Who can tell me a bit about the animated comics?

[ZorBrak]

Even though I've always been a big fan of the animated shows I just started reading the comics, like a week ago, starting with Gotham Adventures Finale...However I was wondering a few things, with the exception of Gotham Adventures, Batman Beyond Adventures, Justice League Adventures, and Superman Adventures, were there any other DC animated comics? I know that the bat comic series has been through different incarnations, such as the Adventures of Batman and Robin, but are those issues including in the Gotham Adventures numbering, or arethose considered a different series? And lastly, is this 'Batman Adventures' comic out yet, or is it to be the new incarnation sometime in the near future?

[TimTwoFace]

Hey Zorbrak, if you need any questions answered about the 100+ animated comics routed in the animated world, feel free to ask. I know that myself and many other people here can help you out with your questions. :)

And yes, the animated comics ARE part of the same continuity.

-Tim

[Bird Boy]

There were a couple "Adventures in the DC Universe" one shots I think. There were 3 or 4 of those. Then there was the "Gotham Girls" 5 issue mini-series...but the only full-fledged comic series were the ones you've already mentioned:

The Batman Adventures (Oct 92 - Oct 95)
Batman And Robin Adventures (Nov 95 - Dec 97)
Batman: Gotham Adventures (June 98 - May 03)
Batman Adventures (May 03 - )
Superman Adventures (Nov 96 - April 02)
Batman Beyond (Nov 99 - Oct 01)
Justice League Adventures (Jan 02 - )

Batman Adventures hasn't premiered yet, but issue #1 comes out May 7th (with Free Comic Book Day releasing it May 3rd) and #2 coming out May 21st, and so on and so on.

-BB

[ZorBrak]

That clears things up guys, thanks!

[The Flash]

Adventures in the DCU was a monthly comic book, actually. It lasted 19 issues. They were not official stories, continuity wise, but it was still pretty cool. I guess they fit in with continuity at the time, but now that Justice League has come about, ADCU doesn't really fit anywhere. Steve Vance wrote it, with art by John Delaney and Ron Boyd. I didn't care much for the stories, (they were basically mainstream style, nothing out of the ordinary origin wise) but the art was pretty neat. TZ Comics has more on it. (http://comics.toonzone.net/adcu00.html)

I think Europe also has something similar, but the name escapes me. Maybe somebody else's memory is better then mine. Also, can't forget about the Superman and Batman Magazine (http://comics.toonzone.net/sbm00.html), which I am still kicking myself in the rear for not buying...

[Jor-El]

My personal take on the animated stuff is that the beginning of the titles always start out really good and then begin to rapidly deteriorate. All the Batman Adventures titles and the Superman Adventures book have demonstrated this same pattern. The exceptions have been JUSTICE LEAGUE ADVENTURES, which was poor from the very beginning (aside from the Dan Slott issues which are ALWAYS a lot of fun!) and ADVENTURES IN THE DC UNIVERSE, which started off as nothing but fun and was NEVER anything BUT fun, and was canceled after 19 issues and 1 annual anyway. (DC Comics — The Company Where Comics That Get Good Are Canceled Or Creative Teams Are Changed!! ®)

What else I can tell about you the animated comics is that the actual comics are better. :)

[tphile]

There has also been Batgirl and Supergirl specials

the "Animate" comics are differnt in concept as well
The stories are mostly self contained single issue short stories and not long "to be continued" story arcs like in the main comics.
stories are similar to silver age in style. and not the dark grim and gritty.
art is done in the more cartoony stlye and not the detailed Jim Lee realism
for the most part, you can start reading the books with any issue and not worry too much about continuity

and I disagree with the others the quality and standards have been good to outstanding overall.
just like the cartoons, cancellation was not due to poor stories or art
IIRC title changes was mostly due to changes in the cartoon series.
a Bat book is a Bat book regardless of the title

tphile

[James Harvey]

There has also been Batgirl and Supergirl specials

Actually there has only been a Batgirls Adventures special. Supergirl Adventures was issue #21 of Superman Adventures.


cancellations was not due to poor stories or art

Yes and no. The Batman Adventures was rebooted as The Batman & Robin Adventures, both series based on the Batman: The Animated Series style, becuase the creative team of Puckett/Parobeck/Burchett was splitting up. Instead of carrying on the title, the editor decided to cancel the series and reboot it with a new issue #1 and creative team. The Batman & Robin Adventures would eventually change becuase of the new style featured in the The New Batman Adventures cartoon. A mini-series, called Batman Adventures: The Lost Years was made in conjunction with the animated series to bridge the gap between the "B:TAS" style and the "TNBA" style. The mini-series gave birth to the now defunct Batman: Gotham Adventures, a series based on the The New Batman Adventures style.

The new Batman Adventures will feature designs based on the Justice League style.

The only title to be officially cancelled due to poor sales was Superman Adventures. The final issues of the series sold a little over 8,000 copies. To put that into comparison, current issues of the mainstream Batman series sells around 110,000 monthly. Batman Beyond was cancelled without notice.

I think that covers it. *phew*

[Mister Intensity]

Interesting reason as to why The Batman Adventures became The Batman and Robin Adventures. I have to agree with Barry Allen regarding how the quality of the various series tends to drop as the series goes on for the most part. Certain writers had a better handle on the Animated Universe than others, Ty Temeleton, Scott McCloud, Kelly Puckett (I like his Adventures stories than his mainstream stories), and, of all people considering his reputation, Mark Millar. Superman Adventures in particular went down the tubes after the runs of Scott McCloud and Mark Millar (those final issues, with a few exceptions, were brutal).

The issue as to where the stories fit in regards to animated continuity is tricker. In most cases the writers have no ties to the producers of the shows so for the most part, they are either working from series premises without having any idea of what's the show is going to be like and what type of character arcs are going to be presented. In some cases, the writer may be working from either an early draft of a script involving the characters he is going to use or working from a plot summary (see the early Phantom Zone stories in the early issues of Superman Adventures where the stories started and ended with a shrunken Jax-Ur and Mala, I assume they were originally supposed to shrunk at the end of Out of the Past). To the writers' credit, they try to keep a closer adherence to continuity than most handlers of licensed properties (have you seen Marvel's attempts at adapting their animated shows, sometimes I think the writers don't even take the time to watch the shows they are adapting). As for what's in continuity, most of the stuff that's written by series writers (Dini, Timm, Berkowitz, Dworkin, etc) is considered in continuity, with some exceptions. As for anything else, everything is in continuity unless they are contradicted by the shows themselves. Keep in mind, that some Adventures books were adapted to the shows themselves, Holiday Knights (the Holliday Special) and Mad Love. The televised versions take precedence but the comic version can fill in the blanks (more useful in the case of Mad Love). In the case of Holliday Knights, its placement in TNBA timeline renders huge chunks of the story invalid, particularly the Mr. Freeze portions but it still is an enjoyable book overall.

The books themselves are consistent within themselves and creates a rich alternate continuity for the Animated DCU. Tracking down back issues are easy since the animated books aren't considered "collectables."

I'm so looking forward to the return of Ty Templeton to The Batman Adventures (it's about time).

Mister Intensity

[Anthonynotes]

Adventures in the DCU wasn't, as others noted, really within the same continuity as the other animated comics---mostly because while it used the animated versions of Batman and Superman, the other heroes shown were just TAS-house-style versions of the mainstream DCU characters----thus, the "JLA" issue that had the B:TAS/S:TAS versions of Bats and Supes interacting with the DCU versions of Kyle, Aquaman, etc. Other issues presented Power Girl, Impulse, the Legion of Super-heroes, the Capt. Marvel Family, and others...

Presumably also apocryphal is the "Batman Adventures" issue with the long-haired Superman showing up (this before S:TAS debuted), and their fighting the DCU version of Luthor (at the time, Luthor was trying to pass himself off via a cloned body as his "missing" Australian son, complete with long, flowing red locks and a beard).

-B.

[TimTwoFace]

In addition to Bird Boy's earlier list, I'll add a few more animated comics that have existed, including how many issues were under each title:

The Batman Adventures (Oct 92 - Oct 95)
36 Issues

Batman And Robin Adventures (Nov 95 - Dec 97)
25 Issues

Batman: Gotham Adventures (June 98 - May 03)
60 Issues

Batman Adventures (May 03 - )
No issues yet.

Superman Adventures (Nov 96 - April 02)
Uhhh...60+ issues...forget the exact number.

Batman Beyond (Nov 99 - Oct 01)
6 issue miniseries
and
24 issue "regular" series

Justice League Adventures (Jan 02 - )
17 or 18 issues to date.

Gotham Girls
5 issue miniseries

Annuals:
-Batman Adventures Annual #1
-Batman Adventures Annual #2
-Batman & Robin Adventures Annual #1
-Batman & Robin Adventures Annual #2

One-Shots
-Batgirl Adventures #1
-Mad Love
-Batman Adventures Holiday Special
-WORLD'S FINEST adaption
-MASK OF THE PHANTASM adaption
-SUB-ZERO adaption
-RETURN OF THE JOKER adaption

Other (not officially a part of the animated continuity, but still)
-back-up story in GOTHAM KNIGHTS #14 (I think)
-"TWO OF A KIND" (BATMAN BLACK & WHITE #1)
-ADVENTURES IN THE DC UNIVERSE series

-Tim

[DisneyBoy]

I can't say I'd be reading comics today if not for the Adventures books, so I'll recap each series for the heck of it.

The original Batman Adventures was, and remains, flawless in almost every way (the only noticeable inconsistancy was Batgirl's origin story, as well as the aforementionned Superman issue). The stories often built on continuity in a very subdued way (namely, in that Harvey Dent appeared prominently in the first year, and then returned later as Two-Face, following the animated series' lead). Some elements of the stories were so mature, that I find myself now discovering them for the first time (none immediately come to mind). The art was wonderful, and the series culminated in a heart-breaking three-parter (Catwoman and Batman get closer to one another while Hugo Strange wirls into depression and madness). Add four extra annuals/specials to it, and its safe to say that none of the other Adventures books have successfully and - more importantly - consistantly lived up to that series' overall quality.

The Batman and Robin Adventures has always been a bit of a mixed bag for me. The opening two-parter remains one of my favorite arcs, if not the favorite, and the following ten stories continued in the same vein...but somewhere in the teens, the book started to waver. Art wasn't quite as good, and while the stories were often interesting (a recovering Bane returned to gain Batman's favor and Dick had to face some hard truthes about his childhood mentor Mr. Haley after meeting Deadman), the series began to feel unstable, leading up to some dreadful art and far-fetched stories (Croc falls for Summer Gleason, Ivy messes with the CIA and Batman and Ra's fight over a UFO). When the series concluded, the Lost Years mini-series picked up the remains with interesting stories and bad art.

Gotham Adventures started up like a bat outta heck!! I finally felt like I was reading Batman Adventures again, but after the creative team ended their run, there was an uneasiness as the new team established itself. Unfortunately, The stories were really chilish and uneven, though not completely without creativity. Some forty issues later, the series met it's end, which brings us up to date. Along the way, a Batgirl Adventures and a World's Finest special were printed.

Superman Adventures seemed to emulate the original Batman Adventures in the sense that it started off strongly, but it then rivalled it by becoming even better (Aluir Amancio anyone?) It, moreso than any other prior Adventures books, formed a continuity all its own (Livewire saved the planet, then was revived and became a "good gal" over the course of the 66 issues) and should be credited with really developping S:TAS' take on Supergirl. Sadly, the coloring became garish and the stories started to feel like toy commercials (Superman and Batman Beyond versus Brainiac, for example), or bad takes on previously dealt-with issues. Thankfully, the final two-parter was written by very capable writers and pencilled by Amancio, but even his art had evolved to the point where it no longer entirely followed the "less is more" Animated designs. The first special, which tied in with Adventures in the DC Universe was nothing to write home about, and I have yet to read the second special, featuring Lobo.

As for ADCU, this series remains, in my opinion, one of the least recognized and respected aspects of the Adventures history. As DC's second attempt to integrate the rest of the DC Universe into Animated continuity (the first being the brief-but-interesting Batman and Superman Magazine), it succeeded as far as the art goes in introducing readers to the now famous (and rightly so) John Delaney. While the stories missed out on the "less-is-more" Animated theory as well, they were true to the mainstream material and often very entertaining. The Justice League (of America) tales were also extremely enjoyable, creating an overall continuity between new and pre-existing characters (Gadson Graves, McKinney and Linda Park are prime examples) and giving the series a well-rounded feel. Since the creation of the Justice Series, however, this comic has seemingly been forgotten, unfortunately. It concluded with a clash between Catwoman, Wonder Woman and an Egyptian God, and featured one special, liked to the first Superman Adventures special.

Which bring us to Justice League Adventures. Check out the recently released compliation for some of the better tales from the rocky first year of this series, which, again, in my opinion, has yet to find its feet. Dan Slott, Min S Ku and John Delaney succeeded in bringing a sense of adventure, drama and fun to the series (that ongoing trophy room is a nice a touch) which the many guest-writers seemed to miss out on. Some of the worst issues (the "Freeze squad", aliens from the second dimension and return of Aresia) are enough to make anyone think more highly of DC's first attempts at forming an animated JL, but in all fairness, the series is only in it's second year, and could still pick up. Here's hoping that we see less "League turns against one another" tales though. Keep your eyes open for Chris Jones artwork though. He may become to JLA what Amancio was to SA.

Somewhere in between came Batman Beyond, the only Adventures title not to bear the word Adventures...well in the title :p It began with an uneven six part miniseries. The first two were straight adaptations of the series pilot, while the others tried to introduce readers to the new characters (namely Blight, Inque and Dana). Somehow, DC gave a monthy title the green light and the series began in full swing. Often disappointing in its lack of creativity, the series' few attempts at furthering continuity ended in confusion (Blight's final confrontation leading up to his becoming one of Stalker's trophies), while the art, thankfully, remained consistant. Nearing the end of the second year, some extremely inventive and entertaining stories were produced (the JLU two-parter and Royal Flush Gang tale), but the final issue proved to be a disappointment (Terry's Mom dates a Splicer). No specials released.

All in all, I really had no idea when I picked up my first Batman Adventures issues (number two - with Catwoman :) ) that it'd all develop into such a rich a diverse world of comics, but it has, and boy has it been an interesting ride. When Gotham Adventures was canned, I flipped my wig considerably, fearing my beloved Batman Adventures would be gone forever. Thank god for Ty Templeton - master of all things Adventures and "the Guy" - and Dan Slott - "the Man" - because otherwise it would (almost) all be over. I pick up JLA out of devotion, but I'll pick up Batman Adventures out of sheer exctasy! I can hardly wait for this series to begin and I pray that it is able to remain consistant and enriching. May it end on as good a note, if not better, than it began :)

"....for the Batman is a legend, and legends never die!"