#<- actual plot of ra's' & bats' latest issue together

[just-about-nothing]

whyd dc cuck oliver queen by making him rich again we have bruce we dont need two billionaire assholes running around we need one billionaire asshole and a blond asshole who wants to redistribute his wealth more than anything else and theyre constantly fighting about it

i hear your bruce & oliver were frenemies in boarding school headcanon & raise you actually oliver has no money & thinks bruce is lame as fuck for being rich and wants to fight him on sight for it

[dcautimeline]

So, I wanna talk about a group of BTAS episodes and Batman Adventures issues that I’ve recently been referring to as “The Web”. It’s 25+ episodes and issues that all tie together for continuity purposes that mostly involve villain crossover plots. While I’m sure it can branch out even further, I’ll try to keep this post contained mostly to the entries seen in the accompanying picture.

Starting from the bottom, in Batman Adventures #17: “The Tangled Web”, we’re told that Batman and Ra’s have been fighting each other for years. I’ve mentioned before that I believe the era of BTAS ends in January of 1997 (You can see my reasoning in text form here or in video form over at The Watchtower Database)  This means essentially everything in that era occurs by 1996 with potential for a few adventures to bleed over into the first two weeks of 1997, but it’s not very likely. Keeping that in mind, that means Bruce’s first encounter with Ra’s would then be around 1994 at the latest. This is further backed up when we take into consideration that The Demon’s Quest features the giant penny from Two Face’s flashback segment of Almost Got ‘Im and Two-Face’s history in the DCAU places his two-part debut in May and November of 1994 (More on that in this segment I did for WDb). With his history, we can deduce that Gotham City’s District Attorney has a 3 year term limit (watch the video if you’re lost.) and since he’s already served two terms by the time of Two-Face Part 1, this means the flashback in Pretty Poison where Harvey is a brand new DA is set in 1988 and thus, 5 years later, the actual story of that episode occurs in 1993. [Side Note, with Pamela Isley being 28 years old at the time this places her birth year in 1964-1965 depending on whether or not she had a birthday yet that year.]

Past that, in that bottom corner, we can narrow down the date for the Mad Love flashback (aka Harley Quinn’s Origin). As I mentioned in my Mask of the Phantasm write up (which you can read here), the earliest possibility for the Joker’s origin is 1992. We learn in Paul Dini’s more recent “Harley Loves Joker” series that Joker was on his own for an undetermined amount of years prior to Harley joining him. This puts her origin in 1994 at earliest. Looking over at Harley’s Holiday (Which, I know isn’t represented on the web) we’re told she had a gun on Veronica Vreeland a few years back. Keeping in mind that this era wraps up in 1996, that makes 1994 also the latest those flashbacks can occur. This works well when keeping in mind that Poison Ivy was in Arkham during that scene. So, to recap:

1964-1965 - Pamela Isley is born (Off-Screen)

1988 - Pretty Poison (Flashback only)

1992 - Joker’s Origin (Off-Screen, reenacted in Beware the Creeper)

1993 - Pretty Poison

1994 - Mad Love (Flashback Only)

1994 - Harley has a gun on Veronica Vreeland (Off-Screen)

May 1994 - Two-Face Part 1

Nov 1994 - Two-Face Part 2

Late 1994 - Almost Got ‘Im (Two-Face Flashback Only)

Late 1994 - Demon’s Quest

1996 - Harley’s Holiday

1996 - Batman Adventures #17: “The Tangled Web”

January 1997 - Dick Grayson leaves Gotham

So, now out of that bottom left corner the only things we don’t have pinned down are Almost Got ‘Im and Off Balance. Let’s put a pin in that for now and move on to the top right, splicer heavy corner.

In On Leather Wings, we’re shown that it’s July. Since Harvey is present, and we already know he turns into Two-Face in May of 1994, this means July 1993 is the latest this can take place. Also important to the episodes placement is the fact that we see Hamilton Hill acting as mayor. Batman Adventures Vol. 2 #12 tells us that he only served two terms as mayor before Penguin was voted in, and that run also tells us that Gotham’s winner for Mayoral races takes office in December. Typically, a mayor’s term is 4 years long, so that means Hill would have served 8 years total. Context clues in that run also point towards it occurring in 2000, between Eel O’Brien not yet being Plastic Man (which he is by the time of JLU’s Greatest Story Never Told) and Harley mentioning a recent presidential election. With all this in mind, that means Hill would have become Mayor of Gotham in December 1992, and thus On Leather Wings would have to occur in 1993. For full disclosure though, we do see Hill acting in some form of Government capacity in 1988 during the Pretty Poison flashback and is billed in the credits as Mayor, however, it’s very likely this occurs the same time as the flashback in The Clock King which places him as a lawyer at that time.

From here we know that Terror in the Sky occurs at some indistinct winter, and is followed by Batman Adventures #11: “The Beast Within”, Batman Adventures #21: “House of Dorian” and then Batman & Robin Adventures #11: “Windows to the Soul” in that order due to Bruce listing the man-bat appearances in order during the events of “Windows”. So, right now those are all in flux as some time between Winter of 1993-1996. However, interestingly enough, in “House of Dorian” Batman tells us that he recently had to go to Nepal on short notice. I’ve scoured through a lot of stuff, and right now the only times I can find reference to Nepal in the DCAU  (or at least this era of it) are in “The Demon’s Quest” and Batman Adventures #29. Seeing as this was in issue #21 it likely isn’t a reference to #29 and I’m leaning towards it being a reference to “The Demon’s Quest”, If I come across weird timeline shenanigans that make it so that doesn’t work I’ll adjust accordingly, but currently the evidence seems to point towards “House of Dorian” occuring in late 1994 shortly after Demon’s Quest. This in turn places Terror in the Sky in Winter 1993 (i.e. Late ‘93/Early ‘94), “The Beast Within” in 1994, and Windows to the Soul (Which is said to be months after House of Dorian) in 1995. So now I’ll add all that to the recap: 1964-1965 - Pamela Isley is born (Off-Screen)

1988 - Pretty Poison (Flashback only)

1992 - Joker’s Origin (Off-Screen, reenacted in Beware the Creeper)

December 1992 - Hamilton Hill becomes Mayor of Gotham City (Off-Screen)

1993 - Pretty Poison

July 1993 - On Leather Wings

Between Late 1993-Early 1994 - Terror in the Sky

1994 - Mad Love (Flashback Only)

1994 - Batman Adventures #11: “The Beast Within”

1994 - Harley has a gun on Veronica Vreeland (Off-Screen)

May 1994 - Two-Face Part 1

Nov 1994 - Two-Face Part 2

Late 1994 - Almost Got ‘Im (Two-Face Flashback Only)

Late 1994 - Demon’s Quest

Late 1994 - Batman Adventures #21: “House of Dorian”

1995 - Batman & Robin Adventures #11: “Windows to the Soul”

1996 - Harley’s Holiday

1996 - Batman Adventures #17: “The Tangled Web”

January 1997 - Dick Grayson leaves Gotham

I’m keeping track, we’ve still got a pin in “Almost Got ‘Im” and “Off Balance” from the bottom left corner, and now we’re missing “Moon of the Wolf” from the top right corner.  That’s A-Okay, cause I want to move on towards Joker-ific center of things.  

As we’ve established, Hill became mayor in December of 1992, and since he appears in that capacity in Batman Adventures #1, we know that the issue must occur then or later. That issue is also part of a three issue arc that all occurs back to back between #1-#3 and since issue 3 features Harvey dent pre-Two Face, we know it must be before May 1994. Another clue we get in this arc is the Bat-signal, which appears in #2 and #3. We know the first chronological appearance of the signal is during “The Cape and Cowl Conspiracy”, and I think we have enough info to slightly narrow that down. This is a bit more speculation based as it’s related to characterization rather than math, but hear me out. We know that “On Leather Wings” occurs in July 1993, and as I’ve said already, the latest Mask of the Phantasm can take place is 1993 as well. Both entries in the DCAU show us a side of Batman that is very much not trusted by official government apparatus, and as a result, that leads me to believe the Bat-Signal was instated sometime after July 1993, because why would you have a special signal to get the help from someone your police department absolutely doesn’t trust? So, this now narrows the gap for Batman Adventures #1-3  and “The Cape and Cowl Conspiracy” to sometime between July 1993 and May 1994. This can be even further narrowed down when we take Christmas With the Joker into account. Due to Joker stating he doesn’t have a family to spend Christmas with, we can conclude this occurs before Harley joins up with him in 1994. Which leaves us with Christmas Eve 1992 or 1993. However, Batman Adventures #1-3 also introduces us to the first form of the interactive television technology that we see him use in this episode, which means it must occur Christmas Eve 1993. I know that paragraph was a mouthful, so let me add it all to the recap:

1964-1965 - Pamela Isley is born (Off-Screen)

1988 - Pretty Poison (Flashback only)

1992 - Joker’s Origin (Off-Screen, reenacted in Beware the Creeper)

December 1992 - Hamilton Hill becomes Mayor of Gotham City (Off-Screen)

1993 - Pretty Poison

July 1993 - On Leather Wings

Between July-December 1993 - The Cape and Cowl Conspiracy

Between July-December 1993 - Batman Adventures #1: “Penguin’s Big Score”

Between July-December 1993 - Batman Adventures #2: “Catwoman’s Killer Caper”

Between July-December 1993 - Batman Adventures #3: “Joker’s Late Nite Lunacy”

December 24th 1993 - Christmas With the Joker

Between Late 1993-Early 1994 - Terror in the Sky

1994 - Mad Love (Flashback Only)

1994 - Batman Adventures #11: “The Beast Within”

1994 - Harley has a gun on Veronica Vreeland (Off-Screen)

May 1994 - Two-Face Part 1

Nov 1994 - Two-Face Part 2

Late 1994 - Almost Got ‘Im (Two-Face Flashback Only)

Late 1994 - Demon’s Quest

Late 1994 - Batman Adventures #21: “House of Dorian”

1995 - Batman & Robin Adventures #11: “Windows to the Soul”

1996 - Harley’s Holiday

1996 - Batman Adventures #17: “The Tangled Web”

January 1997 - Dick Grayson leaves Gotham

Other than “Almost Got ‘Im”, “Off Balance”, and “Moon of the Wolf” this now leaves us with the top left Catwoman corner! And this is where things get very confusing for me. Catwoman’s first two chronological appearances are “The Cat and the Claw” and “Cat Scratch Fever”, in CSF she’s on trial for the events of “The Cat and the Claw” and is given five years probation and if she doesn’t comply the judge will “throw the book at [her]”. This gets me really confused, because as we’ve deduced it seems like the majority of BTAS occurs between Dec 1992-Jan 1997, which isn’t a full 5 year, and we see Selina return to crime multiple times with no repercussions, in one case even stealing a police car which is absolutely absurd to do as a masked criminal whose identity is publicly known. Sure, it’s possible that her arc starts earlier than Dec 92, but it still doesn’t explain how she’s able to get away with the stuff she does when her identity is public??? But I digress, there are a few things we can kind of piece together, so let’s try to do what we can.

For starters, “Tyger, Tyger” features an appearance from Kirk Langstrom, so we know this is after July 1993. We’re also told during “House of Dorian” that these events happened months ago. So, if that issue occurs in November 1994 at earliest, that means the earliest that “Tyger, Tyger” can occur is December 1993 (11 months prior.) and with it being December 1994 at latest, the absolute latest this episode can occur would be October 1994. Taking episode production order into consideration, it seems Tyger Tyger occurs during Selina’s hiatus from being Catwoman. Since we’ve already determined that Catwoman’s return to crime is in full force by mid to late 1993 as she’s active as Catwoman in Batman Adventures #2 “Tyger Tyger” and “Catwalk” would then seem to be shoved into December of 1993, the earliest possible date for Tyger and latest possible date for BA#2 [Note: this will drag “House of Dorian, Demon’s Quest, and Two-Face’s Almost Got ‘Im flashback to November 1994. Busy month for Batman]. Her crime spree between Catwalk and BA#2 happening in quick succession makes a lot of sense as well when you take into consideration the whole “throw the book at her” thing. That all being said, in “Catwalk” we learn that Veronica Vreeland and Selina met last year, to which Veronica replies “love what you did with your hair”. At first, this seems like an innocent statement to be made, but Selina’s hair is literally the same as her first appearance in “The Cat and the Claw”. When you couple this with the fact that we learn in Gotham Adventures #4 that Selina’s hair is naturally dark and she had been bleaching it during the BTAS era, it seems very likely that was what Vreeland was referring to and thus her first on-screen appearance happened within the past year (1992 at earliest). We also see in “Cat Scratch Fever” that it’s winter time so it seems that Selina’s trial occurred sometime late 1992-early 1993. While it’s not listed on the web, this also helps narrow down the events of Feat of Clay as it seems as though it’s Batman’s first experience with Roland Daggett who returns in  Cat Scratch Fever. Beware the Gray Ghost ends with a magazine dated for October 1992 that announces the return of Matt Hagen [Clayface], so this means Feat must occur between October 1992 and early 1993. That being said, let’s add it all to the recap again:

1964-1965 - Pamela Isley is born (Off-Screen)

1988 - Pretty Poison (Flashback only)

1992 - Joker’s Origin (Off-Screen, reenacted in Beware the Creeper)

1992 - The Cat and the Claw Part 1 and 2

Between October 1992 and Early 1993 - Feat of Clay Part 1 and 2

December 1992 - Hamilton Hill becomes Mayor of Gotham City (Off-Screen)

Winter 1992 [Late 1992-Early 1993] - Cat Scratch Fever

1993 - Pretty Poison

July 1993 - On Leather Wings

Between July-December 1993 - The Cape and Cowl Conspiracy

December 1993 - Tyger, Tyger

December 1993 - Catwalk

December 1993 - Batman Adventures #1: “Penguin’s Big Score”

December 1993 - Batman Adventures #2: “Catwoman’s Killer Caper”

December 1993 - Batman Adventures #3: “Joker’s Late Nite Lunacy”

December 24th 1993 - Christmas With the Joker

Between Late 1993-Early 1994 - Terror in the Sky

1994 - Mad Love (Flashback Only)

1994 - Batman Adventures #11: “The Beast Within”

1994 - Harley has a gun on Veronica Vreeland (Off-Screen)

May 1994 - Two-Face Part 1

November 1994 - Two-Face Part 2

November 1994 - Almost Got ‘Im (Two-Face Flashback Only)

November 1994 - Demon’s Quest

November 1994 - Batman Adventures #21: “House of Dorian”

1995 - Batman & Robin Adventures #11: “Windows to the Soul”

1996 - Harley’s Holiday

1996 - Batman Adventures #17: “The Tangled Web”

January 1997 - Dick Grayson leaves Gotham

So, out of this whole web, this just leaves us with unplaced positions for “Almost Got ‘Im”, “Off Balance”, “Moon of the Wolf” and “Read My Lips”.which will have to do for now because it’s almost 4AM and I need some sleep. I’ll try to figure them out soon.