If there’s one universe us comic book fans love, it’s the Batman Beyond universe created by Bruce Timm and the team responsible for the DC Animated Universe back in the 90s. The show has become one of the most beloved American made animated series but sadly it only lasted 2 years before being canceled and replaced in 2001 with Justice League also made by the DCAU team. Back in 2010 DC decided to release a Batman Beyond mini series featuring the beyond version of Hush. Following its release DC launched a digital comic featuring the future Dark Knight last year which has now been replaced by Batman Beyond 2.0 written by Kyle Higgins and drawn by Iban Coello.
The comic begins with the Mayor of Gotham leading several key public officials and reporters into the Arkham Institute, he proclaims that the city only upgraded its means of dealing with the mentally deranged criminals of Gotham but never spent any time trying to figure out what created these individuals. In the mean time Terry has graduated from high school and is in college now with his best friend Max, it also appears as if he’s broken up with Dana some time during the last series or during the time skip.
What’s really cool about this first issue is the fact that things are moving forward, Terry has left high school and he’s a much more experienced Batman now than he was when he was just starting out and that shows in this issue. He has a certain confidence in his own abilities which would have come off as him being cocky if this was the beginning of his career, but seeing as he’s been doing this job for 2 or 3 years now it makes sense he acts more like the old Batman.
The passage of time also gives us the sense that this is a character who were going to be with for a long time and were going to see him progress from this rookie 16 year old into a crime fighting veteran much like the original Spider-Man, except I hope DC doesn’t screw him up as badly as they’ve been screwing up Spidey for the past few years. Honestly this is the kind of comic book where I feel characters can actually evolve without it being retconned or altered later on, this is a good thing because I’m already sick and tired of characters always being in the same exact place now as they were 20 years ago with only minor, cosmetic changes to make it look like they’ve actually developed as people.
Another thing I like is that Terry broke up with Dana. I was never a fan of their relationship mostly because Dana seemed like a very bland character and everyone kept talking about how they were great together and all that stuff but we never actually saw any of it. It’s the exact same thing with Spider-Man where everyone kept saying how perfect Carley Cooper was for him even though the writing for that particular couple was crap at best, and shoot yourself in the face atrocious at worst. So I’m happy Higgins has done away with that relationship and hopefully it stays that way.
The art for this particular issue was fairly solid but nothing mind blowing, all of the characters looked right and the few actions scenes we managed to get were drawn well but overall the art was nothing too impressive.
Oh and there’s a big reveal on the last page of the issue, I wont say what it is because then Id be kind of a douche bag if I did but I will say the reveal was done exceptionally well, it caught me completely by surprise and its sure to add a whole new dynamic to the mentor & student relationship from the original show.
Overall Batman Beyond 2.0 #1 is a pretty good relaunch of everyone’s favorite alternate universe, it shows us that these characters will progress forward instead of being stuck in the same place for the next 50 years and the reveal at the end alone is worth the price of admission (which is one dollar).
FINAL VERDICT: B+
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