Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Batman Beyond #34 Review



Remember, No Killing


Written By: Dan Jurgens
Art By: Rick Leonardi, Ande Parks, Chris Sotomayor, Travis Lanham
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: July 24, 2019


Let's get back to the future so we can see more False Face Beyond action since in the previous issue we saw the meta-human villain switch up being Bruce Wayne for the newer model of  Terry McGinnis.  If that's not enough to get your mouth salivating at the thought of comic book goodness, we also have the new speedster, fusion villain known as The Splitt out and about, trying to complete their parts collection so that they can put what they're really after together.  Can a evil doppelganger Batman take them down?  Let's check it out.



For the first time in a long time I feel that we're actually dealing with a story that seems like it's doing something new for the series.  Not only do we have a new version of False Face to contend with, but The Splitt as well, who for this issue take a back seat to the fun of having a villain in the form of Batman, who for most of the book does seem to be trying to keep up the ruse and out of that idea, we get fun.


The biggest problem with the issue though is the False Face character already being outed as Bruce Wayne previously so when we see Terry McGinnis show back up to the mansion and is acting odd in front of Bruce, Melanie and Matt, it somehow doesn't raise any red flags in any one's mind.  Hell, Bruce even threatens to take Batman away from Terry for how he's acting, yet nobody just punches him in the face and declares...... False Face!..... World's greatest detective my ass.  Besides this aspect though the issue is a lot of fun in seeing a villain trying to be a hero, while the actual Terry McGinnis finds himself in over his head now that he doesn't remember who he is. 


All in all, the art continues to be great this arc and I love the twist of False Face becoming Batman and only wish that it didn't make the rest of the supporting characters look like dummies because of it.....I don't need them to be lessened in order for a story to work and to be fun.  The Splitt aren't featured too much here, but I look forward to see what Batman will do with them next issue.  At the end of the day though this is probably my favorite arc of Batman Beyond that we've had in a long time and hope that it stays as fun and interesting as this issue is as the series continues.

Bits and Pieces:

Man, I love False Face Beyond.  This issue is elevated because of the fun that can happen when a villain tries to play a hero and when a hero is in over his head, with no idea what's going on.  Yeah, the supporting cast kind of come off like dummies in this issue, but the majority of the book is so much fun and the art continues to be great here.

7.5/10

1 comment:

  1. I don't like False Face. Sure he's entertainingly sleazy, but he's also aimless and careless and only gets away with it because the other heroes have been dumbed down. He's been sitting on top of the biggest bombshell info in Gotham since the first issue, and all he's done with knowing Batman's identity is impersonate him after spending quite a lot of time sleazing it up as Bruce. He hasn't thought about what to do when he's uncovered AGAIN (but with our heroes, maybe he doesn't have to worry about that), and he's barely shown any indication of what his current plans are.

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