The world of Batman: The Animated Series is coming back this April with Batman: The Adventures Continue. Paul Dini and Alan Burnett, the original producers of the Batman: The Animated Series, are returning to write, and Ty Templeton will be illustrating in Bruce Timm and Eric Radomski’s style that made the 90s-show famous. Batman: The Adventure Continues takes place in the same world and shortly after the events and cover some gaps in the stories told in the animated series.
Dini’s take on the Dark Knight ran for 85 episodes from 1992 to 1995. It spawned a sequel titled The Adventures of Batman and Robin and a multi-series shared universe across several shows like Superman: The Animated Series (1996), Justice League (2001), and Batman Beyond (1999). Bruce Timm, Paul Dini, and Alan Burnett, the producers of the show, took inspiration from Tim Burton’s Gotham City in Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992), maintaining the ageless eeriness of a city taken right out of a film noir. The show not only combined elements of art deco (later “Dark Deco”) with variations of Danny Elfman’s original score for the Burton films, but it introduced elements that became canon and fan favorites like none other than Dr. Harleen Quinzel AKA Harley Quinn.
According to EW, part of the project will be introducing new characters into the DC Collectibles line of toys under Batman: The Adventures Continue. Templeton, who previously worked on Batman Adventures, a tie-in comic of the original series that ran for over a decade, is designing these new characters following Bruce Timm’s style. Familiar heroes and villains from the DC Animated Universe like Superman and Lex Luthor will appear - Paul Dini also confirmed Jason Todd, Azrael, and Deathstroke will be introduced.
Despite the 15-year hiatus since the team last told these stories, the comic will reprise its continuity, starting where it left off, before the events in Batman Beyond. The information hints at the return of Lex Luthor to Gotham City, paired with a giant robot breaking into Wayne Enterprises, stealing an entire laboratory. Dini commented that they were interested in kicking off the series by touching upon the events portrayed in The Batman Superman Movie: World’s Finest (1997), calling this first issue a ‘semi-sequel’ to the crossover. At the same time, Gotham will receive a mysterious un-named character observing the events from the peripheral shadows. As the stranger stakes out the Batman family, he will prove to be a challenge for the Dark Knight, who doesn’t know who he is or what he wants. Dini also offered some information on the Azrael storyline, which he promises to be intense.
The inclusion of characters like Jason Todd in Batman: The Adventures Continue will expand on Batman’s long line of partners. Todd was murdered by the Joker, later resurrected by Ra’s al Ghul, and eventually turned into a dark vigilante called the Red Hood. This canonical, dark element of the Batman universe was never introduced in the Animated Series, which ran with Dick Grayson and an amateur Tim Drake. The legacy of Batman: The Animated Series, which introduced characters outside of its serialized format, also contributed to the canon through movies like Batman: The Mask of the Phantasm with characters like Andrea Beaumont, who will be featured in the forthcoming Batman/Catwoman comic. Paul Dini and Bruce Timm have acquired an in-house status of the likes of Bill Finger and Jerry Robinson, who contributed innumerable and memorable elements to the Caped Crusader’s world. This series also brought the iconic and, to some, definitive Joker as voiced by Mark Hamill, whose coughy, raspy laugh still echoes as loud as the recent, Oscar-winning Joker portrayed by Joaquin Phoenix.
Batman: The Adventure Continues will be a digital-first publication that will be released in April, and the print will be available on May 6, 2020.
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Source: EW
