Comic Review: Batman: The Adventure Continues #3

Batman: The Adventure Continues #3

DC Comics

Writer: Paul Dini, Alan Burnett

Artist: Ty Templeton

Previously, on Batman: The Adventures Continue! Deathstroke, the merciless mercenary debuted within the DCAU. After attempting to gain the trust of Batman’s sidekicks Deathstroke took Robin in pursuit of the villain, Firefly. Now, it’s time to see whether the boy wonder and the merc with the monocular vision can take the heat.

This issue kicks off with a continuation of this fight. Deathstroke and Robin try to fend off Firefly until Batman intervenes and forces the villain to flee. The events in the rest of the issue aren’t going to be surprising if you know these characters. Deathstroke shows his true colours and a fight ensues between Slade and the Bat-family. What makes this issue interesting is how it adds to the overall plot of this series. We see further character and story development in regards to Jason Todd. He’s been watching silently from the shadows in the last two issues but he has a bigger role here. It’s nice to get a better feel for how he’s going to be portrayed by Dini and Burnett. There’s also the answer to a somewhat obvious question. Deathstroke is a mercenary so who hired him? Little things that help build to the eventual finale.

The writing is much like the last two issues in that it’s generally pretty good. The story itself is fairly logical and well thought out. This story still feels like an episode of the show, especially combined with the cartoonish artwork from Templeton. One thing I feel I should praise about the artwork in the sky. I’ve spoken about how inconsistent the sky has been in previous issues. In one panel it’ll be the classic red sky and the next it’s a different colour though time hasn’t passed. That’s not the case in this issue. A red sky is consistently used during moments set during the night and blue skies are used during the day. This was distracting to me before so I feel I should compliment this issue on improving in this regard. The redesign of Firefly’s suit is another high point. Templeton took a C-level villain and made them look intimidating while maintaining the cartoonish charm. That’s impressive.

I think a lot of this issue will appeal to comic fans and especially to fans of the Batman Animated Series. The artwork, the writing, the moments of humour, it all just adds up to a great continuation of the show. It’s really refreshing that they’re using so many villains who never got the chance to appear in the cartoon. We had Deathstroke here and it’s no spoilers since the issue is already available digitally but the next issue features Azrael. The Batman Adventures comics were great but it was always the same big names from the show. Batman: The Adventure Continues feels like an improvement since it’s portraying these unused villains in ways we haven’t seen before. It’s more experimental and I like that.

Issue three maintains the lettering quality of the past two issues. We have good use of bold lettering to highlight key portions of dialogue. The technique also helps show emotion at times during certain parts of the issue. The colour-coded narration boxes re-appear to help the reader understand which character’s thoughts are being represented in each box. Finally, there’s a good use of sound effects throughout the issue. They help the reader immerse themselves in the action and imagine these events taking place. The lettering may not improve on past issues but it’s hard to improve when you’re already doing something so well.

In summary, this was another great issue of Batman: The Adventure Continues. It’ll appeal to new and old fans alike, it looks stunning and it’s very well-written. My only complaint is that in this issue Dini writes Deathstroke with a sense of humour. He can be very blatantly sarcastic and he’s extremely talkative. In the pages where he speaks to his employer, he addresses them as “My liege” and takes an exaggerated bow. Dini seems to have taken some slight inspiration from Deadpool in his portrayal of the villain. Depending on the reader this could appeal to them and it’s different from how I usually see Slade Wilson portrayed. Still, there’s the potential that it could put off some people expecting a far more serious Deathstroke. This doesn’t detract from how good of a comic this issue was though and I passionately recommend grabbing a copy. Dini, Burnett, and Templeton are doing a fantastic job and I sincerely hope the adventure continues beyond this miniseries.