DC Has Announced a New BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES Comic with Paul Dini
DC has announced a new comic book miniseries that is sure to excite Batman fans! This will be a new six-issue Batman: The Animated Series comic titled Batman: The Adventures Continue and it comes from the show’s original producers Paul Dini and Alan Burnett. It will be illustrated by Ty Templeton, who worked on the show’s old tie-in comic series Batman Adventures.
According to EW, Batman: The Adventures Continue is part of an “initiative to introduce new characters into DC Collectibles’ Batman: The Animated Series line of toys” and Templeton will design these new characters in Bruce Timm’s signature style. The comic will “feature many familiar faces from the DC Animated Universe like Superman and Lex Luthor and some that never appeared in that world until now, like Jason Todd.”
Paul Dini talks about the new comic saying: “We’d gone from Dick Grayson to Tim Drake, and we had left out Jason. What we’re doing with this is looking at this as a chance to go back and actually acknowledge that was a part of the animated Batman’s history. For the first time, you’re going to see that story and you’re going to see what happened in that relationship. So, it’s our chance to not only to do Jason Todd but also the Red Hood. There are other characters like Azrael, who was popular in the comics around [the time of the show], and Deathstroke, who we never used in the animated series.”
Templeton adds: “It’s fun that it doesn’t feel like we have to deal with the 15 year gap since we told stories with these characters. We can just feel like we just stepped into these things yesterday, because the shows and comics are always out there. They never go away. I didn’t want it to feel like there’s a big gap and Batman was old and Tim was in his 30’s or anything like that. I’m really happy it just feels like the next day.” (To clarify even further, the comic takes place before the traumatic flashback events in Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker).
In the first issue of the series will feature Batman/Bruce Wayne dealing with two mysteries. The first one features a giant robot who breaks into Wayne Enterprises and steals an entire laboratory. The second includes Lex Luthor’s mysterious return Gotham City. Dini says, “We’re kicking off with the Bruce-Lex relationship in a semi sequel of [the Batman and Superman crossover] ‘World’s Finest’ because the events of that are touched on. Where did that leave Bruce and Lex after they were busted by Batman and Superman? It’s interesting to see the little dueling that goes on between them.”
Templeton teases a mystery for the reader in the first issue saying, “Who is the mysterious character in the shadows observing all of this?” Dini adds: “There’s a stranger in town who has staked out the Batman family, who knows them very well, and is watching them from a distance with a mixture of amusement and deep hatred. That’s gonna be a challenge and concern for them at some point. The guy is so good that even though Batman and the others get glimpses of him, they have no idea who he is or what he wants, and that’s a mystery for them to solve.”
Dini also teased an Azrael story arc, saying: “[He comes] to Gotham on a mission of death to recover something that’s been stolen from the Order of St. Dumas and that brings him into conflict with Batman. Batman has to keep him murdering members of the Gotham underworld as they try to put together this mystery of who took it and why. I think it’s one of the coolest reveals we’ve done and it makes perfect sense given the lore of our series. That’s one of the issues I’m most jazzed about.”
As a longtime fan of Batman: The Animated Series, I couldn’t be more excited about this new Batman: The Adventure Continues comic miniseries! It hits shelves May 6, 2020 and the digital-first chapters will be released in April. You can check out a preview that was shared below.