The Heavens and the Earth
Much simpler than some of the past few, but this is still a SWEEEEET cover. Dustin Nguyen is an extraordinarily talented man. I mean, seriously, compare this cover to the previous one. Same artist. No lie. This one's got some amazing flashy futuristic sheen touches to it, plus the bit of Batman noir to it with the smoking gun. GOD DAMMIT IS DUSTIN NGUYEN TALENTED.
Which is why it's a shame to have him not on interiors this issue. Batman Beyond Unlimited is reading the ugly head of its overambitious nature. We've got 20 pages of Batman Beyond, 10 of Beyond Origins and 10 of Superman Beyond. Can we PLEASE just split this into two series? Origins probably won't last too much longer, so just give Batman Beyond a full monthly 20 pages at $2.99, and keep Superman Beyond and Justice League Beyond in an Unlimited series with 20 pages each. If you HAVE to keep the Origins, add it as a co-feature in Batman Beyond, maybe once the origins are over, rotate through some other characters for backups. Seriously, this inconsistency is grating on my patience.
BATMAN BEYOND #5
Hmmm.... Norm Breyfogle's art actually works pretty well in this issue. Though usually these Legends of the Dark Knight stories in Batman Beyond are the ones with different artists. But it's not just that, the coloring is better, the fight scenes aren't as 2-Dimensional, and again it just works well with the atmosphere.
It's not really surprising to find out who 'Jake' really is, the opening narration clues you in, but that works well enough to leave you uncertain as to what direction the story is going to take. I feel like it creates a forced link between the two Batmen, one that stretches it a little too far, but I think the direction this one's going in makes it work well enough.
What we see mostly is a look at the streets of Neo Gotham through the eyes of a man secretly pivotal to the first episode, to Terry McGinnis' origin as Batman. His rise from criminal roots, and his fall from grace. What will he do from here? How will his story matter, and justify the somehwat contrived connection to Batman? Well it gives you that answer, but leaves on a bit of an uncertain, in specifics, tone.
In Conclusion: 4.5/5
This is the first, and probably only time that Norm Breyfogle's seriously brought the right mood to Batman Beyond. A good part of it is simply because this is a Legends of the Dark Knight story. I'm still not supportive of his art duties regularly on this series. But this time it worked, and the 20 pages made this a riveting story, even if it did bump the AMAZING Justice League Beyond for one issue.
BEYOND ORIGINS: WARHAWK #2
90% of the time, Eric Nguyen doesn't seem to understand the people cast shadows. Aside from that, his art style is very simplistic, but it kind of works. It's a flashback for Justice League Beyond technically, and so it looks like a simplified version of Justice League Beyond's artwork. I can see people not liking, but it was okay with it.
After getting through the known or predictable stuff last issue, this one is free to do more actual developments. Ok, the basics of the storyline are pretty predictable, but what I didn't see coming was how much of the cosmic DCBU (DC Beyond Universe) we'd be exploring. We see the future of Rann and Thanagar after Justice League Unlimited, as well as MAJOR repercussions to the Green Lantern Corps. It's weird that there's a TON of story potential skipped and summarized in the last two pages, but what we got was pretty satisfying.
In Conclusion: 4/5
Ok ok, I can see people not liking the art, and I can see people being annoyed at skipping over the seemingly interesting end bits; but what we got was perfectly fine, plus we got some epic exploration of the far reaches of the DCBU cosmos. I think that counts for plenty.
SUPERMAN BEYOND #3
I am SERIOUSLY liking the artwork for Superman Beyond. Ok, yeah, it's no Dustin Nguyen, but it suits Superman Beyond in exactly the same way. It's got a nice futuristic sheen, but expresses it in a different way.
Sure Luthor's daughter may seem like a stereotypical 'future version of a villain,' but Lucinda wears the role well. She's not really the same as Lex, sure she's carrying on his mission, but her agendas are actually quite uncertain. Does she truly believe in the creed of her dear old dad? The father she never knew? She hasn't made any grand xenophobic speeches, but she definitely has the expert planning aspect nailed. She uses her knowledge of her father's approach to outwit Superman, and she's already forging connections with some VERY surprising big players.
In addition to the hot new Luthor, Krul gives us a powerful story of a Superman FINALLY discovering even he has limitations. Superman is still far Beyond the normal human, but he's not as amazing as he used to, and humanity is using technology to catch up to him. Superman is in a unique position for him, one only barely above mankind. As he's sinking, they're rising, and this idea works PERFECTLY alongside a Luthor story.
In Conclusion: 5/5
I was amazed at how long this felt. No, it didn't feel super long, but it didn't feel super short. It wasn't super amazing mind blowing, but I struggled so hard to find any real flaws with it, and I honestly couldn't find any. It's a great story and a very unique one for Superman.
FINAL VERDICT: 4.5/5
It's weird that this is the best issue of Batman Beyond Unlimited, it's only a technical victory. Batman Beyond was on its A-Game in a lucky matchup of art and story, and Superman Beyond didn't lag at all. The lack of Justice League Beyond initially HUGELY disappointed me, and overall it still did, but not as much when everything was as good as it was.
