BATMAN BEYOND DOUBLE FEATURE
Look. So Image made their announcement about the first issue of America's Got Powers being $2.99 and 38 pages. And that's awesome. The entire thing showed how much they care about us as readers, not just walking wallets. And while I griped a lot about the screw up that made me panic with the inexplicably incorrect cover, and the editor posting it on their main page; but I'm calmed down a lot because this series shows a similar level of care. Sure, it's $3.99, but it freaking earns it! It's not Justice League bullshit $3.99 with a normal lengths story and a bunch of crappy extras, or Men of War's co-feature that's too short to grow attached to. This is TWO FULL LENGTH COMICS. Batman Beyond: 20 pages. Justice League Beyond ALSO 20 PAGES. YOU BUY ONE COMIC AND GET THE SECOND FOR %60 OFF. FOR EVERY ISSUE.
The cover's pretty nice. It's trying a little too hard, and its a tad crowded, but its effective in demonstrating the feel of the content within.
Batman Beyond #1
So, ok, I know Norm Breyfogle is a legend and all, and I've seen his work on older Batman stuff. The man's a good Batman artist. But he's in the same boat as Dan Jurgens. He's a little stale and outdated. Hit artwork isn't bad, but it feels a little outdated. But the biggest problem is that he draws the face for Batman just a bit too ridiculous. It doesn't look like he has an actual face, it looks like a computer animation on the outside of his mask. And he draws Batman too... 'round.' His costume feels FAR more like traditional spandex then it does the sleek high tech whatever it really is. His muscles are a little too defined, I had to laugh when he was kicking two Jokerz and we got a clear view of his far too round 'bubble butt.' Batman Beyond is.... it's something Dustin Nguyen draws perfectly on the cover. It's full of clashing dark colors with bright neons. Sharp angles and sleek futuristic sheen. Norm Breyfogle, god bless the man and what he's done for Batman, is a TERRIBLE artist for Batman Beyond. He's as bad a choice here as Dan Jurgens was for Green Arrow; just for different reasons. Familiar characters like Terry out of costume, Bruce, and Barbara all looked pretty great, better than Ryan Benjamin's version, but at least Benjamin perfectly grasped the sharpness of the superhero stuff. Even the colors here have far too much light, gradual color transitions, and almost grainy textures. It just doesn't 'feel' like Batman Beyond at all. The setting is drawn right, the characters all look accurate. The design for the Jokerz works; but it doesn't capture any of the 'atmosphere' so specific to 'Batman Beyond' over 'Batman.' It feels like Breyfogle is drawing Batman Beyond as if he was drawing Batman, which just doesn't work. There's actually a massive distinction in tone between the two. You can't approach writing or drawing Batman Beyond in quite the same way you approach writing or drawing Batman. And it appears that's where Breyfogle has made his fatal flaw, he's just drawing Batman with some high tech stuff added on. And to add insult to injury, his fight scenes quickly feel repetitive because he uses a ton of side views, and little to no other viewing angles. Interesting combat needs to flow through a variety of both positions and 'camera' angles. Breyfogle does a tiny bit of the first, and absolutely none of the second.
So the art's not ....'horrible' but it just isn't 'Batman Beyond.' It's a shame because the story really is. There's a whole lot of little things from stuff across the series. It makes old fans feel like this series captures the soul of the cartoon. It's really rewarding for old fans, and intriguing for new ones. We've got massive loose groups of Jokerz slowly organizing into a frightening Legion, something even THE Joker either wasn't able to or chose not to do in the movie. This keeps things feeling big, new and interesting, but using the same key roots. It's a Jokerz story, but approaches with a completely different style. Meanwhile Maxine is dealing with Undercloud, really coming out of Terry's shadow as an important integral character who isn't just 'Batman's friend.' And all of this is just a tease of what's to come. The end of the issue promises a Mad Stan story arc next. That means this 10,000 Clowns thing will be building in the background during at least one arc. It makes things feel much smoother and realistic, life doesn't happen in set arcs.
In Conclusion: 3.5/5
I would love to give this issue more based on the story. It fired every cylinder just right, keeping things exactly in the right line with the cartoon, and advancing into new places. But the art, while not 'bad' is just a terrible fit for the entire tone of the series and the character. Norm Breyfogle should stick to what he does best, drawing Batman. Batman Beyond isn't just 'Batman in the Future,' it has it's own unique soul to it; so you can't just take the same approach as one would with 'Batman,' and until this series gets a new artist, its going to suffer. It's hard to fully embrace the wide reaching feel of the story capturing the spirit, when the art completely misses the point. It's really quite a shame that this series doesn't totally 'work,' when the writing is so smooth.
Justice League Beyond #1
So, you see that utterly massive behemoth of a paragraph I used to talk about how unfitting the artwork was for Batman Beyond? As strongly as I think Norm Breyfogle is a terrible artist for Batman Beyond; I feel equally strong about Dustin Ngyuen being THE ABSOLUTE PERFECT ARTIST FOR BATMAN BEYOND. Dustin Nguyen's got mad respect in the comic community, and its not hard to see why. Scan through the covers of Batman: Streets of Gotham, then look at the interiors. Then look at the covers of the Batman Beyond: Hush Beyond miniseries. Look at the astounding range of styles this man can evoke while still remaining so distinct and easily recognizable. There's no two ways around it, Dustin Nguyen is a fantastic artist, and a fantastic comic artist. He had done some fabulous work on Batman, but he's actually even better on Batman Beyond. As I said, Norm Breyfogle is all bulbous asses, round muscles, smooth transitions; all things that scream 'traditional.' Batman Beyond is fast and sleek and simple. It's the future! People have shorter attention spans because everything is so much faster and brighter! Neon lights! Holograms! LAZOR BEAMS! Sleek spaceships and hover cars with smooth spikes because they look awesome! This is Dustin Nguyen's art in a nutshell. He has so much intense sharpness, and lots of solid shadows. Thing's don't need to be smoother out, he can make things look just as good without the extraneous detail. Dustin Nguyen's artwork is the entire mood of Batman Beyond personified. It would be slightly better if he was on Batman Beyond instead of Justice League Beyond, because his best qualities are both 'Batman' and 'Beyond-Universe.' Thus, he's still a fantastic fit on Justice League Beyond, he'd just be slightly better on Batman Beyond.
The story of Justice League Beyond does a lot of the same things Batman Beyond's story did, but with even smoother precision. It was really hard to sort out what were extraneous easter eggs, and what was incredibly vital. It adds a great sense of mystery, and helps make the world feel really 'alive.' Major things are happening to all sorts of character we know, but they don't wait for us to finish our 'arc.' They do things at their own damn pace! Justice League Beyond has even more 'life' to it than Batman Beyond did. It takes all the stuff from the world its built upon, expands it, and then lets it run free. And that's really the defining difference that makes me feel Justice League Beyond, for the time being, is going to be a better series.
HOWEVER, there's an issue in the story I feel I must make a note of, and it does really impact my score. New readers will not have this problem, but old fans might. The current main plot, and the first main plot, shares some core similarities with the Justice League Beyond's original debut in the cartoon. Possible betrayal and Micron taken out of the picture early on. These little things eat at my brain, setting off the early warning signs of "I've seen this before." Granted, the storyline itself is actually really different, but I can't get past that little feeling in my heart.
In Conclusion: 4.5/5
It was just awesome. Batman Beyond impressed me with all the story elements and the smooth cohesive 'world' feel that shows that a comic can be MORE expansive than the show it branched off of. But Justice League Beyond took that feel, and did it BETTER. AND it had the hands down best artist for the entire 'Beyond Universe.' It wasn't really a fair contest.
FINAL SCORE: 4/5
I was genuinely surprised by how things turned out. Justice League Beyond, the spinoff, is already outshining its spinee. I'm sure that's not a word, but whatever. I'm still technically more interested in Batman Beyond as a character though, which is why I'm intensely conflicted.
BOTTOM LINE IS THIS. If you like Batman Beyond, BUY THIS. TWO COMICS. THE PRICE OF 1.3 COMICS. AND THEY ARE GOOD. One is worth the price of a full comic, and at the absolute least, the other easily worth the extra dollar.
