{"id":29628,"date":"2024-04-05T11:00:46","date_gmt":"2024-04-05T11:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=29628"},"modified":"2024-04-03T17:32:11","modified_gmt":"2024-04-03T17:32:11","slug":"batman-beyond-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2024\/04\/05\/batman-beyond-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Batman Beyond!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\nBy Hilary J. Bader<\/strong>, Rich Burchett<\/strong>, Joe Staton<\/strong>, Terry Beatty<\/strong> & various (DC comics)
\nISBN: 978-1-56389-604-0 (TPB)<\/p>\n

The Batman Animated<\/strong> TV series masterminded by Eric Radomski, Bruce Timm, Paul Dini and others in the 1990s revolutionised The Dark Knight and led – with a tie-in monthly printed series – to some of the absolute best comic book tales in his 85-year publishing history. With the hero\u2019s small screen credentials firmly re-established, follow-up series began (and are still coming), eventually feeding back into the overarching multiversal DCU continuity.<\/p>\n

Following those award-winning animated sagas, in 1999 came a new incarnation set one generation into the future, following Bruce Wayne<\/em> in the twilight of his life reluctantly mentoring a new teen hero picking up his eerily-scalloped mantle. In Britain the series was inspirationally re-titled Batman of the Future <\/strong>but for most of the impressed cognoscenti and awestruck kids worldwide it was Batman Beyond!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Again the show was augmented by a cool kids\u2019 comic book. This inexplicably out-of-print collection re-presents the first 6-issue miniseries in a hip and trendy, immensely entertaining package suitable for fans and aficionados of all ages. Although not necessary to a reader\u2019s enjoyment, passing familiarity with the TV episodes will enhance the overall experience. All stories were written by Hilary J. Bader and we open with a 2-part adaptation of the pilot, illustrated by Rick Burchett & Terry Beatty.<\/p>\n

\u2018Not On My Watch!\u2019<\/em> serves up glimpses of the last days of Batman\u2019s crusade against crime before age, infirmity and injury slowed him down to the point of compromising his principles and endangering the citizens he\u2019d sworn to protect\u2026<\/p>\n

Years later, Gotham City in the mid-21st<\/sup> century (notionally accepted as 2039 AD – 100 years after the Dark Knight\u2019s debut in Detective Comics<\/strong> #27) is a dystopian urban jungle where angry, rebellious schoolkid Terry McGinnis<\/em> strikes a blow against pernicious pimped-up street punks The Jokerz<\/em> and is chased out of town all the way to the gates of a ramshackle mansion. Meanwhile, his research scientist dad has discovered a little too much about how the company he works for operates.<\/p>\n

Wayne-Powers used to be a decent place to work before old man Wayne became a recluse. Now Derek Powers<\/em> runs the show and is ruthless enough to do anything to increase profits\u2026 Outside town, Terry is saved from a potentially fatal Jokerz encounter by a burly old man who then collapses. Helping aged Bruce Wayne inside the mansion, Terry discovers the long neglected Batcave before being chased away by the surly saviour. McGinnis but doesn\u2019t really care\u2026 until he gets home to find his father has been murdered\u2026<\/p>\n

In a storm of emotion, he returns to Wayne Manor as concluding chapter \u2018I Am Batman\u2019<\/em> sees McGinnis attempting to force Wayne to act before giving up in frustration and stealing the hero\u2019s greatest weapon: a cybernetic Bat-suit that enhances strength, speed, durability and perception. Alone, untrained and unaided, a new Batman sets to enact justice and exact revenge\u2026<\/p>\n

In the ensuing clash with Powers the unscrupulous entrepreneur is mutated into a radioactive monster – dubbed Blight<\/em> – before Wayne and Terry negotiate a tenuous truce and grudging understanding. For now, Terry will continue to clean up Gotham City as an apprentice- and strictly probationary-hero\u2026<\/p>\n

With #3, Bader, Burchett & Beatty began crafting original stories of future Gotham, commencing with \u2018Never Mix, Never Worry\u2019<\/em> wherein Blight returns to steal a selection of man-made radioactive elements which can only be used to cause harm\u2026 or can they?<\/p>\n

Joe Staton took over pencilling with #4 as a schoolboy nerd frees a devil from limbo and old man Wayne introduces the cocksure Terry to parapsychologist Jason Blood<\/em> and his eldritch alter ego Etrigan the Demon<\/strong> in spooky shocker \u2018Magic Is Everywhere\u2019. <\/em>That sentiment is repeated and reinforced when a school-trip to a museum unleashes ancient lovers to feed on the students\u2019 life energy in delightfully comical tragedy \u2018Mummy, Oh! and Juliet\u2019\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

This captivating compendium concludes in another compellingly edgy thriller as Terry stumbles into a return bout with a shapeshifting super-thief in \u2018Permanent Inque Stains\u2019<\/em>, only to find there are worse crimes and far more evil villains haunting his city\u2026<\/p>\n

In 2000 Titan Books released a British edition re-titled Batman of the Future<\/strong> (to comply with the renamed UK TV series) and this version is a little easier to locate by those eager to enjoy the stories rather than own an artefact. Fun, thrilling and surprisingly moving, these tales are magnificent examples of comics that appeal to young and old alike and are well overdue for re-issue. They also prove the foundation concepts of Batman can travel far and riff wildly, but always deliver maximum wonderment.
\n\u00a9 1999 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Hilary J. Bader, Rich Burchett, Joe Staton, Terry Beatty & various (DC comics) ISBN: 978-1-56389-604-0 (TPB) The Batman Animated TV series masterminded by Eric Radomski, Bruce Timm, Paul Dini and others in the 1990s revolutionised The Dark Knight and led – with a tie-in monthly printed series – to some of the absolute best … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Batman Beyond!”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[191,10,75,76,107,298,123],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adventure","category-batman","category-crime-comics","category-dc-superhero","category-science-fiction","category-the-demon","category-tv-adaptations"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-7HS","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29628"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29628\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29629,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29628\/revisions\/29629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}