Beware the Batman Volume 1 Available on Blu-ray Tuesday From Warner Archive

When Beware the Batman: Shadows of Gotham Season One, Part One hits DVD shelves around the country on Tuesday, it will--like previous DC Nation offerings from Warner Bros. and Cartoon Network--not be available on Blu-ray at U.S. retail locations. Following the lead of Batman: The Brave and the Bold, though, the series will be available from Warner Archive's print-on-demand service as a Blu-ray release. You can pre-order the Blu-ray, which costs $19.99 plus tax and shipping, at Warner Archive's website now. The suggested retail price for the DVD is the same, so shipping will be the only difference in price unless retailers discount the disc.

While only eleven episodes have aired to date, there will be thirteen on the box set, including the as-yet-unaired "Attraction" (written by Watchmen editor and Wolverine co-creator Len Wein) and "Fall." When the series was pulled from Cartoon Network's schedule in October, fans speculated that it may signal a Young Justice-style cancellation with an episode burnoff at a later date. The network said at the time that the show would return to the air in January, but at present, no new episodes have aired, and it would be uncommon for a TV series to release unaired episodes on the DVD if they intended to air them later. At the same time, the "Season One, Part 1" on the cover clearly implies the intent is that there will be more than one part, and thus more episodes, to the season. The series has had a complicated road to production; it drew jeers from fans for being the first new CG-animated series following the cancellation of the fan-favorite Green Lantern: The Animated Series, since it seemed to some that Beware the Batman was taking Green Lantern's production slot. Following the mass shooting at a Colorado screening of The Dark Knight Rises in 2012, Warner Bros. announced that the series would go back for retooling to tone down the role of firearms in the show (in images like the one at left, Alfred was originally depicted as carrying a machine gun). Some, too, were skeptical that Katana would be used in the series rather than Robin or Nightwing as Batman's sidekick. At the time, Katana had just launched as a monthly series from DC Comics. When that series was cancelled, there was some speculation that it meant Katana was no longer a priority for the publisher because Beware the Batman would soon be officially cancelled as well. That may not be a particularly credible notion, though, since Justice League of America's Vibe was cancelled at that same time, and then the character added to The Flash TV pilot coming in the fall on The CW.