REVIEW: BATMAN: THE ADVENTURE CONTINUES #3

STORY

Continuing the story lines from Batman: The Animated Series comes this comic series. While not a part of the main continuity its nice to see the BTAS stories aren’t done being told yet. Its also nice that the mind behind the series is one of the writers on this comic, it really adds to the sense of continuity in the story. This is evidenced by things like the Robin in the story, Batman’s current costume and reference to story details involving Clayface’s past which connect the comic to the anime.

The story is not overly complex, in keeping with its cartoon roots, and yet it is layered offering a couple of different mysteries to this issue as Deathstroke is introduced to the Bat Family. With the only thing known for certain about Slade in this series being that he is some sort of mercenary, Batman is of course suspicious. This anonymity in the story allows Deathstroke to do what he does in practically every media incarnation of the character, to infiltrate and separate. Its a classic tactic with this villain and while its nothing we havent seen before from Slade the interesting thing will be to find out who and why someone has sicced Deathstroke on the Batman. The writers add to all of this by having Jason Blood skulking about and spying on the Bat Family and what his interest might be. In this continuity he has encountered Batman before but not the entire Bat Family.

Its just these sorts of setups that keep one coming back for more. The writers have added both interest and potential menace to the lives of the Bat crew. The potential jeopardy alone is usually more than enough to keep a reader coming back from more but add to that we get a demonstration of just how capable Slade and his partner Sunny are both physically and mentally but the deeper mystery of Blood’s involvement in the story, as Blood is normally battling occult forces and not dealing with the affairs of mundane superheroes. The story moves at a brisk pace, keeping even the slower moments from getting stale and the interactions between characters feels appropriate with a nice flow to the dialogue.

ART

Tympleton does and excellent job for the most part. His layouts are strong, with good storytelling and page flow. His characters are all on model for the Animated Series, looking picture perfect to those created by Bruce Timm, but for some reason this does not hold true for Clayface. Clayface’s head is oddly styled in a way that makes it look like it belongs to a monster frog or toad instead of imated Series or The New Animated Series vesions of the character that this should have been based on. Additionally Templeton doesn’t seem to understand Clayface’s size relative to your average human in the series as he is presented as far to large in most panels.

The colors simple and bold (where needed) in keeping with the cartoon’s style. Kubin is always sure to make sure that the focus is always on the main characters and ensures that they always pop out of the background.

FINAL THOUGHTS

It’s a fine and welcome continuation of the animated series!

SCORE: 4.5 out of 5

Writers: Alan Burnett & Paul Dini
Artist: Ty Templeton
Colorist: Monica Kubina
Letterer: Joshua Reed
Editor: Andrew Marino
Publisher: DC Comics
Cover Price: $0.99
Release Date: May 6th, 2020