Batman Beyond Neo-Year #3 Review

It's Party Time!

Written by: Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly

Art by: Max Dunbar

Colors by: Sebastian Cheng

Letters by: Aditya Bidikar

Cover art by: Max Dunbar, Sebastian Cheng

Cover price: $3.99

Release date: June 7, 2022

Batman Beyond Neo-Year #3 gathers Gotham's best and brightest for Commissioner Barbara Gordon's retirement party.  When Terry learns Lumos is most probably, definitely up to no good and the Mayor is missing, what better reasons are there for Terry to do a little undercover party crashing.

Was It Good?

Batman Beyond Neo-Year #3 takes a breather in the action to host a retirement party for Commissioner Barbara Gordon, hosted by the new head of Wayne-Powers International, Lumos. Barbara Gordon isn't one for platitudes, especially when Gotham's wealthy elite is in attendance, so her goodbye speech hits the nail on the head for the state of Gotham.

The highlight of this issue is the stellar art by Dunbar, Cheng, and Bidikar. Since this is a (not Hellfire) Gala, the charters need to be suitably fancy without looking ridiculous, and the partygoers look great. This is a dialog-heavy issue, so keeping readers engaged falls to the art team to make the conversations look interesting. Lumos steals the show with his holographic attire decked out in flames. Terry aka "Neil Gibson" looks understated yet striking. And the event is lavishly decorated.

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The down point of the story is the almost complete lack of story. You get little nuggets of information overhead through the partygoers' conversations and an announcement from Lumos about the future of Gotham, and that's about it. The nuggets are useful, especially one that plays into the cliffhanger page, but by and large, this is a full issue that could have been pared down to two or three pages to make the same points. It appears Lanzing and Kelly wanted to immerse readers in the decadence of the event, which is fine but it's not interesting.

About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.
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Bits and Pieces:

Batman Beyond Neo-Year #3 is all talk and no action with a retirement party that drops one or two useful nuggets of information for a future issue. The costume designs and set pieces look great, and the art team does their level best to make the conversations dynamic, but this issue is more style than substance.

6.5/10