Review:
Collecting and reprinting issues #7-11 of the 2015 Batman Beyond series, this book brings us the return of Superman and the Justice League to the post-Brother Eye scene.
But while their return should be cause for celebration in this world, and a source of excitement for us readers, it is ultimately buried under the weight of their dark and dystopian setting. A world laid waste by the ravages of Brother Eye and his cybernetic army, filled with untold numbers of refugees fleeing their broken homes and failed systems and institutions. The reanimated Superman surveys the challenges facing the heroes, not villainy but endless despair and destruction, and concludes this book by saying "The devastation and desperation. It's disheartening."
This reviewer agrees. Author Dan Jurgens spins a fine yarn, with dramatic tension building as Tim Drake seeks to grow into the hi-tech Bat suit while Matt McGinnis, younger brother of Terry the original 'Beyond' Batman, travels alone and on foot to Metropolis with some illicit Eye hardware. But the pervading sense of depression leaves little space for fun in this universe. Pain and struggle and ruins are everywhere, and their weight prevents these stories from standing up and taking off.
The art by Bernard Chang and Stephen Thompson also contributes to the mood of destruction and disheartening depression. The pages are filled with heavy inks and muted or dark shades, and when they offer backgrounds the panels are filled with the remnants of shattered lives, from crumbling buildings to wastelands to throngs of hopeless refugees.
The end of this story arc would, in other hands and circumstances, have been a happy ending, or at least a positive one. Not so here, it feels little more than a chance to catch one's breath before the struggle begins anew. In the creative vision for this series that may be exactly as designed. But the result is a rather unpleasant read.
I give it 2 capes out of 5.
Description:
THE WAR IS OVER.
RECONSTRUCTION BEGINS...
He won the fight of his life, but Tim Drake is still a man lost in time. Thanks to the sacrifices of countless heroes, he was able to free Earth from the cybernetic menace of Brother Eye. And with Bruce Wayne and Terry McGinnis gone, the mantle of the Batman is his. Stranded in a strange future, he must defend Neo-Gotham as it becomes a magnet for refugees from the rest of the devastated world.
As tensions rise and blood is shed, this new Batman has an even more urgent mission. With the last Green Lantern’s power ring, Terry’s brother Matt has set off for the ruins of the once-great city of Metropolis, hoping to use the ring’s power to unlock the forces of justice once more. But Batman must track him down before he unwittingly unleashes a new evil upon an already devastated world!
Is this the dawn of a new Justice League, or the end of the world as we know it? Find out in BATMAN BEYOND VOLUME 2: CITY OF YESTERDAY
Collects: BATMAN BEYOND #7-11
Authors: Dan Jurgens
Artists: Bernard Chang
Published By: DC Comics
Published When: Oct. 4 2016
Parental Rating: Teen
ISBN-10: 1401264700
ISBN-13: 978-1401264703
Language: English
Pages: 128 pages
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