Making its debut on the Cartoon Network in 2008,Batman: The Brave and the Boldis an animated superhero series that should appeal to fans ofBatman: The Animated Seriesand fans of the unusual and often obscure comic-book characters ofJustice League Unlimited.  Based on a decades-old comics concept, each episode teams Batman with a different hero to battle a different villain.  In this collection of the first four episodes from the first season, Batman and the Blue Beetle protect an alien race against Kanjar-Ro in "The Rise of the Blue Beetle!," then Batman teams with Plastic Man against Gorilla Grodd in "Terror on Dinosaur Island!"  In "Evil Under the Sea!," Batman and Aquaman protect Atlantis against Black Mantis, and Batman and Red Tornado fight Fun Haus in the holiday episode "Invasion of the Secret Santas!"  (Yes, each episode is titled with an exclamation point.) Each episode also has a pre-credits sequence, sometimes related to the main plot and sometimes not, that provides an opportunity to feature even more heroes and villains, and the action is peppered with humor and light enough to make it a good choice for kids.--David Horiuchi