From the very first issue of The Batman Adventures title, it’s success has obviously depended upon the huge cult following garnered by the Animated Series. This means – naturally – that the mood of the stories told by writers like Kelley Puckett for the ongoing tie-in title is going to be extremely similar to the one in the animated world. Pretty much every issue of the run thus far have been quick reads. Much of the time and many of the pages are absorbed by action and fight scenes, while the moments of explanation contain as little dialogue as possible. But most obviously of all, the plotting of the Batman Adventures is basic. While some stories may push the boat out, the vast majority of tales enjoy a path well-trodden from point A to point B. While this makes sense – after all the title is aimed at younger readers (not obsessive fans like oneself) – sometimes I think it’s good to challenge a reader, regardless of their age. This is where The Batman Adventures 34-36 come in. With these final issues of the title’s three year-long run, Puckett delivers something very different…
The Batman Adventures 29-36 were published from February to October 1995. Written mainly by Kelley Puckett and Ty Templeton, artists include Dev Madan, Rick Burchett and Mike Parobeck. These issues can be read in The Batman Adventures Volume Four trade paperback. With that out of the way, let’s get on with it!
Demon Seed --- Written by Kelley Puckett with art by Dev Madan and Rick Burchett
The Batman Adventures 29 is a decent start to the final stretch of stories. It begins with a shock – Ra’s Al Ghul is missing! His daughter Talia begins her search in Gotham, where she of course bumps into Batman, whose heard the news and is looking for Ra’s too. Right from the off, this tale is similar to Last Tango in Paris from The Batman Adventures 13. While there was and is obviously a story in both plots written by Puckett, the main overarching mood is romantic. It’s about Batman and Talia’s relationship and – as ever – one question keeps on raising its head: why does the Dark Knight keep falling for the daughter of his most grand enemy? While most of the story appears to be Talia on a fairly innocent search for her father, it’s revealed at the end that Ra’s was working on another of his schemes to rid the Earth of humanity for the sake of the environment. It’s shown that Talia is simply an accomplice to her father, who reveals himself at the end. He hid from the world in order to carry out his plans without Batman intervening. Of course, with only two pages left to go in the story, Batman destroys Ra’s technological plan and that’s it. Ra’s doesn’t even seem too angry that his life’s work has been ruined. Overall, Puckett writes an engaging story, but it doesn’t deliver anything new. With its similar themes and revelations, think of this issue recapping the very similar events of other Ra’s Al Ghul stories.
Natural Born Loser --- Written by Kelley Puckett with art Rick Burchett
After a gritty opener which travelled well-trodden ground, the title’s thirtieth issue is comedic and unique. Batman is barely present here – instead the protagonist is a criminal named Marty. Collecting the many pieces of a treasure map for years, Marty discovers the last piece of the map is held by Mastermind, Perfesser, and Mr Nice, that lovable comedic trio who are totally original characters for the tale. In order to gain the missing knowledge, Marty interviews the three villains by posing as a detective. This leads to the villains telling three individual stories which are totally bizarre and obviously fictional. It’s best to learn about these tales through Puckett’s writing and Burchett’s art, but it certainly succeeds in making the trio a more interesting group of foes. By the end, the tables are turned on Marty as Mastermind, Perfesser, and Mr Nice steal the rest of his map, and together they find the treasure. Instead of a chest full of gold and jewels, it’s a giant oyster. However, it’s pearl won’t be ready for another 12 years, meaning that all of their efforts were wasted, and Batman will soon put them behind bars. Puckett fills the pages here with quite a bit of dialogue, much of which is of course telling a false narrative. But since the writing is highly entertaining, the plotting is quick, and the characters are first-class, Natural Born Loser is a comedic and fun tale.
Anarky --- Written by Alan Grant with art by Dev Madan and Rick Burchett
Out of all 36 issues of The Batman Adventures, issue 31 must be the closest story to something from the mainstream titles. There are two reasons for this. Firstly, it’s written by Alan Grant, a writer who not only wrote some gritty tales for Batman and Detective Comics, but also for his own title, The Shadow of the Bat. Grant was also known to create a new generation of Batman foes suitable for the late-1980s. Some of these include Victor Zsasz, and Ventriloquist and Scarface. And this leads me to the second point. The foe here is none other than Anarky, who Grant created with artist Norm Breyfogle in 1989 for Detective Comics 608. A vigilante thriving on public executions, torture, and – of course – anarchy, Anarky was a political for the Dark Knight who Grant translates perfectly into the Animated Universe with this issue. Instead of Batman, the main hero here is Robin. Pairing Robin against Anarky is perfect. Both characters are young idealists and the two challenge one another’s ideas. By using live TV, Anarky presents Gotham with the richest men in the city and accuses them of destroying lives through their businesses. One of those who Anarky kidnaps is Bruce Wayne, so Robin has to fight back alone. Anarky’s political goals are just one part of the story. The other narrative which Grant peddles is the striking similarities between Robin and Anarky. Both have sympathy and even respect for one another, and there’s clearly potential here for a future story featuring the two characters.
Overall, Grant’s writing may be better suited to the darker world of the mainstream titles, but Anarky easily has to qualify as one of the best stories in the Batman Adventures title.
A Soldier’s Story --- Written by Dan Raspler with art by Mike Parobeck and Rick Burchett
The Batman Adventures 32 is another silly story, but it lacks much of the charm enjoyed by the story featuring Mastermind and co. Two elderly businessmen – after their even older parents left large sums of money in their wills – use their wealth to fund a war using life-size toy soldiers. That’s pretty much about it. Batman works out the motives behind this battle – it turns out that the two leaders just simply despise one another – and then has to find a way to stop it. After doing so, the two leaders are thrown in Arkham, where their war continues except now they both use small toy soldiers. Aside from a very clear reference to the works of Frank Miller when Batman rides a horse through the crowds of rebelling soldiers, there really isn’t much great here. The pacing just feels too slow here, while the villains lack any interesting personality. The background isn’t entertaining or hugely gripping, while the solution is just boring. All in all, Raspler’s one issue he provides for the series is sadly dull and duff.
Just Another Night --- Written by Ty Templeton with art by Dev Madan and Rick Burchett
As the final one-off story from the title, The Batman Adventures 33 is a grim classic. The one character which might have been ignored the most throughout this run is none other than Bruce Wayne. Here, Puckett writes about that constant battle for supremacy between Gotham’s richest man and its darkest knight. Bruce Wayne has been let out of the cave for a night to go on a date, but this is no ordinary date. Bruce’s new girlfriend, Veronica, has a son named Justin, and as a treat, Bruce takes them to the cinema to watch an old movie of the Gray Ghost, that Adam West-voiced vigilante who inspired Bruce to become Batman (a fantastic episode of the Animated Series). Here, Bruce is shown in a very different light as a loving family man. This is the life which he abandoned for Batman, but sadly that vigilante life returns as he and Veronica’s wallets are stolen by a petty crook. Bruce cannot resist the urge but to leave a distressed Veronica to retrieve their money. Batman does this, and returns only to discover that his relationship with the new woman he loved is now over. He can never tell her that he is Batman, and she can never forgive him for leaving her and Justin in potential danger. After a nice and heart-warming scene where Batman says his farewells to Justin, Templeton’s ending shows that however hard he tries, Bruce is stuck with Batman and there is little he can do about it.
Overall, this makes Just Another Night a tragic story about the complex character of Bruce Wayne, and how he struggles to find a life outside of Batman. Many stories have played around with this idea previously, but with a love interest, a surrogate son, and the Gray Ghost, this one stands the tallest.
In Memoriam/The Book of Memory/The Last Batman Adventure --- Written by Kelley Puckett and Ty Templeton, with art by Mike Parobeck and Rick Burchett
With three issues to go, this is where things get weird. Well, weird and very confusing. With the title starting and concluding with a three-parter, the one delivered in The Batman Adventures 34-36 is very complex and perhaps even at times too cryptic to understand fully. Regardless, it begins with a foe who hasn’t appeared in the title yet. Enter Doctor Hugo Strange, a highly intelligent professor whose usual aim is to uncover the true identity of Batman. Here, however, his mission is something very different. Suffering from powerful headaches and delusions, Strange rambles about a person named David. Meanwhile, Batman finds Catwoman stealing some jewels from a museum. Suddenly, the Dark Knight falls into a pit of amnesia and awakens to find Hugo Strange running away from him. It's revealed that Hugo Strange is searching the missing memories to do with his son, and he is working with Catwoman to steal the necessary goods required to construct a machine which will help him do this. By the end of the first issue, Strange’s memories return as we’re shown the brutal murder of Strange’s son, while Batman loses all of his memories and Catwoman escapes with him. Since Puckett, the writer of the first part, uses little dialogue throughout, some scenes are very mysterious. However, I think that’s the point. Puckett, and Templeton later, write this story to make it confusing in order to hide the mystery, in this case what happened to Strange’s son. Although we’re shown the death of Strange’s son David, the details surrounding it are still foggy. In the end, the first part probably raises more questions than answers, but it’s not a bad start at all.
With the second part, Strange begins hallucinating and harassing random civilians on the street, believing them all to be David. Meanwhile, Batman awakens in Catwoman’s apartment without his memories, and this where Selina Kyle devises a strange but appealing idea. While Batman’s memories may be gone, his athleticism and physical power is still very much present. Therefore, she transforms Batman into Catman, her trusted jewel thief partner. This takes up much of the second issue, but what makes it interesting is that Batman’s personality has changed radically. With most of the memories gone, he speaks and has the attitude of an innocent ten-year-old. His child-like responses to Catwoman are often very sweet and incredibly naïve, just like the kind of words spoken by a child. But underneath it all, like most other children, Batman has morals. In the end, he realises that what he and Catwoman do is law-breaking, and Batman bumps into his trusted sidekick Robin, who takes him home to the Batcave. Batman’s meeting with Robin and then Alfred are moments of both entertainment and emotion. They’re fun because of Batman’s attitude towards Robin, himself a young man, and also Alfred, whose is actually the only person he recognises from previous memories. But there lies the sadness of the plot. This Batman still believes that his parents are alive. He hasn’t yet lived and experienced that infamous day when those two innocent people were gunned down in Crime Alley. That makes this younger Batman a far more complex character. While these scenes are good, it does feel like the Hugo Strange story is heavily side-lined. The true mystery of the story is buried by Batman’s episode, but the true tale returns in time for the last issue.
The Batman Adventures 36, wittingly titled The Last Batman Adventure, is exactly what it says on the tin. With Batman and Robin back together again, we’re shown some entertaining scenes of the Boy Wonder training his master back to full strength again, before we learn more about Hugo Strange’s son. It turns out that David was killed by one of Rupert Thorne’s men after Strange refused to work for the mob boss. After the trauma of that event, Strange removed the memory of that event from his mind, but things did not improve. Strange began to search for a memory that wasn’t there, believing his mind to still be faulty. That explains why he made that machine during the first part – in order to reclaim forgotten memories and learn about his dead son. Before Batman can go after Strange, he has to go after Catwoman and steal her diamonds which are needed to transport his memories back into his brain. After an emotional scene with Catwoman, the real Batman is back and we finally get back to Hugo Strange. He breaks into Rupert Thorne’s base and attempts to murder the criminal for killing his son, but Batman intervenes and stops him. In the end, Thorne walks free while Batman pledges to restore Hugo Strange back to full health. After a very long and confusing pathway, the overall plot of the story really isn’t too complicated. It certainly does challenge readers at times, particularly during the first part. While younger readers might find it difficult to come to terms with some of Puckett and Templeton’s writing, I think the basics of the story are pretty clear by the end and it’s definitely one of the most imaginative stories in the run. All-in-all, this final three-parter certainly feels different from pretty much every other story in The Batman Adventures title, but I like its unique plotting, dramatic storytelling, and very well-written characters.
As before, the art in these Batman Adventures is stellar. It constantly captures the mood and feeling of the Animated Series, and while there is a broader mixture of artists present in these last issues, the overall theme of Bruce Timm has been captured well. Aside from that, there is little else to add.
VERDICT
Overall, the last issues of The Batman Adventures title contain some great stories (as ever). One-offs like Anarky and Just Another Night are classic tales which feel highly memorable and unique. Sure, some stories like A Soldier’s Story might not be great, but there is nothing terrible here. As for the last three-parter, it may be complex, but it feels different and stands out for a variety of reasons. Although the title may end with its thirty-sixth issue, we aren’t quite done yet. With some annuals, specials, and a very famous one-off yet to cover, in some ways we are yet to see the very best of The Batman Adventures.
Next Week: Superman: Year One (1-3). Written by Frank Miller with art by John Romita Jr.
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