The Lost Batman Beyond comic featuring thee Terrific Trio has been uncovered!

[iammattie]

Hey all! Logging in for the first time in forever to share that CBR has published an article revealing the Terrific Trio issue of Batman Beyond that was canceled back in the '90s as a result of lawyers being afraid of Marvel taking legal action.

I've been sitting on this for about 5 years now, originally hoping to publish a piece on it for the outlet I was working on at the time. While that didnt pan out, one of my collaborators at the time (Ted Kendrick) became a writer at CBR in the time since. Reminded him about it and threw him all my notes, and here we are!

"26 Years Ago, This Batman Comic Canceled A Planned Tribute to The Fantastic Four (& We Now Know Why)" by Ted Kendrick for CBR.

 

[Yojimbo]

Makes sense DC's lawyers would feel skiddish about it but idk I think it could have passed muster.

Wonder if this was one of Bader's unused pitches that she put into the comic like #8 (June 2000) "Vendetta" and #9 (July 2000) "The Last of her Kind".

 

[iammattie]

Wonder if this was one of Bader's unused pitches that she put into the comic like #8 (June 2000) "Vendetta" and #9 (July 2000) "The Last of her Kind".

Great question! Id only heard about her reusing episode scripts via Rich Fogel on BTAS podcast, and never heard him be specific. Just that there was a decent amount it seemed. Any chance you could share where your more specific info is from?

 

[Yojimbo]

Great question! Id only heard about her reusing episode scripts via Rich Fogel on BTAS podcast, and never heard him be specific. Just that there was a decent amount it seemed. Any chance you could share where your more specific info is from?

Nah, nothing specific from Fogel, I just put 2 and 2 together on my own. Rich Fogel is credited for 'story' in Batman Beyond Volume 2 #8 (June 2000) "Vendetta" and #9 (July 2000) "The Last of her Kind" so I'm 99.9% sure that was what he was alluding to on BTAS Podcast. I don't believe he's credited elsewhere in the comic.

edit: In a general way, I get why the script was giving me deja vu. The two male villains getting a message from their female co-hort in a vague way was like Emerald Empress calling out to Mano in JL vs FF.

 

[iammattie]

Nah, nothing specific from Fogel, I just put 2 and 2 together on my own. Rich Fogel is credited for 'story' in Batman Beyond Volume 2 #8 (June 2000) "Vendetta" and #9 (July 2000) "The Last of her Kind" so I'm 99.9% sure that was what he was alluding to on BTAS Podcast. I don't believe he's credited elsewhere in the comic.

Ah! The Fogel credit makes sense, though with Bader having been on both the show and the comic id imagine that those two may not be the full extent.

 

[Yojimbo]

Ah! The Fogel credit makes sense, though with Bader having been on both the show and the comic id imagine that those two may not be the full extent.

Agreed. I looked at Bader's run with more squints. She must have pitched some sequel ideas and new ideas that didn't make it past the meh test. Like it does makes sense Triage could have been a pitch for the show but Timm and co. always intended Terrific Trio to be a one-in-done but writers always have a 'cool idea' for a sequel and sometimes it just doesn't get the greenlight. It will be hard to discern what was reused from her time on the show and what were new ones she came up for the comic unless your corner Stan Berkowitz, Alan Burnett, or Paul Dini with each comic and ask them if this was pitched on the show, lol.

 

[iammattie]

corner Stan Berkowitz, Alan Burnett, or Paul Dini with each comic and ask them if this was pitched on the show, lol.

Hmmmm.... maybe a new con activity

 

[Antiyonder]

Just to be clear then, was the statement of legal ahem issues being the reason it didn't go through true or not?

Wasn't entirely sure why the even did the episode Heroes if that's the cause, but yeah I guess it makes sense that tributes to another company can be done at least once, right?

 

[Yojimbo]

Just to be clear then, was the statement of legal ahem issues being the reason it didn't go through true or not?

Wasn't entirely sure why the even did the episode Heroes if that's the cause, but yeah I guess it makes sense that tributes to another company can be done at least once, right?

I think if done only once, a company can't be sued for parody under the fair-use clause but also Timm and co. never planned to bring them back on the show. Writers like Bader wanted to it seems based on this script but they don't have the final word. So when the comics came around, Bader saw it as a chance to use the unused/rejected pitches because Timm and co. weren't managing the comics, they were too busy with the shows to do it much less care. But then some lawyer must have done their homework and realized the comic would open DC up to a suit.