Batman Beyond: Divide, Conquer and Kill Review

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time to talk about the comics we are reading

right now here inside the pull bag. Hello and

welcome to The Pull Bag. I've been told I'm a

loud talker, folks. Apparently, when I recorded

episode 394 a couple of weeks ago, my wife said,

that's the loudest you've been ever. So I'm trying

to be a little more low -toned. I am, of course,

TF2 and Mike. This is The Pull Bag as I said,

episode 396. Joining me is JT from Saskatoon.

Hello, sir. G'day, g'day. And yes, g'day, g'day.

Are we living in Australia now? Did we both abandon

our countries for the land down under? It's another

shrimp on the barbie. That's not a knife. This

is a knife. Sorry. Crocodile Dundee images coming

into my head. All I did was say g'day, g'day

twice. All of a sudden Mike's like, we're off

across the sea. Hey, you know. But yeah. I'm

a patriot and everything else, folks, but I am

not as crazy as some of these people. I'm crazy,

but I ain't stupid. Anyway, we're here to talk

about DC Comics Batman Beyond from the rebirth

era of DC Comics, considering that this series

is actually ending. It actually ended at issue

50. And i don't know i have not from everything

i've seen from dc future state i don't know if

batman beyonds gonna have another series at least

not right away i'm not sure i have no clue. I

think it's gonna happen it's one of those series

that just. Yeah he's coming back well yeah and

it's different stories and different tellings

i mean look at this run that we've done i mean

yes it's been dan jurgens but we've been covering

this since. 2015 on the podcast or so or 2016

at least because he started with the the brave

new world volume way back when and then it went

to when it became rebirth he went to everything

that we've covered to this point yeah so this

is volume six divide conquer and kill this collects

issues 30 to 31 or 31 to 36. I'm sorry. 31 to

30. 30 to 31. Yeah, that's good, Mike. Two issues

for a trade paperback. Great. Uh -huh. The creative

on this, as I mentioned, writer Dan Juergens.

Penciler is Rick Leonardo. The inker is Andy

Parks. Colorist is Chris Stuttemeyer. Letterer

is Travis Lanham. The collection cover artists

are Chris Samin, or Sam -nee. Matthew Wilson

oh man so interesting thing folks somebody who

used to be on this podcast I was actually it

was actually gonna be the few me and him doing

this because he's like oh I want a different

Batman Beyond I want a different story I don't

want just Joker this that you know thing I'm

like okay cool this is for you And then all of

a sudden we record a podcast talking about certain

things and he's like, no, I didn't know GCRN

was alt right. Like, no, that's has nothing to

do with whatever. Anyway, so we are here and

this is Batman beyond divide, conquer and kill.

And we started Arkham. Yeah, I do like the one

alternate cover as we get into issue 31 done

by its pronounced Chris Samney He's an artist

that I first like I've probably seen his stuff

throughout the years like it definitely has this

familiarity to it Primarily, I've known through

like the two volumes of Mark Wade's daredevil

run before secret wars happen at Marvel this

is Like four or five years ago now and I love

that first cover where you know, terry's perched

over top of the arkham gate Yeah, and how gotham

or neo gotham's grown up or around? The asylum

like how it used to be way out in the booties

and you know It's always like thunder and lightning

and gothic and scary and now it's it's this quaint

little uh You know, historically preserved building

in the middle of this mega city. Yeah. The only

thing that's like, I love that I do. I, I agree.

I love this cover. The only thing that I think

is missing somehow, some way, some sort of classic

animated series or something Batmobile either

going into or coming out of Arkham. Hell, you

could have put it right further into the image

down the road. So it's not so much in the, in

the foreground. It's in the background, but no,

this image is a may, this cover is awesome. I

mean, the only thing I do this shot, but have

it, uh, have the asylum looming a little bigger

and then just have joker was here. Like you see,

uh, something like that. But yeah, no, it's it's

a great cover and 70s art is he's got this very.

He's along the lines of the the late great Darwin

cookie just has this. I don't know if it's intentional.

But he has this very silver age like quality

to his artwork. Yeah. And he he has done some

Batman Here and there over the years nothing

on a consistent basis Which I think is a bit

of a shame because I would love to see him you

know if they ever bring Batman Beyond back like

see if he's not working for Marvel and Get him

on but yeah, we we start the issue and we're

in the asylum. I love the the director she Clearly

this woman is not insane like she's not a member

of the Arkham Family because they they always

like because you'd think somebody on the board

Because I believe they have bored like board

of directors that runs these places like okay

We're all in agreement if they're related to

Amadeus Arkham. They don't get a job You always

do that and then you wonder why this place has

a revolving freaking door Mm -hmm, or you know

you put people like darker strange in charge

and then everything goes to hell Yeah, it was

quite a coup to get Stephen strange to be the

administrator of this asylum It's a joke Mike

yeah, yeah wrong strange Or is the right strange?

No, it's the wrong strange. Trust me. Yeah, so

Bruce is there because you know in this rebuilding

of neo Gotham At this point, it's I'm not even

sure that they're in the like elements of the

timeline or it's still because when we started

covering this back in the day it was post Futures

and and you know alternate future Tim Drake came

to the future and took over As batman beyond

and then he blinked out of existence, but they

were still operating with most of the world is

incredibly fucked like part of my French incredibly

fracked up After the brothers eyes machinations

But as we'll get into in this trade a certain

character shows up which suggests Maybe the world

isn't messed up the way we thought it was. Yeah

And just for everybody listening, we are at explicit

podcast. I don't give a fuck what you say. I

thought I'd try and be a little more mature for

once, but yeah. So, I mean, this is 2021. After

all, we're only, um, a number of years away from

the Batman beyond timeline. Oh dear God. My god,

we're we are 18 years away from the Batman Beyond

timeline right now Yeah, just so we can all get

together when act Batman Beyond actually happens

in real life and we could all point you and me

can point to the sky together and exclaim fucking

called it Mm -hmm. Nope. So anyway back back

to the story Bruce is at Arkham, you know, he's

obviously investing in God Gotham's infrastructure

again. It's talking to the director. We see You

know scarecrow beyond in her cell the power goes

out and it's like Gee, I wonder if somebody's

going to get body snatched. Mm -hmm Yeah, I don't

know does that make me jaded that I see this

in a comic and I was like somebody's not who

they are anymore Yeah. No, I think the last point

that he is who he is is it's possible. This might

be something more doctor ridiculous, blah, blah,

blah. Mr. Wayne. Yeah. And then she's like, he

was behind you and now he's in front of you.

There's something wrong. And I. Don't know. I

enjoy the writing for this arc. I really really

do I love what Dan's doing here and I understand

that this is now not Bruce Wayne this is who

it is going to turn out to be who we will reveal

in a little while, but like Seeing old Bruce

drink in you know the early morning it's like

hmm He just takes a couple of Tylenol and he's

fine Don't think it's so much that he's day drinking

like I would imagine You know Older Bruce old

man Bruce What has a nip now and again, he might

have like that one Because it's not like you

need like when he when he was young and he was

Foppish playboy Bruce Wayne, you know, it was

always ginger ale, but Alfred would doctor it

up to make it look like you know high test liquor

but at this point i imagine he has one now and

again because it's not like he's swinging from

the trapeze with the greatest of ease anymore

i i do love this uh i see the one thing i never

liked about the animated series was the the uh

redesign or or not the redesign but the design

of his limo you know That they made it look so

much like the old Batmobile. Oh no, quite literally.

They even say it. It's quite literally an upside

down Batmobile. I love that. I mean, it's cool

and all, but I love this version of his limo.

He's got the Alfred A driving a bit early, isn't

it, sir? He's like, shut up. You know and they

go back and honestly, I didn't trigger that something

happened with Bruce Until later on in this particular

issue. Oh, I mean as soon as he started drinking

I was like, okay, that's not Bruce anymore because

number one old or not Brian Wayne's body is a

temple like he other than painkillers. I mean

You know, yeah, he has the one I mean had the

one in the car and I mean really I should have

noticed Right away because he comes in the house.

He's got another full glass in his hand and then

he pours a third one. I was like, Jesus, Bruce.

Yeah. It's only 11 o 'clock. Yeah. He turned

into a lush within an hour and a half. Yeah.

But we get, you know, we get to Wayne Manor and

Terry and Matt are talking about Matt's grades

because apparently Matt is no longer Robin because

of what happened in the last. Trade that we did.

Um, uh, I don't want to say the killing, but

the final joke, uh, and apparently Matt's failing

in school. Yeah. I mean, you w what kid in his

right mind is going to put, I don't need none

of that fancy smancy book learning. I'm Robin

the boy. Freaking wonder. But yeah, also you

see that one panel where the limos just hovering

on the front lawn. It was like don't you have

a garage? Like come on Alfred like you're slipping

there, buddy But yeah, so we get down to the

Batcave because you know on top of Matt failing

they're trying to deal with these Rash of thefts

because there's always a rash of thefts in Gotham.

It just wouldn't be Gotham and Yeah, I love that.

Bruce in quotes is like, oh, downstairs. Oh,

the cave. Hmm. OK. And then we. We get we get

down to the Batcave. And again, it's not that

I dislike it. I you know, we all love like the

vast laid out design of the Batcave from the

animated series. And I know it doesn't matter

which artist draws the back cave in this year

in this particular ongoing it it always seems

like kind of Shrunk or there's sense of Design

just seems like everything's kind of squished

together. I Think it could be that at least in

these first panels here. We're not actually seeing

the entire cave. We're seeing The computer section

because that's where they go directly like right

off the stairway. They go directly to the computer

So it's just a section of the Batcave. I think

later we get a fuller shot. Yeah We see a little

more but you're right. I mean it doesn't really

feel like the Batcave it feels like I don't know

like the panel where Terry's doing his shirt

rip That's the break we needed Matt the lights

overhead of that make it look like you're in

a hospital room to me And they're looking at

a computer at the hospital or something. They're

not Yeah, but nitpicky fanboy grapes. That's

all Hey, you know what if you can't analyze the

comic what the hell can you analyze? Oh wait

everything else Yeah, or overanalyze everything

else. Yeah, so they they did they have to get

Bruce to unlock the computer which Okay, I thought

they already had full access to the computer

Yeah, or it's they're unlocking those files from

like the battle days of Wayne Powers Yeah, that's

what it is. It's they have access to the computer,

but they didn't have access to the files Yeah,

and I do like Leonardo's Art in here Like that

full -on shot once Terry suits up Mm -hmm. Oh,

that's nice. That's nice. So nice. Yeah, and

it does kind of look like The the symbiote suit,

you know when we did that arc back in the day

Just with design elements, but it means his standard

suit, you know, he takes off We see the tumbler

and we get that fuller shot of the Batcave Think

that's an odd choice for a particular batmobile

to Yeah, I don't know why you put the tumbler

in there, but okay, I mean I love the tumbler

Not in this universe. I don't well. I mean this

is from back in the day and it doesn't fly Well

true. I understand that but I'm saying you could

have like if that's the one Batmobile shot you

get in let's just say this one issue. I would

have put any other Batmobile in there other than

the Tumblr. Yeah, that's just me. But and then

that's one of the best things about any time

you get a Batman comic with the Batcave, like

the odds are there's going to be a double page

spread where you see the bat and there'll be

like that motorcade with like different Batmobiles

lined up in case Batman is like, oh, gee, I'm

going to go with Eeny Meeny Miny. Batmobile So,

yeah, I love some we never really saw a lot in

the animated series like the the Gadget gloves

like you got like the finger mic on the window

sort of thing and the claws for fighting or climbing

Never saw him like pick out the bat skeleton

key Yeah, and You know going on once we find

out who the villain is here, you know not Bruce

Did play it really cool like that line the whole

world knows that my company's affiliation with

powers wasn't good Terry can't help you like

and that's just some really good covering you

know, cuz He doesn't know everything. He just

looks like Bruce. He is not yeah, and then we

meet our other villain slash Not even really

an anti -hero. I know we need like a fourth category

like hero villain anti -hero poor son of a bitch

Yeah, and the thing of it is is and I think this

is super interesting like I love this is why

I Wanted the other guy on here because this to

me is super interesting. I have not read a lot

of flash any flash Like I just I just haven't

it's not that I don't want to I just I just never

did And I think I just spoiled the rest of the

comic, but anyway, it's one of those things where

this this new character the split. It's interesting

because you're like, wait, how did you do that?

Wait, how did you do that? Wait, how did he do

that? Oh, wait, it's two people. What's going

on here? Yeah. I love that they did this. I think

this is super cool. And I love that one of them,

one of the two people is like, I'm not really

sure we should be, Oh, we got to kill them. We

got to this, you know, the other guys, you know,

the other person I'm like, Oh wow. Okay. So basically

the flash meets two face. There's two sides to

every coin face. Super speed two face. Although

the way, uh, I do love how Leonardo Does I don't

know if he does the speech balloons or it's like

the colorist or the anchor but they have like

the you see like the Speech balloon layers like

that little shadow in between because it's almost

like you hear an echo. I would imagine Yeah,

and their design like when they peel apart and

go back together made me think of I Can't remember

their names, but there were those two Autobots

and Transformers animated That would be jet storm

and Skyfire no, no, no just Just keep talking.

Oh, you know, I'm talking. Oh, no, it's not it's

not important But those characters like you know

who I'm talking about Just and I always wanted

to get those because I thought that was a really

cool function of you know You've never really

seen that in a combiner before but yeah the split

as Matt so names him and Works Batman. I mean

this is akin to Stone Cold Steve Austin's stumping

a mud hole in someone's ass Okay, again Matt

they named themselves Matt didn't name them so

much I misspoke but You know, they they lock

Terry inside this basically Vacuum gravity chamber

gravity chamber. Yeah, and not Bruce is like,

how do we save a mr. Wade? No idea yeah no idea

no clue and then we go back and looking at this

guy who i leonardy may have taken some design

notions from an iron man villain called the ghost

because that's what i who i thought i was looking

at here with this uh individual in a straight

jacket and a helmet yep you know and when i when

i was reading this and i saw this the first thing

is uh that popped into my mind as a line from

Pulp Fiction, get the gimp. But, you know, that's

the end of the first issue. And we go to probably

my favorite cover from the individual issues

because, you know, working from the trade here

of, you know, Terry flying and got like that

classic live nude girls XXS sign. We see Bruce

gambling somewhere with a couple of honeys on

his arm with this I'm Bruce freaking Wayne smile

on his face. Yeah. Oh, I love that. Yeah. I think

that's the, the, the, again, we know this is

not Bruce Wayne cause Bruce Wayne would never

do this. However, seeing the fake Bruce do this,

or I should say the false Bruce do this. Uh,

it's interesting because you're bringing, like

this is, and I don't necessarily, I don't know

if Dan had this story planned out. If any of

this is editorial, I highly doubt it. I think

it might've just been, I don't know, I'm hoping.

I know Dan Juergens has done a lot for writing,

but I'm hoping we can specifically talk to him

about this series at some point, one of these

days. But I love that we do see Bruce in this

whole... New way because you're trying to bring

in the readers. You're trying to shock people.

Yes, Terry is Batman Yes, Matt was Robin So you're

true, you know I mentioned a couple episodes

ago when we did batwing volumes four and five

from new 52 Earlier this month, you know, I mentioned

that you know Sometimes editorials are like,

hey, we're going to do a fresh new start at issue

31 or whatever, and, you know, to bring in the

new readers kind of thing. That character you're

talking about is Safeguard. It's a combination

of Jetfire and Jetstorm, voiced by Tom Kinney

and Phil Lamar respectively. But yeah, I just,

I think this is super interesting. I think it's

fun. I think it's cool, even though we know.

It's not you know Bruce and then obviously as

we get close to the end of this issue this first

issue here You know, I'm not who you think I

am. I'm I'm I don't remember Yeah And I like

like how Terry's fighting In the old days if

this was like the you know version one suit that

we have like at the beginning of the animated

series He's a red sticky pancake But he tries

the the classic I'm gonna use the electrical

What's it in my belt to short the thing out?

Nope, I Didn't work and I love how Matt You know,

he's still Robin like he's Robin Beyond and he's

working from the back cave and he figures out

how to save his brother and then I love how even

Matt's got to be thinking, okay, something's

off with Mr. Wayne, because Wayne's like, you

know what? Nuts to this. I'm going to bed. Yeah.

And I'm kind of glad that he did, honestly, because

we saw his adventures already so far, and now

we can just focus on the whole mystery of who

the split is, who the split are, and all of that.

Love when you when you do a duo character design

properly like the you got to go with the idea

less is more and I love the When they're split

you got this you got black with gray black with

yellow and then it's a proper combination when

they're merged and I just love it when less is

more, you know, it's simple, but it works because

So many times especially in something like Marvel

when you try to do say like an evil double or

somebody with a Theme like that. It's it's so

overly designed Yeah, and this this steel Leonardo

input. I think he put some I don't know how much

work he put into it, but he put Work in and he

came up with a very Simple design and probably

alluding to you know, the somewhat simple designs

of the animation Mm -hmm, you know, but no, I

love this suit Yeah, I love their suits. I love

the the way that they combine the way that they

split apart I'm looking at the panel where if

he's as good as they say he found a way out What's

important is that we got the power stabilization

unit? So it's the two of them and the gold one

is holding the the power stable I'm like, Oh,

silver and gold. It's Christmas time in Batman

land. Cause their costumes are silver and gold.

Well, one of them is silver and black and the

other is kind of silver and gold. But yeah, no,

I dig that. And what I love is how, as we get

back to the bat cave here, instead of Terry,

and Bruce and Tim and almost Tim and Matt having

to sit or stand over a operating table for the

suit. You can just put it in a Transformers recharge

station and have it repair itself. I think it's

some jacked up 3D printer, but sure. well i mean

i think of the old uh the g1 version where they

had uh uh chambers and then in beast wars they

had recharged chambers so i'm like oh a repair

chamber okay yeah no but i love seeing like the

you can imagine the needles just going and just

all over um kind of like if you ever watched

agents of shield and you see the episodes where

they reveal How agent colson survived avengers

and you see like the robo needles working on

his brain But yeah, uh never watched that show

past season one We get the entrance of melanie.

Yeah, she comes in she's offering help and terry's

like nah, I got this babe And then she he takes

off And he's like where's the boss and there's

like no. Mr. Wayne left the house an hour ago

because he's an old and And only because of an

elderly relative of mine who's no longer with

us, he would get up in the morning, you would

have his coffee and he would go to the casino.

And this just seems like a stereotype of the

elderly. He got three hours of sleep. He had

his morning prune juice and he got the robocart

to take him to the casino. And I love it. Maybe

this is just because in production folks, let

alone actual release of episodes. As of this

recording last night, I just recorded episode

three 94. And in that we have several different

shots of Luke Fox has batwing flying off and

doing things in these next shots where, you know,

Melanie is like you said if you need a hand 10

is ready to fly. Yeah, cuz saying you have the

split figured out There shouldn't be any surprises.

So we see him flying off We see him flying out

and I'm like, oh that reminds me. It's a classic

kind of Batman You know fly off shot or whatever

especially if if your bat suit can fly specifically

and then we see this big I Almost want to say

April moon shot of him where he's like replying

to Matt, always do Matt. And I'm like, oh, very

cool. I love the way that this art is. I love

the way this suit is. I love the wings. I think

that's super cool. I think what's even cooler

is the gloves actually have the, um, the, I don't

want to call them shred. Okay, there you go.

I was going to call them shredder side blades,

but yeah, yeah, the fins on them. I think that's

really cool. Yeah, although my favorite version

of that is the the ones you see in the Dark Knight

where Christian Bale's fucking around with a

gauntlet and the this they fly off like mini

shuriken. Oh That is yeah, so we get I one of

the design elements that all the artists across

like the digital series and through the Tim Drake

run in that is They've got Neo Gotham built up

on top of the remains of old Gotham. So occasionally

they'll get down to the brick and mortar like

what we would think is like our modern Day sort

of city, but you know, it's like when in Futurama

when they go to old New York Mm -hmm, you know,

it's like that and I kind of love that design

aesthetic when they do future based series like

this And I love I don't think it's Matt Or Melanie

could have been either where it doesn't look

like a scientific research facility and Terry's

like Powers wasn't exactly on the up -and -up

and that's another thing It's like again go to

Marvel like where Tony finds the secret door

in Age of Ultron He's like, please be a door.

Please be a door. Please be a door Because who

doesn't love a good secret passage Yeah, really

Terry effectively has x -ray vision Yeah, he

effectively does and it works Yeah, it's cool.

Yeah. Well, I mean and again, I love how the

eyes Like they get the symbiote suit eyes like

that when he does certain tech things and you

get like the you know the Tron anime like energy

bits going off the side like just expanding them

like that again or We may be overthinking this

entirely might just be Leonardo's art. I Mean,

I think it's always nice when they distinguish

that he's using a power Whatever that power may

be that something changes on his vis screen,

whatever it is So his eye color changing from

white to red Because during the fight like I'm

looking at the panel here where we're split is

saying he deserves what he gets for oh You beat

me before by teleporting all around me Right

there I see the whites of of of his eyes in the

suit so I love that they use. The different color

as showing hey I'm using x -ray or I'm using

this or whatever kind of thing yeah yeah no that's.

That that is good and I love the whole. Over

the course of this issue is Bruce is at the casino

and he gets up to they mentioned at one point

He's up seven million. Yeah, like I don't care

if you're Bruce freakin Wayne That's when the

pit boss and two burly guards come over and like

calling shenanigans Sort of thing and then we

get the bits with where we finally get the name

of the villain du jour and it's false face Which

did not see that one coming? When reading this

originally cuz false face is. Like literally

before this the only other time I've ever known

in the history of Batman to use false face was

the you know the two part episode with false

face in the original bat Adam West series. He

showed up in one of the cold opens in brave and

the bold and. Was. In the Adam West, uh, like

the batman 66 digital series where he essentially

became clay face Right, you know, which makes

sense, but yeah False face and now we know why

he's got the helmet and why he this particular

individual is in arkham asylum as the issue ends

And just Damn that the the cover for the next

issue Where, you know, Bruce is walking away

with a honey and looking over shoulder at this,

like, absolute 100 % messed up Terry lying in

the garbage. It was like, damn. And you're like,

I, one of the things I loved in the original

series, when the suit got damaged, uh, like it

just, you lose that outer layer and you see the

circuitry underneath. I always love showing that

it's not, no, the art, the suit's still there.

It's just. The armor is degraded so the armor.

Yeah, and that is so cool And then you got outright

rips like on the shoulder in the face and all

that and Terry's just all I said was I didn't

think That will feel so cool, you know, like

he's obviously said something and in my head

Ken and Bruce tuned him in So We get back to

the matrix unit is ours in this lab. And I was

like, no, it's not that matrix, Mike. What? I

didn't take any pills today. Yeah. Why? Why didn't

I take the blue pill? That said that that explains

everything that's going on in the world. We're

all in a simulation. Mm hmm. No, I'm not a member

of QAnon. Not yet, anyway. Yeah, so Terry's you

know continuing the fight with the split and

they split again before splitting entirely from

that scene and We go like I said, we go back

and I made a mistake. It was I said it was the

last issue It's this issue that you know, Bruce

is at this casino and everyone's like it's luck.

No, it's talent. No, it's luck and Know just

enough about how casinos work that if somebody's

up 10 million like that like they try to placate

him with like Let me get you a room for tonight.

We're gonna comp everything. Yeah, yada yada

yada And then you got this chick that initially

I thought it was like my god. What is max doing

there? I Know right. It's the hair. It's it's

the hair. Yeah And I wish they hadn't can At

least at this point, I wish they hadn't, like,

completely written Max out of the series the

way they did. Yeah. Because she's an essential,

I think, I always thought she was an essential

part of the family. She is. The thing of it is,

is for as long as we've been doing the Dan Juergens

run here, as much as it sucks how she went out,

you can't have Too many people knowing Terry's

secret. Yes, she knew it. Yes, she was the quote

unquote Robin assistant helper, whatever. But

if you bring his brother in on it the way they

did, there's only room for one. You know what

I mean? Like Terry's got his whole family here

now. He's got his, his brother. He's got his

quote unquote dad. uh and he's got his girlfriend

and that's really all you really have room for

i mean sure a best friend was great from when

you had to make excuses for dana but the fact

that melanie knows like max being here now in

this story would make absolute zero sense which

i'm okay with i mean i hope if they when they

do future stories at some point hopefully that

they'll bring her back in a new capacity or a

new storyline Really quickly, a version of False

Face did appear in Batman Beyond in the episode

Plague, voiced by none other than Michelangelo

himself, Townsend Coleman. This ability this

version has the ability to assume anyone's identity

by merely rearranging his face in mere seconds

The ability comes from years of genetic manipulation

and surgery false face was hired by Cobra to

smuggle deadly virus from st. Dennis to Gotham

So yeah, but hey at least he's in the DCA you

besides obviously being in it here No, he's in

it now Yeah, yeah, so Bruce is gonna bring not

max back to the house and why do you see the

underground garage and I was like, oh You know,

no, this just isn't gonna end. Well, and I'm

so glad I figured it out before We get to the

point of him bringing him back of them bring

going back to the house because I'm like The,

going back just a little bit here, the panel

where Batman does pull him over. Is that a gun?

I'm like, it's a good thing. I know this is not

Bruce Wayne because it's like, that would never

happen, but at least I know it's not Bruce and

boy, that gun, man. Damn. Yeah. Punisher or Batman

went full Punisher there. You know, and I love

the That one's panel where you get like the interior

view of the cowl like Iron Man's helmet in the

MCU movies Yeah, I don't think you ever really

got that like we got from Terry's perspective

so you have like the targeting reticle and readouts

and all that and Then this girl like clearly

this is like this stereotypical Flusi Cuz this

dude random dude that she met in a casino is

taking her back to his house She's probably old

enough to be her grandfather. He's just whipped

out a piece and now he's arguing with Batman

It's like I'm gonna get out of the car and get

an autograph And on top of this not Bruce is

already like ordered Alfred to like lock everyone

out of the cave and yeah kick them out of the

house and Those losers still watching Alfred,

of course lock transmission and and it doesn't

matter comics movies TV, whatever it's just when

they block Transmission. Mm -hmm. Like I've always

loved that little like that little something

and then Bruce tackles Batman off the goddamn

building Yep But we're not going to resolve this

on the next page. We're going back to Arkham

Asylum. Absolutely. And cause I mean, Melanie's

here. Ten has to have an adventure, whether she's

in suit or out of suit. I wonder if she's lying

when she says she's head of security. Cause I'm

fairly certain they've never established like

Bruce giving her a job prior to this. So she's

either lying and This administrator is like,

uh, yes. Yes. Mr. Wayne can, uh, whatever you

want, whatever you want, ma 'am. Or she's just

actually head of security. I just, I love they

never answered that. I love it. But they go to

like, she shows them like on, it looks like a

piece of paper view pad, whatever, uh, the events

of like the first issue. So kind of like a picture

and picture flashback. And then, right. false

face tackles Melanie out of his cell and This

just proves like he can't see shit. He can barely

hear shit and Batman will whoop your ass Yeah,

but Batman doesn't whoop his ass though. No Batman.

I'm talking about Batman in He's false face speaking

finger. Oh, right. Yeah, like he's kicking the

guards ass And well, Batman hasn't really fought

a girl in a while. So, you know, Melanie takes

him down and pulls the helmet off. You know,

Terry's made it back to the cave. And if you're

already if you're not already, if you're like

Mike and you're already suspicious of what's

going on, then you would be doubly suspicious

where right away Batman is like run voice analysis

on me and confirm my identity. Mm -hmm. And you

go and you see it's Bruce Wayne. It's like, wait

a second. So where's false face? Yeah, I was

not expecting this. Yeah, we could be masquerading

as anyone from a street beggar to the mayor.

Yeah, anyone. Cue evil maniacal laugh. Oh, I

was so not. Expecting this and again, I have

to say I've enjoyed the run so far. And as much

as I did enjoy and I'll probably link Probably

I'll end up linking all of our past episodes

in this podcast post episode But it's one of

those things where I remember when we were doing

the final joke. I'm like, oh, it's Joker. He's

back again I get it, they're trying to, you know,

put their own stamp on the Joker in the Batman

Beyond world and that's fine. But this to me

is all new. Yes, you have false face, which he's

been around for years kind of thing, but making,

creating a whole new character called the split

and all that entails and everything you have

to do with that compared to how this issue ends.

I'm like, Oh my. God that cover The cover for

the next one after them. Who am I? I'm like,

oh that is such a good cover Yeah, well like

yeah, we find tear real Terry You know like on

the street and these two thugs who in my head

Canon are the descendants of the two guys from

the beginning of Batman 89 Hey American Express

car never leave home without it Like those two

MOOCs these are their great -great -great -grandchildren.

Yeah, there ain't no friggin bad And that ain't

what I heard Like I felt so bad I don't know

who I felt worse for in that scene quick aside

was the dude that Michael Keaton was hanging

over the edge of the building and clearly he

snapped It's like a giant bat, man. Or like Jughead

Jones in the beanie that he just boot fucks through

that door. No, I'd say it's the guy that Batman's

hanging off the roof. I'm Batman. I mean, it's

a 50 -50 split because it's either the guy that's

got the severe mental trauma or the guy that's

going to have this permanent imprint of somebody

size 12 across his ribs. Yeah, well a size 12

injury will heal mental stability lasts for years

So again, I say it's you know, the guy he's dangling

off the roof But yeah, so we get Yeah, I love

like you said that next That next cover like

yeah, and again the next cover with like the

You know the split heads and everything. Yeah,

but forgive me for making this revenue go tear

me apart Lisa Some people listening to this will

get that reference yes, not the other co -host

So we start this one off with a police chase

we went to Mario Neo London because Haven't seen

a lot of American police that have the black

and white checkerboard strip on their lids true

Yeah, that's interesting. Hmm. Well, I guess

GCB DS to reinvent themselves somehow What I

like a cultural exchange thing Hmm. What I love

here is the these opening panels of the police

car Do not think I've seen colors melded so well

in a Batman book specifically with something

like this That those I love those colors. Yeah,

so good Cuz was it they're looking at Chris Sotomayor

Yeah, and Andy Parks like I got to give big ups

to them on along with Leonardo Rick Leonardo,

you know in the art is they're just really knocking

it I wouldn't say out of the park but a solid

triple yeah with these issues like when you get

the glow from the boot jets or the the the the

burst from a gun fired it's nice yeah and because

false face is now Batman He doesn't care who

he hits Sorry, not really. I'm just gonna knock

you out of the sky as I fly through Gotham destroying

stuff trying to be a superhero Not really. Also

if this was New York City, he's like, hey, I'm

flying here and he stumbles upon a kidnapping

and I love This is totally something Terry in

the early days might have said Not so much now

as the expressions of gratitude accepted. I don't

think he would. I think maybe if he didn't understand,

like if it's like rebirth and he just stole the

suit, whatever. But even then I question that

because it's one of those things where Terry

was never that guy. If you had, if you, if you

did complete ass backwards. Batman Beyond and

had, uh, had, uh, uh, Nelson Nash flash Thompson's

kid or whatever kind of thing. Oh, sure. I could

see that in a heartbeat, but I've never seen

Terry to be, you know, looking for a handout.

Yeah. No, I mean, it is what it is. I'm just

saying it's not really a handout. It's just,

it's creepy and all, but you know, back in the

day, you know, when he was kind of. in the very

early days of terry being batman i could see

him making a comment like that although i do

love when the writer actually spells out you

broke my nose in proper broke nose language uh

-huh because it's you broke my toes uh -huh you

broke your toes no he hit you with the face yeah

exactly and then he's like oh well your nose

sure well let's go for all 206 bones And then

he basically suplexes a dude off the roof And

you know dumps him and then Terry flies away

and then Terry helps the guy out of the trash

and You know cuz he's like I don't know who I

am Love Terry's look in this. It's very very

Bruce Wayne ish, but it's still Terry because

it's black and red Instead of you know black

and purple or black and blue or whatever Bruce

would use black and gray in this instance kind

of thing But Bruce is back So we don't have to

worry about that anymore Yeah, I did and I do

love That shot of Wayne Manor You know, I always

love it when Wayne Manor is right on the coast,

like it was in the animated series, because so

many other like mostly in the comic books and

in the movies, it's a very landlocked location.

Yeah. And I just love and especially with like

he makes it like there's some personality the

architecture of Wayne matter versus like I know

there's limited budget and you can only do so

much with buildings in an animated series, but

I never really liked the Art deco ish design

of Wayne manner that they you know, they carried

over into beyond Like this is like, you know

watching like a mid 90s syndicated action show

Sort of shot, you know, it's just just mwah chef's

kiss And then that we got a recap the events

of the first issue of this story all over again

because no one pays attention This is why I say

that comics you have no matter how long you have

on like look at Though and again, I mentioned

earlier in this podcast how big Dan Juergens

his body of work is as a writer But look at what

we've done As far as covering his Batman Beyond

run. We've had so many different stories so many

different things happen and now we're having

this happen and it's like Animation live -action.

You can't you can only do this in comics. You

can only no matter how long or how short your

run is I I just think Personally comic books

are my favorite medium at this point because

so much gets can get done When you're given the

chance to yeah, no, I mean that's I mean, it's

the infinite medium. That is the page You know,

you can do so much more with comics than you

can because you you're limited by budget you're

limited by time and Producers and you know Well,

I work for the studio types You know fixers and

such like that and it's not like you're not beholden

to you know the higher -ups or a deadline with

comics it's just the fact that You can express

so much more on the page Be at the writing or

the art then you can with an animated series,

which is why you know I've talked to friends

over the years and when they do Certain TV shows

that have continued past their run on the screen

and they go to the page and mainly that leans

into Buffy and Angel territory But also with

Batman Beyond all shows that came out in the

90s folks Yes, it works because you know, I'm

a fan of these stories and I would like to see

them continue You know as we get back to them

and I will if you ever like Buffy Mike I really

recommend if you ever have a chance Look at the

current Buffy comics because they totally rebooted

it like firmly set in the modern -day Characters

are all there, but everything's just a little

you know left a center So I always preferred

angel over Buffy as far as like the TV shows

go like I saw up to I Want to say the beginning

of season 3 of Buffy? Whatever the graduation

happens whenever they graduate high school and

angel has to leave again or whatever kind of

thing and faith comes in for the first time kind

of thing I only ever really watched up till then

and then I jumped over to angel once he left

Buffy well, you know They came in like season

two and they they left high school season three.

Yeah Yeah, so we get back there recapping Leonardo

draws false face without his helmet. He looks

like the chameleon from spider -man. Yeah, which

I'm not saying it's not ripoff. I mean, what

do they say like bad writers? Though like good

great writer good writers homage great writers

steal or something like that is a quote I've

heard. So I know there is a certain sect of people

that probably see something like this and are

probably ready to, ready to light the torches

and grab the pitchforks because Leonardo didn't

put enough effort into designing this guy and

just blah, blah, blah. It's like he's a blank

and he assumes somebody's identity. Like it's

been done and it's going to be done from here

to the end of time deal with it. And i love the

lines not just on him but on bruce as well cuz

in this scene where i'm starting in the panel

where he's back and he's unmasked himself and

you're the boss. Terry according to this batman

was just involved in a shootout it says you threw

a kidnapper off the bridge and killed him. If

that's true i'll see to it that you never wear

that suit again. I love the lines on both of

their faces because the lines on false faces

face on Terry on the false Terry face is supposed

to show us the reader is this ain't Terry man

and then Bruce it's more so like I Need to show

you all of these muscle ticks in my face because

Batman doesn't kill and then we get the explanation

of how you know, he left him a little worse for

wear, but The guy was alive, but see, this is

a thing. They don't ever say, uh, you know, they

don't ever really fix this for Terry himself

because the real Terry is now, you know, the

murderer. So he's a homeless derelict wandering

the streets of old Gotham. Killing people as

he goes. Not really. Yeah, that's just this You

know iced tea Looking dude that you know cold

cox him with a gun and lays his ass out You know,

and I love how they The every so often they mentioned

like Wayne Powers and and we'll see at the end

of this volume why I love that so much, but it's

just they they mentioned that and then they bring

up blight and Honestly, I wish blight had been

a bigger presence in the animated series Than

he was He was and he wasn't I mean he was all

throughout season one and season two for the

most part Yeah, but there was really only like

two times that Batman went up against him like,

you know mono a mono And it's just you have this

guy that is a nuclear Leveled power upgrade to

like a Batman villain like dr. Phosphorus Who's

this guy, you know, and I love that and it's

just I love like the voice actor. I love to design

You know, it's just you have this guy like you

have an evil Bruce Wayne in charge of the company

and then you have Bruce and as we later found

out his son Fighting to take back their legacy

and just I wish he would have mixed it up with

blight a lot more than they actually had been

You know back to the thing not Terry is out on

patrol And I love it with the writing it's like

The little ticks when false faith doesn't know

how to do something You know like here switched

in for it how oh, yeah, you know, it's just that

little Little something something then we find

these track using the infrared II tracks down

split again Yeah, I love that panel yeah that

even though this is not Terry this is false face

Like when I first saw the panel where He's like,

what are you good? They're like, when are you

gonna learn? You can't handle us Say we finish

him and head home. That is a perfect Facebook

cover photo panel of them You know speeding towards

him and him just staring at them. That is so

good Yeah, and I love how Matt maybe hasn't tumbled

like he knew something was off with mr. Wayne,

but Clearly in it's like the little brother worshipping

big brother thing Where he's well simple mistake.

Mr. Wayne. He grabbed the wrong cartridge. That's

all yeah. Yeah, that's what happened He didn't

mean to throw the high test explosives at them

right in their faces. They're running to him

at Mach 1 I was like, oh Matt you Simple little

creature don't ever change You know, you just

want to pat him on the head and toss all his

hair just like oh, that's my boy Yeah and you

know Not Terry is getting worked by the splits.

Yep, you know, and. I mean, it's clearly I thought

I had to go back and look at the panel second

time when I was reading this last night that

I thought he only cut one of the split one of

the splits. Mm -hmm when you see the scar they're

chill. No, it's clearly he got them both, but

I didn't catch that the first time So I thought

they were gonna they're doing this whole Corsican

Brothers thing where you hurt one you hurt the

other right right? Yeah, and that and Then he

gets down. He's like, why don't you come and

work for me? Yeah, I yeah, I'm not who you think

I'm this I'm that And again, I love the twists.

It's twist time. I love that. And I love this,

not end, but this next part where, what is he

doing? It doesn't make sense. I should have realized

it earlier, Matt. That man is not Terry. That's

false face. But if that's true, where on earth

is Terry? Right right now Mel. He's locked into

a time -honored storytelling trope of somebody

getting knocked the fuck out and waking up with

a gun in their hand. Yep and I mean honestly,

I It's it's when I say I hate this it's because

Nobody deserves to die like this like that waitress

seemed like a really nice lady and then you know

iced tea, you know shoots her and cold cocks

Terry and puts the gun in his hand and takes

off and Terry just looks down. He's like WTF.

Yep. And whether it's Terry or not in the next

Samney cover, I love that all of these covers

for this trade so far. i've loved them all they're

all so good so batman beyond ish yeah i mean

honestly it's you see the split Up on the mod

on the bat cave monitor. We got like the proper

bat computer again Like I said before in nitpicky

nitpicky fanboy grapes. I want rocky outcroppings

I want that single chair in front of this monolithic

flat screen and a keyboard this curved keyboard

ergonomic keyboard with more keys than are even

on proper keyboards because It's not like Bruce

ever looks at what he's clicking. It's just like

tick tick tick tick tick. Oh, thank God it worked

out that way But if this had a title this image

would be a day in the life, of course, you know

and like there's a line from Like when not Bruce

was bringing that girl back to the house and

he's you know putting down some really creepy

lines The thing is the reason those ranks are

true for me is because I can totally hear Conroy's

voice saying that dialogue. Mm -hmm. Oh, absolutely

and You know because they kind of closed out

the DCA you movie universe and they're going

back to just like doing like Directed DVD movies,

but they're not all set in the universe. They

should take this adapt the story and make it

Like a directed DVD movie like do it do a brand

new Batman Beyond yeah, cuz you know like Conroy's

eternally in DC's camp and Will Friedle will

come back. Oh, of course, you know but we get

into the story of The everyone's like what the

hell is he doing? No, this is a Batman like Matt's

losing his mind and You know, he is cuz he's

got his running his hands up the side. He's grabbing

his hair is like And I said it like that cuz

he reminded me of that running gag in the Nickelodeon

Ninja Turtles series Whenever they watch space

heroes and the Wesley Crusher we get knocked

out Yeah and just that look on bruce's face when

he's like false face and i was like oh shit and

then we get the origins of adam and and kaden

yeah they explain that they're basically born

they were born with i i don't know if they've

i would imagine that you know the speed force

exists in this incarnation of the Batman Beyond

universe so they were born with this connection

to the speed force but it's like this creepy

version of like where you were born as twins

but one of the twins absorbs the other in the

womb and then at some point their dad just pawns

them off to Derek Powers because I can't deal

with this bullshit yeah But but again, it's a

cool origin story. It's interesting. It's it's

tragic It's tragic and it's fresh at least it's

fresh for me. I'm sure you know throughout this

entire episode we've made references to various

things, but I don't ever remember seeing this

in any Batman story before and It's just so interesting

Yeah And again, with the references, because

we find out later on in this issue, I mean, just

to skip ahead just a little bit, we find out

that the splits are essentially only six years

old. And but for as long as like it was a bit

longer than that with, you know, the future futures

and storyline. And this just. This revelation

that, you know, sometime in the last six years,

Derek Powers took these kids in. Presumably,

he wasn't blight yet because Terry's dad was

involved with the experiments on them. This further

muddies the waters as to how the timeline is

working out in this universe now. Yeah. You know,

like, this is more like traditional Batman Beyond

timeline than everything that came post -Future's

End. Right. And speaking of traditional, I always

like, just like you when you said earlier, you

hear Conroy. Maybe right now though, I'm all

you've got. Wait, take this, it'll help. The

belt from Terry's old costume? You've fought

him often enough that you should know what's

in each compartment. That I do Bruce. Thank you

and we get a full shot of card wearing ten in

Her getup on her card wearing Terry's old. Oh

god. It's so good It's good like said before

I don't know why I'm hung up on the design of

Wayne Manor, but you know You got that gothic

looking. Yeah old money You know Mansion castle,

what have you in the background? And just part

of me is like isn't it a little creepy that Melanie

knows like was so into Terry's like I know everything

in your utility belt Terry I was like, yeah,

that's that's a little creepy. I don't necessarily

think it's creepy because again, they're playing

on the fact of their history and they're playing

on the fact of that they've fought so much when

10 was on the Bad side of the card kind of thing

that she should have remembered where everything

is and that is super super cool. Oh, yeah I'm

just saying just like for a moment. It was that

it's more so just that I love well, yeah, she

she loves terry and she knows him well enough

and you know, I Seriously, I just want like a

brand new batman like let's bring they brought

back animaniacs. We can bring back batman beyond

Don't Don't tempt them to do something that will

regret because I'm sorry Animaniacs was horrible.

I know but that's the only reference I had for

bringing back a beloved 90s Animated series you

can't say that about the Ninja Turtles because

the Ninja Turtles never really goes away for

more than like a year. Oh true. I mean I also

so we get back to the London Bobby's uh you know

uh picking up terry who's passed out in a bench

and now apparently they're part cyborgs because

they got cable arms yeah you know it's or or

it's just really really cold in gotham city and

those are keeping them warm and they also have

a lightsaber and george lucas can't sue anybody

anymore disney can but george can't i didn't

think of lightsabers i went back to futurama

It's like the the human and the robot cops who

like and it's just nightsticks is all it is well

by the time Terry holds it and Cuts the gun out

of his hand. I'm like, yeah, that's a lightsaber

I'm like, okay, when's Terry McGinnis gonna start

using the force and go over to Clone Wars? Yeah

Also, I love that little Scatter Deely like it

thought it made me think of a mini disc player

Absolutely it did. Yeah You know with this weird

little attachment And I love how he outs himself

is like, but you know, he's wanted for murder

I didn't kill that woman who said the Vic was

a woman I'm innocent you're gonna need some serious

dental work when I'm done and all of a sudden

we're in Los Angeles and Terry's but yeah, Terry

works the cops because muscle memory and all

that right and That made me think is recently

with everything that's going on. I've been rereading

Uh part going rereading through my comic collection.

There's the captain america run where bucky was

cap Like post civil war and they and there's

a story layer gets in is he really responsible

for what he did as this? as the winter soldier,

yeah, and This made me think of that because

even without knowing who he is. He still has

all that training, which is why bucky Was so

easily programmed by the russians Because he

still had all that training in him. So just kind

of made me think of that here Yep, and then you

know the their red. I don't know how Batman's

keeping up with the split here. He's a speedster

Yep, ace level. He should be running just maybe

a little too fast Yep Yeah, I don't know how

Batman's keeping up with him either but Batman

basically And he also does like her I'm turning

you back. Sorry you go. Well, he Basically takes

you know, he basically holds ten in front of

them and says shredder not shredder but shred

her and We go back to the cave. We got to do

something. Mr. Wayne if my call pays off Melanie

will be fine foosh been a long time Bruce who

My only gripe with this. And this is a nitpicky

gripe. This is because it's not my flash. If

they really wanted to do DCAU style flash, this

would have been WALL -E, not Barry. Yeah. But

I think, I think, cause I haven't read the futures

and stuff in so long that WALL -E and if again,

like I said, how the timelines fucked with here,

uh, WALL -E was Borg in the future Perfect thing

and this is just honestly, it's Barry Allen.

It's a flash. I'm not overly Like when we see

in the next couple of pages where he saves this

is from Just looking here because I've got this

info somewhere. This is the design that they

did From a recent well in the last year or so

storyline featuring Barry where Barry is fighting

the turtle in the present and then Barry beyond

or flash beyond comes back in time to help him

and then they go to the future and he has to

fight like You know turtle beyond because now

he's got like actual superpowers and is like

destroying the time stream And I mean, it's a

cool costume at all. It's just, you know, you

want the hood, you want the fins on the side,

yada, yada, yada. I mean, I like that they brought

a flash into this. And I think that's super cool.

I think, you know, oh, sorry, I haven't been

in touch in a while. It's, you know what? So

there's some sort of history there that. At least

I probably don't know because I'm not, I didn't

remember. I didn't read a lot of the futures

and stuff past certain things. So, but yeah,

we get into this, this final issue here, issue

36 and it's all flashing back to me now. Oh,

what? It's a meatloaf joke. Sorry, I get I just

I can't handle that right now. I do like the

cover for 36 where you got like this giant split

digging into the Batcave to go after flash and

Batman's like I do not get paid enough for this

and flash is like the hell Mm -hmm. You know,

it's times like these I miss the rogues But yeah,

we get into this last issue where You know you

got two on two so even odds I Guess even ish

Yeah, I mean tens not as fast as as the three

of them, but yeah, I think Barry's speed even

as an old man makes up for at least, you know,

some of what she's not fast enough to do. And,

and I know his name is flash the flash, but when

you see that page where Mel's like more like

two against three, see the split can divide into

two. Got it. I just looking at that shot of Barry

just made me think of flash Gordon. Oh, of course.

And that is a very, that would be a very good

flash Gordon suit. Uh, Yeah, and so they it's

the split versus the flash and then ten versus

Batman and Normally, that would be an unfair

fight. I would say for Melanie because Terry

has outclassed her before Except this isn't Terry.

So he doesn't have like the instincts and the

training and blah blah blah I Do love that line.

It's like we can't possibly lose. Mr. Wayne overconfidence

is a trap mat It's like again Conroy nothing

but Conroy. Oh, absolutely. Yeah But yeah, they're

fighting all over Gotham the flash manages to

You know take them down and kind of Talks them

off the ledge I think would be the worst cuz

like they're they're just trying to survive and

they Appeal to him and flash is like an expert

in the speed force and such like this so he goes

with them to their little boat lab to fix things

while 10 keeps Trying to stop that man, yep and

You know the again the twist here is To continue

the whole Terry McGuinness has amnesia thing.

False face dies, but he still looks like Terry.

Uh, Oh, that's not good. Yeah. Cause and I love

how they explain how this false face, uh, pardon

me. This false faces powers work that, you know,

when he absorbs. or he takes on the likeness

of a target and he gets kind of a he's got like

this vague telepathic power that he gets like

surface level download of their mannerisms and

personality quirks let's say that lets him more

effectively assume their their uh personage and

then that's why when bruce woke up in the clink

He couldn't remember who he was right. Yeah,

you know, it kind of leaves them and I thought

like wow That's just a really creepy way of taking

someone's identity you know, it's not like the

the scroll just copies you and You know goes

off somewhere or clay face just assumes your

formula like they're literally becoming you.

Yep and we don't know what happens to the split

because False face shows up and grabs like the

power core. And yep. Boat go boom. Boat go boom.

Yep. And we get a little bit of the aftermath

and we get a mention of Barbara. Yeah. We don't

actually see her, but we get a mention of, Oh

no, we do see her. Um, cause it's her with flash

and 10, which is kind of cool. And the cops.

In the car. Well, I mean, she's still commissioner.

So yeah And then we get the like I was building

two before is like blights alive Because a couple

of shots throughout this issue we see this verbal

this bubbling in the water Is that green energy?

Is that just light reflecting off the surface

of the water? No, it's no it's polite. It's pardon

my French motherfucking Derek powers. Yeah And

I think that's cool. Again, you know, even though

he had his run in the cartoon originally, I like

how each series Juergens has brought back certain

characters classic beyond characters. And now

it's time for blight. But because Terry is in

the place that he's in, it's also time for. About

time, Wayne turned and it's like he never sleeps.

Neo Gotham without the bat to protect it? Unthinkable.

I mean, we both know who this is, right? I mean...

kinda? I had to look at several - Okay, do you

have it read further than this in the series?

No, I have not. You're going to enjoy the revelation,

is all I'm saying. Oh, I already know who it

is now because I've looked at several clickbaity

articles over the last six months or so, so I

do know who it is. But as I'm reading this, I'm

like, hmm, who is that? And then once we - once

it you know we finish our final thoughts here

in a second I'll read the description for our

next episode of this coverage which will happen

in I want to say when did I schedule that for

in March episode 401 Batman Beyond volume 7 first

flight for hey wait a minute there's no Green

Lanterns in this not yet anyway I mean the flash

is here I'm just waiting for Jon Stewart to show

up because Hal Jordan's overrated in my personal

opinion. Anyway, what are your overall thoughts

and just kind of final thoughts and rating zero

to five for this arc? This is five Batarangs

out of five. Oh, absolutely. There was no a few

of the art things. I wasn't too thrilled with

but overall I love the art I mean just a few

of like the facial ticks and things like that.

But other than that I love this and the trade

has the variant cover gallery thing So yeah,

five batarangs out of five from both of us. I

love all these variant covers. They're so cool

Yeah, no, and I mean overall like I love the

story. Like I said, I I love this story so much

that I wish they would resurrect the Batman Beyond

franchise and make this like a directed DVD movie

or even if they did a new series have this be

a two -parter because that bit at the end of

Things like 34 Where it was just a natural point

for like to end the episode on a cliffhanger,

right? Yeah, and I'm just gonna page up very

quickly here to see if I can remember which Issue

that is But you know what? Okay. I was saying

I love yeah, I was the end of 34 where Terry

wakes up in the diner with a gun in his hand.

Yeah, that would be a great great perfect spot

to you know, make it even a three -parter. I

mean, draw this story out somewhat. But no, I

love the story. I love Leonardo's art. Jan Dierg...

Jan? Dan Jurgens. It was going to be Jan Diergens

there for a second. Dan Jurgens, who on top of

being one of my all -time favorite Superman artists,

because he just has that very solid... solidness

to his art. Like, you look at Superman, it's...

Like when Henry Cavill comes around the church

in Man of Steel after the oil platform, right?

Dear God, he looks like a Dan Juergens Superman

come to life Juergens writing has never disappointed

me like there's stuff that I'm a little not sour

on I'm not a hundred percent in favor of but

he he hasn't written anything that I've outright

hated. Yeah, and He's been in the business long

enough now You know, he started as an artist.

He transitioned into writing and art and he does

art now and again now, but he's mostly a writer

and. You know, I love this stuff. Like Chris

Sam, these covers, as we've said all during this

part, this episode, it's just great. Yeah, absolutely.

And coming up, like I said, in March episode

401. Of the podcast batman beyond rebirth or

I guess they're just calling it batman beyond

now uh volume seven first flight who is batwoman

beyond with the cape crusader missing and neo

gotham facing the threat of one of the deadliest

villains it's ever known a new hero is needed

bruce wayne will turn to friends both old and

new in order to keep his city safe but that won't

be enough fortunately a new and mysterious protector

will arrive on the scene taking flight to save

the city but the new batwoman Better be ready.

The villainous Blight is back and he's bringing

the fight to her. Collects Batman Beyond, issues

37 to 42. No, and one final thing on Blight.

I always wish they would have ended the rebirth

episodes. You have the Derek Powers scene with

him laughing maniacally after you realize he's

become a walking mass of Radio activity and then

you have Terry wake up. It's mr. Bruce Wayne

like I always wish they would have ended that

episode with the handshake as it peels out or

They're shaking hands and then the camera pans

out and they're in the Batcave now Like kind

of how they ended it in the comic adaptation

of that. I'm I'm just saying I always wish they

would have done that but yeah, no, I I love these

issues folks I Highly recommend this series alone.

You need to go back and read it from the beginning

like it is It is like the in my opinion the official

continuation of the animated series Yeah, you

know Yeah, no, absolutely It's it's so good.

It's so fun. It's so interesting and again this

arc specifically this series that this this trade

specifically is so Not what you expect From a

Batman comic. It's not the characters you expect

to see or any of that kind of stuff and it is

so So cool So interesting so fun. Absolutely

love it Like I said before episode 401 which

is after our 400th episode celebrating 400 year

400 episodes eight years of the bull bag Coming

up next in February, we have got, what the hell

do we have coming up in February? The Comic Concierge

movie revolt, Dan, will be with me to talk about

the final volume of I Hate Fairyland. So we get

that and then Kendra Hale will be back with me

to, we're going to debut Radiant Black with Radiant

Black number one, Kyle Higgins' new create our

own series. And as I said folks episode 395 as

you may or may not have heard is either democracy

or it's gonna be something else If it's not the

other thing that I am planning that other thing

will happen in February pop kill issues one to

four as this was a this was a Jimmy Palmiotti

and Dave Johnson Kickstarter series for issue

series where What if the two leading cola companies

restarted the soda wars and they were owned by

former Siamese twins? It's actually really fucking

cool. So, and yeah, that's what's coming up here

inside the pull bag. As we said a second ago,

you know, we both give this five Batarangs out

of five. Where can the people find you online,

sir? You can find me on all the social medias,

you know, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram at JT

from Saskatoon, all one word. I'm also part of

the Comic Connoisseurs podcast, as well as the

going in sometime in the next couple of weeks,

we'll start year two of the Twigs Sunday Funnies

with Mike Birdman Dodd. You know, me talking

about comic books on the internet. What a novel

idea. Well, I mean it could be a page out of

a panel who knows I will say right now folks

We have moved around the scooby -doo tower. I

have moved around the scooby -doo team up thing

because we're gonna have mystery machine may

this year Instead of may being Batman month even

though there's probably gonna be a little Batman

in there because scooby -doo team up usually

ends up teaming them up with Batman at some point

so all may we're gonna have volumes three and

four five and six and seven and eight of that

So that's gonna be happening But yeah, make your

greatest game to comics that we will catch you

next time here inside the pull bag You've just

heard the latest episode of The Pull Bag, the

GCRN's first comic review and discussion podcast.

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