Batman Beyond #11 Review and *SPOILERS*

Getting The Band Back Together

Written By: Dan Jurgens
Art By: Bernard Chang, Marcelo Maiolo, Dave Sharpe
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: April 6, 2016

*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*

Where I was initially excited for this title in that I wanted Futures End to have some purpose or some redeeming quality, this series has been a little rough because not much has gone on after a pretty simple fight with Brother Eye, defeating the mad satellite and putting Tim Drake on a course where he'd get his ass kicked every issue.  With Rebirth right around the corner I have to stay optimistic thought that this title will become something great and I want to stay optimistic that it will become that even before we get all Rebirthed.  I don't know, maybe I'm a fickle mush head, but this is a Batman title and I want to like it........ I really do.  In the previous issue we had the Justice League revived from some stasis tubes, but instead of them coming to Batman's rescue, what with him getting his ass kicked all the time, they proceeded to kick his ass even harder because some elephant man made them believe that our hero was a Brother Eye borg.  As the issue closed it looked as if Barda had killed Batman, but what would this title be without a Batman of the Beyond variety?  Let's jump into this issue and see how our hero escaped and find out what the hell C-3 is because it was beyond me when Matt McGinnis screamed it out last issue.  Let's check it out.

Explain It!:

Our issue begins with me finding out exactly how Batman survived his attack from Barda and what C-3 means because they're tied together in that C-3 is apparently the mental command that turns the Bat suit stealth and apparently Tim took that opportunity to roll away from Barda's death blow.  This might not be new for long time Batman Beyond readers, where this concept might have been explored before, I just never head the term C-3 used and I still don't know exactly how Matt McGinnis activated it by yelling it from a far.  Maybe he yelled it, Tim thought it and BLAM, stealth action.  I don't know, but I'll go with it because our hero is alive and it's time to get the Justice League back on the side that isn't all about smashing Batman's face in.  To do that they'll need probably Dr. Cuvier's biggest asset.......... that the rest of the Justice League just seemed to ignore in the previous issue and that's Superman still on ice.  Now the book tries to create some tension when Tim has to leave Matt with getting Superman de-iced, while he takes on the rest of the Justice League, who under their current state believe that all the hobos of Metropolis are also Brother Eye borgs, but it just doesn't pan out because everything is resolved almost instantly.  Dr. Cuvier activates Superman and is about to have him kill Matt, but Tuftan grows a conscience all of sudden and breaks Cuvier's mind altering remote control, putting Superman back in command of his own functions........... Just not the rest of the Justice League for some reason, but that is quickly resolved too when Superman shows up and tells them to stop acting like jerks.  

The weird part about this remote control that Cuvier has is that in the previous issue it really seemed like that elephant man is the one who put a whammy on our heroes, but here we find out that they all have little doodads on the back of their neck that keep them thinking what Cuvier wants them to think with the help of his handy dandy mind remote control.   Even odder than all of that though, we see Tuftan in this issue realize that Cuvier is a goddamn mad man and that's why he destroys the remote, but that's all we really get of the character besides for Superman asking him to take the rest of the splicers so that he can show them how to live in their animal form.............. Besides for Tuftan saying that he's always been an animal and eluding to the fact that men will destroy their world and ultimately become beings like Tuftan, we get no explanation about what Tuftan is doing there or even how he's there.  He just walks off with the splicers and that's it......... So weird.  So yeah, all our heroes are friends again and we find out that this version of Superman is actually Clark's son Jon and because we're getting that Super Sons book in Rebirth, I love the fact that we get to see Jon all grown up and taking after his father.

In the end, the Justice League go back to Neo Gotham, where the hobos have started rioting in the street and taking all of Gotham's shit.  Who's going to keep rioting and taking people's shit when Superman lays down an inspirational speech about the future though?  That's right, with a few choice words from our new Man of Steel, people shake the crazies out of their system while the Justice League is reunited with Micron.  As our issue closes, it's not all RC Cola and Pinatas though because we see that Rewire is talking to someone he's calling boss and it seems that this conversation is all about taking Neo Gotham for themselves, while the Justice League are busy trying to rebuild the world. 

That's it for this issue of Batman Beyond and while some things come off really convenient.......... and some things aren't properly explained at all, this issue still has a charm about it....... and that's probably the fact that Tim Drake finally stood his ground and didn't spend the majority of the book trying to pull a boot out of his ass.  Yeah, that's not a lot to be happy about, but at least this issue makes you feel that things are about to change and that the future seems like a possible thing with the Justice League laying down the law and inspiring hope the way they do.  Really though this issue is a mixed bag, where it has some decent stuff to it, but it also has a lot of nonsense and a lot the positives are simply me looking forward to what's coming next........ and I do that way too often with this book and get burned.  I'll keep it up though because I want to really like a Batman Beyond book and hopefully this book will be it.  The art though was solid all the way through and continues to be the main draw to the series for me.  

Bits and Pieces:

Batman Beyond finally feels like it's gotten started and that's a weird thing to say about an eleventh issue.  Even thought there is still a lot to shake your head at in this book, it finally feels like it's coming together and as always the art is strong as hell........ so it's got that going for it and to my surprise Tim Drake didn't get his ass kicked.  That's huge in my mind!

6/10