This Batman: Wayne Family Adventures Volume 1. It is Written by CRC Payne and the Inks are done by Starbite. The Storyboards are done by Maria Li, with the Backgrounds being done by Lan Ma and Suzi Blake. The Flats and Renders are done by C. M. Cameron, Camille Cruz, and Paula “Polux” Fidelis. The Lettering is done by Kielamel Sibal. Art Assistance is done by Jean Kim and Rachel Koo. The Pre-Press Art is done by Rob Clark Jr., Jodi Tong, Rusty Gladd, Gordon Lee, and Ryan Christy. The cover is Illustrated by Vasco Georgiev. This book follows the entire Bat Family, with a series of short stories which goes through their everyday life.
As you can see from the credits, this book is a little different. This is the first book that was part of a collaboration between DC Comics and Webtoon. This collaboration started in 2021 with this series. It has now expanded to multiple different series such as Vixen NYC (2022 – 2023) , Zatanna and the Ripper (2022 – 2023), and Red Hood: Outlaws (2022 -2023). If you would want, you can read these series, along with Batman: Wayne Family Adventures, on Webtoon’s website for free. This book collects the first twenty-five chapters of this series.
I love this book. It is goofy and fun that it puts a smile on my face. The light and comedic tone really makes this book unique compared to the rest of the Batman book catalogue. Even though I like the current Batman title, but one of my biggest criticisms of it is how it can be overly edgy and dark. This book fixes that problem tenfold. Another thing I like about this book is it’s supporting cast. Each member of the family gets some sort of spotlight within the chapters which is really nice. Hell, even Bat-Cow gets her own chapter.
Spoiler Alert: I really enjoy how much this book focuses on the slice of life aspect. It really drives home the point that these characters are still people outside of their superhero persona. With Damien getting the best of that factor. Along with the short stories, there are also multi-chapter stories that have a ongoing plot. One of these stories, named Family Ties, is my favorite of the book. A specific criticism I have is with the story, Crush. It is about a relationship between Duke and a girl he has a crush on. But between the second and third chapter of the story, it transitions from their first date immediately to the breakup. It is super jarring when I first read it. But I give it a pass because the breakup might be my favorite singular chapter in the entire book.
The art in this book is pretty good. Keep in mind, this is art from a Webtoon. So if you are looking for super elaborate panels and illustrations, you won’t find it here. But it fits the tone of the book nicely. But one thing about the art is that it didn’t transition from Webtoon to physical novel the best. There are parts where the panels look slightly blurry and pixelated. It isn’t enough to lower the quality of the book, but it is noticeable. But overall, this book has really great art.
Overall, this book is really good. It has a really unique viewpoint of the Bat-Family and even has the upper hand on the main Batman title in some aspects. Each member of the Bat-Family gets their time to shine which is greatly appreciated. The art is fun and fits the tone of the series perfectly. I would recommend this book for anyone looking for an introduction to the Bat-Family.