Batman: The Adventures Continue #1 reminds me a lot of the old Batman Adventures comics that DC put out in the '90s and early 2000s based on Batman: The Animated Series and The New Batman Adventures. And that's because it's exactly like those books and those shows. Set in the time of the fourth season (known as The New Batman Adventures), this comic captures the tone and feel of both the show and the comics that were based on it. While I wasn't able to watch the show on a regular basis, I loved the comics and they were kind of my gateway into Batman as a comic book character, having already seen the 1966 live action series in reruns from an early age.
The story is your classic episode of Batman: The Animated Series. After fighting Bane, Batman ends up taking on a giant robot, with Lex Luthor in control, because there's no such thing as just a Batman comic anymore. Especially if it's based on a TV series, where it couldn't be just a Batman show during this particular period of the show's history. Batman has to figure out why Luthor is in Gotham City and figure out how to stop him, without the aid of Superman, who's gone missing.
Alan Burnett and Paul Dini are the writers of this book, and they are the best people to write this book outside of the original writers of The Batman Adventures, because they were writers on the original TV show back in the '90s. Burnett was also a producer on the show as well. So to have these two come in and write this comic is pretty awesome, even if they're working with their fanboy brains and throwing in as much DC stuff as possible into the book without putting EVERYTHING in. I mean, the book opens with a fight between Batman and Bane, and in true Batman: The Animated Series style, they included the classic shot from Batman #497 where Bane is holding Batman above his head, screaming "I WILL BREAK YOU!", which they also did on the show. Twice. Yeah, there's a reason companies tend not to want to let fans work on the shows and movies they produce.
What I love about this book is the artwork. The reason I love the artwork is that Ty Templeton, who was the original artist on The Batman Adventures, is the artist on it. Which is pretty spectacular. I got to meet Ty at Ottawa Comiccon two years ago and I really enjoyed talking to him. He even signed my copy of The Batman Adventures #1. Even though they decided to go with the designs for The New Batman Adventures rather than Batman: The Animated Series, Templeton's work is spot on with the look of the later version of the show, just as it was with the art style for the original comic in the '90s.
My favourite scene is where Bruce is at a party, talking to Veronica Vreeland, who showed up on the show in seven episodes in total, five in the original series, and then two in the continuation. It's a classic scene where Veronica is trying to persuade Bruce to settle down and start a family, with her specifically, but Bruce, ever the bachelor due to him being Batman, gets out of it somehow. In this case, Lex comes over and gets Bruce out of his predicament, which is oddly unlike Lex. Yes, I've seen a variation of that scene a number of times on the show and in the movie, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, but reading it in comic book form is pretty great.
Final Thoughts and Rating: Overall, Batman: The Adventures Continue #1 is pretty good for a comic that's a digital first series and for a comic serving as a continuation of a 28 year old beloved animated TV show. It's not the best, but I had fun reading it. It was cool seeing a return to the DC Animated Universe in comic book form after 17 years. I'm giving Batman: The Adventures Continue #1 7/10 stars for having good artwork but once again using the overdone Bane "breaking" Batman shot that isn't shocking anymore like it was 27 years ago when Jim Aparo drew it for Batman #497.
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