Welcome to the thirty-fifth edition of Adventure(s) Time, where we look back on a beloved animated series and an issue of its tie-in comic with a similar theme. This week, we examine the two unexpected appearances of The Dark Knight Returns in the canon of Batman: The Animated Series.  More specifically, the appearances of Batman's chipper new Robin, Carrie Kelley.

Many fans aren't aware of Carrie's initial showing in TAS lore, an issue of the tie-in comic Batman & Robin Adventures. Issue #6 (May 1996) is from the classic team of Ty Templeton and Rick Burchett, the story introduced with a cover that would draw anyone's attention.

"Round Robin" opens with Robin dropping down from the shadows to stop a quickie mart robbery, only to find himself overwhelmed by the seeming average punk holding up the place.  The camera pans closer, revealing the unconscious Robin's lighter hair color and surprising freckles.  The newspaper box next to his sleepy head establishes the hook of the story -- a tabloid is claiming Batman has fired Robin.

At home in Wayne Manor, Bruce and Dick are discussing the latest piece of fiction from the "National Insider," with Dick incredulous that anyone could believe he'd be fired for incompetence, and Bruce declaring no one takes tabloids seriously anyway.

A call to the rooftop of the GCPD proves him wrong, however, as Commissioner Gordon relates the problem the city's been having with "replacement" Robins auditioning for the job...and the ransom message that's been left by the thug introduced in the opening of the issue.  He's taken the freckle-faced Robin hostage and demanding fifty thousand dollars.  Before Batman and the real Robin can pursue the case, they're interrupted by a flash of light.

Aside from providing Harvey Bullock with perfect dialogue that just begs for Robert Costanzo's voice acting, the page also brings us our first glimpse at a DCAU incarnation of Carrie Kelley.  As mentioned earlier, much of Batman & Robin Adventures was published during the years TAS was out of production, the assumption being the show wasn't coming back with new episodes and most of the crew having moved on to Superman: The Animated Series.  So, Templeton/Burchett didn't feel as if they were stepping on any toes by bringing in a figure that hardcore Bat-fans would love, Frank Miller's replacement Robin from a grim, never-to-be-approved-by-BS&P future.

The rest of the issue details Batman and Robin tracking down the kidnapper, only to find a series of aspiring Robins inadvertently getting in their way.  Turns out, this version of Carrie has a father who's a city councilman, so she's freed from custody that night and allowed to pester Batman on two more occasions.  First, she locates the payphone the kidnapper will be using...

...then, blows the handoff of the ransom cash when she tracks Batman to the scheduled meet-up.

Ultimately, the criminal is apprehended when the real Robin locates the specific window frame spotted in the video, and reaffirms that no one can take his place when he subdues the kidnapper.  He even convinces Batman to let go of his usual camera shyness and have his picture taken with Robin, hoping to quell any rumors of a break-up.  The "Insider" runs the photo...with the headline that Batman and Robin are secretly CIA spies.

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Nearly two years after the publication of this comic, the Batman cartoon returned as The New Batman Adventures, with a revamped look and advanced continuity.  A classic second season episode was inspired by, of all things, the film Batman Forever.  Producer Bruce Timm didn't think much of the movie, but it did serve as a reminder of just how malleable the Batman mythos had become by the 1990s.

Timm proposed an episode that would offer different visions of the Dark Knight, and along with writer Robert Goodman, concocted a framing sequence to surround the different vignettes.  Airing on October 10th, 1998, "Legends of the Dark Knight" not only features amazing design work from the animation team and director Dan Riba, but a certain figure from Dark Knight Returns also makes her way into the story.

The episode has three friends, Matt, Carrie, and Nick reading a newspaper story about Batman's pursuit of an arsonist, which inspires each kid to offer their own personal take on Batman.  Matt appears to be inspired by Dick Sprang's design for Robin, Nick is seemingly just a random kid design, (whose theory about Batman is just lame...a living pterodactyl, Nick?  That's pathetic, kid.) and Carrie is very clearly an homage to the Carrie Kelley introduced by Miller.

Matt's story, which he claims is authentic because his uncle knows Batman, is the show's loving tribute to the Bill Finger/Dick Sprang era of Batman, with the bright primary colors, ridiculously large props, "comic booky" dialogue, and sense of harmless fun associated with early Silver Age Batman.  Animator James Tucker is the world's biggest fan of these comics, and his joy in working on this sequence is detailed on the DVD release of the episode.

That's cute, but fans of the modern age of Batman were given their own red meat during the next sequence, when Carrie educates her younger friends on who Batman really is.  He's a "Dark Knight," a signal for the narrative to shift into a sequence fans of the era never thought we'd see.  The Dark Knight Returns, with an appropriate art design, color scheme, and trashy '80s score...all appearing on the Saturday morning Batman cartoon?  Sure, it was fun when the girl who looks like Robin appeared in the opening, but the producers weren't really going there, were they?

They were.  In a sequence storyboarded by the late Darwyn Cooke, a key sequence from Dark Knight Returns is brought to television, as Batman confronts the Mutant gang's leader in a fight that's as muddy as it is violent.  Are the designs tweaked to match the aesthetics of the show?  Is the scene not quite as brutal as the comic?  Yeah, but it's far closer than anyone thought we'd ever see on television, and watching the sequence today, it's still shocking to think the WB!'s censors let this through.  (That crew was extremely lenient in the early days of the network.)

A third vignette, featuring a Neal Adams tribute, was scrapped because the producers didn't feel confident their budget could handle Adams' art style (the closest you'll likely find are these Zellers department store ads that ran in the late 1980s).  Instead, the final image of the Caped Crusader you see in the episode belongs to the "real" Batman, one that isn't as light as Matt's fantasy, and not as grisly as Carrie's ideal Batman.

It's the Batman that a generation of fans still consider the ideal version of the hero, voiced with plausible humanity by Kevin Conroy, who perhaps takes himself too seriously at times, but is still capable of showing compassion and a genuine desire to act as a hero.  The kids watch as he subdues the arsonist Firefly, each convinced what they saw "proved" they were right all along about Batman.

The Wrap-Up

Design-y

While "Round Robin" has some cute variations on the standard Robin look, "Legends of the Dark Knight" features what could be the finest design work in the history of the series. So closely translating two disparate styles from the comics was a risky move, and the rewards were greater than most fans could've ever imagined. In a time when the last conceivable project from Warner Brothers was an animated rendition of Dark Knight Returns, there actually was Dark Knight Returns on a Saturday morning! (And, oddly enough, the co-writer of this episode Bob Goodman would go on to write the DTV adaptation of Dark Knight Returns, years after this aired.)

Continuity Notes

"Legends of the Dark Knight" is of course the name of a long-running Batman spinoff comic. What Bruce Timm didn't know when pitching this story was that the basic concept had already been done in Batman #250 (July 1973) by Frank Robbins and Dick Giordano. The 1970s era of Batman always seemed to be influencing the show, even accidentally.

Hey, I Know that Voice

Legendary comedian Michael McKean provides the voice of the 1950s Joker, while another SNL alumnus, the late Charles Rocket, voices Mutant thug Rob. The classic voice of Space Ghost, Gary Owens, is the voice of 1950s Batman, while go-to tough guy Michael Ironside voices the Dark Knight Returns Batman.

Brianne Siddall does a serviceable job as the 1950s Robin, but it's a shame Casey Kasem wasn't called in to voice the Boy Wonder. Adam West was already given a tribute on the series, so not asking him to voice "classic" Batman (technically a few years off from Batman '66, but darned close) was understandable. Plus, it's hard to deny how amazing it is to hear Space Ghost voice the Dick Sprang Batman. Kasem's presence is missed, though.  Even more so than Burt Ward, Casey Kasem is possibly considered the "classic" Robin voice, due to his years voicing the character on Super Friends.

Approved By Broadcast Standards & Practices

The Batman vs. Mutant Leader fight could've never aired during the FOX days, and surely wouldn't air on a Saturday morning network show today, assuming such things still existed.

Battle of the Carries

Carrie's appearance in "Round Robin" was a great homage to fans, and as it turns out, not too gratuitous an appearance, actually serving some plot function in one of the more light-hearted issues from this run.

But, c'mon, this Carrie elicits an "heh, I see what they did there" response. "Legends of the Dark Knight" was actually putting the Dark Knight Returns Robin in an episode of Batman: The Animated Series, and we'll repeat this again...it was utterly unthinkable at the time. Yes, the cartoon could go to dark places, and the censorship was less severe when airing on the WB, but to have this episode debut with practically no warning (this being the earlier days of the Internet) and just smack viewers in the face was one of the biggest shocks of the series' entire run.

Another treat for fans -- nothing in "Legends" directly contradicts "Round Robin," meaning the Carrie we see speculating on Batman's true identity could very well be the wannabe Robin named Carrie introduced by Templeton and Burchett. So the hardcore fans already familiar with "Round Robin" could even imagine "Legends" as a sequel to one of the issues of the tie-in book. Regardless of the flak the New Adventures episodes sometimes receive, you'll have to dig hard to find a fan unhappy with this one. Although there might be a Dark Knight Returns purist out there who's realized the DKR future in this canon is no future at all...it's a teenage girl's fantasy.

That’s all for now. 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.