Batman Beyond Unlimited is a print series that comes out once a month, which collects digital chapters from the entire month into one issue. Batman Beyond is one of the characters focused on in the series along with Justice League Beyond and Superman Beyond. Comic Book Resources has posted an interview with the three Beyond writers. In the interview, Adam Beechen lays out some of the upcoming storylines.
CBR: As always with the Beyond world, you're really writing the story of two Batmen. What would you say are the biggest personal challenges for both Terry and Bruce in this new year of the series?
Adam Beechen: For Terry, it's reconciling his superhero life with his personal life. Dana's pretty much cut him loose over his flaky behavior — always disappearing when she either needs him or they have plans. He knows he's not spending enough time with his mother and brother, either. Terry's starting to think about what he wants and needs his priorities to be going forward in life. I don't think he has the same burning vengeance motor that drove Bruce for so many decades, and still drives him in many ways. For the first little while, for Terry, putting on the costume, flying, using gadgets and punching bad guys was a lot of fun. But does Terry picture himself doing this at the age of thirty? Fifty? For Bruce, his big personal challenge in the first year of the series is a lot more immediate, and that's all I'm going to say about that.
CBR: Like in the past, you've been working to find a good balance between the animated continuity and elements from the comic — reference to Barbara Gordon's paralysis sticks out most recently. How will those elements grow now that you're introducing Tim Drake as the Wayne computer expert and Lucius Fox, Jr. to the mix?
Adam Beechen: Tim in particular will play a major role going forward, and Lucius will probably have his moments as well. Like you say, it's a bit of a high-wire act, wanting to give longtime fans the old villains they remember from the animated series, wanting to give longtime Batman comics fans nuggets from the comics' past, and wanting to give all of the readers, including ones brand new to Batman in any way, easy-to-digest explanatory material that still expands and deepens the mix. I get a lot of requests for villains to appear, whether they're from the cartoon or the comics, and all I can say is, "All in good time." The great thing about the Beyond Universe is that it was set up so beautifully in the cartoon, but so much of it was left unexplored. I know Norm Breyfogle and I, Dustin and Derek, and JT and Howard, are anxious to do that exploring, and all kinds of characters, new and old, will pop up as an organic result of that exploration.
CBR: Of course, the major thread running through the book right now is the story of Dana's Joker brother Douglas and his schemes to be the top clown in Gotham. While Terry has faced down a lot of Jokerz over the course of the franchise, it seems he's never had a real personal enemy amongst those gangs. Was giving him his own Clown Prince to clash with part of the inspiration here?
Adam Beechen: Absolutely. In my opinion, you can't do a Batman story without a Joker, and the challenge has been to bring a Joker-worthy villain into the story without making it the Joker himself, because that was already done brilliantly as part of the animated series. I think we've found an interesting angle from which to think about the Jokerz, and make them genuinely scary in their own way, and legitimate threats. As for Doug wanting to be the "top clown in Gotham," he already is. The question is, what's he going to do, now that he's there. And that's what "10,000 Clowns" is all about.
For the entire interview, including talk about the origin story of Terry as Batman, head over to Comic Book Resources. Batman Beyond Unlimited #4 is in stores May 30.
Posted by Dustin Fritschel
