Batman: The Adventures Continue #5 - DC Comics

BATMAN: THE ADVENTURES CONTINUE No. 5, June 2020

Fans of Tim Drake’s incarnation of the Boy Wonder would surely have felt well-served by Paul Dini and Alan Burnett’s penmanship throughout Issue Five of “Batman: The Adventures Continue”, as the pair provide Robin with such characterful moments as the “skilled martial artist” being grounded by the Dark Knight for recklessly joining Deathstroke in an apparent attempt to ‘assassinate’ a deranged Garfield Lynns. Indeed, despite the boy’s evident bravery and keen detective skills this particular digital first publication delivers an enjoyable reminder to its audience as to just how much Batman’s protégé has yet to learn about the world of crime-fighting, and how young he actually is; “You have no idea what it’s like when he gets this way. I might as well be talking to a bear.”

Similarly as impressive is the writing duo’s handling of Firefly, who actually appears to be a genuine threat to the well-being of Drake’s costumed alter-ego, rather than ‘just a down-and-out film special effects expert armed with a flamethrower and jet-pack’. Agile in the air, clever enough to have dismantled the museum’s water sprinklers before launching his attack, and decidedly precise as to where his flames should land, this particular version of the felon is every bit the “sociopathic pyromaniac” a bibliophile would expect from a member of the Secret Society of Super-Villains.

Admittedly, the later revelation that Robin and Batman weren’t actually fighting Lynns inside the crook’s specialized outfit, but rather Deathstoke’s mysterious female associate, does come as something of a disappointment. However, the replacement makes perfect sense in this narrative’s wider context of ‘The Terminator’ setting Batman up for a lethal fall, and ties-in rather nicely towards the book’s end when it becomes apparent that a vengeful Lex Luthor is behind all of Slade’s shady shenanigans.

Ty Templeton and Monica Kubina also deserve a lot of credit for making this particular instalment to the “Mentors” storyline a visual triumph, particularly during the sequences set within Gotham City’s Entomology Pavilion. The intense heat caused by Firefly’s weaponry is physically palpable, so by the time poor Robin is pencilled literally dripping in sweat from the heat of the vividly orange flames about to engulf him, many suddenly parched readers were probably reaching into their refrigerators for a refreshingly cold drink or two…

Writers: Alan Burnett & Paul Dini, Artist: Ty Templeton, and Colorist: Monica Kubina