Batman: The Adventures Continue #7 - DC Comics

BATMAN: THE ADVENTURES CONTINUE No. 7, July 2020

IIntroducing the Knight of St. Dumas to the world of “Fox Kids” 1992 animated television series, Issue Seven of “Batman: The Adventures Continue” surely must have excited its readers upon its digital first release in July 2020. Indeed, its pulse-pounding opening is arguably flawless as Azrael interrupts the Caped Crusader’s latest pursuit of Catwoman in order to physically torture the female burglar for stealing the sacred Shawl of Magdalene; “I never kid. The loss of an eye should make you see that.”

Sadly however, Paul Dini and Alan Burnett’s script suddenly goes badly off the rails once Bruce Wayne’s alter ego has thwarted the “aggressive” vigilante’s plan and fights the sword-wielding maniac off with a ferocious bout of fisticuffs. True, the plot to “The Darker Knight” does lead to Gotham City’s protector teaming up with Jean-Paul Valley in an attempt to locate the whereabouts of the artefact at the Iceberg Lounge, but before the ‘dynamic duo’ set-off on their mission Batman disconcertingly has time to construct the psychologically conditioned killer the famous “Knightfall” Bat-suit.

This bizarre development genuinely smacks of the writers simply crowbarring “Azbats” armour into the comic’s continuity purely for the sake of it, without giving any convincing rhyme or reason as to why Valley would suddenly change out of his ‘classic’ costume. In fact, the notion that Alfred Pennyworth would manufacture the technologically-advanced outfit just so Jean-Paul could supposedly appear “more ally than enemy” to the Batman is as persuasive as the Penguin’s belief that a giant humanoid puffin named Mister Wing was going to best the Dark Knight and his “cousin” single-handedly.

Mercifully, Ty Templeton’s ability to seamlessly pencil both of Azrael’s costumes into the highly-stylised world of the cartoon show means that visually no harm is debatably done to the look of this comic book, even if it does appear a little odd to see two incarnations of the Caped Crusader stood shoulder-to-shoulder. The Canadian artist’s drawing of the aforementioned battle with the fiery assassin is undoubtedly the highlight of this publication, with Monica Kubina’s excellent colours, such as the blue hue to Selina Kyle’s face contrasting against the pink of Wayne’s cowled visage, genuinely imbuing all the combatants with a life of their own.

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