.jpg "Batman Beyond #1 (of 6)")
And so after the Superman/Batman Annual, and a cameo in Batman # 700, it appears Terry McGinnis is ready for his close up, Mr. DeMil…errr Beechen! And so the 6 issue Batman Beyond mini-series, written by Adam Beechen and drawn by Ryan Benjamin and inked by John Stanisci begins here in a story called “Hush Beyond: Part 1, History Repeats.”
We begin with Neo-Gotham’s Cadmus Labs and Amanda Waller and an assistant are discussing a rampage that has happened. A subject they had been testing has escaped the facility and is on the loose.
Cutting then to Terry McGinnis whom is in a fight with Spellbinder, a villain from the cartoon series, and with Bruce Wayne as the voice from the cave; Batman easily dispatches Spellbinder and as he is catching his breath before going on to a new incident meets up with Micron, the Batman Beyond version of Atom who tries to recruit Batman for the Justice League, Batman again declines as he did at the end of the episode The Call.
Next we see a rather Rorschach-ian, or maybe we should just call him Hush since that’s what they are going for anyway, figure killing some old guy named Philip Cobb as a message to the new Batman.
McGinnis then returns to the cave to discuss the offer to join the Justice League with Wayne, who agrees that not joining was the right move. When word comes in about the Cobb murder and Wayne tells Terry that Cobb was an old member of his rouges (and real old in real time as the guy is primarily a Silver Age character and never was mentioned in the DCAU at all) called The Signalman, who apparently had stayed straight for a while after being caught, and Bruce sends Terry back out to investigate the scene.
In doing so, the way the murder went down causes Bruce to suspect Harvey Dent (who was never seen in Batman Beyond) has resurfaced, despite being as old as Bruce. Batman then gets word of an incident at St. James Hospital and heads over, partially because former Arkham inmates (Arkham was shut down and moved to a more secure facility shortly after The New Adventures of Batman & Robin, according to dialogue in the Return of The Joker movie) reside there, specifically Bruce’s old foe The Mad Hatter.
We do see a glimpse of Mad Hatter, but apparently Signalman’s murderer hadn’t gotten to him yet because Terry finds a nurse scared out of her mind with the killer hovering over her. The killer runs as Batman heads over and the nurse, badly cut up, tells Batman that the killer was looking for Mad Hatter and told her to “hush” and a Hush like bandage is left at the scene and we end it there.
Alright, so this is an interesting start to things. Kind of find the whole Hush angle interesting as Hush was created 2002 and has never appeared in the television medium yet. It must be said though that things are now starting to get a bit jumbled with all these attempts to make Terry McGinnis “fit” into the DCU proper. First we had the Annual in which Paul Levitz just squished current DC continuity and DCAU continuity. Then there is Batman # 700 happened where Damian Wayne was in Bruce’s role on the show guiding McGinnis, as well as Commissioner Barbra Gordon, but still affected by the events of The Killing Joke when in the DCAU Barbra is never crippled and walks quite well in Batman Beyond. And now we have this mini-series, and from the looks of it, it might be only taking place in the DCAU as there really isn’t any evidence to say otherwise, yet.
It’s an enjoyable ride, but still trying to kick the tires about whether or not this is going to be of much substance, or yet another attempt by a company to placate a segment of the audience and not really doing much afterward. Just seems pretty average so far.
Batman Beyond #1:
Reviewed by SteveJRogers
First off, let me state that I think that every Batman fan reading this that hasn’t read this issue yet should go out to their local comic shop and pick this issue up before they read this review because HEY, IT’S THE 700th ISSUE and it is quite the achievement, and for such a momentous occasion you shouldn’t read about it in a review and have it spoiled and thrown away on a quick read through on your computer screen. You need to hold the book in your hands, read it, soak in every word and panel presented, truly treasure the occasion and reflect on your own personal experience after it is done. So with that out of the way I will state that I will not spoil anything for you here, but I beg of you to PLEASE go out, buy it, and read it before you read this review. But what I will do here is give you a little insight to what is to be expected in these pages.
Messy is an understatement. Grant Morrison’s work on Batman #700, is what it is. A messy, garbled story of which we have no clue to what’s going on, but at the same time and in old Grant Morrison style it leaves the story up to the visual side of a complete and unquestioned whole that makes up what we love to read. But that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. All the hype about this specific issue aside, there is a coherent story there (of course) that begins, climaxes and ends all in one issue it transcends everything that I have expected and more. While sticking to a storyline, I can't help but feel that there is something more to this story. First, we start off with Bruce and Dick in the first story called “Yesterday” as Batman and Robin strapped to chairs in a maybe machine, a machine used to see what would happen if things turned out differently. We then see them surrounded by the Riddler, Mad Hatter, Cat Woman, and none other than the Joker. We then see Dick and Damian in the second story called “Today” taking up the positions previously stated, trying to stop an underground auction that is auctioning off weapons and other things. Finally we see Damian as Batman in the third story called “ Tomorrow” trying to stop a criminal named January from killing all the citizens of Gotham using an old yet familiar gas that makes people laugh. The end is the real kicker and will only be revealed when you read it.
I know, it sounds like none of these stories connect to each other, but they do through time travel and the consequences of actions which I must say weaves perfectly through a single twist of continuity and fate. While this issue and its content both visually and text wise offer a valuable story, I was expecting a little more from these pages action and story-wise even though the idea is there and makes it a wonderful read. Maybe it’s because DC, other Batman related websites and news stories hyped the hell out of it or because it falls short of the holy grail of content we’ve grown to expect from Grant Morrison. But I can’t help but feel that this issue would have been better if it was a one-shot. Which in a sense is somewhat true, the story could have been fleshed out a little more and it would not have been plagued by what had become a problem for Tony Daniels when he was the writer for the Batman series. While this issue is numbered within the Batman comic series, it is presented as a one-shot or something like it. Although I’m not quite sure if the events in this story will have any effect on other series such as Batman & Robin, I will state that I would like to see some of what is presented here in future issues or maybe a one-shot with the maybe machine being used again and acting as a plot device. This story/one-shot/whatever you want to call it takes us back to the past, to the current day and to the future….. Then further on in the future, and back to current day which like I‘ve said is pulled off and presented wonderfully, and most importantly in a smart, innovative way all the way to the end.
At the end of the issue there is bonus material in the form of artwork by artists that have worked on Batman in the past, while it is a hit or miss, Guillem March’s Joker art is something to be reckoned with, while Philip Tan’s Batman is also quite extraordinary and both I would recommend you take a peek at. The story, art, and bonus material is not only presented great here, but it also rings in and applauds the momentous occasion for what it is. This issue is the definition of a comic book and if there is any kind of redemption in this world, the 700th issue is it.
Like I’ve said before I think this story is much more than a typical run of the mill story. I think (besides the obvious examples that have been told in past issues) it’s a “passing of the torch or cowl” sort of story. With Bruce to Dick to Damian and so on and so forth. It’s an action or tragedy on a son who becomes a father who passes it on to his adopted son to another son to the future bearers kind of story. Because we don’t know who the future Batmen are and what their relationships are to who we already know I also think (while not directly stated or presumed) it’s a Father/Son story about those talks you had with your Father when you were a kid, and after all those years you look back and realize what your father was telling you, it was knowledge learned that we use to protect ourselves to fight for what we think is right, for what we think NEEDS to be right, to stand up for justice and the righteousness of what you think is the right thing to do . Everyone plays the part of the Batman no matter where you come from, no matter how you were raised, no matter what happened in your past. It’s a final confirmation that Batman is bigger than anything we can hold in our hands or that one person can fully grasp within a lifetime or perhaps will never be fully understood by any one human. Thus, there is a universal need for a wearer of the cowl to try to understand all the craziness and absurdity in this world to put together what it is that makes what’s right, right, and what’s wrong, wrong, and for the symbolic nature of an idea or philosophy to show all of humanity that there is some sort of greatness in every single thing we do, that there is goodness in the human soul, and finally but most importantly that there is hope in despair (all the while not fully understanding it at all), which in the end is what Batman stands for.
Overall, a great issue is all I can say. This is what I have been personally waiting for and Morrison delivers. As for the art Finch’s cover kind of echoes (dare I say) Jim Lee’s work. On the inside Tony Daniel’s pencils are top notch as they should be while Ian Hannin’s colors bring a grimness to an already grim scene. The other artists most notably Frank Quitely are all on par to deliver a great book. There are great things to look forward to in the future with the Batman series. With Morrison at the writers helm , who knows where we’re going?
Batman #700:
Reviewed by Dane
Tony Daniel’s current arc on Batman has been solid, to say the least. As the story is beginning to wrap up, we are getting ever closer to finding out the identity of the Black Mask.
Last time we saw Batman, he had fallen into a trap set by the Penguin and the Mad Hatter at an abandoned amusement park. This issue basically picks up the story an unspecified time later. Batman is washed up on the shore in Gotham Harbor, and is found by Damian. Dick is seen to be beaten up pretty badly when he is discovered, and is wearing a broken mask that the Black Mask has been giving to the “false faces.”
Now throughout the book, Batman continuously goes in and out of consciousness. At the same time, the story is going back and forth between the present time, and flashbacks of the previous nine hours that are running through Dick’s mind. Going back nine hours, we see that Batman is under the control of the Penguin, following his orders by way of the altered gas mask. Damian has already figured this out, but just hasn’t figured out whose orders Dick had been following. We see that the Penguin had sent Batman to break into the Mayor’s office where he takes two tubes of the antidote to Black Mask’s mind control toxin. As Batman is beginning to gain consciousness again in the present, he blacks out once more and the story goes to Catwoman and Kitrina Falcone who are going after Black Mask as well. Catwoman saves Kitrina from the third member of their group who was about to kill Kitrina. Batman shows up, still under Penguin’s control and takes them down, but goes with Kitrina to Devil’s Square, which has attracted both the National Guard and the Marines due to the Black Mask and his followers.
While going through all of the flashbacks in his mind, Dick is slowly beginning to remember what happened. We see that he had confronted Black Mask and his inner circle of Fright and Dr. Hugo Strange. They fight and Batman had gained the advantage until Black Mask pulled a gun, and shot Batman in the chest, who proceeded to fall out a window, off a cliff, and into the ocean below. And that is where he reaches the point at the beginning of the book. It ends with a now fully aware Batman telling Babs that he thinks he may know who Black Mask really is.
I enjoyed this book, despite its non-linear timeline. I think Tony Daniel did a good job pulling it off, though I will acknowledge that I am not a huge fan of this style. The reason he was able to keep the story from being too confusing or choppy was the fact that the main focus was in the flashbacks, with no action in the present. That’s the trap that many writers fall into, but Daniel avoided. The actual story started off great, with Damian doing all the talking. That first scene gives the reader a reminder that even though he may think of himself as an adult, Damian is still just a kid. I got a small chuckle out of the first line when he saw Dick lying on the beach and yelled out, “Epic Fail!”
The one issue I had with this book was the absence of Dick’s thought process during the fight scenes. This was obviously because he was being manipulated, but maybe it would have been a little cooler if we saw conflicting views between the Penguin and Dick’s thoughts. Either way, Daniel’s doing a good job, and his art has been excellent as well. It’s nice to get a break from the seemingly never ending Blackest Night with a good Batman story (I’m sure I’ll get some flak from that).
Batman #696:
Reviewed by RiddleMeThis
It wouldn't be Halloween without having Batman mixed mixed with Halloween. We start off going towards Halloween with this scan from Batman: The Long Halloween #13.
Posted by Dustin
Batman, The Widening Gyre marks Kevin Smith’s return to a Bat-books since Batman: Cacophony. Let’s just say it isn’t a triumphant one either. And Walter Flanagan continues his struggles in drawing the Dark Knight.
Unfortunately for Bat fans, Smith and Flanagan haven’t improved. The only thing that should have people buying this book, is the simple fact that Bruce Wayne is Batman in this story. Other than that I would not be reading this, and here’s why:
The story starts off with a flashback, Batman and Robin taking care of the silly villain Baron Blitzkrieg. During these panels, we see campy dialogue and poor visuals from Flanagan. (Someone PLEASE teach him how to draw Batman!) We then cut to the present day where Batman and Nightwing are taking on some small time crook in Germany. Blitzkrieg reappears and is handled easily. My BIG problem with the beginning of this book is that Dick Grayson is written extremely campy and is once again the happy go lucky character. Batman also seems to lack confidence throughout the book which he shouldn’t be by this point in time.
Batman returns to Gotham and pays a visit to Arkham Asylum to find it has been taken captive by Poison Ivy. Here, Batman has brief encounters with villains such as the Mad Hatter, Two-Face, and the Joker. I found Smith’s interpretation of the Joker to be very immature and to have a very teenage boy feel to it. I also felt that Poison Ivy was written quite poorly as well.
Some positives throughout the book were that while Flanagan still has his’ struggles, I thought his pencils were much better than they were in Cacophony. I also feel that Kevin Smith writes Etrigan the Demon very well. Etrigan speaks in a rhythmic tone that works very well for the character.
While I did not enjoy this issue, I feel that Kevin Smith is just trying to write a fun story. Unfortunately for Smith, he is going to have to write a really fun story because Flanagan’s art is not going to pick him up. Let’s stay optimistic, I think the story will get better.
Batman: The Widening Gyre #1:
Reviewed by Zfactor