Bader, Hilary J.

AVERAGE REVIEW SCORE:

3 out of 5

(1 book)

Batman Of The Future

(Art by Rick Burchett, Joe Staton and Terry Beatty)

A tie-in to the Batman Beyond animated TV series, this book adapts the first two episodes of the series and then goes on to tell several original stories set in that world.  Here, in the year 2039, young Terry McGinnis encounters the aged Bruce Wayne.  When his father is murdered, Terry steals a powerful Batsuit from the caves beneath Wayne Manor and adopts the mantle of the Batman.

I've never seen any of Batman Beyond, but I hear it's very much in the same vein as Batman: The Animated Series, which I always loved.  Honestly, aside from Old Man Bruce, this was totally new ground for me and whilst it was interesting enough, I can't say it blew me away.

In the 90s both DC and Marvel had a thing for releasing comic tie-ins to their animated series (there were ones for Batman, Spider-Man and X-Men, for instance), which shared the same art style as that of the animation.  What it means is that those comics all had a very cartoony art style and fairly simplistic Saturday-morning-entertainment type of storytelling.  Since this book adheres to those elements, what we get is a book with little depth or complexity and unremarkable art, but which nonetheless manages to capture the short-term entertainment feel of the cartoons.

3 out of 5

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DC Comics (here)