Paul Dini Returns To Batman: The Animated Series With Comic Book Sequel This April

Batman: The Animated Series is making a return to DC Comics with a new six-issue digital-first limited series comic tie-in starting April 2020.

According to Entertainment Weekly, the new six-issue miniseries will be titled Batman: The Adventures Continue and is set in the same world as the beloved animated show. The comic series will be written by the show’s producers Paul Dini and Alan Burnett, with illustrations by Ty Templeton, who worked on the show’s old tie-in comic Batman Adventures. 

For many fans, the Emmy-award winning Batman: The Animated Series is considered to be the definitive adaptation of the Dark Knight, and it is widely considered to be one of DC’s greatest achievement in animation. Aside from Dini’s stellar writing, the voice talent in Batman: TAS was also incredible, with Kevin Conroy playing the Caped Crusader and Mark Hamill opposite him as The Joker – two of the most iconic voices in the Batman franchise.

The series has also served as the genesis to the DC animated universe spanning multiple animated shows and spin-off films such as Superman: The Animated Series, Justice League and several. It even birthed a popular video game franchise in the Batman Arkham trilogy.

The animated series has also served as the birthplace for many iconic characters such as Harley Quinn who has moved onto pop culture superstardom with her own solo film Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey. 

Batman: The Adventures Continue will feature characters that never appeared in the original TV show, such as Jason Todd, Red Hood, Azrael, and Deathstroke. 

“We’d gone from Dick Grayson to Tim Drake, and we had left out Jason. What we’re doing with this is looking at this as a chance to go back and actually acknowledge that was a part of the animated Batman’s history,” Dini told EW in an interview.

“For the first time, you’re going to see that story and you’re going to see what happened in that relationship,” Dini continued. “So, it’s our chance to not only to do Jason Todd but also the Red Hood. There are other characters like Azrael, who was popular in the comics around [the time of the show], and Deathstroke, who we never used in the animated series.”

For its first issue, Batman: The Adventures Continue will see Batman and Bruce Wayne dealing with two mysteries. The first being a stolen laboratory, and the second being Lex Luthor’s mysterious return to Gotham City. 

Batman: The Adventures Continues will have a digital first-issue release on April 2020 and a physical debut on 6 May 2020.