Batman: The Adventures Continue #8 - DC Comics

BATMAN: THE ADVENTURES CONTINUE No. 8, July 2020

It was probably difficult for some of this digital first comic’s readers to shake off the impression that Paul Dini and Alan Burnett were perhaps a little short of ideas when it came to writing the narrative for Issue Eight of “Batman: The Adventures Continue”. For whilst the book undoubtedly contains some excellent bouts of fisticuffs and super-heroic antics, such as the Caped Crusader and Azrael double-teaming the enormous Mister Wing with their “sword of salvation” manoeuvre, the seemingly endless stream of different characters appearing within the plot does disappointingly somewhat smack of a desire to simply pad out the plot until the publication’s page-count is filled.

Leading of this carousel of cameos is the badly underused Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot, who disconcertingly appears to have been shoe-horned into the script as a simple middleman between Catwoman and this story’s supposed lead villain, Victor Fries. The Penguin is usually regarded as “one of Batman's most enduring enemies”, and yet in “The Darker Knight” he is deplorably depicted as nothing more than a scared little man, who is easily overcome by Azbats and actually requires saving by Bruce Wayne’s alter-ego before his portly frame plummets to his death; “Though of course, since he is Catwoman’s employer, the order demands he must suffer in her place.”

Similarly as swift in their contribution to this comic is Mister Freeze, who steps out from the shadows just long enough to zap Jean Paul Valley with his ice gun, and subsequently be bested by a simple sonic pulse bat-a-rang to the head. The fact the distraught doctor would want to use the sacred Shawl of Magdalene to resurrect his dead wife makes total sense. However, his defeat seems all too easily accomplished considering Fries was ranked as Imagine Games Network’s sixty-seventh best Comic Book Villain of All Time and has come close to defeating the cowled crime-fighter on numerous occasions.

Perhaps though, this book’s biggest indication that its writers were struggling for content lies in its ending which has Ty Templeton pencilling an all-too brief scene featuring the Joker. Following straight on from a bizarre scene where Valley and Wayne far too readily settle their differences over Azbats’ inclination to maim and kill, the Clown Prince of Crime’s cliff-hanger would appear to have been included purely as a cheap gimmick to ensure this publication’s audience return for another instalment of the ongoing series, rather than add anything to the dynamic duo’s actual adventure.

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