With the success of The Batman Adventures, during the course of its thirty-six issues, a number of annuals and specials were released for the title. For the annuals, DC produced two of them. The first annual contained multiple stories, penned, pencilled, and inked, by a wide range of talent – many of whom are considered visionaries of the medium. The second annual, while not featuring the visionary of all visionaries himself, is a Jack Kirby tribute story featuring the Demon. As for the Specials, there are really three to note. One is a comic adaptation of a fantastically flawless animated movie, another is a Christmas special featuring a compilation of festive tales, and the last (but certainly not least) special is Mad Love, a story which transformed Harley Quinn from annoying henchwoman to a figure of hubris and tragedy. I’ll be looking at all of these stories today, bar the last one – Mad Love really deserves a review of its on. Regardless, if you liked The Batman Adventures, the annuals and specials provide even more of the same!
These annuals and specials were produced by a huge number of talented writers and artists. The former include Kelley Puckett, Paul Dini, Glen Murakami, Bruce Timm, and Ronnie Del Carmen. Meanwhile, some great artists include Mike Parobeck, Rick Burchett Bruce Timm, Mike Parobeck, Matt Wagner, Dan DeCarlo, Klaus Janson, John Byrne, Rick Burchett, Glen Murakami, Ronnie Del Carmen, Butch Lukic, and Dan Riba. We’ll look into the writing and art teams as we go on. Also, most of these stories can be found in The Batman Adventures trade paperbacks, with most of them present in the fourth volume.
The Mask of the Phantasm --- Written by Kelley Puckett with art by Mike Parobeck and Rick Burchett
The Mask of the Phantasm must qualify as one of the best Batman movies ever made. Some may deem it unworthy of such a title due to live action movies like The Dark Knight or 1989’s Batman, but with a fantastic story featuring a new vigilante villain, the Joker’s past and his involvement with the criminal underworld, the morphing of Bruce Wayne’s character into Batman, and a genuine romance story that actually works, The Mask of the Phantasm is a classic. Since the best way to enjoy this classic is to simply watch the animated movie, I won’t speak much at all about the comic book adaptation. Written and drawn by the usual Batman Adventures team, Puckett, Parobeck, and Burchett translate the gothic and fast-moving pace of The Mask of the Phantasm onto the page well. Story details may be missing, but that’s to be expected with a limited number of pages. It may lack the spine-chilling, creepy, and dramatic moments which are present in the movie, but overall, it’s a very faithful adaptation that captures The Mask of the Phantasm’s plot, characters, and themes very well.
The Batman Adventures Annual One
At fifty-four pages, the first annual of the title provides a variety of stories, one of which is in two parts that bookends the annual. Meanwhile, the shorter tales are rather clumsily thrown into the mix, with Batman simply recalling some of the other tales throughout the course of the annual.
Written by Paul Dini and drawn by Bruce Timm, the dynamic duo of the animated series – with the latter co-creating the show – provide Going Straight as a short two-parter which feels (unsurprisingly) incredibly similar to a TV episode. Featuring Batman with Catwoman, a new villain debuts in this story who would become a memorable(ish) foe in the animated series – Roxy Rocket. A former stunt actress with a love of rockets and dangerous living, she terrorises Gotham in her first story here. However, the twist is that while Batman is searching for her, it turns out that Catwoman is masquerading as her to distract the Dark Knight. It’s a simple story, and while Roxy Rocket isn’t in the story much, it’s at least interesting to see a new character, even if she feels a bit too cliched and even boring at times. The creative team of Dini and Timm is really what makes this story special. With the flair of Timm’s visuals, Dini’s minimalistic but highly appealing style of writing dialogue, and their combined sense of drama, Going Straight is a very short, simple, breezy, but enjoyable story. It should be remembered not for the new villainess, but the creative duo at the helm, both of whom the animated series wouldn’t have materialised without.
For the second story, the focus is darker and more psychological. With a title like Puppet Show, just who might the foe be, I ask with sarcasm. Finally enjoying parole, Arnold Wesker predictably finds work in puppeteering, working with a crazed TV presenter named Mitzi Martin. With a grudge against her director, Mitzi discovers Wesker’s past and in order to use him to kill her director, she reunites Wesker with Scarface. While the plot from here follows a familiar road, the most fascinating aspect which Dini focuses on is the three-way relationship Dini writes for Wesker, Scarface, and Croaky – a plush frog Mitzi demands he use for the puppeteering show. With Croaky, another Wesker personality emerges and fights Scarface. Throughout, this battle is prominent and adds much more interest to Wesker. Just as Dini does with his latter run on the mainstream Batman titles in the 2000s, characters like the Ventriloquist and Scarface are made even more fascinating by his writing. Mike Parobeck’s art is made more interesting by some unique inking by Matt Wagner.
Next is another Dini story, with Dan DeCarlo and Bruce Timm present for the art. The story is called 24 hours. Harley Quinn is let out of Arkham on parole, only to immediately find the Joker, commit a crime, and end up back in Arkham. That’s literally it – there’s literally no dialogue. It exists to be funny, and it is a laugh that presents only the surface of the Joker-Harley Quinn relationship, the rest which Dini and Timm uncover later in Mad Love.
Study Hall is one of the two most memorable stories in the first annual. That is primarily down to the artist. While Dini is present once again as writer, the artist here is Klaus Janson. Famous for inking Frank Miller on Daredevil and The Dark Knight Returns, Janson became famed and known for his rough style of art. Does that style work with the animated series? The answer would usually be no, but on this occasion, the opposite is true. Featuring Jonathan Crane as the Scarecrow, the villain has seemingly gone straight. That is, until he kidnaps a student and tests out some of his fear toxins on her. While Batman intervenes in the end to save the day, Dini show the Scarecrow to be even more malicious than usual. The evilness of the foe is why an artist like Janson is required here – the art looks almost Ditko-ish on occasions, and the rougher, more coarse inking gives this story the correct mood to make it very chilling indeed.
The last – and certainly not least – story of the lot is by everyone’s favourite egotist John Byrne, with Dini providing the script. Known for lighter stories like The Man of Steel, Byrne draws a highly entertaining story featuring the Joker. After failing in another of his fights with the Dark Knight, a bored Joker wanders around downtown Gotham, terrorising people and even murdering a few using very goofy techniques.
Dini does cut it too short for me however – Harley Quinn is taken hostage by a gang who want the Joker dead, but that story doesn’t go anywhere. Regardless, with Byrne’s fun sense of storytelling and art, along with Dini’s entertaining depiction of the Clown Prince of Crime, the final story is comedic.
Overall, the first annual of The Batman Adventures is mixture of funny and grim stories, but pretty much all of them are – at the very worst – good fun. The weakest tale may be the Roxy Rocket story, but others like the four-page Harley Quinn adventure is fantastic, the Scarecrow story is memorably dark, and the Ventriloquist tale by Dini explores unique territory. That all said, the noticeable problem with the annual is that Dini presents Going Straight as the main story, meaning that all the other tales (most of which are more interesting) are crammed into the annual as awkward moments of Batman reminiscing about previous stories. Dini really should have just formatted the annual as a series of short stories – it lessens the impact of the non-Going Straight stories when they are treated as subsidiary tales from the past. Nevertheless, the quality of the stories and the presence of some outside talent is wonderful.
The Batman Adventures Annual Two
Compared to the first annual, the second one abandons the short story-format for one long forty-four page extravaganza. This annual is a classic for all kinds of reasons, but the most notable one from the outset is the story’s style. Written by Paul Dini, with art by Glen Murakami and Bruce Timm, this story is very – and I mean very – much in the style of Jack Kirby. With a dynamic and Mike Royer-style of inking, the artists here collaborate very effectively with Dini’s simplistic but powerful writing. It begins with a shock. In the middle of Gotham City, many are killed when Ra’s Al Ghul and his men destroy an entire office complex. Enraged, Batman goes after Ra’s crooks, while the villain himself gets to work and locates a hidden mystical stone text under the building’s rubble. Ra’s has been searching for this dangerous tablet for two-hundred years, and after hearing more from Batman of his rage and disgust at Ra’s for killing so many just for some tablet, the Dark Knight is knocked out. Undoubtedly, that is a flawless entrance for a story, presenting an emotionally fuelled hero with a Ra’s Al Ghul as we’ve never seen him before. The meat of the story begins when Batman meets with supernatural expert Jason Blood. Himself immortal, Blood is shocked to learn of Ra’s achievement, recalling that he himself fought Ra’s for the tablet two centuries before. It turns out that this tablet is possessed with a demon known as Haahk – Ra’s desires its powers to use them for his own Earth-cleansing plans. After Batman endures some poison from Talia and experiences a weird and bizarre few pages of hallucination and unconsciousness, he awakens to work with Jason Blood to defeat Ra’s and Haahk. That takes us to the half-way mark and the influence of Kirby here is already overpowering. Including Jason Blood – whose transformation into Etrigan the Demon we eagerly await – here makes sense and he makes for a strong addition to the story. From here on out, we’re treated to even more 1970s-Kirby as Ra’s unleashed Haahk into the world. Unsurprisingly, Ra’s cannot control this demon, who simply toys with the immortal. A true challenger emerges when Jason Blood transforms into Etrigan the Demon. The stellar action scenes provided by Murakami and Timm are fantastic and incredibly retro. To finish up the story, Haahk is defeated when Etrigan seals him back inside the tablet, which the Demon then snaps into two (reminding me of that excellent scene from Moore’s Swamp Thing (vol 2) 27, when Etrigan defeats the Monkey King by shrinking him down to pea-size before swallowing him). With that, the long battle for the tablet is over, and this real page-turner of a tale concludes satisfyingly. Everything about this story screams Kirby.
Whether it be the action, the plot, the storytelling, and certainly the speedy pace, the second annual is near-flawless. The plot idea feels grand enough to be granted a full annual and nearly every page is used brilliantly. The only exception there would be that weird interlude where Batman blacks out – it feels like an unessential pause to the story, but it’s never too dominant or annoying in any way. The creative team also make sure that enough of the animated series influence is present at all times. Especially in the visual style, the artists mix a perfect blend of Kirby and Timm to provide the annual with its excellence. All in all, there is little bad to say.
The Batman Adventures Holiday Special
Compared to the number of annuals and quarterlies that DC has released over the years, there hasn’t really been that many holiday – or Christmas – specials. Published for Christmas 1994, The Batman Adventures Holiday Special is another compilation of stories, nearly all of which may seem familiar to viewers of the animated series. By familiar, I mean very familiar. Four of the five stories printed here are adapted pretty much word for word and panel for panel in Holiday Knights, the first episode of the fourth season of the animated series (when it was retitled The New Batman Adventures). While the aminated episode came a few years after this special, I guess the producers of the show either must have been lazy or they thought very highly of the tales written and drawn in the special, with most stories by Bruce Timm and Paul Dini.
Jolly Ol’ St. Nicholas is first up, and it may be the best-known story of the lot. Since it’s Christmas, the police’s Harvey Bullock and Renee Montoya are forced to work in a department store to amuse the kids. Bullock is forced into a Santa suit, while Montoya is his elven helper. Disaster hits when Clayface emerges as the villain, morphing into several different children to try and steal as much as possible. The hero of the story isn’t Batman, but Batgirl. It’s her story as she defeats Clayface, with much comedy from Bullock and Montoya. Dini and Timm write the two police officers like jovial characters, and while they usually have some more substance and depth to them, I think that choice is a good one. Some of the best lines in the story come from the hilarious Bullock. Meanwhile, it’s good to see Batgirl get another solo story, even if it isn’t full length. Overall, it’s a basic Christmas crime romp, with Clayface featuring as a surprising but threatening foe.
Harley and Ivy might just be my favourite story in the special. Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy – both depressed after their failures to try and succeed in the criminal underworld – hatch a new and cunning plan. Using Poison Ivy’s mind-controlling lipstick, the villainesses poison Bruce Wayne and exploit hm for his money. Instead of using the money to escape Gotham and live relaxingly for the rest of their lives, they spend most of it on clothes and jewellery. Throughout, the vibrant personalities of Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn mesh incredibly well. Their relationship is one of strong friendship rather than anything else, and writers Dini and Ronnie Del Carmen (who also draws this story with gusto and visible energy) capture their characters flawlessly. In the end, the poison wears off and Bruce Wayne uses his chance to become Batman, and the fun of Harley and Ivy comes to an end. It is relentless in terms of its plotting, meaning that this short story is never dull. All in all, it’s perhaps the most memorable story present.
White Christmas is the only story not reproduced for the animated series. I don’t quite know why (maybe time reasons), but it’s more emotional and sad compared to the others. The villain here is Mr Freeze, a villain who didn’t turn up in any of The Batman Adventures issues. However, he was and continues to be rightfully defined by Heart of Ice, a flawless episode of the animated series which changed the whole backstory and character of Mr Freeze. For reasons unknown, Mr Freeze escapes from Arkham and unleashes a huge snowstorm upon Gotham City. Batman manages to track down the villain in a graveyard, where it’s revealed that Mr Freeze begun the snowstorm because it is the tenth anniversary of his marriage to Nora. His love for her and the events that unfolded in Heart of Ice transformed him into Mr Freeze. It’s a nice story because – in the end – Batman lets Mr Freeze off the hook. However, there is one plot-hole. In the graveyard, we’re shown Nora’s grave. That’s fine until you remember that Nora was meant to be frozen in ice by Mr Freeze to keep her alive. Why is her grave here. It’s a very noticeable fault. While the mood may be more negative compared to other stories, it’s good character piece for a much-neglected villain in the whole Batman Adventures title.
What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve is the climax of the special, with only one villain suitable to star in such a dramatic story. The award goes to the Joker, who vows as a New Year’s Resolution not to kill anyone for a whole year. That means that he has got a few hours left to kill as many Gothamites as he can before 1st January. Arranging a huge crowd of people to a New Year’s party, the Joker plans to unleashed deadly laughing gas to achieve his goal. While Batman obviously succeeds, there is a slightly shocking moment when the Dark Knight is shot in the arm by the Joker. We’re actually witness to some blood, which is very unusual for a younger readers title. It’s nothing too gory, but it’s certainly a shock. Dini and Timm write the Joker as his playful but malicious self, while his goofiness and bizarre plans makes this a very memorable story for the Clown Prince of Crime.
After the Joker fiasco, Should Old Acquaintance Be Forgot is a three-page epilogue which sums up the relationship between Batman and Commissioner Gordon nicely. With a new year beginning, the Dark Knight meets the police Commissioner for their yearly tea meeting. The dialogue is really only about the Joker story, which is a bit of a shame since the story could have been an opportunity for more character-based dialogue. That being said, Batman isn’t one for a chat, and that warm and friendly, but highly disconnected relationship between Gotham’s two protectors remains intact. Overall, it’s a nice conclusion that wraps up this holiday special very well.
VERDICT
Overall, the annuals and specials of The Batman Adventures are more good fun. The first annual may suffer from an unsuccessful story structure, but the content is marvellous and highly memorable. The second annual, while lacking the array of talent compared to the first, is near-perfect with its Kirby-esque story and art. As for the holiday special, the stories here are hugely familiar to me due to the animated series, but they never fail to entertain upon reading them. With that, there is one special left and, for Harley Quinn, it is the most important one yet…
Next Week: The Batman Adventures: Mad Love. Written and drawn by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm.
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