Well, this is unexpected

[icon_uk]

Entertainment Weekly are reporting that DC is returning to one of their most popular sublines...



Batman the Animated Series continues in



Batman: The Adventures Continue



Batman: The Adventures Continue is part of an initiative to introduce new characters into DC Collectibles’ Batman: The Animated Series line of toys, with Templeton designing these new additions in Timm’s style. So, the comic will feature many familiar faces from the DC Animated Universe like Superman and Lex Luthor and some that never appeared in that world until now, like Jason Todd.

“We’d gone from Dick Grayson to Tim Drake, and we had left out Jason. What we’re doing with this is looking at this as a chance to go back and actually acknowledge that was a part of the animated Batman’s history,” Dini tells EW. “For the first time, you’re going to see that story and you’re going to see what happened in that relationship. So, it’s our chance to not only to do Jason Todd but also the Red Hood. There are other characters like Azrael, who was popular in the comics around [the time of the show], and Deathstroke, who we never used in the animated series.”



Templeton adds: “It’s fun that it doesn’t feel like we have to deal with the 15 year gap since we told stories with these characters. We can just feel like we just stepped into these things yesterday, because the shows and comics are always out there. They never go away. I didn’t want it to feel like there’s a big gap and Batman was old and Tim was in his 30’s or anything like that. I’m really happy it just feels like the next day.” (To clarify even further, the comic takes place before the traumatic flashback events in Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker).

It'll be interesting to see how they deal with Jason, considering how they basically gave his origin to Tim... and I confess I'm less than impressed that the first villain they mention is Deathstroke, who seemed to be getting SERIOUSLY over-exposed... gimme the Planet Master, or Madame Zodiac, or Rat-Catcher.

But still, this could be fun!
 

Comments

[tripodeca113]

Oh thank fuck, for a second there I thought they were bringing Allstar Batman and Robin back.

[resnullius_bells]

I'm excited about getting yet another version of Jason (the multiverse is my favorite thing about comics), but yeah, I don't know how they're gonna make it work when Tim's already a mix between the two.

And I agree about Deathstroke. IDK, I'm getting tired of seeing him everywhere (and he was never one of my favorite villains either).

[magicrubbish]

Deathstroke is my favorite villain and I'm a big fan of his , so hear it from it , HE"S GETTING FREAKING OVER EXPOSED. At this point , I'm sick and tired of him turning up like a bad joke anywhere and everywhere. Makes the thrill of the character's presence diluted , because of the over saturation thing. Also, his story lines are basically going in circles.

[resnullius_bells]

Ugh, sorry to hear that. It always sucks when it comes to a point where they've used one of your favorites and so poorly you end up getting tired of it :(

The last I watched of him was on Arrow, back when I watched that LOL, and I had a lot of mixed feelings about his portrayal there. After that I see him popping on the periphery again and again, as a villain in various comics, the attempt to bring him to the films, Titans, etc., and a lot of it seems really repetitive.

[magicrubbish]

Urrgghh I don't even want to think about Arrow deathstroke. I Liked nothing about him. Sorry to the actor , but he was a poor casting choice.
He getting repetitive since a long time. They're practically pushing him too hard at this point , which always does more harm than good.

[janegray]

DCAU Tim is Jason in all but name. What are they going to do, make Jason the brainy nerd fanboy with rich parents and a history of uncovering identities and leading the TT?

[cypherfdp]

i do kinda hope it's this, because i think it would be funny

[silverhammerman]

Having been a Batman fanboy would certainly put a different spin on his turn as the Red Hood, so there might be something to the idea.

[kurenai_tenka]

That just makes me think of Syndrome from The Incredibles...

[kurenai_tenka]

I agree. Jason is pretty much already in it, so idk what they can do beyond that without having to pretty much remake the character (like they did with Tim...).

[icon_uk]

Or they go REALLY old school, and he's the last of The Flying Todds.

[cyberghostface]

I wish they did it more in the style of the cartoon like Batman Adventures did.

[laughing_tree]

Did you see the preview pages in the link? They capture the spirit of the cartoon quite well.

[icon_uk]

In terms of the cover, you are not alone, so here you go, courtsey of an amazing artist on Instagram

[lordultimus]

So... are we still getting Bruce/Barbara?

(he asked nervously)

[lordnorj]

Why is that a THING? Why?

[zachbeacon]

Yeah, that's my worry too. The JLU and Superman digital comics in the Batman Beyond timeline was great but every time they revisit Batman the Animated Series it gets worse. First the Mystery of the Batwoman movie strongly implies a gross Bruce/Babs relationship and then the Batman Beyond digital comic outright confirms it. Plus, we already know this Tim becomes the Joker and now we're adding Jason/Red Hood to the mix. No wonder most versions of future Dick (how many Batman Beyond timelines are there at this point?) aren't speaking to Bruce.

Batman from BtAS is simultaneously the best Batman and the worst Batman.

[laughing_tree]

The Batman Beyond cartoon confirmed that relationship long before any comic tie-in, did.

[zachbeacon]

Yeah, but I could willfully interpret it as something that happened when she was older and it became marginally less gross.

[zachbeacon]

Also, when exactly did Bruce/Babs even have time to happen? Mystery of the Batwoman came out in 2003 and that was when Batman was still in deep denial about his feelings for Wonder Woman and well into Batgirl and Supergirl being "galpals".

[magicrubbish]

*Pukes in a bucket. * Bruce/Barbara is seriously incestuous and disturbing.

[icon_uk]

What Bruce/Barbara? LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA! I can't hear you, (My denial will be fine if I can't hear you say it happened.)

[magicrubbish]

Am I the only one who thinks BTMAS >>>>>> Batman Beyond ??
I even enjoyed the Batman in the young justice series. But Batman beyond Batman is just... I dunno , I just don't like him, is all.

[zachbeacon]

Are we talking Batman or Bruce? Terry is a great character but he's a very different kind of Batman just like Miguel is very different Spider-Man. Its apples and oranges.

BB Bruce is a cranky old man who has driven away everyone who ever cared about him. Take Ace away and he's the Batman that people who don't understand Batman say they want.

BtAS (and JL/JLU) Bruce is pretty much the perfect Batman ... as long as you ignore the disturbing stuff from Mystery of the Batwoman and the BB flashbacks.

[remial]

anyone else see that the DC streaming service is going to be doing a DC Heroes RPG actual play with: Freddie Prinze Jr., Sam Witwer, Vanessa Marshall, Clare Grant, and Xavier Woods.
it will be set in the 80's, back when the game first came out, and the PCs will be teens in high school who just got powers.
it is using the old Mayfair Exponential Game System where rank 1 strength is twice as strong as rank 0, and it was apparently Prinze's favorite game system when he was younger.

here is a link
https://www.enworld.org/threads/dc-universe-all-star-games-is-a-new-rpg-show-featuring-freddie-prinze-jr-and-sam-witwer.670255/

[lbd_nytetrayn]

I'm into this, but bothered the M.O. behind it is https://tfwiki.net/wiki/To_sell_toys

[remial]

the Star Comics He-man comic was the WORST for this, because literally every issue introduced a new toy that either came out last month or would be released next month.

[liliaeth]

Honestly, since most of the best eighties cartoons were created specifically to sell toys, I don't really have an issue with it.

[beyondthefringe]

The Transformers and G.I. Joe comic series of the '80s were just as bad, -constantly- having to introduce new vehicles, characters, sub-teams, and the like, while rotating out old ones regularly.
It's just that G.I. Joe was blessed with Larry Hama as their writer, guiding light, character developer, and so much more, so that the series at least had a storyline, continuity, depth and development. And Transformers muddled along with some occasionally good writers.

But go back to Transformers #1 if you ever want to see a truly egregious use of exposition to introduce two dozen new characters and their special skills/abilities/attributes all in several pages. :)

[liliaeth]

oh I'm not saying you're wrong, it's that a good writer can do a lot with anything.
It's just that in hindsight a lot of these series, in comics as well as animation, managed to do a lot with what was essentially supposed to be no more than toy advertising.

[icon_uk]

At least they are honest about it.

[silverhammerman]

Very cool to see more from these creators, especially Ty Templeton, though I hope these teasers don't indicate that they're planning to completely ditch the art style of the animated stuff, since the visuals are a big part of why it holds up so well.

As others have pointed out though, revisiting the DCAU, even when Bruce Timm's done it, has been wildly inconsistent in terms of quality and led to some questionable narrative choices. Hopefully this comes out better. Also, this seems like well-trodden territory. We've seen DCAU Bruce Wayne basically go from cradle to grave, so is this going to be dancing between the raindrops of continuity so to speak, or treating things more willy-nilly, in which case why not just call it an all new imprint?

Anyway, I'm sure this will sell and it'll probably be good. Personally I'd rather not see DC going back to the well on a nearly 30 year old cartoon, but I'm sure it'll be well done. I do wonder how this might affect the Batman Beyond comic, since I think that's loosely based on DCAU canon.

[laughing_tree]

Did you look at the preview pages at the link? They capture the show's style quite well.

[silverhammerman]

Oh, obvious oversight on my part. Weird that the cover doesn't follow the style of the interior.

[pyynk]

Getting Paul Dini back on a Batman book? Sign me UP.

[lego_joker]

I just hope they finally finish the Red Hood storyline Templeton and Slott had set up from way back when..

[obsidianwolf]

The thing that really worries me about this is that they aren't making a secret about how this is meant to create more characters for the toy line.

It makes me worry that these story lines will be rushed and over loaded with characters to create as many new toys as possible.

Also the DCAU is a prime example of how wrong a DC property can go so while I'm hoping for at least say New Batman adventurs quality I have nightmars of us getting Justice League unlimited Epilogue quality stuff.

[kurenai_tenka]

I'm extremely disappointed (and surprised) that they seem to be using that hideous new Jason costume on the second cover. I don't know why they wouldn't want it to match the recent toy version they did...?

[icon_uk]

It should be looking like the figure from this line they haven't even released yet.

https://forbiddenplanet.com/286351-batman-the-adventure-continues-action-figure-red-hood/

[kurenai_tenka]

Yeah, that's the figurine I was referring to. But he seems to have that daft Mortal Combat/dog muzzle mask on the second cover? Or is that someone else?