TITLE: Batman Beyond #1 (of 6)
AUTHOR: Adam Beechen
PENCILLER: Ryan Benjamin (Cover by Dustin Nguyen)
PUBLISHER: DC Comics
PRICE: $2.99
RELEASE DATE: June 30

By Rob Siebert
Editor, Fanboy Wonder

A throwback comic that takes place in the future? There’s a brain twister for ya…

Yes friends, Batman Beyond is back. Initially a 1999 cartoon developed by Bruce Timm, Paul Dini and most of the Batman: The Animated Series crew, the series featured an elderly Bruce Wayne guiding teenager Terry McGinnis in his new role as Batman in the futuristic Neo-Gotham. The series itself was a big risk, but ultimately it seems to have paid off, as fans of the “Timm-verse” came to embrace Beyond, so much that the character would later make appearances in Justice League Unlimited.

Oddly enough, none of the crew behind the show appears to be involved in this miniseries DC has put together. Nevertheless, Adam Beechen manages to capture the vibe of the show pretty well. The story begins when a prisoner breaks out of Cadmus Labs, killing five people along the way. More murders follow, including one of Bruce Wayne’s lesser known villains, Signalman. The “style” of the murders leads Bruce to believe that Harvey Dent is the culprit. But by the final page, the true culprit is revealed…and it’s not Harvey.

Not much to complain about here. I’m not the biggest fan of Benjamin’s art, but that’s a matter of taste. We get a nice appearance from Amanda Waller at the start of the story. I was a bit thrown off when Terry kept calling Bruce “Mr. Wayne.” On the show they always just called each other “Wayne” and “McGinnis.” Sheesh, why so formal, Terry? The guy’s letting you hang out in his cave for cryin’ out loud…

The villain we end up with is definitely capable of carrying a miniseries (if you take a close look at the cover, you can probably figure out who it is), but part of me wishes Beechen was taking a different route with this story. The animated movie Return of the Joker gave us the ultimate “old villain returns” story. With this story they can strike some different story chords, but you’re still going to hear a lot of the same notes you heard in Return. I’m hoping this series gives us a little bit of insight into Terry’s life, as opposed to making it a big “old rivals fight again” story.

Either way, I don’t see Beechen failing with this miniseries. Obviously, there’s still a lot of interest in Batman Beyond, and that’s what he’s giving us. It’s hard to go wrong there.