Review: Batman Beyond #16 - Mobile Edition

DC Comics
Review: Batman Beyond #16
By Philip Schweier
January 24, 2018 - 04:23

DC Comics
Writer(s): Dan Jurgens
Penciller(s): Phil Hester
Inker(s): Ande Parks
Colourist(s): Michael Spicer
Letterer(s): Travis Lanham
Cover Artist(s): Bernard Chang, Marcelo Maiolo; Dave Johnson

It’s a cover-to-cover battle, as Terry McGinnis goes up against Stalker, a former big-game hunter with enhanced cybernetics. So now he hunts man. Apparently, he and McGinnis have fought together before, sometimes on the same side. Stalker has many weapons at his command, and McGinnis spends much of his time playing defense.

Meanwhile, Commissioner Gordon has another super-hero in town to address. A speedster, female, but no other clues. Nevertheless, both Gordon and the blurry image on her tablet appear to be quite interested in Terry’s safety. This enables the fight narrative to be seen from multiple perspectives – the street cops, Bruce in the Batcave, and Terry’s girlfriend Dana from a nearby rooftop.

Artwork is by Phil Hester and Ande Parks, a team I’ve admired for many years. In the pre-Crisis days, artists seem to be the star of the books, but writers have come into their own. Very few artists of the past decade or two stand out to me, and they are among them. They never disappoint.

One thing about the Batman Beyond series is its vision of the future. Theoretically it’s about 40 years from now, based on Bruce Wayne’s age. But the advancements are extraordinary, which only reinforces the sense of compressed time in Comic Book-land. Afterall, wasn’t World War II just a few decades ago?

Rating: 8/10 (schway)