Written by Dan Jurgens
Art by Ryan Sook
Batman Beyond's history in the New 52 universe has been...interesting. The "Futures End" 2014-15 weekly featured Terry McGinnis traveling back in time to prevent an apocalyptic future with the world controlled by the artificial intelligence Brother Eye. Unfortunately, Terry would end up dying on his mission, passing on his suit and mission to that timeline's Tim Drake. Tim was able to alter the future and ended up being transported back to the year Terry came from, only to find Brother Eye still in control, but to a lesser extent. It's a distinction without a difference, which in my opinion makes the whole of "Futures End" pointless. This would lead into the new "Batman Beyond" series with Tim in the lead. The first arc wrapped up the Brother Eye storyline, which in my opinion hurts "Futures End" even more because it didn't actually wrap up in its own series. The second arc of "Batman Beyond" dealt with the aftermath and some reconstruction, even reestablishing the Justice League Beyond as seen in the animated series, and the third arc actually felt like a traditional Batman Beyond series. For me the series was a mixed bag with interesting the elements but the art was hit and miss.
A lot of people didn't like Tim Drake taking Terry's place, but I didn't mind. The way I see it, it was because they didn't realize that this Beyond series was not the same as the one from the animated series, or even the comic book continuation series that ran from 2010-14. While the New 52 series retained elements from Beyond that people were familiar with like villains and supporting characters, there were references to the present day DC universe as well, like Tim using Gordon's mech suit from his time as Batman during the first arc against Brother Eye, and that the Superman introduced in the second arc was actually Jon, the pre-Flashpoint Superman's son carrying on his father's legacy. Since it's beginning, DC touted this as the "definitive future of the DC universe". I scoff at that since futures and timelines always change when it comes to comics, but I digress. If anything, this makes Batman Beyond the most unique of the Rebirth titles because it doesn't take place in the present day DCU.
Now here's where things start to get confusing. The "Futures End" timeline that Tim came from had been erased, and we learn that the Tim from the new timeline had gone missing without a trace, never to be found and Bruce putting up his Red Robin suit as tribute (don't know if this is a coincidence or not, but it might be connected to what happened to Tim in the most recent arc in Detective Comics). We also learn that the Terry of this timeline didn't actually die but had gone missing during Brother Eye's attack on humanity, lost his memory and had been brainwashed Spellbinder into believing he was the villain Rewire from the comic continuation series...comics are weird, huh? In the final issue of the previous volume, Terry had regained his memory and Tim returned the mantle of Batman to him, allowing Terry to reclaim his life and Tim to make his own path (only to be mysteriously teleported somewhere, but I guess that'll be picked up on later). So with all this backstory out of the way, let's finally delve into the Rebirth issue.
The issue is pretty much about Terry getting back into the swing of things, not only as Batman, but as Terry McGinnis. His brother Matt and best friend Max help him get settles in, but he's most worried about trying to get back in touch with Dana, his old girlfriend. Since Terry and his friends are young adults now, something to note is that Dana has become a social worker. Back in the animated series, all I really remember about Dana is that she was just Terry's girlfriend who would get upset with Terry for being late or not showing for their dates because of his Batman duties, so it's nice that they've added another layer to her.
As I mentioned before, the timeline retains many elements seen from the Batman Beyond animated series (with this issue even going through Terry's Batman origin exactly the same way which is nice for brand new readers and I would hope get them interested in checking out the animated series as well) with some differences, but while the previous volume tried to tie it in with the present DCU, based on this issue, it appears that with Terry back, they're trying to distance themselves and make it feel like the old Batman Beyond. Tim Drake and Brother Eye aren't mentioned at all, and the only references to previous events are Terry's previously perceived death, that he misses having Bruce in his ear, and that his mother died "in the war", i.e. Brother Eye's attack. Maybe it's just as well since DC may be trying to win people back over after killing Terry and replacing him with Tim. But still, even if new readers or old Batman Beyond fans (who may have skipped Tim's tenure) picking this up may be confused by the differences between the series. I know I keep saying that they're different, but my guess is that unlike other alternate version of Bruce's Batman, Batman Beyond has its own unique mythos, which makes it hard for some to think of different versions of the concept.
The art is similar to that of the previous volume drawn by Bernard Chang, which for me again means it's kind of hit and miss, at least based on this issue. But this brings me to one of my overall complaints. Terry's suit has some slight modifications. First off, unlike the cover, Terry's eyes have gone from white to red, and they're no longer just triangles but have weird lines coming from it. It reminds me of the way Scarlet Spider's eyes were drawn sometimes in the 90's. In addition, while not as prominent throughout the issue but more through cover art for future issues, the heels of his boots are also now red. That aspect doesn't bother me as much, but combine that with the now almost demonic looking eyes, it really hurts what was originally such a simple design.
But my overall problem with this issue? It's not a one-shot, or even just a set-up issue. The villains featured are the Jokerz street gang who Terry notices are starting to up their game, going after money and even committing suicide by Joker toxin to avoid talking to the police, and he wants to know what's going on. Terry doesn't really get any answers here, and the last we see of him is Venom powered Jokerz member bringing a wall down on him. I do hand it to this issue for ending on a pretty shocking splash page and it'll definitely make you wonder where it goes. Even so, this really should have been an #1 and not a Rebirth one-shot. What they could have done was something similar to Avenging Spider-Man #15.1, which acted as a bridge between Amazing Spider-Man #700 and Superior Spider-Man #1, which showcased Otto Octavius preparing his new life in Peter Parker's body. What they could've done here was showing Terry upgrading his suit, explaining the differences shown between volumes.
So overall, Batman Beyond does for the most part act as a good jumping on point but does have its problems. But it's nice to have Terry back and I'm interested in seeing where things go.
And with that, that concludes the Rebirth reviews for the titles I read on my regular pull list. Now I wait for the DC Rebirth Omnibus, and this series will return in February with REBIRTH REVIEW MONTH, where I'll review the remaining Rebirth one-shots.
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