Batman: The Adventures Continue Season Two #1 - DC Comics

BATMAN: THE ADVENTURES CONTINUE SEASON TWO No. 1, August 2021

Featuring an excellent ‘guest-star’ appearance by Deadman during its reimagining as to just how Batman discovered the presence of the Court of Owls “buried under the streets of Gotham”, it is arguably easy to see just why this opening instalment to “DC Comics” seven-issue long second season of “Batman: The Adventures Continue” purportedly sold an impressive 40,000 copies in June 2021, making it the sixty-ninth best-selling comic of the month. Indeed, considering that this twenty-page periodical’s plot starts with the shockingly gory demise of Mayor Hamilton Hill, the book debatably makes good on its creative team’s aim to excitingly insert the secret society into one of the “gaps in the original Batman: The Animated Series”.

Foremost of these intriguing hooks has to be Boston Brand’s relationship with the storyline’s murderous Talon, who perturbingly seems able to both clearly see the undead acrobat, as well as successfully resist the ghost’s usually formidable ability to “possess any sentient being.” This disconcerting conundrum repeatedly causes the deceased thrill-seeker to seek alternative solutions to his investigation’s problems, such as inhabiting General Vreeland’s daughter so as to fend off the owl-influenced assassin with a desperate display of swordsmanship, and even momentarily causes the 'Sentinel of Magic' to dwell within Bruce Wayne so as to inform the Billionaire’s alter-ego that Hill’s mysterious assailant is actually a zombie.

Just as engaging is Alan Burnett and Paul Dini’s decision to give the titular character plenty of clues with which to demonstrate his own detective ability. Of course, the pair still pen the Dark Knight trading blows and batarangs with the seemingly unstoppable Talon. But for much of this comic the Caped Crusader is shown in the role of a dogmatic sleuth, matching claw marks at the scene of the crime with a glove in Vreeland’s “Nineteenth-Century collection on the legendary Court of Owls”, and deep-diving into his metropolis' disturbingly dark history.

Impressively taking this book’s bibliophiles back to the Nineties and the days of “Warner Brothers Animation” is Ty Templeton’s artwork, which really helps sell the deadly athletic prowess of the nameless Talon. In fact, the Canadian illustrator is debatably at the ‘top of his game’ when pencilling both Batman and Deadman desperately engaging the Court of Owls’ lethal minion in close combat; “Sorry, girl. But I don’t have many choices here. I just hope you’ve been keepin’ up with your Pilates. Very good. Socialite poise with army-brat combat training. But will that be enough to stop him?”

The regular cover of "BATMAN: THE ADVENTURES CONTINUE SEASON TWO" #1 by Riley Rossmo