Welcome to Adventure(s) Time's forty-second installment, a look at classic animated series and their tie-in comic books. Suggestions are always welcome, so feel free to leave one in the comments. This week, we examine the times Killer Croc was targeted by Cupid's arrow. Once as the pursuer, once as the pursued.

Batman & Robin Adventures #24 (October 1997) was the first story to pair Croc with a love interest. "Crocodile Tears" comes from writer Ty Templeton and penciler Bo Hampton, one of the final stories published before the revamp of Batman. We open with the heroes confronting Killer Croc in public, as two police officers witness the battle. The rookie admires Batman and Robin's bravery, the vet dismisses the vigilantes. Templeton's characterizations aren't arbitrary. The public's lack of support for the caped crusaders turns out to be key to the story.

The next day, Summer Gleeson reports on the confrontation. A blonde Summer, one lacking in any real journalistic ethics. She explains to her boyfriend that opinion polls are turning against the heroes, and kicking them while down makes for good ratings.

Summer never had much of a personality in the series, so who's to say if this is out of character. The blonde hair is an odd one, though. This isn't a one-time coloring flub. Summer, from this point on in Adventures titles, is no longer a redhead. Maybe this was done to distinguish her from Veronica Lake and Barbara Gordon. It's hard to argue it was a mistake, since she stays blonde (a specific shade) until her final 2003 appearance. This had to be conscious choice.

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Regardless, Croc isn't going to be complaining. Summer's report is the first one sympathetic to his perspective. The first time an attractive woman has looked at him as anything other than a freak. He responds as Killer Croc would -- breaking into her home that night.

Still, the story isn't eager to make Croc a creep. He says he doesn't want to hurt anyone, and only reacts when Summer's boyfriend charges him. Croc saw a book on Van Gogh in prison, and is impressed Summer has a "Starry Night" print in her apartment. Clearly, they were meant to be together. He leaves, promising romance and a starry night of their own.

Croc isn't the first villain in an Adventures comic to fall for Summer, either. Clayface and Summer nearly made music together in one of the earliest issues of the series.

Templeton's Croc is thuggish, but not dumb. When Batman locates Summer, he quickly discerns there was more to Croc's words than she realized. Also, notice Templeton is homaging Bob Kane in this scene. Interesting, since Templeton would later provide art for the Bill Finger tribute/Bob Kane exposé book Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman.

Batman and Robin locate Croc inside the museum, attempting to lift a Van Gogh for his "date" with Summer. Croc trashes the place, and the finale of the battle conveniently occurs in Summer's sight. She accuses Croc of being a monster, cutting him in a way she could never understand.

The irony being, if Croc were truly a monster, he wouldn't care. The label wouldn't mean anything to him. He never would've sought her company in the first place. Croc's incensed, ready to show Summer just what a monster he is. He stops himself, though. Realizes how futile his actions would be, actually asks Batman to send him back to prison.

It's an emotional conclusion, perhaps ranking up there with Croc's final words in "Sideshow," the most famous Killer Croc TAS episode. (And, as I've argued before, one of the very best episodes of the show's run.)

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"Crocodile Tears" is the final appearance of the gray-skinned Croc, the Kevin Nowlan-designed model from the initial run of the series. The New Batman Adventures revamped his look, altering his color and turning Croc into more of a beast. It's one of the more controversial redesigns amongst diehard fans, an irritating alteration done without an in-continuity explanation.

"Love is a Croc" is the first episode to feature this revamped Croc. Airing on July 11th, 1998 (a rare summer debut for an episode), "Love" features a story by Steve Gerber and direction from Butch Lukic. Gerber's writing on this series has a reputation for cynicism, and the pairing of Killer Croc and Baby-Doll is undoubtedly coming from a bleak point of view.

The story begins with Mary Louise Dahl attempting to live a normal life, following her brief stint as a villain. (Dahl being a physically stunted child actress who could never adjust to adulthood.) Harassed by a drunk guest at her concierge job, Dahl is triggered into giving in to her violent urges. Watching news footage of Croc's trial, his testimony to the judge bemoaning the fate of being "different," Dahl falls in love.

RELATED: When Batman: The Animated Series Finally Gave Dick Grayson His Due

From there, Dahl frees Croc from Arkham -- even though he was sentenced to Seagate earlier, and "Crocodile Tears" affirms he's never been in Arkham, because he isn't insane. She proposes Croc join her on a crime spree, and he enthusiastically agrees. She's less successful in convincing Croc to view her as a girlfriend.

The original "Baby-Doll," in spite of its absurd premise, did a masterful job of making Dahl sympathetic. The tragedy of a woman trapped in a child's body, viewed by the world as a joke, no identity beyond the corny sitcom from her youth, was a highlight of an already impressive run of episodes. "Love is a Croc" presents a new tragedy; Dahl has the desires of a woman, but the body of a girl. Not even Killer Croc could be physically attracted to her.

There could've been a fantastic story here. The bond of the freaks uniting against society. Croc's rejection of Dahl, even as he suffers from his own alienation. Dahl facing life as a freak even amongst freaks. The thorny question of just how an adult in a child's body could find love. The sad irony of the "happy home" in the sewers Dahl thinks she's built with Croc. And the first act of the episode certainly seems as if it's heading somewhere interesting.

Acts Two and Three don't live up to this potential, unfortunately. The beats play out -- villains on a crime spree, Batman and Batgirl in pursuit, Dahl discovering Croc's affair with bar floozies -- but there's little sentiment. Instead, Croc just stays cruel while Dahl devolves from misguided, troubled figure to full-on loon. This is an episode that ends with the villains overtaking (somehow) a nuclear power plant, and Dahl declaring she doesn't care about any ransom. She just wants to die, along with Croc and all of Gotham. And when he has a chance to turn on her, Croc nearly kills Dahl by ripping her body to shreds inside a spinning turbine. The onscreen violence is tame, but the implications are horrifying.

What could've served as one of the better character pieces on the show turns into an exercise in nastiness. Dahl's cry at the end, lamenting that she only wanted to find true love, "just like on TV," shows her character hasn't been lost entirely, but this Dahl was rarely seen for much of the episode. Meanwhile, Croc is shockingly one-note for the majority of the story. Maybe Croc and Baby-Doll aren't A-listers, but they deserved better than this.

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The Wrap-Up

Design-y

Another of the more radical redesigns comes in the form of Baby-Doll. The initial look evoked Tiny Toons in the best way, an honestly cute cartoon that intentionally didn't belong in the world around her. The redesign strips her of most detail lines, and takes away much of the cute.

Continuity Notes

More than any other episode, "Love is a Croc" plays into the idea of Croc being truly inhuman. (He now eats chickens whole, and prefers to live in the water.) Earlier episodes treated Croc almost as if he were a typical thug who just happened to be born with a skin condition.

Hey, I Know that Voice

Original Saturday Night Live actor Laraine Newman replaces Alison LaPlaca as the voice of Baby-Doll.

Another recasting is character actor Brooks Gardner replacing Aron Kincaid as Killer Croc.

I Love the '90s

An easter egg joke on a newspaper headline in "Love is a Croc" has Bruce Timm declaring DVDs "The Next 8-Track."

Approved By Broadcast Standards & Practices

Dahl's plot turning into a suicide mission at the end is certainly not something you typically see on children's animation. The implications of what Dahl expects to be happening between her and Croc in their subterranean love nest are also pretty adult.

Battle of the (Truly) Doomed Romances

Driving Baby-Doll to the point of suicide is heavy stuff, and it's conceivable there's a great story residing in that premise. "Love is a Croc" doesn't earn that swerve, however, leaving the viewer with a Baby-Doll who's just as evil as her partner. And while it's easier to get away with an unlikable Croc, "Crocodile Tears" shows how to treat Croc as a menace and a relatable villain.

The greatest legacy of Batman: The Animated Series is most likely its portrayal of Batman's opponents. The best ones have personality, understandable motives, and tragedies in their pasts. "Love is a Croc" starts with those elements, but barely goes anywhere with them. What's great about "Crocodile Tears" is that it remains true to Croc's personality, while also exploring how a concept like love would play with his mind. For the admittedly niche audience of fans invested in Croc's love life, "Crocodile Tears" should remain your Valentine's go-to.

If you have any episodes of an animated series you’d like to see paired with its tie-in comic, just leave a comment or contact me on Twitter.