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Of Embassies and Origins - Justice League International Part 2 (Eaglemoss Collection v77)

  Review: Since we are doing a series of reviews focusing on Booster Gold over his nearly 40-year history, we include this one as a collection of some of his earliest appearances, dating to late 1987. That places the original publish date of these tales while his original solo series was still going strong.  This book is a beautiful, glossy hard-cover with smooth and heavy-stock paper inside, although the sometimes-low print reproduction quality leads to blurred and hard to read word balloons on occasion. It is also a rare book here in North America, as Eaglemoss Collections targeted UK fans with this series. At this point in the history of the 1987-rebooted Justice League, they have gained official United Nations recognition and sanction. To ensure their reach truly is global, they rebrand as Justice League International (as does the title of the series!) and they open new headquarters buildings around the world: New York, Paris and Moscow are included here. As this is a product of 19
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Review: Batman Beyond Vol. 1: Brave New Worlds

Cover of Batman Beyond Volume 1: Brave New Worlds TPB

 Description:

Spinning out of the epic event FUTURES END and the world of the classic animated series, BATMAN BEYOND is reimagined within the DC Universe continuity!

Tim Drake has been a lot of things—teen genius, teen hero, Teen Titan. As Red Robin, he carried on Batman’s legacy, but he never thought he’d be the one to assume the cowl and become Batman himself. Of course, Tim never thought he’d find himself flung decades into the future—into a world where the evil A.I. Brother Eye has all but exterminated life on Earth. Now only Neo-Gotham remains, and the city needs its defender. Gotham needs Batman!

Now, Tim must save Batman’s allies, including Barbara Gordon, before Brother Eye can crack their minds and discover Neo-Gotham’s hidden location. But with the world’s greatest heroes transformed into Brother Eye’s sinister agents, will Batman be Gotham’s salvation—or will Tim Drake find out he doesn’t have what it takes to wear the mantle of the Bat?

Collects: BATMAN BEYOND Sneak Peek and issues #1-6
Authors: Dan Jurgens
Artists: Bernard Chang
Published By: DC Comics
Published When: March 15 2016
Parental Rating: Teen

Review:

Batman Beyond went from being a reasonably popular animated series, set in the not too distant future, to eventual integration into the mainstream DC Universe continuity. It has spawned six separate limited or ongoing series of comics, between 1999 and today, with more in the works

Terry McGuinness is the titular cowl-wearing hero in most of those series, with one exception: the 5th incarnation of the Batman Beyond series saw Tim Drake, cast into the future by the events of Futures End, take over the suit and cowl. This TPB collects the first 6 issues of Tim Drake in Batman Beyond.

The extent of the confusion on Drake of the time displacement is a running theme throughout this volume. By the end, it had become wearisome – we get it, he has trouble adjusting to a new world with its different tech and much-altered sociopolitical situation. Anyone who has moved to a new city or country experiences something similar. But we will cut him a little slack, as in his case many lives, including his own, hang on how well and how quickly he can adjust.

Drake arrives in Neo-Gotham, one of the last bastions of freedom and safety on Earth, with Brother Eye's near complete takeover. He finds and rescues Barbara Gordon, now Commissioner of Neo-Gotham, but Brother Eye infiltrates a virus into his high-tech suit and uses Drake to find and attack Neo-Gotham, with cyborg versions of Superman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern.

Drake sheds the snazzy suit and its corrupted AI named A.L.F.R.E.D., in favor of an older-tech armored suit, reminiscent of some of the Marvel Universe's Iron Man and his more intense and heavyweight armor. Thus prepared, he teams with the fascinating and complex character Inque to take on and defeat Brother Eye in his moon base.

The story by Dan Jurgens clips along briskly, the frequent angst and disorientation shoved aside by constant attacks and struggles to learn the tech and survive a little longer. As the confrontation with Brother Eye escalates, and cyber-versions of Superman and other Justice Leaguers descent on Neo-Gotham, their survival hangs by the most tenuous of threads.

Bernard Chang's art explodes off the page, and keeps the reader's attention with the dynamic and fluid action sequences. The pops of red, befitting Batman Beyond's red logo and under-wings, is jarring at first. It comes only on occasion, usually to isolate a specific panel in a larger fight or sequence. The choice will make more sense by the end of volume two, but in isolation in this collection it comes across as more jarring than enhancing, and can occasionally detract from the larger story.

Overall this is an enjoyable read. As someone relatively new to the Batman Beyond universe, I shared Drake's sense of disorientation for a time, but the art and storytelling kept me along for a pleasant ride. 3.5 capes out of 5.

ISBN-10: 1401261914
ISBN-13: 978-1401261917
Language: English
Pages: 152 pages



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