Batman Beyond (2012-2013): Batgirl Beyond

While this tale doesn't live up to the excellent 10,000 Clowns story from the previous volume, there is still a lot to enjoy for people like me who can't get enough of the Batman Beyond universe. Picking up from the explosive finale of 10,000 Clowns, Terry, Bruce and Dana are trying to pick up the pieces and regroup after what transpired. When the mysterious Undercloud take Max and reveals their long-developing plan, it's up to Maxine to get to the bottom of things and give Batman key information that could stop a new massive threat. This volume focuses mostly on the supporting cast. Someone comes to a startling realization, another find themselves stepping into a brand-new role, while someone else faces a looming death. We also get reintroduced to a few surprising heroes from Bruce Wayne's time in the batsuit. In addition to these, we are introduced to a very capable new Batgirl who immediately forms an alliance with the previous title holder, Barbara Gordon. The new Batgirl is pretty sarcastic and witty, lending herself a certain level of likability right from the beginning. It'll be interesting to see how this character fares in the future, as this is the final volume of this series of the Batman Beyond comic, now being replaced by Batman Beyond Universe (otherwise known as Batman beyond 2.0) All in all, there's no reason to skip this volume if you've read the previous entries in the series. the story is good with a nice balance of quiet, emotional moments and explosive action. The artwork is consistent throughout, up until the last couple of chapters which look much more like the animated series from which this comic is based - and if the previous reviewer is correct, they are in fact reprints from the old companion comic.

Adam Beechen's run on Batman Beyond was a hit miss for me through and through. While i liked aspects of Hush Beyond, Industrial Revolution and 10,000 Clowns, there was always something that didn't feel right. After reading this volume i realized that it was Beechen's writing. All the characters besides Bruce feel like awkward, shallow cutouts of the animated versions of themselves. He tries to capture the voice of Terry McGinnis...and he never came a mile close to it.This here, Batgirl Beyond, is a boring, disappointing comic all the way. This is the culmination of everything Beechen had done up to this point and it was one of the most anti-climatic conclusions to a tenure on a book i think i have witnessed in a long time. We finally learn the identity of the Mysterious Undercloud organization ( a new enemy foreshadowed and built up since Vol. 2 of this run) and their connection to Max. We find that this is a woman who was underprivelaged and found herself in an upbringing rife with turmoil and hardship who used her technological prowess to build a fake organization close to Anonymous where their ultimate goal is to raze Gotham with a giant power rangers esque robot that is really just a combination of the Metal Men. Now this is terrible. Rebel One had potential to be a very interesting villain whose motivations stem from economic inequality and she resorted to terrorism to demolish the class system of Neo-Gotham to give all its citizens a equal opportunity, and in classic Batman fashion the villains always disregard everything but Gotham...if she succeed there would still be inequality everywhere else in the world. This is a character with compelling motivation, but sadly pushed aside as a generic bad guy fodder. My favorite example of this volumes terrible writing, is while Rebel One is holding Max Gibson hostage to try to make her work on this giant death machine, Max remarks that with that mask and voice changer on, she can't tell if Rebel is male or female. Skip ahead a couple pages and without any evidence or reasoning provided, Max realizes Rebel is a woman? I don't know, Adam Beechen didn't know and didn't care enough t even tell us how that was discovered so i find myself caring less than he did, which after reading this i feel he was just getting a check and not writing something he was passionate about. Plus this volume plays up all the tropes Beechen has already used in his last three volumes...every villain wants to blow up or destroy Gotham (Hush, Joker King and now Rebel 1), and Terry gets his ass kicked and needs help usually from Dick Grayson (Hush, 10,000 Clowns).Do not buy this unless you are a die hard Batman Beyond fan like me. Otherwise, don't waste your money. Only worthwhile thing in this book are the reprints of the original Batman Beyond comic that ran concurrently with the TV show. OTHERWISE GO AND BUY KYLE HIGGINS BATMAN BEYOND 2.0. Every volume of Higgins run in contrast shows why everything in Beechen's run fell flat and lost its fizz.

They should have just made the 10,000 clowns trade a deluxe size and included this story. It follows it directly, leading into what was already being built up. On its own like this, the story feels weak and short. Too short for a trade. DC knew this and threw in two comics from the old Batman Beyond run, the one that was being released around the time of the cartoon. It's a random addition to this, especially since they're in no way connected. I don't think any of those comics are considered part of the DC canon or even the continuity of this series.If you're a completionist and you want to collect all the Beyond comics, then this isn't so bad, but it's not as strong as the previous tpb and the digital format seems less ideal for this sort of thing.

I really enjoyed the stories, but if you are expecting a lot of batgirl, prepare to be disappointed. She was mmaaaaybe a fifth of the book

The Batman Beyond revived series continues. This book has a few sub-stories and the title Batgirl arc shows a lot of promise. I hope it continues and is not lost in the 2.0 reboot to follow.

Provides closure on the events of the book previous; good read.

For all the fans that still yearn for more episodes of Batman Beyond, here is your wish come true. Adam Beechen keeps telling great stories and has really given Terry and Bruce some great and fan-favorite supporting characters. I'll keep coming back for more stories from New Gotham.

GREAT STORY GOOD ART

I liked this book a lot as it is one of the batman beyond graphic novels a I didn't have. It arrived early on Saturday the 8th March which is a good thing

After the physically visceral ride of "10000 clowns", this volume turned out to be pretty tepid. We saw the rise of another vigilante, but this one's a girl, who would assuredly be operating with the blessings of Commissioner Barbara Gordon, but presumably NOT Batman. The other story featuring Undercloud and the Metal Men was plain drab.