“Today’s” Comic> Batman Beyond #9 (DC You)

Not a crossover with James Patterson’s “Zoo”.

Batman Beyond #9

DC Comics (April, 2016)

Batman (who is being called Drake, my guess is Tim Drake or his offspring since this is set in the future) heads to the ruins of Metropolis (that’s DC for you) to find Terry’s brother Matt. Gotham City is still trying to recover from Brother Eye’s control of the Earth (as seen in the event series Future’s End) and tempers are boiling over. Matt comes across a group of Splicers (imagine the whole furry thing gone way to far…this is actually from the TV show) who take Batman prisoner to meet Dr. Cutler, the man behind Splicers (again, from the show). Meanwhile, Matt follows the Green Lantern ring into the crashed Watchtower to find him, Superman, and the rest of the Justice League (Micron was already seen with Mayor Fox in Gotham) alive in suspended animation tubes.

This is an altered take on the future thanks to the events of Future’s End. Considering the many, many problems I had with the last time I visited the DCU version of Batman Beyond (having enjoyed the DCAU show and tie-in comics that we’ll be getting to eventually) and my issues with Future’s End, a story that turned the DC heroes into cybernetic monstrosities serving a new version of Brother Eye Terminator style (not Deathstroke, more like Skynet), I wasn’t exactly looking forward to this even though Jurgens is one of my favorite DC writers. (He also did Future’s End though.) And while I don’t know enough of what’s going on (Barbara is younger than she was on the show, as is Mayor Fox, who might not be her husband considering DC’s take on marriage these days, and why is Terry not Batman in this future but wearing Terry’s suit and going after Matt, Terry’s brother, and how do Splicers still exists in this continuity) it was still better than Adam Beecham’s run in that we have one of Terry’s old foes, Doctor Cutler, show up rather than die (although maybe that changed by the end of this storyline).

Also, we have hope. Matt finds the missing Justice League members because the unconscious Green Lantern (this time a young monk) is able to bring the ring to him, and Matt follows it. It means Matt will hopefully bring the Justice League back and they can work to fix all the damage Brother Eye caused. Jurgens, despite being behind the “Death Of Superman” and “Future’s End” storylines, looks at the positives. After Superman was killed by Doomsday more heroes were created (and a villain, but it benefits the story), namely Superboy and Steel. “Future’s End” was about stopping the horrid fate that would befall the superheroes and the world. This is why he’s one of my favorite writers. Even in tragedy the characters he writes finds the strength to press on and become better rather than usual “try to slip less” of so many other writers. He reclaims and improves, which is what heroes should do.

It’s tough for me to make any kind of recommendation for this comic because I don’t know what’s going on in this time period or this storyline. But at least it’s an improvement over Beecham’s run and that’s WITH destroying the world.