The Lie That Saved Time
Present-day Batman Beyond continues now after our hero has traveled back in time with Booster Gold to make sure that Blanque isn't able to put a telepathic timebomb in Bruce Wayne, which will lead to Bruce going crazy in the future and killing Terry McGinnis' brother Matt. Yeah, things have gotten weird for our future Batman, but it only got weirder when our hero went to stop Blanque from terrorizing a neighborhood only to find that one of the victims is a younger version of his dead father. Let's jump into this issue and see if Terry McGinnis can not only save Batman from getting his mind played with, but also make sure that his father is safe....... you know so that he can be born one day. Let's check this out.
So now that you know the background about Terry's dilemma...... you pretty much know what this issue consists of with the exception that we have to make sure that Batman never sees his future replacement and we have to show off Blanque doing mind power things, which is weird because he seems really interested in probing the mind of Terry McGinnis, you know because he's from the future and all that, but when he has the opportunity to probe Booster, he just seems to want to use the greatest hero you've never heard of to attack our two Batmen...... and just so you know, Batman isn't about to let Blanque into his mind..... he's Batman.
Ultimately though, beyond the battles, the worries about if Blanque would actually put a telepathic suggestion into Bruce's mind that would one day erupt into a violent outburst, we discover that all of this was the weirdest time travel ruse of all time and was only ever put into motion to make sure there wasn't a paradox, that Terry would become Batman Beyond and with that, make sure that Terry's father Warren would one day be inspired to do the right thing because of his encounter with Batman as a boy, which would ultimately get him killed. I was really into this story, but by the end when you realize that nothing in this really matters and our whole story was a ruse just to make sure some time travel happened, it made me a little mad that we're playing these strange pointless games one issue before the finale.
All in all, the art and colors in this issue are amazing and I loved looking at the book and for the most part, I really enjoyed the idea of the book, but I should have known that something was up when nothing was really happening this issue and Blanque just seemed to be killing time by screwing with our heroes. It was the end of the book that threw me off though because it's one of those endings that makes you feel like nothing that we just saw mattered and if it did matter, it was Bruce Wayne being a selfish piece of shit to make sure that Terry would always become his successor but really, it just felt weird that we had to have a time travel story because it was something that Bruce read happened so it had to be manufactured to happen.......... oh time travel. Yeah, this was a disappointing ending in my mind, but I hope that with the next issue we can leave this series behind with fond memories from what we get as a conclusion.
Bits and Pieces:
While I initially dug the concept of this story, by the end it felt so weird and almost pointless to me that it made me realize why people hate time travel stories. Wibbly wobbly, timey whimey stuff that just makes you wonder why this arc couldn't have had a bigger impact or actually been what the story was set up to be. Ultimately though, you get some really excellent art throughout and the chance to see Batman Beyond in the present day, which is cool, but I would have liked a bit more.
that Terry would become Batman Beyond and with that, make sure that Terry's father Warren would one day be inspired to do the right thing because of his encounter with Batman as a boy, which would ultimately get him killed.
ReplyDeleteJust when I thought Jurgens couldn't shit on Warren's legacy anymore, he has to make it that the only reason Warren inspired Terry to be a good person was because of Batman. He couldn't simply have developed morals on his own, no, he had to be inspired to by The Bat.
it was Bruce Wayne being a selfish piece of shit to make sure that Terry would always become his successor
So basically now Bruce is everything Terry accused him of being in the imagined confrontation in "Epilogue". Just great.