Batman Beyond #47 – Dan Jurgens, Writer; Sean Chen, Penciller; Sean Parsons, Inker; Chris Sotomayor, Colorist
Ray – 8/10
Ray: As this title, written entirely by Dan Jurgens, gets ready to wrap up with #50, the action-packed League of Assassins arc comes to an explosive close. Damian’s usurper, the evil Zeh-ro, has plunged Earth into a new ice age and only Terry and Damian’s ragtag team can still stop them. While Bruce and Barbara try to survive the deep freeze on Earth, the younger heroes – and one giant fluffy man-bat – try to take back the satellite from the villains. This opening segment is an explosive showdown, with some great high-stakes combat and fast-paced escapes in the vacuum of space. There’s room for some good dialogue mixed in too, as the new Batwoman’s snark does battle with Damian’s mercurial nature. This is almost like a mini all-Bat Justice League, and it’s a lot of fun to watch. But I actually think the best part of the issue comes when the main threat is neutralized and everyone can relax.
Given what’s going on with Damian in other books, this title is a breath of fresh air. Damian here is a tough, hardened man, but he’s still inherently good. He tried to reform the League of Assassins and paid a high price for it, and when his father proposes an arrangement he’s willing to give it a chance. He actually feels like a Damian who learned and grew from Batman’s training and Bruce’s parenting. We’ve seen Bruce build a family and network that spanned decades, and this book feels like the culmination in a lot of ways. The ending brings in another Dan Jurgens favorite character for the final arc, which feels like the perfect way to bring the series to a close. This isn’t a perfect series – it took a while to get out from under the previous status quo – but it’s an old-school tribute to the original cartoon and to everything Batman represents. Jurgens still has it, almost three decades after his DC debut.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
