Exactly 31 years after Batman: The Animated Series premiered in September 1992, DC Comics will reprint The Batman Adventures in a new omnibus edition. Available on September 5th, the 1200-page omnibus collects all 36 issues of The Batman Adventures, the comic book run based on the Emmy award-winning animated series produced by Bruce Timm, Paul Dini, Alan Burnett, and Eric Radomski. DC Comics launched the 32-page, all-ages tie-in comic in October 1995, after Batman: TAS concluded its run with 85 episodes across two seasons. (The Batman Adventures was relaunched as Batman & Robin Adventures and later Batman: Gotham Adventures, with stories featuring the Bat-Family as seen in The New Batman Adventures animated series.)
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Pre-orders for the Batman Adventures: Vol. 1 omnibus display 1995’s Batman Adventures #1 as the cover, but that appears to be a placeholder. Richard Starkings, a comic book letterer on The Batman Adventures, revealed the official cover artwork on Facebook (see it below).
The artwork highlights the striking, black-and-red imagery of Batman: The Animated Series, showing the silhouette of the Dark Knight. You can practically hear Danny Elfman’s main title theme.
“I’ve worked on a lot of Batman books, but this might be my favorite,” Starkings shared on Facebook. “[Comicraft co-founder] John Roshell and I were pioneering digital lettering and creating an art deco look for this title that the creative team, including the brilliant [writer] Mike Parobeck, very enthusiastically responded to… we were so sad when the title was cancelled.”
“[Who] would’ve thought this bumper collection would exist all these years later?” Starkings added. “Me. I thought it would.”
From writers Kelley Puckett and Martin Pasko, and artists Ty Templeton, Rick Burchett, Brad Rader, and Mike Parobeck, The Batman Adventures: Vol. 1 omnibus collects The Batman Adventures #1-36, The Batman Adventures Annual #1, The Batman Adventures Annual #2, The Batman Adventures Holiday Special #1, The Batman Adventures: Mad Love #1, and stories from Batman: Black & White Omnibus. The collection includes the first comic book appearance of Harley Quinn, the Dini and Timm co-creation who debuted in the “Joker’s Favor” episode of the animated series.
DC describes the first volume: “From the padded cells of Arkham Asylum to themean streets of Crime Alley, one truth is whispered wherever evilgathers: Gotham City belongs to the Batman. Until now! Thecrimelord formerly known as the Penguin is now Mayor Oswald Cobblepot– elected to be Gotham’s leader by promising to outlaw vigilantes andvillains alike. The immortal mastermind Ra’s al Ghul has ordered aninvasion of assassins – not to destroy the Dark Knight, but to eliminatehis enemies…permanently. And a two-bit hood called the Black Mask isforming a deadly new masked mob. Outlawed. Outnumbered. On the run. Batman’s greatest battle for the soul of Gotham City is about to begin!”
The Batman Adventures: Vol. 1 Omnibus is on sale September 5th from DC Comics.
