman and Jason Blood finally recover from the tranquilizer and race to the scene, Haahk grabs Blood, who begins to rot from the pestilent demon's grip! Batman quickly recites the chant that transforms Blood into Etrigan, the demon bonded to him centuries ago by Merlin the Wizard: "Change, Change, O' Form of Man- Rise the Demon Etrigan!" Together, Batman and Etrigan attack Haahk ...!

 While Etrigan exuberantly blasts away at Haahk, Batman seizes the Mayan tablet from R'as, stopping him from banishing both the demons back to Hell. Hurt by the Dark Knight's attack on her father, Talia slaps her beloved, who says nothing, charging off to assist Etrigan...

After Etrigan uses the tablet to banish Haahk, the demon snaps the evil relic in two, knowing that while his alter ego would have treasured it's rarity, the danger it poses to mankind is far too great.

This spectacular annual ends as Jason Blood revives from his transformation, questioning the whereabouts of Talia, who escaped with her father. When Batman laments in dealing with her hurt feelings the next time their paths cross, Jason Blood offers, "We each have our own demons." A panel at the bottom pays tribute Jack Kirby, the legendary comic artist and author who created Etrigan back in 1972. Artists Bruce Timm and Glen Murakami adopt elements of Kirby's unique style in several panels throughout this issue- undoubtedly making it a special treat for author Paul Dini, as well as us fans of a certain vintage!   

Happy Hallowe'en! 

Thanks For Reading!

Batman (the Animated Toys Blog) Begins

Welcome to Batman the Animated Toys blog!

This blog was the brainchild of Charles, best known for his pop culture and toy blog Eclectorama. Charles approached me a long time ago about collaborating with him here, due to our similar interest in Batman and Batman the Animated Series. Apparently Charles and I also share a deep interest in procrastination, as it has taken many many months for a post to appear here.

Well, the wait is over true believers! For the first (and long overdue) official toy post on this blog, I'm reaching back to 1995 and that immortal villain, Ra's Al Ghul!

Long time readers of my personal toy blog Toyriffic may know that I have a funny habit of shunning a character's action figure until I get a certain iconic look. I may love a character, but if the figures released don't do him justice, I'll pass and wait until one comes along that fits my world-view of how that character should be represented.

Which is why in 1995 I shunned this figure. In my mind, a Batman Animated inspired Ra's Al Ghul should be sporting his more conservative suit and cape (which was finally released in the Shadows of Gotham box set many years later.)

But in 1995 all we got was this armor clad Ra's in the retitled "The Adventures of Batman and Robin" line. Now don't get me wrong, this is actually a really good figure. I just have that OCD about getting a "proper" figure first. By the time I did, this guy was long gone from store shelves.

But as luck and patience would have it, I finally came across an armored Ra's at the Swap Meet last weekend. So after fourteen years in limbo, let's bust this guy out of his packaging and have a look, shall we?

Ra's has his iconic green and yellow colors, and his armor is actually pretty cool. It's not over-done (especially considering how a lot of the Batman variants that Kenner was pumping out at the time looked!)

Ra's Al Ghul came with a few accessories as well. He has a cool sword...

...and a demon looking helmet (get it - Demon's Head!)

The helmet is easily slipped on and off and fits quite well. Ra's head sculpt is pretty cartoon accurate as well. His armored chest also sports a demon looking symbol. Cool.

He's a simple figure and time-period appropriately articulated. His sword fits in his hand nicely and Ra's looks quite regal and kingly holding it.


Finally, Ra's came with a silly projectile shooter (again, a sign of the times.) But this piece is easy to throw in a drawer and ignore (or keep by your desk to shoot at cats and others who may wander too closely while you are blogging about toys.)

All in all Ra's Al Ghul is a great figure and a good toy for any Batman Animated collection. I'm glad I have him in his suit so I could finally add this version to my collection.