REVIEW: BATMAN BEYOND (2015) #2

Warning: may contain spoilers.

BATMAN BEYOND #2

Release Date: July 1, 2015

Writer: Dan Jurgens

Art: Bernard Chang

Colors: Marcelo Maiolo

Letters: Dave Sharpe

Editors: Dan Didio & David Pina

Covers: Bernard Chang & Marcelo Maiolo (regular), Andy Kubert & Brad Anderson (variant)

Brother Eye knows Tim Drake is in his internment camp. Eye sends his forces, including the mercenary Inque, to retrieve him so that Eye can learn the location of Neo-Gotham.

Maxine Gibson and Barbara Gordon help Tim Drake stay ahead of Brother Eye.

GRADE: C+. A bit more of the Beyond universe gets incorporated this issue, with Commissioner Barbara Gordon (given red hair like her father) and Maxine Gibson having larger roles and the introduction of series villain Inque. Unfortunately, the series continues to be Beyond in name and costume only as we delve deeper into the apocalyptic future Brother Eye has been allowed to create, with nothing tremendously new added since the last issue or Future’s End.

You've got some Inque on your suit.

Dan Jurgens manages to continue the seeming DC Comics edict that all their books be completely devoid of joy in its attempt to rebrand itself as a darker, grittier force to be reckoned with since its attempt to do so through countless reboots hasn’t quite hit the mark. Even Jurgens’ signature character, Booster Gold, lost any of the fun about him that made fans clamor for him to get a series pre-New 52.

Bernard Chang’s artwork continues to be the high point of the series, taking Beyond designs and updating them to fit into the more realistic DC Universe and the grim future being crafted. Marcel Maiolo’s colors are, as always, uniquely done as he renders some panels in red and white in order to emphasize them in relation to the rest of the story. It almost replaces that flash that would come across the screen whenever someone was hit in DC’s 90s cartoons (from which this series finds its genesis).

This issue came with 2 covers, seen below. What did you think of this issue? Let us know in the comments or on our Facebook page.