Skip to main content

Featured

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
Post a Comment
Read more
Labels

Young and Old - Batman Beyond 2.0 volume 1 - Rewired

Cover of Batman Beyond 2.0 v1 Rewired

 

Review:

This collection of three Terry McGinnis Batman tales from the Beyond universe shows some pleasing storytelling depth on the part of Kyle Higgins.

The first multi part narrative tells the story of Rewire and his assault on Neo Gotham, including freeing the inmates of the newly opened Arkham Institute. This is the least compelling of the stories in this collection, unfortunately; a fairly standard Hero-vs-Gang-of-Villains pot-boiler. The new and therefore unknown villain Rewire kills the mayor through mysterious and remote means, then frees all the Institute's inmates and challenges an exhausted Batman to an isolated confrontation. The highlight, as captured right on the cover of this collection, is the Beyond-era appearance of old-school Batman,  Robin, Nightwing and BatGirl to battle our Batman.

This weak opener is followed by a much stronger Man-Bat tale, as author Kyle Higgins hits his stride with this complex, nuanced story. Kirk Langstrom, stuck in Man-Bat form but with his full human intellect, takes city workers hostage and demands a rare mineral for his device that will give all Man-Bats the same human faculties and self-awareness that he has managed for himself. Packed with loads and layers of relationship drama between Dick, Terry, Bruce and Kirk, this is a rich and moving tale. It leads to a tragic final twist as Kirk / Man-Bat struggles with the memory of his beloved wife and what he has become.

Tucked into the end is another beautiful if brief chapter of the aged and grey Dick / Nightwing and Barbara / Batgirl reflecting on what might have been. If only decisions had been different, and interpretations of actions more generous. It's a short story of choices and paths not taken, and the regrets that can come later in life.

Throughout the art is heavily inked and highly stylized, but stunning. Page after page shows intelligent awareness of the power of layouts, with action popping off the pages over top of detailed, usually urban backdrops that themselves are part of one or more of the panels.

The weak start drags this otherwise strong volume down to 3.5 capes out of 5.



Description:

A lot has changed in Neo-Gotham over the last year. Now balancing college, family, and crime fighting, Terry McGinnis still dons the red and black suit as Batman. Bruce Wayne is no longer chirping in his ear, however, replaced by the former Nightwing himself, Dick Grayson. One thing that never changes, though, is someone’s always looking to bring the city to its knees.

Called in to investigate the death of Mayor Davis, Batman and his allies sense foul play. When someone frees the inmates held in Davis’ pet project, the new Arkham Institute, those suspicions become dangerous reality. But the menace behind these attacks is someone Batman has never faced before, an unknown quantity. Calling himself Rewire, this electrically charged villain has plans for Neo-Gotham -- starting with the end of Batman!

It’s a new era for Batman Beyond as writer KYLE HIGGINS (NIGHTWING, DEATHSTROKE) and artist THONY SILAS (Venom) plug you into BATMAN BEYOND 2.0: REWIRED (collects stories from BATMAN BEYOND UNIVERSE #1-8)!

Collects: Batman Beyond Universe #1-8 (2013-14) aka Batman Beyond 2.0 #1-16 (Online)

Authors: Kyle Higgins
Artists: Thony Silas
Published By: DC Comics
Published When: Nov. 11 2014
Parental Rating: Teen
ISBN-10: 1401250602
ISBN-13: 978-1401250607
Language: English
Pages: 176 pages


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular Posts