Batman Beyond #49 – Dan Jurgens, Writer; Paul Pelletier, Penciller; Norm Rapmund, Inker; Chris Sotomayor, Colorist
Ray – 8/10
Ray: With only one issue to go, Batman Beyond finishes its last major story with a journey through time that calls back to the very first episode of the original cartoon. After an elderly Bruce Wayne turned on the McGinnis brothers and seemingly killed Matt, Terry was taken back in time to stop Bruce from being influenced by the psychic villain Blanque. This is a crossover between several of Jurgens’ properties over the last decade, which is pretty funny – Jurgens has been writing DC books for so long that he’s almost developed his own continuity like Scott Lobdell did, only much better. Booster adds some levity to what would be a very intense storyline, especially thanks to the ridiculous plot contrivance that requires Terry to stay out of sight at all times so that the current-day Bruce Wayne doesn’t see him. It’s a slightly messy issue, but one with a lot of old school charm.
Of course, the heart of this issue is really the scenes featuring Terry and the child version of his father, Warren McGinnis. Warren, who died in the pilot, has mostly been forgotten in Bat-history, especially with the later reveal that Bruce is Terry’s biological father. But what hasn’t been forgotten is his influence on Terry’s moral code, and we get to see the genesis of that in some interesting ways here. What doesn’t work nearly as well is the last-act twist, which reveals that nothing we thought about this story was true. One of the problems with time travel storylines is that it’s very easy for one to get bogged down in convoluted continuity, and some of the plot twists stretch credibility a bit. But this continues to be a fine tribute to the history of the property, and next issue brings in one of the show’s most iconic villains – Inque. I’m hoping DC has big plans for Jurgens come March – he’s earned a fourth decade as one of their staple writers.
To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.
GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
