Batman Beyond #1
I loved growing up in the nineties. I received my first GameBoy Color (the yellow Pikachu edition) for Christmas, collected and traded Pokemon cards, and watched hours and hours of cartoons—including one of my favorites to date, Batman Beyond. Seriously, its teenage street slang has been assimilated into my lexicon. I’m a big traditional Batman fan—I like my Batman square-jawed, brooding, and as little Goddamn as possible—but the clever and catchy premise of Batman Beyond was always too good to pass up.
So consider me one of the many excited fans who jumped at the idea of a series revival—even if that long overdue return arrived on the pages of a comic book instead of a television screen. But just about every fan, however faithful—and I have two feet on board here—has the right to express concern about whether the source material is being treated properly, with all the respect and careful attention it deserves.
The greatest insult to the series would be to let it stagnate. Batman Beyond #1 writer Adam Beechen is perhaps trying too hard to maintain the show’s legacy and keep fans happy. Let me set the record straight. Seeing Terry McGinnis punching Jokerz in the face while rattling off words like “dreg” and “slagged” is a nice trip down memory lane, but it’s not going to make me a happy fan—and that shouldn’t be enough for my fellow cartoon enthusiasts, either. Beechen’s first issue has the “feel” of Batman Beyond—speeders, fancy ear piece cell phones, and a cameo by the Justice League of the future—but trying to copy everything that made the show popular is only going to make fans want to pop in a DVD. To make a Batman Beyond a successful comic book, writers will have to do some thoughtful reinventing without deviating from the original spirit of the show.
Easier said than done, right? Of course, Beechen isn’t the only one shouldering that responsibility. Ryan Benjamin has his work cut out for him as an artist. Some of his panels fit with the futuristic, cyberpunk look present in the television episodes (the concluding page, namely), and he nails a few characters (the Justice League and Gordon), but he isn’t bridging the now aged animation style from the nineties with the detailed rendering of characters in comic books nowadays. A cartoonish approach is fine, but the comic needs a little extra oomph, especially in the character department—just take it from the hit Buffy the Vampire Slayer comics from Dark Horse. Terry’s jaw and nose are way too angular in the opening splash page, Bruce doesn’t look quite like Bruce should, and the whole McGinnis family and Dana look like they were nervously sketched by someone unsure of their defining facial features. Not to mention Terry’s brother Matt could be Damian/Robin’s twin. The artist is relying too much on the cartoon’s style, reluctant to give these beloved characters a new beginning on the printed page.
Benjamin gets the color scheme right, but that aspect can and should evolve according to different artists’ tastes. As for Terry’s girlfriend, Dana? The sooner she’s gone, the better. Give Terry a fresh start; give him challenges to overcome that would have been considered too mature in theme for a kid’s show. If Batman Beyond is about a new Batman in a new Gotham, then let both evolve already. All the comic needs is a gutsy writer and artist team to take the first and hardest step.
