Story by Hillary J. Bader
Penciled by Bo Hampton
Inked by Terry Beatty
Colored by Lee Loughridge
So, what’s the story?
The Batman Adventures: The Lost Years was a five issue miniseries designed to bridge the gap between the screen adventures of Batman the Animated Series and The New Batman Adventures. It revisits several episodes, expanding some scenes, adding others, and skipping some.
Picking up directly from the last issue, Alfred interrupts Bruce and Barbara to inform them that the Joker has made a ransom demand. If he’s not paid 40 million dollars, he’ll activate his stolen radar jammer, endangering Gotham City. Bruce tells Alfred to contact Dick, but Dick has thrown his beeper into the river. Barbara volunteers to be Batman’s backup as Batgirl.
Meanwhile, Dick is walking along the docks, clearly suffering an identity crisis. He stumbles on a mugging, and takes down the would-be thieves. When the victim is momentarily scared of his savior, Dick realizes he may be too much like Bruce, and he doesn’t want that.
Batman and Batgirl know the Joker has to be at Gotham’s highest point to effectively use the radar disrupter, so they head to the top of the Gotham Empire State Building. They find the Joker and his gang, and a fight erupts. Back at the Batcave, Dick arrives to find Bruce and Barbara missing, and he quickly puts the pieces together. As Robin, he arrives at the Empire State building, just as Batgirl is falling from the roof. He catches her, and says they need to talk. But Batgirl postpones the discussion, as Batman needs their help.
Nearby, a small boy watches through binoculars from an adjacent rooftop…
Soon, the fight is over when the Joker accidently shoots the radar disrupter, causing an explosion. With the Joker and his goons unconscious, Robin picks a fight with Batman. He’s furious at all the secrets kept from him, and that Batman brought Batgirl into danger. In a heated moment, Robin punches Batman, and storms off, leaving his cape and mask behind.
Later, Dick is in the Batcave, preparing to leave. He folds his costume, and leaves it behind, vowing never to wear it again.
Issue two followed Old Wounds a little more closely than issue one did. Not as much was added, but it was still fun to see the piece added to the puzzle. Of the few additions, my favorite was seeing young Tim Drake spying on the Bat team. It was just one panel, but a good one.
How’s the Art?
Acceptable. The overall style is a little soft, but it gets the point across. The biggest flaw was Joker. His face never looked quite on-model.
Any continuity issues?
The whole point of this series is to fix continuity! So no, we’re good here.
Anything of interest to customizers or cosplayers?
Not much beyond the basic Batman, Robin, and Batgirl.
Is this issue worth my precious time?
Absolutely.
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