Batman Beyond Universe #15: “All In”
Written by Kyle Higgins and Alec Siegel
Illustrated by Thony Silas
Colored by Guy Major
Things are winding down, and that’s pretty upsetting because there are so many stories that can be told in this universe. Hopefully we won’t have to wait too long for a new series to be launched, but as of right now we’re nearing the finish line for Batman Beyond 2.0.
Terry, after the events with the Justice Lords, has been spending a lot of time over in the other timeline. Under the pretense that he’s training his alternate universe counterpart T to carry the mantle of the Bat, his driving motive is to spend as much time with T’s dad as possible. This has caused even more tension between Terry and Bruce, the latter of whom comments that adding the Lord-Batman wings to the suit was a bad idea.
Sorry, Bruce, but you’re wrong. Those things look great.
I mean, completely impossible, possibly impractical, but super cool.
The story is perfectly fine this issue, but it’s loaded with villains. Ghoul and Davis Dusk are present to set up the final storyline, while Inque and the Royal Flush Gang feature heavily in the main story. It’s a perfectly serviceable story with some double-cross and heists, but there isn’t much room for anyone to really breathe.
The main conflict is driven by Melanie Walker, the former Ten who has disassociated herself from the rest of her family. She’s presented with an opportunity from Inque to pull one last job and screw over the Gang, but her loyalties may not lie with anybody in this conflict.
It would be an above average plot, except we’ve gone to this well so many times at this point as far back as the animated series. That’s not to say it’s bad by any means, as Melanie makes her intentions fairly clear from the get-go, but I’ve personally never felt a connection with the Royal Flush Gang so seeing them again didn’t exactly excite me. Add onto that the fact that Inque barely registers as a necessary addition to the story and things just kind of get weighed down too heavily. Her motivation (trying to return to her human form) is another element that’s been recycled before, so it’s a little disappointing to see two separate plots that have been done multiples times in the past running concurrently. Even worse is that either one of those stories could drive a story well enough on its own, even if it’s overly familiar, but both running concurrently doesn’t allow for either one to develop as it should.
Really, this issue felt mostly like cleaning house a bit for Melanie’s story. It, and he relationship with Terry, are tied up with an open enough ending to continue in the future, but have a fairly satisfying conclusion if it doesn’t.
There is one item of note that needs some resolution, though, and it will be pretty upsetting if it’s left hanging.
[SPOILER]Two-Face’s coin was stolen during the sting. Terry thought Melanie made off with it, though she denies it, and it’s not known why Inque was after it to begin with. No matter the reason for the theft, it doesn’t really make that much of a difference. Much more pressing is the fact that, as far as I can remember, this is the first mention of Harvey Dent in the future of Neo-Gotham, so if we can find out what happened to him in the interim period between the two television series that would be spectacular.[/SPOILER]
Seeing as how there’s only one issue left, though, and it has been dealing almost solely with Rewire so far it doesn’t look like we’ll be getting any answers soon.
It will be sad to see Higgins and Silas go, as they work great as a team their styles work perfectly for a book like this, but it’s been a great ride all the while.
Recommended if:
- You’ve wanted some resolution to Melanie Walker’s story.
- You love the DCAU continuity.
- You want to see a surprising reference to one of Bruce’s oldest foes.
Overall: For a penultimate issue in a run, it didn’t really feel like it. Some things were tidied up, while other stories were opened up. A decent enough story on its own, even if every element has been done several times before, hopefully we don’t have to wait too long after next month to get more stories with Terry.
SCORE: 7/10
