Weekend Binge: The Batman Adventures is the Perfect Starter Comic

Batman Day 2022 is quick approaching, so there’s no higher time to crack open our huge library at DC UNIVERSE INFINITE and skim your self some Batman comics. Whether you first encountered the Dark Knight by means of films, tv, video video games or any person’s sick tattoo, there’s no unsuitable technique to take your first steps into Gotham City. But with 1000’s of comics at your fingertips, it may be fairly daunting figuring out the place to get began. That’s why I’d like to supply a private suggestion to any Batman followers delving into the comics for the first time—start your Batman adventures with The Batman Adventures.

The Premise:

The Batman Adventures is your excellent on-ramp to Batman comics to this very day as a result of that’s precisely what it was designed for—albeit in a considerably totally different context. In 1992, Batman: The Animated Series left its mark on a era of viewers, instantaneously minting hundreds of thousands of recent Batman followers over its TV run. Much has been written about what makes that present such a particular and important tackle Batman and his world. (If you’re not acquainted, you’ll be able to watch the entire factor proper now on HBO Max.) Regardless, the Batman Adventures sequence was a line of comics launched concurrently with the present, channeling the aesthetics and narrative tone of the present into the comedian e book format to ease all these new followers of Batman into the medium from whence he got here.

In execution, nevertheless, the abilities behind this tie-in comedian created one thing a lot higher. By translating what many Batman consultants in the present day contemplate the most important model of Batman into comedian e book type, The Batman Adventures includes a sequence of easy-to-read tales which basically seize Batman as deftly as the present itself. Just soar in and also you’ll get to see Batman and plenty of of his closest allies and enemies categorical themselves in methods you’ll always remember.

Let’s Talk Talent:

Alongside just a few particular tales written by Batman: The Animated Series co-creator Paul Dini, most of the writing for this companion sequence represents a few of the early work of Kelley Puckett. Cutting his enamel on a pitch-perfect tonal recreation of the present, Puckett would finally go on from right here to co-create two beloved characters: Batgirl Cassandra Cain and Green Arrow Connor Hawke. Just give Puckett’s title in any deep-in-the-paint DC fan circle and also you’re assured immediate credibility.

Ty Templeton, Brad Rader, Mike Parobeck and Rick Burchett all share artwork duties all through the sequence, working studiously off Bruce Timm’s unique fashions to seize the distinctive aesthetics of Gotham City in its most crystalline type—and Timm himself even stops by to pencil just a few tales of his personal.

A Few Reasons to Read:

• No Experience Necessary: The Batman Adventures could also be a non secular tie-in to Batman: The Animated Series, however you don’t even have to have seen the present with a view to take pleasure in this e book. Every concern includes a self-contained journey which gained’t depart you scratching your head about some missed crossover or historical again concern which retains you from understanding the full context. For any new Batman fan, The Batman Adventures presents a easy to grasp expertise which supplies a whole image of what to anticipate from a typical Batman comedian.
   
• A Batman Return: For these of you who’re already followers of Batman: The Animated Series, The Batman Adventures is like discovering a brand-new season of the present in its prime which you by no means bought to see. The spirit of the sequence is so prevalent in each web page, you’ll be able to’t assist however hear Shirley Walker’s musical cues in your head from scene to scene as Kevin Conroy’s Batman trades bon mots with Mark Hamill’s Joker. It’s the lengthy overdue return journey to your favourite neighborhood in Gotham City, with the blood purple sky overhead.

• Here for the Drama: Part of the magic of Batman: The Animated Series was the way it instilled a novel pathos in Batman’s rogues gallery, giving the viewer no alternative however to sympathize with their toils and trauma at the same time as they rooted for Batman to save lots of the day. The Batman Adventures doesn’t draw back from this side of its inspirational supply materials both. Poison Ivy, Clayface, Mr. Freeze and Talia al Ghul are all put by means of the ringer for that candy melodrama, however none greater than Batman himself.
   
• Mad Love: As a tie-in to Batman: The Animated Series, The Batman Adventures holds a really distinctive place in comics historical past: it’s additionally the print debut of the present’s hottest breakout unique character, Harley Quinn. The Batman Adventures additional develops Harley’s budding relationship with Poison Ivy, units her up as a nemesis to Batgirl, and in the Batman Adventures: Mad Love particular, tells her origin story for the first time. (This comedian would finally be tailored into the New Batman Adventures episode of the identical title, however all issues thought-about, chances are you’ll discover you like the unique story to the adaptation.)

Where To Next?

The Batman Adventures don’t cease after this assortment. For extra nice comics impressed by Batman: The Animated Series, you’ll be able to go on to 1995’s Batman and Robin Adventures, the place artist Ty Templeton expertly assumes writing duties; 1998’s Batman: Gotham Adventures, the place Batgirl and Tim Drake be a part of Batman in a path reflecting The New Batman Adventures animated sequence; the return of the unique title in 2003’s Batman Adventures; and the latest Batman: The Adventures Continue, during which Dini and Templeton introduce newer characters like Red Hood and the Court of Owls to Batman’s animated universe.

Read The Batman Adventures this weekend and also you’ll be armed with the understanding of a lot of Gotham’s best heroes and villains for whichever Batman comedian you decide up subsequent.

The Batman Adventures by Kelley Puckett, Ty Templeton, Brad Rader, Mike Parobeck and Rick Burchett is obtainable to learn in full on DC UNIVERSE INFINITE. 

Alex Jaffe is the writer of our month-to-month “Ask the Question” column and writes about TV, films, comics and superhero historical past for DCComics.com. Follow him on Twitter at @AlexJaffe and discover him in the DC Community as HubCityQuestion.

NOTE: The views and opinions expressed on this function are solely these of Alex Jaffe and don’t essentially replicate these of DC Entertainment or Warner Bros.