When I was a kid I used to love Robin. He was the boy who go to fight crime beside Batman. The character's entire development was to make kids feel like they were the young ward working with the Dark Knight. But in 1999 something better happened; a kid not only became Batman, but a futuristic Batman! 40 years into the future Terry McGinnis takes over the mantle of the Batman as an elderly Bruce Wayne is in his ear guiding him through the streets of Gotham. If was a great spin on the Batman lore, so much that stories have continued to be made well past the shows cancellation in 2001.
Kyle Higgins takes over writing the adventures of McGinnis as Batman in the future. In this restart, Terry and Bruce have had a falling out and it is Dick Grayson who is mentoring the now college-age Terry. In the first of three stories, a new villain has killed the mayor of Gotham and it's up to Batman to stop him. Afterwards, Terry uncovers a society of Man-Bats that Dr. Langstrom has created and is looking to unleash upon the city. Finally, in a short tale, we dip our toes back into the Dick/Barbara love story, or at least find out what happened all those years ago between them.
I've always enjoyed Batman Beyond. It's a new spin that gives us old readers a breath of fresh air. The rejuvenation of Terry McGinnis began in 2010 with a mini-series that spawned an on-going series. The mini-series was great; the on-going series not so much. But with 2.0 I think the character has finally found his footing in comic form.
The comics that have been written the last few years weren't as deep as this. In this version they've added Dick Grayson as a main character, and given his history with Bruce and Barbara, it's a lot more to play off of. The other characters are featured more in the plot so it makes things a little more complex and interesting. The world also follows the continuity of the 90's animated TV series just like the Batman Beyond TV series (which we all loved) so it almost seems liked we're getting a bit of that animated series back as well.
I know Higgins had been writing the New 52 Nightwing, which I'm not a big fan of. But I like what he is doing with Terry McGinnis, and if he keeps this up I'll continue to actually read the graphic novels and not just skim through them like I have previous BB books. Thony Silas's art is also a good middle point between the animated drawing we're used to from Batman Beyond, and a harder style I would almost say is Leinil Francis Yu. Which is a combination that works well for this book.
If nothing else this graphic novel took me back to my childhood. It's not only an adventure of Terry McGinnis, but of the original Gotham Knights that were so great to watch on Saturday mornings right before Spider-Man and X-Men came on. The characters and story are solid in this book. I'm sold on Batman Beyond 2.0.
WORTH A READ: If you like the animated Batman series of the 1990's (and who doesn't?)
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