Batman the Adventures Continue #1 Review

Writers – Paul Dini & Alan Burnett
Art – Ty Templeton
Colors – Monica Kurina
Letters – Joshua Reed
Publisher – DC Comics 



Well, here we are 20 years plus after the original airing of Batman the Animated Series and the show is still one of the most loved iterations of Batman to ever hit any media platform. The show has been responsible for creating so many lifelong Batman fans. Whether you are like me and the show was your first exposure to the character or you discovered it after already being a fan, BTAS has been long loved by so many for so long and when DC announced they were doing this series as a continuation of the original series it got one of the biggest responses I’ve ever seen to a comic. It also appealed to so many because not only is it a continuation of the original show, it is also lead by two of the best original writers of the show who have really become household names all these years later. Originally announced as a new action figure line originally fans responded so well to the figures that it was only a matter of time before DC realized the potential and gave us a new story and now finally, we have it. 

Batman the Adventures Continue #1 takes us right back in to world of the New batman Adventures right off rip. The story opens without a lot of dialogue between characters but instead focuses on Batman self-narrating as he patrols Gotham city at night. After an encounter as Batman the story switches gears and we get to see a bit of the man behind the cowl as Bruce Wayne at a cocktail party where he has an encounter with Lex Luthor and discovers something about Superman and what he has been up too. This takes us to the end of the story, and we are left on a pretty epic cliffhanger, leaving us wanting more! The story reads just like an episode of the Animated series and I’m not going to lie, when I was reading it I totally was hearing the voices of the original voice actors and read all the Batman lines as if Kevin Conroy was in my head reading it to me. Although the story feels as it is of the same as the show, there really isn’t a lot of it in this issue. It is a very quick read and a shorter comic then we are used too but still enjoyable enough to make up for it. I wish there was a bit more material in between but I assume there was a limitation for this series placed by DC almost as if they are doing this as a test run to see if fans are going to bite so I cant really blame the writers as they did an amazing job filling in what little they were allowed to do. 

The art of this issue also sells the feeling of the original New batman Adventures. I know they went with this style because that was how the show left off but I really wish they would have given us the original animation style because of how iconic it was including the darker backgrounds, the dark deco designs, and the original batmobile. Aside from that, everything else about this art is right on par and looks like it came right off the screen. It’s a lot harder to review the art of this issue because usually I look at design and detail but since this is based off of a cartoon it doesn’t really have the same traits of a normal comic. As far as looking like to cartoon however it does not miss a beat. The character designs and city scapes as well as backgrounds all look identical to how they were done originally, and I couldn’t find one issue with it anywhere. The colors are all very vivid and sharp and yet still has that darker background feel. Overall, the art team does an amazing job recreating the original world but gives us a more updated style to it that doesn’t take anything away from it. The lettering of the issue is also very clean and clear, and I found no problems trying to read the bubbles anywhere in the story. 

Although there isn’t a whole lot to this first issue, it does a great job re-introducing us back into the animated world and does set up some very exciting opportunity to the future of the story. I am sure as time goes on we will get more and more excitement and from what I’ve seen from previews there is some pretty exciting stuff ahead that we never got to see in the cartoon such as Deathstroke and a few other surprises I don’t want to give away yet. The art is excellent and recreates the atmosphere of the series while giving us a more up to date animation look without taking away from the original design. If this were a normal priced comic, I might suggest holding off a little bit but at only 99 cents it’s a value you can’t beat. If you are a fan of the original series or if you are new to the world this issue is a great way to start off and hopefully, we get so much more out of the upcoming issues! Batman the Adventures Continue is available now but is only available for digital download for now. There is a printed version coming as well but it will not be available until May. With so much chaos in the world right now, this couldn’t have come at a better time so be sure to get your copy and take a few minutes to escape back to an earlier time in your life or join Batman on a new adventure.

-Wes Greer