Batman Beyond Universe #8 – Review

By: Christos Gage & Kyle Higgins (writers); Iban Coello, Thony Silas, & Eric Wight (pencils); Rob Lean, Thony Silas, & Eric Wight (inks); Ulises Arreola & Emilio Lopez (colorists)

The Story: As Brainiac becomes more and more of a monster, Man-Bat realizes that he’s too much of one. Bruce Wayne remains oddly quiet on the matter…

The Review: The final chapters of Christos Gage’s massive Brainiac arc don’t take their eyes off the action for a minute. To be honest, it probably doesn’t need the full twenty pages to resolve the crisis, but Gage wants to play with the myriad toys he’s assembled one last time before they go back in the box. That play takes the form of some very cute character interaction.

If you can overlook how poorly the lumbering Brainiac multi-tasks, you’ll find plenty of fun exchanges occurring around the fringes of the battle. Felich Faust is always good for a chuckle and Barda’s back and forth with Klarion is plenty entertaining. Likewise, Mr. Miracle finally gets a chance to show off a bit, proving to be an essential part of the current League, his tactician’s hope bringing out the best of his more battle-hardened colleges. Still, even this seems insufficient to provide the sense of scope that the story is looking for and Gage throws in an eleventh hour guest star that’s bound to get a cheer from at least some readers.

On an objective level, the story is stalling for time. Gage wants those precious seconds ticking by, making you wonder how they’ll come back from this. He does a good job of it too. While you might realize how much the timescale has expanded, I doubt you;ll be bored and when the moment comes it definitely feels earned.

Batman Beyond Universe #7 – Review

By: Kyle Higgins, Christos Gage (writers), Thony Silas, Iban Coello (art), Emilio Lopez & Ulises Arreola

The Story: Brainiac continues his plan, manipulating everyone and everything around him and attempting to prove himself the greatest intelligence in the known universe. Unfortunately so does Bruce Wayne.

The Review: Kyle Higgins slows things down a little bit in this month’s chapter of The Bat Men. Last month I complained that the story had lost its energy, but, now that we have a little more context, it seems that this was part of a transition. This installment is similarly focused on character moments, however, while there’s even less attention paid to fight scenes, it’s a much more engaging issue; the result of the brilliant relationships that Higgins has crafted between Terry and Bruce and Bruce and Kirk.

As all out war between the Cult of the Bat and the FBI looms, threatening to destroy Gotham, Bruce and Terry have been captured. Especially in a genre where captivity rarely lasts, especially with these characters, it’s kind of nice that Higgins uses this as a moment to decompress and provide some lively exposition. The tale he fashions is a sad one and, while it’s by no means ground breaking, it’s tinged with truth enough to elicit genuine sympathy.

Higgins continues to write a positively infuriating Bruce Wayne, in the best possible sense. Bruce’s inability to communicate and sheer skill make him an impossible partner, but it’s telling how he relates to his supposed friends. Bruce actually doesn’t accomplish anywhere near as much as he pretends to in this issue and, despite a number of reasonable contributions from Terry, he simply can’t bring himself to acknowledge them, opting to take swipes at his former partners instead. Only alone with Kirk can he admit the profound errors of his ways, tragically unaware of how recently he’s reaffirmed his choice. This one-on-one interaction between the Bat-Men really sells the history between the two men.

Batman Beyond Universe #6 – Review

By: Christos Gage & Kyle Higgins (writers), Iban Coello & Thony Silas (artists), Rob Lean (inks), Ulises Arreola & Emilio Lopez (colorists)

The Story: Bats or robots: pick your poison…

The Review: We open this month in the midst of Brainiac’s invasion. From the first moment, Christos Gage makes it clear that this is no standard supervillain plot. Brainiac’s monotone arrogance comes through crystal clear and Gage imbues him with just enough malice to make him particularly detestable, without losing his connection to rationality. The first sequence aboard Brainiac’s skull-ship is a great example of what Gage has to offer.

As Brainiac’s natural nemesis, Superman receives similarly strong dialogue. His speeches, though slightly corny, manage to express the natural leadership and sincerity that make Superman primus inter pares in most every version of the Justice League. Even so, there’s a touch of desperation in him, perhaps even fear, that keeps the threat that Brainiac poses in constant play.

But despite his gift for writing the Boy Scout, I sincerely hope that, when this saga is ended, Gage will pen some stories starring the other members of the league. Six months into the print run of Justice League Beyond, we’ve still seen relatively little of many of the League’s members. It’s great to have such an strong version of Superman on the stands, especially as that’s been something of a rarity of late, but it seems like a waste, especially after seeing Gage’s handle on Scott and Barda this month.

The large cast all get lip service, but the best moments belong to Mister Miracle, Big Barda, and a certain classic Leaguer I won’t spoil. It’s impressive that Gage can keep so many balls in the air, especially as he continues to grow the cast, but there aren’t many places where we get to breathe and absorb this information unless you count scenes that don’t catch your fancy.

Batman Beyond Universe #5 – Review

by Kyle Higgins, Christos Gage (writers), Thony Silas, Iban Coello (art)

The Story: Terry learns better than to ask for advice. And this month in Justice League Beyond: old people complain about technology.

The Review: First up is Kyle Higgins with the first installment of his title’s sophomore arc. There’s no denying that this is something of a transition issue, as we both take stock of where we stand and establish a number of plot threads for the upcoming arc. Such a story could easily be clunky, but, though things are a bit scattered, Higgins does an admirable job of pacing his tale. Few, if any, of the numerous segments feel underdeveloped, which is fairly impressive.

Shriek is still on the loose after the events of Rewire, allowing us another entertaining battle with one of the Beyond era’s most well-loved villains. Unfortunately, despite his top-tier status, Shriek definitely loses something in the translation to print. Clever as the ideas that Higgins introduces are, the resulting combat is rather unclear. At one point it kind of looks like Terry is plotting the murder of a squirrel.

Detective Comics #26 – Review

By: John Layman (writer), Aaron Lopresti (pencils/inks), Art Thibert (inks), Blond (colors)

Ever since Detective Comics #19 John Layman has been hinting big things for Man-Bat. When his departure from Tec was announced, just before New York Comic-Con, a Man-Bat series was practically expected, sitting comfortably on con predictions as reliable as Bleeding Cool’s. Obviously that series never came to be, but the inevitable end to Layman’s Man-Bat saga is here.

Layman has already proven himself to be an adept of the near-forgotten art of the single-issue story. Building from the backup in last month’s Zero Year tie-in, Layman quickly sets up the action for this issue and provides the Man-Bat v. Batman action his readers are undoubtedly looking for.

While there isn’t a lot of hard detective work in this issue, Layman does continue his work of returning the cerebral elements of the “world’s greatest detective”. While Man-Bat is not usually a foe who can challenge the Dark Knight on an intellectual level, Layman’s old-fashioned, heroic Batman insists on saving him, requiring him to cure Man-Bat without endangering innocent lives. Batman comes up with a couple of clever methods of dealing with this problem, but I can’t help but wonder if the final plan that he puts into action was really the most effective way to handle things.

Indeed, while Layman’s story is an impressively economical one, it’s a highly protracted ending to a fairly long running subplot. Given Layman’s track record and the clear teaser for his Gothtopia cross-over, one has to wonder if the story was originally going to feature a more naturally paced conclusion. Alas, I have to review what is, rather than what could be.