In the week of Batman: Streets of Gotham and Gotham City Sirens coming up next week; Paul Dini is a busy man. When I type the name Paul Dini; it should have the same aura as: Grant Morrison, Dennis O’Neil, Steve Englehart, or Frank Miller. He is up there as one of the best writers to come and work on The Dark Knight. It’s amazing how he is one of the best Bat writers, considering how he has done mostly a more kid friendly version of the character. But now with his earlier run of Detective Comics and Streets of Gotham; he can bring a more edge to the character. It isn’t the first time Dini has wrote a more ‘mature’ version of the Bat universe…

Mad Love might be familiar to some fans of the classic ‘Batman: The Animated Series’. That’s because this story eventually turned into an episode of the show after this was released. It’s an origin story for Dini’s most famous original creation: Harley Quinn. We learn why she is so smitten over The Joker and how just maybe she can overcome her insanity. What is great about this one-shot is how much more freedom Dini has over these characters. There can be some cursing involved and actually some very risque moments when it comes to Quinn. But that’s not what makes this a great comic. It’s a well written origin with some very funny moments involving Joker and Quinn.

You might also recognize the art style of this particular story and other tales (more on that in a sec). That’s because Bruce Timm was asked to this particular comic. Basically, if you love the art style on the animated series, you’ll love the look of this comic. Timm just has a great old school style. It’s not like a golden age book, more like…..well maybe cartoons you would see on a Playboy issue or in Mad Magazine. But he does set an iconic look when it comes to Batman, especially when it’s him lurking in the shadows.

There’s more to this trade then just this famous story. We get a bunch of different issues of the old Batman Adventures series, other small stories from random comics, and a great Bruce Timm story from the ‘Black and White’ collection. Most of these stories, again, feel very much like the show. Batman Adventures was the comic that mirrored the animated series when it was coming out. They weren’t all written by Paul Dini or had art by Bruce Timm (some of these stories dont have Timm as artist), but DC tried to collect most of the issues they did work together. Whether it’s Batman fighting Roxy Rocket, to a great Joker story of the aftermath of a battle, to a loving homage to Jack Kirby involving Ra’s Al Ghul; you’ll definitely get a kick out of these kid stories.

No matter how campy or serious Batman gets; people will still credit Paul Dini and Bruce Timm on some of the best or most fun Batman stories put on paper (or on TV). This trade has one of the best origins for a villain and overall has a sense of humor with some great peices of action. If you were a fan of the animated series, you’ll love this. If you never watched the animated series then you need to pick this up right now. It’s mathematically impossible to not enjoy anything written by Paul Dini or drawn by Bruce Timm.