The Forensic Files of Batman by Doug Moench is an underrated book that I picked up right when it was published in 2004. When Tim Maxwell at Neuverse Creative floated the idea of short story audios, my mind moved to this book, which I already planned on rereading.
As I went through it, I felt that the world of The Batman would be the most appropriate fit since these stories were meant to take place within Year One and Two of his career and were heavily detective-focused. The first story that felt like it could fit somewhere was “Blowback.” The Batman clearly has some form of forensic and science experience in the opening, with him identifying that the Mayor’s thumb was cut after he was killed.
To make this closer to the world of The Batman, I gave a specific date. The short story listed that it was “Year Two, Month One, Day Twenty-Three” and while I think Batman doesn’t necessarily start in January of Year One, I just made it January 23rd to simplify it.
I also made the unnamed mob boss at the core of this to be a member of the Maroni Crime Family, but didn’t reveal who specifically it was so I wouldn’t accidentally pick someone who shows up in The Penguin show or future installments.
The narration is mostly from Doug Moench’s book, but there were certain parts that I changed to make it sound closer to the Robert Pattinson Batman. For example, Moench’s Batman says “With Albert Runcible’s goose thus cooked…” which didn’t seem like something his version would say.
Moench’s story ends after saying, “Murder turned one case into two, both now closed” but I added an epilogue at the end, foreshadowing The Riddler and making this fit more as a prequel to The Batman.