DC COMICS – @DCComics
[This review was originally posted on Pateron.]
STORY: Kelley Puckett
PENCILS: Ty Templeton
INKS: Rick Burchett
COLORS: Rick Taylor
LETTERS: Tim Harkins
EDITOR: Scott Peterson
COVER: Ty Templeton
32pp, Color, $1.25 U.S., $1.50 CAN, 60p UK (October 1992)
Batman created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger
“Penguin's Big Score”
Although it was originally simply entitled, “Batman,” one of the best animated television series of all time has been lovingly known as “Batman: The Animated Series” for well over two decades. It aired from September 1992 to September 1995 on the Fox Broadcast Company's “Fox Kids” programming block. Its first season was comprised of 65 episodes (Sept. 1992 to Sept. 1993). The second season (May 1994 to September 1995) was comprised of 20 episodes, with the last 15 episodes given the onscreen title of “The Adventures of Batman & Robin.” [By “airdate,” the series officially had four seasons.]
“Batman: The Animated Series” (also known as “Batman: TAS”) was developed by Bruce Timm, Paul Dini, and Mitch Brian. It featured DC Comics' Batman in an animated setting that visually and graphically used Film-Noir aesthetics and an artistic presentation. The stories had a darker and more complex tone than what most superhero animated TV series had at that time.
Arriving within a week of the debut of “Batman: TAS,” DC Comics launched a comic book series entitled The Batman Adventures. It was a tie-comic book to the TV show and featured Batman stories set in the continuity of “Batman: TAS.” The Batman Adventures, which also copied the visual and graphical style of the TV show, ran for 36 issues (cover dated: October 1992 to October 1995). The creative team for the comic book's first three issues were writer Kelly Puckett; artists Ty Templeton (pencils) and Rick Burchett (inks); colorist Rick Taylor; and letterer Tim Harkins.
The Batman Adventures #1 (“Penguin's Big Score”) opens with The Penguin and his henchman eating dinner and having one of Penguin's self-improvement sessions. That session isn't going very well, but someone is willing to help them. A large, clumsily-wrapped gift has arrived at the gang's hideout. The gift turns out to be a “new Interactive TV unit” sent to Penguin and company by a well-known, fellow adversary of The Batman.
That member of Batman's “rogue's gallery” is none other than the Joker. Speaking to Penguin and company through the TV unit, the Joker presents a plan that he says will make Penguin “the most popular man in Gotham City.” This plan will also allegedly provide Penguin with a chance to get under Batman's skin. However, in the end, who will really benefit from this plot when Batman puts all his brains and brawn and skill to the challenge of the Joker's plot?
Some fans, reviewers, critics, etc. consider “Batman: TAS” to be the best adaptation of Batman anywhere outside of comics. I agree, even when considering director Christopher Nolan's incredible 2008 Batman film, The Dark Knight. Back in the 1990s, I often came across commentary in both print and electronic media that declared that The Batman Adventures was the best Batman comic book of the time. I cannot stay that definitively, as I did not read very many Batman comic books in the 1990s. The few issues of The Batman Adventures that I did read during its original run did interest me more than any contemporaneous Batman comic book.
Prior to reading The Batman Adventures, I had been able to read reprints of many of the Batman comic books and stories published in the early years of the character, from 1939 into the early 1940s. I also read Batman comic books published in the 1950s and 1960s – either in reprint form or as tattered old originals. As much as I loved Frank Miller's seminal, 1986 miniseries, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, I preferred (and still prefer) the Batman comic books that were published during the character's first 25 years of existence. I also came to discover a world of wonderful Batman comic books that were published from the mid-1960s to the mid-1980s.
Back in the 1990s, The Batman Adventures reminded me of the Batman of the “Golden Age” of American comic books and of the early years of the “Silver Age.” Reading it today, The Batman Adventures reminds me of all that Batman comic books that I truly love. I really cannot say that about the Batman comic books being published today.
Returning to The Batman Adventures also makes me want to watch “Batman: TAS,” which I have not done in probably over a decade. So my review of The Batman Adventures #1 is this: It has a simple, clean, classic look that summons the pure essence of Batman, in terms of art, illustration, graphics, and visuals. It has a straightforward story that plays off what is familiar about Batman, his allies, his adversaries, his world, and his mission. That is why The Batman Adventures is a comic book worth reading again, from time to time.
The Batman Adventures should not be forgotten. That may be why DC Comics recently began publishing a new comic book miniseries that returns us to the world of “Batman: TAS.” It is entitled Batman: The Adventures Continue. I think I'll try it.
[This first issue contains an afterword by editor Scott Peterson.]
Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"
The text is copyright © 2020 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.
-----------------------
No comments:
Post a Comment