For decades, Batman: The Animated Series has been considered by many fans to be a definitive take on translating the caped crusader to the screen. Now DC is returning to the world of the classic cartoon (and it’s follow-up series, The New Batman Adventures) with a six-issue digital-first miniseries. As announced at ew.com, Batman: The Adventures Continue will be written by B:TAS producer Paul Dini, and illustrated by Ty Templeton, artist on many a previous animated-style Batman story. Digital issues will be available in April, with physical copies following in May.

The series will tell new stories set in the timeline of the animated series, with follow-ups to classic stories and the introduction of new characters to the canon. Among those new characters will be the Jason Todd Red Hood, Deathstroke, and Azrael, all of whom are set to be added later this year to DC Collectibles’ long-running line of animated-style figures. Those figures are based off of animated-style designs by Templeton, and will come with character bios by Dini, so it makes sense that those two would be the ones to flesh out the full stories of how they enter what’s become known as the Timmverse (after producer and character designer Bruce Timm).

In the announcement, Dini talks about introducing new characters and filling in gaps in the animated series’ history:

“We’d gone from Dick Grayson to Tim Drake, and we had left out Jason. What we’re doing with this is looking at this as a chance to go back and actually acknowledge that was a part of the animated Batman’s history,” Dini tells EW. “For the first time, you’re going to see that story and you’re going to see what happened in that relationship. So, it’s our chance to not only to do Jason Todd but also the Red Hood. There are other characters like Azrael, who was popular in the comics around [the time of the show], and Deathstroke, who we never used in the animated series.”

I’m cautiously optimistic about this return to the world of B:TAS and TNBA. The most recent revisit was the DC animated movie Batman and Harley Quinn, which was…real bad. Dini wasn’t involved in that debacle, though, so his involvement here is encouraging. Just yesterday Dini teased wanting to work with Templeton again on Twitter. Very clever, that.

Check out the covers by Dave Johnson and Dan Mora for the first issue of the series below, and head over to EW for more info on the story and some unfinished interior art by Templeton. The physical edition of Batman: The Adventures Continue #1 is due in stores on May 6th, 2020.

Batman: The Adventure Continues #1
Batman: The Adventure Continues #1 cover by Dave Johnson
Batman: The Adventure Continues #1
Batman: The Adventure Continues #1 variant cover by Dan Mora