Batman/TMNT Adventures - Behind the Scenes - Part Two...

Now that the trade paperback is available in comic and book stores nationwide, time to jump into Part Two of a behind-the-scenes look into our Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures miniseries. Plenty of spoilers ahead, so make sure you grab a copy of the book before going any further!

To read Part One first, click here.

On to issue # 2...

The issue begins with Harley Quinn staging her getaway from Arkham Asylum. There's a little hint about Harley's character with the "Caution: Slippery" sign ("Slippery When Wet" didn't quite seem appropriate...), and then we get right into her best Scooby-Doo impression. This sequence was actually a page longer in the original script, but had to be trimmed in order to make room for a longer sequence later on in the issue.

When we first see Joker, he's reading a book by Mark Hamill, who the world knows as the iconic Luke Skywalker and the legendary voice actor of the Joker on Batman: The Animated Series. The original title on the book was to be Make 'Em Laugh, an homage to one of the great B:TAS episodes. Unfortunately, it had to be changed, as like a dozen real books exist with that title.

Here's where we get a bit sneaky. When the portals originally appear in Arkham Asylum, if you look closely at the back of Harley's neck, you can see Mad Hatter's beacon. It's just a small circle in the image so readers don't notice it too much, but artist Jon Sommariva and I realized that for the sake of continuity and the later explanation of the beacons, the device had to be in this opening scene.

Issue # 2 also includes an homage that almost no one seemed to notice. This panel is a tribute to the original cover of TMNT # 1 from 1984. Notice Jon's "K.E. was 'ere '84" scratched on the stone underneath Batman.

In Part Three, we'll dig into issues #'s 3 and 4 a bit, so make sure to check back. And don't forget to nab your trade paperback of Batman/TMNT Adventures in the meantime. You can order one here if you'd rather stay home and patiently wait by your computer for my next update.

To be continued...