Mr. Freeze’s character model shown in the show bible for Batman: The Animated Series.
For those of you who missed out or don’t remember my dive into the story bible for Batman: The Animated Series, the original origin for Mr. Freeze was more in line with his comics origin, a criminal who got dosed with chemicals during a botched crime. They also took the 1966 Batman approach and added a revenge factor but instead of a robbery the story bible originally went with this:
Once a shifty cryogenics “expert” running a body freezing scam, Mr. Freeze eluded the police in his lab only to be found out by Batman. The two fought and Freeze was knocked into a cryogenics chamber where he was frozen into a near-death state. After he was revived he discovered he could only live in sub-zero temperature, and vowed to make Batman pay for what happened to him.
Funny thing is this is kind of what you would actually see in the later Batman cartoon, Kids WB’s The Batman, which also dropped the gun in favor of outright Iceman powers. It would be the episode “Heart Of Ice” and writer Paul Dini who would drop this idea, instead making him the victim of trying to keep his wife in hibernation while trying to find a cure, only for a unscrupulous businessman to be the cause of his getting dosed. This wife, Nora Fries, is one of the characters to debut in the DCAU and become part of the regular DC Universe along with the likes of Harley Quinn and Renee Montoya (who was ruined by giving her a horrible personality, the gay thing not part of her original profile but not the biggest sin committed against one of my favorite characters from the show). So now the Nora origin is officially not only canon but part of Mr. Freeze’s multiversal continuity.
Since today put me too close to the deadline to get one of the desired commentaries done today it’s a good thing I keep larger videos on hold for this sort of emergency. Sasha Wood of Casually Comics focuses on a lot of the more interesting and sometimes weirder aspects of comics history. Playlists include Lois Lane’s many loves and near-marriages both with and without Superman, the history of all the various Clayfaces (missing the one from the aforementioned The Batman though–did he not appear in tie-in comic The Batman Strikes?), and recently started one with the crazy history of Supergirl. (Wait until she gets to the shapeshifting sentient goo who slept with Lex Luthor and later became an angel by merging with a ritual suicide victim.) In the following video she goes over the origin of Nora Fries in and out of universe as well as the various incarnations in later comics, movies, video games, and TV shows.
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BW Media Spotlight 
The Slow De-Casualing Of Modern Storytelling
This one is admittedly a bit more rambly, a set of random thoughts put together, but a good discussion topic just the same. I’m not calling conspiracy or anything like that, so accuse me of anything. This isn’t some planned attack…as far as I know anyway, though given some of the parties involved I wouldn’t be surprised if it turned out to be case either out of elitism or greed. That’s how the division began though.
Back in the old days when books, scripts, and what have you had to be transcribed by hand few people had books. Before every hotel had a Bible in the nightstand (I’m not sure if that still happens but I kind of hope it does) only the church had copies and you had to accept their context if not their actual reading. Otherwise only the rich and the transcribers themselves could afford books. I don’t know for sure how much exaggeration that is because I’m no historian. What I do know is that the invention of the printing press changed all that. And as the technology got less expensive so did the books. Numerous theaters around the world could act out the same play. The peasant could have numerous books in their home from fiction to cookbooks. Rinse and repeat with every form of media since print. Radios were first owned by the rich but as they became cheaper everyone could have one in their home, all but replaced by television.
Now with computers and new software even making prose, videos, and audio is so much easier and so much more of it can be produced. However, with every up in life there is a down and moving everything online is coming with a cost. Printing prices have somehow gone up, and with it books and comics while finding anything is becoming harder in some ways rather than easier. It’s not a crisis yet, but there are some courses to correct or at least trends to keep an eye on, because paywalls are making things harder again and actually limiting choices.
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Posted by ShadowWing Tronix on August 10, 2022 in Uncategorized and tagged commentary.
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