Writers: Paul Dini and Alan Burnett
Art: Ty Templeton, Jacob Edgar (inker) and Monica Kubina (colorist)
Publisher: DC comics
Price: $3.99
Release Date: October 3rd, 2023
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THE DISPATCH
It’s the grand finale! Batman: The Adventures Continue Season Three #8 certainly delivers with thrills and excitement worthy of a finale. Along with discovering Ra’s Al Ghul’s true nefarious plan, this issue is also loaded with cameos from many bat-villains. It also presents a fun rivalry between Catwoman and Talia as they playfully compete for Batman’s affections. Something worth noting but still interesting, is that even though it is a very brief scene, Two-Face and Rupert Thorne seem to have put aside their differences to fight a common enemy. It would’ve been nice if the writers had acknowledged their rivalry, since Thorne did originally have a hand in creating Two-Face in the DCAU, but perhaps they felt it would detract from the main story. Nonetheless, it is still a compelling story and the characters that are featured are written very true to how they were depicted in the DC animated universe.
ART
The artwork by Templeton in Batman: The Adventures Continue Season Three #8 mimics Bruce Timm’s style well and Kubina’s colors really enhance the book. In particular, the close-up panel of Batman scowling with shadows around his eyes and mouth, is amazingly done and is very reminiscent of the part of the Batman: The Animated Series opening sequence when Batman stands ready to fight the criminals. As mentioned earlier, the cameos of the various bat-villains really make this book a delight, especially some of the more obscure ones. For instance, the one-shot villainess Calendar Girl makes an unspeaking reappearance here. Along with the many villains, it is cool to see how Templeton, Edgar, and Kubina made some of the villains physically effected by their prolonged imprisonment, such as showing the Mad Hatter with some budding whiskers and the Penguin with some missing teeth, a cracked monocle and a tattered hat, both of them looking more-or-less disheveled. This shows that their captors have been neglectful at maintaining their health, compared to the treatment they would usually receive in prison.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Batman: The Adventures Continue Season Three #8 presents an excellent finale to this series. It does seem to retcon the events of Ra’s Al Ghul’s appearance in the Batman Beyond episode, “Out of the Past” though, but Dini and Burnett have said that they were approaching it from a perspective of if Batman Beyond hadn’t happened. Still, continuity sticklers may be bothered by the potential inconsistencies and trying to figure out if this series is canon with the DC animated universe at large. Nevertheless, it is still faithful to Timm and Dini’s original vision for Batman: The Animated series and BTAS fans will definitely enjoy this final issue.