Batman Beyond is back. So is Justice League Beyond. If you've been missing the Beyond future of the DC Universe, this book should satisfy your needs.
The Good
Batman Beyond was a great animated series. When Adam Beechen brought back Terry and Bruce in the 2010 miniseries, we saw some things we hadn't seen before. There was some darkness along with loose ties to the current Bat-universe. This was followed by the 2011 series that lasted eight issues before FLASHPOINT and THE NEW 52 put it on hold. Beechen is back, right where he left off with legendary BATMAN artist Norm Breyfogle and I couldn't be happier.
Throughout the story, there are little mentions and nods to elements from the TV series in both stories that make you feel the creative team truly respects the original source material. There's also the continuing plot line with Max as well as Dana's brother, Doug, that we saw in the last series.
The first story deals with Batman (Terry) and a growing threat of Jokerz turning up in Gotham with a mysterious person in control of them. The second story is the Justice League and is by Derek Fridolfs and Dustin Nguyen. We get Terry with the League as well as Superman and some other familiar faces. As we see Terry get used being part of the League, we're seeing new developments that will obviously come into play in later issues.
We get a great mix of art. Seeing Breyfogle's take on Terry, Bruce, Dana, Max, etc was a treat. The same goes for Nguyen and Fridolfs on the Justice League story. For those two, it feels like it's been too long since we saw their art on STREETS OF GOTHAM.
The Bad
As much as I dug the art, I did have some minor issues. When Terry is dressed as Batman, he looks so badass. The art is very clean and almost has the same feel as the animated series. There were some moments when Terry, unmasked, didn't look as I remembered him. Some of the facial features felt off. But why nitpick? It should be about artist interpretation.
As much as I love Dustin's art, I had a couple minor issues with it as well on some characters. Superman didn't look...noble or strong enough. Other than that, it was great seeing all the characters again.
The Batman Beyond story is off to a nice start but I can see it easily going into a clichéd direction. I wouldn't think Beechen would go there so we'll have to wait and see. As for the Justice League story, I really want to know more about some of the characters. I feel like we don't know a lot about Barda or Kai-Ro. Hopefully we'll see more development in the coming months.
The Verdict
This is an oversized issue full of Beyond goodness. These days, $3.99 for 48 pages is a great deal. There is a Batman Beyond story by series regular Adam Beechen and art by Norm Breyfogle. There is also a Justice League Beyond story written and drawn by Derek Fridolfs and Dustin Nguyen. Both stories pick up where last year's BATMAN BEYOND story left off. There is plenty of ties to the animated series that shows the creative team knows what they're doing. While there is a ton of great art, there were a couple moments with some characters feeling a little off. Both stories are setting up plots for future stories and there is plenty of fun and excitement inside.