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This issue is important. Very, very important. Why, you ask? Because this is the very first DC comic I have ever bought. *Fun shout out to a fan - TheCBGuy was surprised too.
I have said it before, Marvel and DC have too much background for a later in life comic reader. I tend to stick to series that I can embrace without reading 20+ years of work. I'm not saying that it's bad, just way too overwhelming for me. What ultimately drove me to buy this was my childhood. Batman Beyond was one of my favorite cartoons. If I was going to date an animated fictional character, it would be Terry. I still listen to the soundtrack, and I've got the series box set on my Amazon Wish List. So when I saw this on the Previews upcoming releases list, I was *mildly excited* to say the least.
I was somewhat pleased with the start of this new series. The writer, Adam Beechen, gave a decent intro to this world and in the first few pages, introduced us to many of the key and new characters. In this is a 3-issue arch, we get a brand new villain rather than an old standard character. This villain also doesn't really want to be a villain, so I'm not sure where this will go. I am hopeful that we will get some of the villains I remember from the past. The addition of the futuristic Justice League kinda threw me. I really wanted to read about Terry and Bruce's fight, not all of these other heroes. Hopefully, the next arch gives me some of the things I remember from the series.
The art is spot-on to what I remember of the show. Ryan Benjamin & John Stanisci are splitting the work. I feel that they really captured what the story was and brought that to the book. I am torn by the cover. It is nice and pretty but at the same time, kinda boring.
I still have to read the small Batman Beyond series that came out prior to this one but I will continue to read this. I am hopeful that it will turn into one of my favorite comics, and it has given me a chance to break into the DC Universe. The best thing this book did was make me want to rewatch the original show.
I -was- surprised but also excited that you took the leap! I always feel sad and frustrated when people express those feelings about mainstream comics (and it's not uncommon), sad becuase you're missing out on a lot of great stories, frustrated becuase it isn't neccesarily true. There are plenty of stories out there that are well written and don't require you to have tomes of knowledge in your brain to enjoy. True, you might not get -every- single reference, but in the hands of a good writer context and cleveryly couched exposition can have you feeling right at home. Also, you don't need marvel .0001 or whatever to find a J.O.P. or "Jumping On Point", just ask your local or resident comics expert! (Not that .001 is silly, it is a great idea to make explicit what usually was a judgement call) IE, for green lantern, the most recent Jump on Point is the Rebirth trade, since its where Geoff Johns starts to craft his massive revamp of the character that leads to blackest night and brightest day. Are there a ton of trades between that the latest comic on the rack? Yes, but you don't have to read all of them (again, ask an expert, or GL fan! :)) but catching up isn't a chore, it should be fun. You don't really need to read anything before that to enjoy the stories. Sorry for the long comment. BTW, the cover is simplified as an initiative by DC to firmly establish iconic symbols for each and every hero/team they're publishing. All the DC books these past two weeks have that simplified Icon on white background, the idea being that everybody should have simple, readily recognizable iconography like Bats, Supes, Flash, Etc. Obviously Batman Beyond already had his own established, but people like the Doom Patrol and Blue Beetle now have their own cute little semiotic bombs for the marketing machine. Peace Out.
ReplyDeletePS: BB was an animation masterpiece.