Batman Beyond: City of Yesterday (Issues 7-11) Review

Hey everyone, this is Christopher Carter from

Dynamic Music Partners, and you're listening

to my friends at Geekcast Radio. Hello and welcome

to The Pull Bag's third annual Batman month.

Okay, technically we took a year off last year

in 2016, but you get the point. I'm of course

TF2 and Mike, and various other GCR and crew

members will be joining me here inside The Pull

Bag for this month's long look at various bat

comics. In the past we've done, oh god, so many

different things. There was, when we did the

Scott Snyder run talking cord of owls, Death

of the Family and a couple other things. In 2015

we did Mad Love, Batman Beyond, the animated

series, Kyle Higgins written stuff, Rewire, Justice

Lords, and all that. We've done various other,

like we finally got around to episode 121, we

finished off Kyle Higgins' run, so there's been

a lot of Batman... coverage here inside the pull

bag and this year is no different as always so

we are going to be talking about various Batman

stories this time around and included in this

is we're going to finish off our 2015 Bat Beyond

series look where this episode today we're going

to talk about the storyline city of yesterday

which runs through issues 7 to 11 of that series

after that we've got issues 12 to 16 which is

Wired for Death And then we're going to go into

the rebirth issues, number one and two at least.

And then after that, my buddy Joe Reed is going

to join me for Batman TMNT from DC and IDW. And

then at some point at the end of the month, somebody's

going to join me for Stephanie Brown's Batgirl

from 2009 for the first two issues of that. So

joining me, of course, with Batman Beyond is

JT from Saskatoon. Hello, sir. How are you? Hi.

I'm pretty good. Oh, boy. Just reading this one

just I Since the last episode we did with the

first arc of this series and doing this one I've

just kind of been marathoning Batman Beyond because

Damn it. I need this. I need this in my life

again I I kind of forgot how much I love this

series like both the animated and the comics

even went back and found some of the original

Batman Beyond adventure series that they put

out during the time the show was actually on

TV. And it's just like, God, why didn't this

run longer? I know, right? Damn your eyes, Bruce

Tim, damn your eyes. Well, the interesting thing

about the 2015 series is that... It's gone beyond

telling stories with Terry McGinnis as we said

back in February when we did the first arc brave

new worlds Terry had died in the past and Tim

Drake got sent into the future and and You know,

we had the whole brother. I storyline now with

this whole new storyline city of yesterday, which

I absolutely love that line I just love that

as a story tagline uh... so city of yesterday

basically picks up where that left off but uh...

tim needs to figure out uh... what is gonna because

the suits essentially dead so that means batman

is dead and we get some nice in in issue seven

this opens with him trying to figure this out

and you know even as the line uh... you know

or or where later he says well you know I was

the one to figure out Batman's secret so if I

can't figure this out we've got a problem before

that I love this opening with him and Barbara

where he's like I guess that's that Batman is

dead oh don't be so dramatic also I hate yelling

would you please turn the music down sorry grandma

it helps me concentrate And just at the oldie

station, Tim. You. Yeah, I know. Greatest hits

of the 20 teens is like yesterday for me, mom.

Yeah. I just love their chemistry together. I

think it's absolutely hilarious. And as soon

as I read that line, I had just looked up various

popular bands from the early 2000s, rock bands.

And several of them are actually going to go

out on the Make America Rock Again tour. So 12

Stones, Saliva, Trapped, several other bands

that we all know and love are going to be on

the Make America Rock Again tour. So that's going

to be an interesting show. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I

mean, one of the things I love just in the issue

seven, like in the beginning is and this is just

me because. I used to love reading Who's Who

of the DC universe when I was a kid and they

would occasionally have like the cutaway sections

of like the secret sanctuary of the Justice League

or the Batcave and you get like these schematics

that you see a few times on the back computer

monitor like it's almost like an anatomical drawing

of the suit and you can't always see the like

the really fine details but that's just the touch

that I really loved going into this first issue

and also It I don't know about coding for such

technology You know such as it is in our world,

but the way Tim figures out how Bruce hid The

command codes are like the the proper sequence

that he needs to fix the suit in the code He's

like well if you first if you skip one then two

then three then that two words in a sentence

you find the real thing and it just Only some

paranoid Schizophrenic man with rage control

issues would who lives in a cave and way too

much time on his hands would Think of a way to

code his technology like this. Well, that's Bruce

Wayne for you. Like I said, yeah I love that

and then just later on when he goes out For his

first test flight And how it works for all of

30 seconds of the boots cut up or cut out on

him and he's like no I got this I got this shit

shit where did I put the reboot switch and he's

got like a Bluetooth saw or something or other

tucked over his one ear and then It works and

I also love the ka -chow sound effect. They have

in that panel which That's exactly what it sounded

like when Terry would take off in the suit with

his boot jets in the show. Yeah. So I mean, it's

to bring it back like that. Yeah. And then we

get the further adventures of Matt McGinnis.

He's trying to figure out where and why the Green

Lantern arm came from. And he goes into this

shop and. And basically makes a deal with the

owner. Of course, what the owner doesn't realize

is that Matt had already taken the Green Lantern

ring off of it. So there's that. And apparently

all the Brother iTech is obviously illegal at

this point. Well, Matt's in here trying to get

the information out of this guy, we get the door

kicked in, and holy crap, Rewire is back. And

for those that don't know, Rewire is the villain

that Kyle Higgins created in his run on the animated

arc. Like I said, the... Oh god. That was the

digital series, right? Yeah, that was the digital

series, the 2014 digital series. You know so

the you know the real the rewired arc was the

first the first arc for that story because he

created the new villain Because that was his

way of being able to homage the show because

rewire had the the cloaking technology that he

got from spellbinder, so So he had borgs. You

know look like the original btis Bat family and

everything else so so that's where rewire comes

in, but rewire here is not I'm gonna go ahead

and spoil this now folks. It's not it's rewire,

but it isn't rewire they do Dan Juergens really

does pull a fast one on us with this and it's

a good fast one and it's amazing so rewire shows

up and and he wants Battery yeah, he wants his

battery or he wants his money back and he's gonna

get triple for the aggravation and and You know

Matt just kind of leaves and then the place blows

up Well, yeah, he basically because Matt took

the the I I love the mention of the global peace

as you see here Like I said in the last episode

I was on for this series. It's that that's a

nod to the great disaster stories that Jack Kirby

created for DC when he jumped ship from Marvel

back in the 70s and They reference in that first

art that Like Gotham is as much as they know

of what the world is like like they just know

that Gotham has survived mm -hmm, so the global

piece of the globe maybe that should just be

like the municipal peace agency or You know the

however like say the five boroughs peace agency

or something You guys really don't know like

to call yourself a global peace agency, and you're

in one goddamn city doesn't make a lot of sense

but I like that Matt's for whatever reason like

you said he's trying to figure out you know where

this tech come from like what happened to the

Justice League because he's still trying to deal

with his issues of his brother being dead and

Tim taking over you know he's he's got some of

that he's got that a little bit of rage in him

you know and yeah so Real air is not a nice man

in this sequence because he comes in and he just

starts throttling this guy and Matt you see he's

like Crapping himself with the look in his face.

And then there's the one thing where he's just

like, you know what? I've had enough of this

he grabs the cyborg arm and runs out the door

and That just the look in his face in that panel.

Yeah where he takes the hand He looks like he

could give less of a shit about what's about

to happen to this guy. Yeah How damaged are you?

Yeah Well, you you had read the original series

right the original Kyle Higgins run for rewire

So, you know who rewire was and everything else

and I was really surprised to see that they brought

him in here And I just assumed that because at

the end a part of the end of the Kyle Higgins

run you know, they kind of left rewire kind of

up in the air that you know, ghoul might come

back and You know, Rewire might come back and

they might work together again. So I was really

surprised to see Rewire here. And then later

I was even more surprised to see who Rewire really

is. And we're not going to reveal that just now.

We might do that in the next episode, obviously.

But yeah, I mean, Matt's just one of those kids

that apparently in this alternative future of

Neil Gotham... Because of Terry dying that's

all he cares about is figuring out what happened

to his brother What where is his brother is his

brother really dead or not and the rest of the

world be damned? Yeah, you know I mean I love

the exchange here with him and Nora in the next

few panels where you know he basically fill out

lies to her and then you know Goes up to bed

and starts fighting. Oh mapping metropolis and

and all that and then that's where we get back

to to Tim and Barbara and the tests here like

you were talking about earlier. And what I love

about this is Barbara, I almost feel like I should

be out there. And he says, I have no problem

with that girl being here. Yeah. And he's just

kind of like, hey, hey, hey, hey. And she's just

like, da, da, da, da, da, da, da. And he shut

your mouth. Yeah, pretty much. And see, like

I said before, Tim jumps off of Wayne Tower or

whatever building that was. You know, it's, uh...

You know, he has that thing where the boot jet's

cut out and he takes off and he, uh, busts up

a robbery. Mm -hmm. From, like, the jokers. Yeah.

And I like that, uh, they got, like, this, like,

not Harley painting up this one guy. He's like,

you look unhappy. Makeover time! Yeah. and just

putting like the white face paint and the red

lipstick on and you know it's terry busted up

even comments is like uh food shortages and these

assholes are stealing diamonds yep you know and

it's just basically it's it's just it's it's

not nothing other than just battering explosive

discs Yeah, why not both? And he's like, I guess

that means Batman is back, baby. You know, I

love the smile that he has on his face when he

takes off with the jokers. And, you know, we

go, it's the next day, Matt has apparently taken

off early for school. And was that Nora's just

kind of like bullshit. And Barbara brings him

to her place to, you know, look, you can't leave

the goddamn cave. You just can't. No. Bad Tim.

Makes him sleep on her couch and she's kind of

like, she's almost like the Catwoman and they

make a comment about this earlier on. I love

it. She's an old cat lady. I just love her. his

question to it and her reaction to it where he's

like you've got cats why wouldn't I um Selena

should I need to say anything more and they don't

really do anything with that which is kind of

like I'm not expecting Selena Kyle or any of

her descendants to show up in this but I'm just

saying I know they don't but I'm just saying

that like if that was a question of why wouldn't

she or why you know why wouldn't I maybe Selena

wasn't You know, maybe this future is alternative

enough that, I don't know, maybe Selena wasn't

around, maybe Selena wasn't Catwoman, I don't

know. So yeah, they become roommates. And, you

know. They just agree to keep personal life off

limits, because, you know, you think you might

know me, but I'm not the one you know, and yada

yada. The cats, I love the scene where Tim comes

over and he kind of looks like he's petting the

white cat, and the cats are like, yeah, you're

cool. The cats have accepted him as one of their

own. They will teach him his ways. Hey, if I

can get 13 cats to accept me, I'm sure Tim can

get two cats to accept him. Exactly. So yeah,

the cool thing about this is, as I've noticed

throughout this, first of all, in the Batman

scenes, this is not, I don't think, there was

one of these issues that it was not Bernard Chang,

it was somebody else, and I think it was this

one, or it might be the next one. No, it's this

one, I'm just looking at the, written by Dan

Juergens, Stephen... Thompson. Yeah, I can never,

I always want to say Stephen. But yeah, Thompson,

Steve Thompson did the art on that. So it's kind

of close. Like just in their style. It's kind

of well It's it's somewhat in Bernard's style

and you know obviously the Batman stuff is very

sleek and things and light You know like you

know you when you've got the crash he does kind

of use still use Bernard's crash You know red

yellow orange white style, but what I like is

you know how? Slightly different it is and the

fact that they are you mentioned this back in

February in the other episode that will link

into this one as well this is she's not old old

but she's not young young either but she's still

got the red hair yeah she's yeah i would say

barbara here is probably late 40s mid 50s somewhere

in there maybe at this point yeah yeah um i think

the bat this batman beyond future is like 35

years beyond the earth ends the earth's end future

which was See, I'd say late 50s or mid 50s something

like that Oh god, I've gone cross -eyed. So The

first issue of this ends with the again I go

back to my judge dread Comparison because when

you see the this dumb truck leaving the Gotham

or neo Gotham city limits, it looks like the

wall Sort of from the Stallone Judge Dredd movie

where they're there in this clearly armored dump

truck They got to drive like a mile out of town

to dump this shit and come back you know and

you see Matt jump off the the top of this thing

and There's this last I really love this shot

of him looking towards the horizon You know we

see like the outskirts of Gotham have been annihilated

like this and he's on the hunt. Yep and it moves

into the next one which this is where we get

full on like we get a lot more jack kerby references

we it brings back one of my personal favorite

villains from the animated series and also one

of my absolute favorite episodes uh it's the

return of dr cuvier i never liked that guy I

just kind of like I like the suave villains that

you know, the mad scientist types like that like

that That's just my thing. So I love Cuvier and

also like just a quick side to that the splicers

episode like the one of my favorite sequences

involving ace and Where once Cuvier goes he goes

from being like the chimera to you know, dear

god you fell into a fire, you know, he turns

East and he's about to sting ace and Terry Graz

is like, don't touch my dog. And I was just like,

yes. I love that sequence. But yeah, so Terry,

sorry, Terry. Tim goes and finds the shop. I'm

just going to call him Drake. There you go. Drake

has left Gotham. or he's going to leave Gotham,

but he ends up fighting Rewire early in this

first issue because he's tracking Matt down.

Now we should point out the reason, and I don't

know this for sure, I'd have to actually ask

the artists or the creative teams and find out

why. We said Stephen Thompson was on issue seven.

The reason why Stephen Thompson was on issue

seven was maybe Bernard Chang had something else

to do. I don't know, but the reason why I think

that they did not have Bernard Chang on issue

seven because it was listed as City of Yesterday.

prologue this is this chapter eight is actually

the first is is part one of city of yesterday

so yeah um sometimes they from what i've seen

over the years reading comics when you have like

a one issue fill in like that it's generally

to give the main artist in this case chang just

a quick breather you know this was planned ahead

of time this isn't oh absolutely you know it's

just it's all it is is a quick give him a quick

breather he's on them will go So yeah, Drake

is, let's see, it works. Drake's looking for

Matt. He tracks him. I like the reference to

the current Batgirl comic book where he goes

to Burnside, which is the area of Gotham that

New 52 Barbara operates in. He runs into Rewire

who's still looking for this goddamn battery

for some reason. And Tim finds this thing that

he calls essentially a jacked up 3D printer.

And he's all the I tech was again turn over the

global peace agency the place blows up good and

You know, then we go we cast there apparently

I we don't know how far Matt's travel at this

point, but you see there's like craters and Some

sort of like junkyard Township has grown up along

this path Yep, and we see this dude in a beard

and goggles who's gonna show up later on in Gotham

and they flash back to, we go to, was it Micron?

It was the Atom. And we see the fall of the Justice

League in this future, and when Brother Eye initially

attacks, and it's a rather graphic, you know,

for like the three panels it takes, but you see

a rather graphic transformation from, you know,

Warhawk to Warborg. You know, he's stabbed by

one of these, like, Claws of the brother eye

bugs and next thing, you know, he's no you've

probably never seen this movie, but there's this

sci -fi movie called screamers from the late

90s or very late 90s about it's in the future

and there are these robots who can like are like

security drones and they can kill you and copy

you and Just some of the techno the way Bernard

Chang draws the the Iborgs Looks very similar

to how these creatures look from this film because

it's just like all of a sudden just stabbed and

Warhawk no more and then Barda gets taken down.

Mm -hmm. It's it's rather they'll send they got

like alien like knife tongues coming out of their

mouths and Yeah, my cron's just like peace. I'm

out Yep, he escapes and that's it and then Gotham

versus everybody happens because now we go back

to Gotham after the Justice League Fates are

revealed here. Yeah, you know we go back to Gotham

and everybody that wants to come into Gotham

is not being led into Gotham because apparently

all the supplies are just for Gotham and there's

a huge fight over this and Batman gets into it

just a little bit and Hey, look, it's Mayor Fox

That wing is the mayor I think that's kind of

cool and again just his design is a nod to You

know Barbara's husband from the animated series

Sam, you know Sam without the mustache, but he

still got the sweet goatee. Yeah, and So Batman

at this point you start to see how this so there's

gonna be like this big social class Wharf thing

coming up where Some of the guards are like,

you know, hey Gotham for Gothamites, man, you

know, it's it's it's I'm not calling a social

justice warrior commentary. It's just It's it's

a little bit of a social justice thing because

it's like, you know, some people, you know people

need help and Gotham has supposedly has the help

uh... that you know that that these outsiders

need that they have nowhere else to go kind of

thing and and uh... you know as as we're going

through this and talking to the mayor and you

know which makes my first for the same as always

was great keeping city keeping it safe and all

that and then one of the government are speaks

up and says uh... something about uh... well

only because it seems like it's pretty easy to

get out if you're crazy enough to try and batman's

like details and he tells him about the kid and

turns out the kid is matt and we then go to Somewhere

close to metropolis. Oh, no matt's in metropolis

because he's got his like little pda who's You

know, you see uh, the doctor will help you survive

and we see this like uh landscape shot, which

is reminiscent of Of a picture we saw in the

previous issue when he started looking up metropolis

and you see like the now decimated skyline of

the greatest city in the world. Do you notice

what's in that skyline, dude? The Daily Planet

and the Justice League watchtower. Look at the

Daily Planet. That globe is just like sitting

at the top of a point. It's like sticking a knife

into a giant chocolate ball. It's just like yeah,

it's not so much a planet is that kind of crescent

moon for all that's like missing from it now

Yeah, great. This is ghost. Yeah You see some

splicers following Matt and you know They're

gonna come into it then once we get to the end

of this I'll mention with a little more clarification

the Jack Kirby stuff like I said I love this

it's those splicers, right? Yeah, it's the splicers

Yeah, but specifically there's a character coming

up and then we move into the next one now issue

9 Like, I'm following with some single digital

issues that I have. I am too. I love the cover

to issue 9 with the kind of Mount Rushmore -esque

statues of Green Lantern and Barra and Warhawk

as these splicers chase Drake through them. You

know, I really do like that. Yeah, that cover

is awesome. That's one thing. I wish that the

bat beyond series all of them even from Kyle

Higgins run even from back when when Norm Bray

Fogel and and Adam Beecham were doing them that

was the 2012 series I believe 2012 2011 something

like that Steve and I already done an episode

on it, but I really wish that DC would give these

more variants because some of these have variants

but it's only if if it's a variant month like

there's there's gonna be one later it's either

issue 10 or 11 that has a BVS variant and I don't

want a BVS variant I just want variants from

the series like different artists interpretate

like you look at you look at the Turtles comics

at IDW Most of the Turtles comics currently at

IDW each issue will have at least one or two

variants So the main cover will be from whatever

artist is on that part of the story like issues

61 to 64 issue 50 there was a whole thing where

the one of the artists was Dave Wachter Okay,

and he would he would do a cut. He would do the

main cover and then other people Would do the

variant covers like there's a there's a there's

a Eastman cover there's a somebody else cover,

and I really wish DC would have done that with

this Batman Beyond series I don't know if they

do that with the current Reverse series because

I Wanted to wait until we could go through all

of this before I even I haven't even read Batman

Beyond Reverse yet I know what happens in the

beginning of it because of what happens at the

end of this series But I I just have not read

up on that series yet And we're gonna get into

that eventually once we get through this, but

yeah city of yesterday part two Batman and the

Batmobile. I'm not so sure about this. I like

him inside the Batmobile, the very first panel

here where it has the, you know, the fact that

it's, you know, Dan Juergens, Bernard Chang,

all that stuff, the creative. But seeing the

Batmobile outside of Gotham, it's a little too...

aqua. I don't know. It just doesn't look black

enough for me on the... like the colors yeah

yeah i'm like a little spoiled with the color

palette from the animated series i do like that

first shot of the it's like when terry was in

the that will be on the cartoon how it's all

got that red light the red yeah the site like

the cyber circuits all over in that you know

i enjoy that and uh... c i is going after matt

and we see uh... you know the outsiders and Versus

the first time we looked outside like this has

to be like a couple of days later some because

now you've got like What a mass is like you got

like a hobo camp on crank outside this one gate

mm -hmm and Mayor Fox and micron I've gone out

to talk to the people And we get that red on

white monochromatic stuff again. It's just kind

of used it I like how Chang uses that to illustrate

the dialogues in those specific panels, or the

moments in those specific panels, where Mayor

Fox is like, look, we only have a little bit

of a little bit, we're trying to work it out,

just gotta help us out here. And then this one

guy kinda gets up in his face, and then this

stormtrooper, I mean security guard, just straight

up cracks him in the head with the butt of his

weapon. And then we have that one where... mirror

fox is like oh this shit's gonna go south real

quick yeah I want to go back just for a second

here when Tim is basically giving Barbara a pep

talk about having to you know take point on rebuilding

the world I love her line and I can so hear Angie

Harmon because Angie Harmon was Barbara in Return

of the Joker obviously it was Stockard Channing

in the actual series but it was Angie Harmon

and I just love Angie Harmon as old Barbara I

just love this line and I can so hear her voice

saying this Revealed the world. He says where

do we start? Did a great Barbara Gordon the show

but I think Angie Harmon for her one appearance

was well, it's just I Raise your hand if you

grew up in the 90s and you don't have us a crush

on Angie Harmon Yeah, I'll call you a liar because

Angie Harmon was the hotness And she still is.

She still is now. I mean, you know. If you watch

all seven seasons of Razolian Isles, I mean,

you know. But it's just one of those things where

I always hear Angie's voice any time Barbara

is, any time Neo Gotham Barbara is speaking.

So Batman gets into the city. He's trying to

find the Doctor. And so is Matt. and we run into

splicers yay splicers I'm not gonna lie if that

was an actual option I might try that what splicing

no you would not yeah no you would not I'd go

full -on monkey man yeah but yeah so really seriously

you're gonna go full -on monkey and really you

wouldn't want to go slide Maybe I go tiger, you

know Call me Khan sheer But yeah, I'd like that

Matt's crawling through the wreckage of metropolis

it's being hunted by the slicers and He you see

that he's like trying to prove something to Drake

and he still doesn't like really trust Drake

because he sees the bad meal fly overhead and

he's like Don't think I can take care of myself.

I'll show you you know, and then we go and we

see there's actually well Metropolis wasn't completely

wiped out but you think it would have given they

probably didn't have the veil the way Gotham

did Yeah, and you've got this marketplace in

which I think is George Washington Square You

know whiskey just two bottles left boiled water

guaranteed fresh to drink, you know stuff like

that and Is that how they make that up in Canada?

Terry's like trying to Tim yeah, sorry damn it

Drake's trying to get the lay of the land and

Got this lady like it everyone. It's like New

York hustle on crank And he's just trying to

get some Directions and information all of a

sudden she's all paranoid and this other guy

butts in You know he points him in the direction

of the doctor who's basically Taken over the

Justice League watchtower Yep, and then we go

back to Matt who gets caught by the splicers.

Yeah by con let's call him and monkey in and

lady monkey in or Honestly when I saw the female

monkey splicer I couldn't help but think of that

god -awful Tim Burton plan of the apes remake

Where Helena bottom Carter is in the chimp makeup

and she kind of looks like almost looks like

Michael Jackson You know in his later years.

Yeah, most Tim Burton films most of them are

god -awful. So There's a couple exceptions Batman

89 Edward Scissorhands. Those are right. No when

I saw the super giant blue monkey I'm like, oh,

hey, it's a blue monkey Hey, it's a descendant

of Gorilla Grodd great Yeah, I honestly the first

time I read this and I saw that I thought of

This old animated series Captain Simeon and the

space monkeys. Yeah Specifically the the giant

soft -spoken possibly special needs Gorilla who

like hulks out every episode in his voice by

uncle Phil, you know, god rest your soul James

Avery. Yeah but yeah, so they're You know kind

of bugging up bugging Matt and then Drake rescues

him All of a sudden the Green Lantern ring gets

a mind of its own and and goes flying off elsewhere

to search for Kyle Rayner the best Green Lantern

ever and this also proves that Matt clearly has

mental issues and Because well Drake is dealing

fighting with Khan and you know Grodd jr. And

whatnot this like antenna office one building

has fallen over and created an ad hoc bridge

to the watchtower this kid he's like what 10

11 years old let's say something like that yeah

something like that he's at least 12 14 stories

in the earth he just crawls up in this thing

and runs his ass across like he's just like gone

full -on schmeegle golem with with the word the

precious at this One ring to rule them all. Sorry

Drake, I did it again and it's probably not gonna

stop. It'll stop at the end of the series. But

Drake's having a pretty, you know, fairly intense

fight. I mean he has a pretty graphic thing with

him. He throws like a caltrop or something. Into

lady monkey's face and then she gets like two

brand -new piercings. I was just like God Jesus

I don't care if you're bad guy and not like rules

of engagement good, sir You know, he gets a boot

to the head and Matt goes follows the ring and

it's all like, you know all over the place and

he finds the frozen bodies of the Justice League

Unlimited. Yep and But is Superman supposed to

be dead? Well, yeah, I mean Superman's always

supposed to be dead I mean, you know and That's

one thing I don't get going into I mean, you

know We're gonna give our overall thoughts for

the whole arc here folks at the end of the episode

But you know just kind of wrapping this one up.

It's like, okay, we see Cairo Barda Warhawk marina

warhawk and marina and we also see Superman But

only four of the five here are woken up and Superman

is just kind of left There that's what didn't

make any sense to me. And then of course the

end to end this issue we cut back to to cuvee

and and You know, he says How nice of you to

bring my old friend Batman to splice and then

we have next justice lost Yeah, and like I said,

it's just uh Just I'll look it up later to just

from my own identification with the voice actor

they had for dr. Cuvier Like I said, I've always

loved that smooth criminal type guys and I hear

that voice You know, especially when the Justice

League gets, you know un -potted here in a bit

I hear their voice actors, but specifically I

hear dr. Cuvier's voice. Yeah and Moving into

the next one Yeah, this is the one issue 10 was

the one that has the BS that is BVS variant cover

The main cover for this is great it's basically

Batman looking like he got punched in the mouth

with with Barda and Superman and and Aquagirl

and Cairo Just all kind of standing there, and

then you go to the Batman Beyond BS that is BVS

and It just looks weird Oh, yeah, it that the

cover is like look I love so far I've loved Bernard

Chang stuff and I assume he did this cover Because

it doesn't list anybody else and Philip Tan with

Elmer Santos does the main cover? Okay one where

the the jail use looking in with like the the

the creepy glowing eyes and right, right Dustin

New York knit in the gym Yeah, Dustin is calling

it. I recognize his art, he does the BVS variant.

Yeah, and as much as I like that guy, as much

as I like his art and other things, I just don't

think in this world, in the Batman Beyond world

that they've set up at nine and a half, almost

ten issues, that we needed a BVS cover because

the Superman that's in this... Doesn't even have

a freaking cape and yet you have to draw this

in a style of where Batman has a gun Really seriously

look at that cover gun. He's holding. No, he's

holding a machine. Sorry I thought you said Superman

and I just bring for yeah. No, I remember that

well, that's from the whole prophetic dream sequence

that bat flick has in BVS. I mean, we start this

issue, I love this panel, this is probably one

of my favorite single panels of this whole series

so far, is Drake charging at the Shere Khan.

It's just like, yes, that's what Batman does,

he runs headlong to some asshole who's probably

had way too many steroids that day. And it's

double page spread here of Drake flipping around

and... fighting all of them more or less at once

and then you know as much as I love Tim Drake

as much as I love this kid not what wasn't his

origins I know dick and obviously I know Dick

Grayson's origins but didn't Tim have something

to do with a circus at one point or another I

know that I know that's Dick's story but I'm

just saying that wasn't there something somewhere

that okay OG Drake from like previous to the

new 52 He was at the circus with his parents

and he was all of five because he's about five

years younger than dick Okay, Grayson dick. Yes.

Yes, we know He's about five years younger than

dick He was like five at the circus the night

that the flying Grayson's were taken out by okay,

but I was at boss Moroni Yeah, so But in the

new 52 one just just to let you know in the new

52 one he is this Super genius at a high school

level, right? Olympic gymnast sort of thing.

So he's got a lot of the same training as dick

does Yeah Well, the reason why I say this is

be the reason why I asked him about this is because

his first line to share Khan is Why didn't you

tell me the circus was in town? I'm like, hey,

wait, is this Tim Drake or is this Dick Grayson?

Because that so sounds like a Grayson line. But

yeah, so I love the scene where Graj Jr. like

just one hand grabs Batman and just throws him

to the mat. And we see Cuvier talking to another

Tiger man there and talking about how Well, Gotham

was hidden from the eye, you know, Brother Eye

invaded Metropolis and, you know, few people

survived. That's why we see that market scene.

Cuvier kind of helped them, offered them hope

with the splicing. And he's talking to Prince

Tufton, who, again, I'll bring it up at the end

of the episode who Tufton is. And he makes reference

to that garage junior and lady monkey are from

the evil factory, which is another Jack Kirby

reference. and it's basically they've worn Batman

down to this stance and we go back to Madden

he's trying to figure out how to wake up the

Justice League when the ring forces its way into

Cairo you know the the Buddhist Green Lantern

who I really liked him in the show mm -hmm it's

just like a Buddhist with a Green Lantern ring

a largely pacifist Oh, God, that was just brilliant.

It was so interesting to me. So the ring wakes

up Cairo and he wakes up the rest of the... He

wakes up the rest of the league and all of a

sudden, Tantor on two legs jumps here like this.

I kind of want action figures of some of these

splicers. Like specifically this, you know, elephant

in the room. but But yes, he's fighting the the

jail you we go back to Gotham And this is where

we get not so again, maybe not so much a social

justice commentary But just like you this is

like one of the most stock Sort of lines is like

don't sell out your own commission my own key

needs medicine if he can't get it because of

them You know and it's it's the pot boiling on

both sides of the wall and then the people outside

in the hobo camp you know, they get their cans

of beans and their methane gas, and I don't know

how they got explosives, but they blow this huge

frigging door that's probably like, you know,

30 feet high and at least 10 feet thick. Yeah,

yeah. And what I love here, again, you know,

Chang's art consistently and seeing different

characters, like, you know, you see, you know,

We see Goggles, McBeardy, and Barbara, and Mayor

Fox, and... Yeah. And you see all this going

on, and I don't really see it as a commentary,

even though we've been calling it that on social

justice, but it's basically... Well, it's a class...

The world, the world, yeah. But I mean Gotham

inside is just as bad as it is. I mean, it's

not the city is not as bad But I mean its people

are I mean they're living off of rations and

yes the people that are outside have nothing

I understand that but it's bad for everybody

It's not just bad for one class or the other

kind of class, you know, I thought you know,

it's it's bad all around. Oh, yeah But and I

love and this is the only commentary I'll make

on your president I swear this episode. Here

we go. But there was more people camped outside

the wall of Gotham City than that were at the

inauguration. But a mooch. You know, I'm trying

to think because I want and this is this is months

ago now, folks. So, you know, just keep in mind

this has already happened after the inauguration

of President Donald J. Trump. They did the David

Muir or traditional White House, ABC News White

House walkthrough interview thing. And they showed

a picture of the inaugurated giant blown up,

probably, you know, picture framed on the wall

of the White House of inauguration day. And it

looks like it's filled up more than what most

of the Photoshop stuff shows you obviously. Love

the next and I would have to talk to Bernard

Chang and have to ask him about this when we

get back to Drake versus the splicers And you've

got that set up there at the bat like the building

in the background with the lights I have to ask

him if he ape the design of the final battle

with Joker from Arkham Asylum Where have you

played that game? Okay, by the end of Arkham

Asylum Joker has a And to say it's a weaponized

version of venom kind of puts it lightly He's

basically mixed venom with Joker venom like his

Joker gas and created this Stuff where he gets

he mutates himself into like this hulked out

version of the Joker He's got like giant blown

bone claw fingers and mohawk and you have to

take him down but the it's on the roof of Arkham

Asylum and I swear that's what? Just the overall

design of that looks like that stage from the

game So I like that and I think my favorite part

of this section of the story of this issue is

it is that where they go back to Metropolis in

the battle but I liked the panel right before

that at least on Comixology when the guided view

pulls out to show the full page where you have

all the various people's arguments in the red

and white and then in the center is the exploded

gate. I think that's awesome. Oh yeah and it's

like I said that art style like that red on white

is used to highlight specific panels and instances

and that's what works like it as much as I kind

of find it irritating a bit. Yeah that's I've

always and no offense Mr. Bernard Chang please

do not come after me with a batarang but it's

just one of those things where I like the traditional

style of what we have in this full -on battle

thing here where it's where where Mr. Monkey

and says want beat bat I like that style and

I love the style that he's using but sometimes

when he switches to his you know high definition

red white orange yellow black it sometimes can

be jarring but on the other panel that I mentioned

I don't mind it and I actually do enjoy it because

you're highlighting people That are arguing after

the explosion and that basically, you know, you

know Gotham belongs to everybody and You know,

that's just really interesting and fun. Oh, yes,

so we get back to the battle here and and I love

that The cons getting them all to back off and

Batman's like what the hell and next thing you

know, it's shorter you can and Batman is punched

into the side of a goddamn building by Berda.

Mm -hmm. And then the Justice League Lays like

we're gonna wreck, you know, and yeah, they're

basically they've got these implants that make

Basically, they're being controlled by Cuvier

and they're being made to see anything That he

wants to be as like a cyber. So basically they

see Drake as being a brother. I Borg. Yeah, and

It's it's kind of a cool art style. Like what

he what Chang does is it's like The right side

of his face is like normal mask and the other

side is like bat Borg. And it's kind of reminiscent

of what they used to do in Spider -Man comics

when Spidey sense would go off and all of a sudden

half of Peter Parker's face was in the Spider

-Man mask. Yeah, I look at this like the panel

that I'm looking at where he says you are a little

more than where she says you're a little more

than a warped atrocity. you think or you know

where so you know what that reminded me of right

right there that up close shot of of drake with

the the bat board design yeah it's a t2 a little

bit a little bit just in the close -up uh in

in the panel later where it's where you know

cuvier has the lines of more like artificial

constructs created to demoralize the populace

as for micron stories false memories and perceptions

implanted to shield the truth not unlike what's

happening now and tim is like oh i can imagine

they're experiencing their own reality i love

this panel if i could have this panel in like

just you know 18 by 18 27 by 40 whatever of just

Batman Bat Borg Batman because you notice what's

on him in this panel with the bat emblem They've

turned him into a red lantern No, look look at

the panel where he says I can imagine you look

at the center of the bed. That's a red lantern

logo the intonation that you know John's like

the what Terry and probably Drake fought was

they were artificial constructs which potentially

could mean that the original agree like John

Stewart and Clark Kent and Diana Princess Diana

could potentially still be out there yeah so

you know and again Somehow micron was affected

by brother eyes technology to sell this narrative

that the Justice League's dead because they had

him on storage and You know, it's basically gets

to we end this issue with Matt yelling C3 C3

Barta blasting him with her mega rod and They

all the bat droid is dead The Bat -Droid is dead.

The Bat -Droid is dead, the only thing that's

left is R2 -D2 because C3PO is gone. And the

final issue here, Batman Beyond number 11, 2015.

This is where we get the announcement of Scooby

-pocalypse! Don't don't talk smack about this

is actually a really good book It's it's not

based off of an animated series is like og This

is the first time the scooby gang meets the pot

the apocalypse kicks off at Burning Man and Velma

is partially responsible Yeah, as much as I love

scooby -doo and the scooby gang Making Shaggy

look more like Matthew Lillard than he should

is just wrong because if you okay, if you look

like a hipster is wrong making him look like

Matthew Lillard is a stroke of genius You know,

we could do like if you ever want to do a pull

bag on this dude, I am so oh, yeah Really also

it uses the art by Howard Porter was one of my

favorite Justice League artists like he was the

he was the collaborator with grant morrison on

the jla comic for many years back in the 90s

in the early aughts but seriously oh yeah there's

a reason why he talks and they make scrappy do

into the villain he is and always has been scrappy

is not a villain he is just misunderstood he's

evil evil Anyway, so so we open with several

decades from now neo -gotham and we've got we

go back to the Barbara and Mayor Fox and Mayor

Fox Luke I should say I Wanted to say Lucius,

but it's Luke they're dealing with all of this

fallout and and That's gonna come, you know cops

are like there when they're no weapons when they're

stealing everything. No way the barber just straight

-up knocks a guy out and I love the Beardy Mcgoggle

or Goggles McBeardy whatever name that like that

like this guy's like you did everything you did

to keep us out now it's all ours you know just

be It's something about again. I can't help going

back to the whole soldier Just think it just

it just sounds like the the way the art is and

with the red and white on that panel It just

sounds like the snotty is the way of like me.

It's mine now Mm -hmm, you know, and then we

go back to I live in the background We go back

to metropolis in the aftermath of the bat droid

being destroyed and you see you got garage junior

lady monkey con toughed in Cuvier and then Red

Rudolph the six -foot reindeer music in the background

there. Yeah Yeah, when did Red Red Riding Hood

Rudolph show up that makes no sense And then

you know we have this whole discussion with Cuvier

and the other one about that And then we've got

Matt looking for Tim and he finds him and you

know And of course, you know when Tim rebooted

the suit that basically fixed the cloaking technology

I was wondering when they were gonna bring this

one back. I have always loved the Batman Beyond

cloaking technology Yeah, oh my god, I like that

then it's um in this version of the suit It's

like a mental command. So you just have to think

cloak. Yeah, or whatever or think c3 Yeah, and

I do like that Matt is At this point he is still

just kind of being this nice like you got my

brother killed because Terry used it a lot. He

was smart Yeah, and it's like yes, we get it.

You miss your brother move the hell along but

they go and the decant Superman and they take

a look at You know what's outside and see the

league is going to town of metropolis because

that they're still being made to see everybody

else's cyborgs Superman comes back Teams up with

Batman. I love They never did this in the show

in the like one appearance of aqua girl But I

love how she used her pat like her control over

water To create like the giant octopus tentacles

to like take out Batman. I thought that was a

really crazy visual Yeah, that was awesome. And

then we got you know Coovey's got this little

remote that he's credits it to an old friend

for the technology to control their v uh... their

personal perceptions yes i think it might be

off spellbinder potentially yeah absolutely and

then uh... was it uh... tough in terms of turns

on cougar and destroys the remote which releases

superman any people's like the implant off and

i love it does the classic uh... you don't see

the full Effect of it, but he does the classic

Superman trick of like yanking up the floor and

doing like the rug snap Yeah, you know and it

goes he stands in front of Cairo and then it's

super speedy takes the implants and destroys

them and This is where we get the revelation

that well, this is the Batman Beyond Superman

suit. This is Jonathan Kent Who is the young

super boy currently in the Superman comics in

the well basic Basically, it's the rebirth You

know the rebirth of Earth's You know the in the

current DC rebirth continuity because they're

not actually calling it the new 52 anymore But

yes the new 75 now. Yeah Pardon me, but yeah,

so and this is where we get is like look It's

cool. Batman's cool. Not a cyborg and they talked

to tough then who reveals I have no human past

is up until this point I even up until I read

this the first time I thought tough din was an

experience Yeah, he was expires the Cuvier and

he says I have no human past this is what I've

always been the next evolutionary step and Then

he it's also said that the splicing technology

the Cuvies been using is not reversible anymore

Yeah, so whoever like, you know kit garage junior

and lady monkey and all the other splicers, you

know Tantor and Rudolph and all them they go

off with Tufton to live wherever in the wild

lands perhaps and he says, you know eventually

you humans are gonna mess this up and it'll be

a world where only my kind survives and You know,

we get back to Gotham City in the throws of this

massive riot where Jonathan Kent proves to be

every bit his father's son because he gives this

speech that everyone just immediately calms the

F down. And I like even how Mike says, way to

lay it down, Superman. it's it's really really

well done and it's it's you know, it's a it's

a happy moment for everybody and You know Superman

goes off and and of course, it's it's the Justice

League. It's Batman and Superman It doesn't matter

who's in the suit you get that somebody in a

Batman suit somebody in a Superman suit They're

always gonna go off and have a moment by themselves

together and you know Superman's like I can see

pretty far, you know It's basically given us

that the rest of the world is indeed incredibly

messed up. Yeah, and The best line about this

and this is something I wish they would have

hit on even though they don't So you're John

what happened to my father? That's a long story.

Yeah And I'm like I'm like, come on give us something

Maybe we'll get into that in the rebirth series

at some point. Maybe. I would hope. Yeah. But

yeah, so we basically evidence the heroes rah

rah. We get that. It's not as nicely detailed

as I would have liked, but you get that nice.

Oh, it's it's detailed enough, at least in at

least in the comic, at least in the Comixology

guided view with where I just see that one panel

with all of them there with with her like that.

Yeah, it's just I wish that would have been like

a full page. Shot of yeah that didn't get all

the detail with the smiles and yeah But I mean

the first thing I the first thing I think of

obviously is Justice Lee You know at the end

right before the title comes up the main title

sequence You know when they when they're all

standing there together Yeah, like the original

series. Yeah, my favorite version of that is

how they ended the series with everyone running

down the steps of the Justice Tower Yeah, you

know at the end, but yeah, I like that and Yeah,

we have a we we have a but wait, there's more

moment And we see rewire and rewire has a boss

Apparently whatever you say boss don't don't

don't And then we get an advertisement for future

quest which is also another great series And

I gotta say I know we're not I don't want to

go into the final thoughts and ratings just yet,

but Next episode folks when we get to the wired

for death storyline have to say I was not expecting

that to be a partial flashback series because

issue number 12 the cover he's back old Bruce

and I'm like hey what I remember as soon as I

remember when this issue of this series came

out and I saw the preview for it and I'm like

wait what Bruce is still around. Wait a second.

He died in futures and number zero What's going

on in then? Of course, you know, you realize

it's a flashback issue, but But city of yesterday

issue 7 -eleven I have no issues with the art

at all. I've gotten used to Chang's style. I

like Thompson's style in issue seven. It's very

reminiscent of Chang's. So I don't think that

there's too much of a difference. There's not

too much of it. Normally when artists change

titles, even just for an issue, sometimes it

can be very, very jarring going from one, you

know, if you're used to one artist all the time.

You know at least for the first six issues, and

you go to some I almost didn't even notice that

it was a different artist I thought it was Chang

until I actually looked at the at the credits

there I absolutely love this part of the story.

I think it's interesting It's touching on Batman

Beyond history with splicers and everything else

while crafting its own story the whole Green

Lantern thing again Kyra using Cairo is is very

awesome interesting and as you said He was what

they use in the cartoon series, so that's what

would make sense, what they're using here. Yeah.

I love all... Oh, go ahead. I was just gonna

say, just speaking of Cairo, one of my favorite

issues of like the original, like based on the

animated series, comic is where he fights this

villain called Blacklight with his kind of his

sinestro. And at one point in the story, in order

to defeat the villain, Terry had to punch Cairo.

So it ends with him. No, come on punch me. Just

once. We'll be even come on. He's like, no No,

I'm a non -violent and Warhawk is like I'll take

that actually just Just full -on drift some like

that. It was awesome. But yeah, of course Warhawk

would do that I mean, it's it's Warhawk, you

know, who's the team asshole and Warhawk's like

yo Yeah Yeah, absolutely I I absolutely love

the whole arc. I love the character building

with Tim and Barbara. I think that's great I'm

really starting to come around to Matt now that

I know what he like he is He does still have

some of that whiny bratty issue thing But I do

think that he's getting better and he's kind

of growing on me, but I absolutely love that

If I was gonna pick a favorite cover out of the

seven it would be a tie between out of out of

these four Issues or five actually it would probably

be Seven and eleven are my two favorites. What

are your final thoughts? Well, I'll agree with

you on that my favorite covers were definitely

like I loved issue nine with the Mount Rushmore

thing, but Seven like eleven just is a great.

I kind of iconic sort of cover But number seven

is my favorite just because it has just straight

up that is pure comics right there Overall, you

know, I love this arc Again, like I said, it's

got a lot more of some of the classic Jack Kirby

touches like the evil factory is something from

like his fourth world like apocalypse and new

Genesis and all that Prince Tufton is straight

out of the old commandee comic books where you

know, it's in the few again this version of the

future is It's very reminiscent of the Great

Cataclysm. You don't know exactly what happened,

but the world's messed up and there's all these

animals walking around on two legs and humans

have kind of regressed to it. Because Commandy

originally came out in and around the same time

as the original Planet of the Apes. And that's

where you get like, you know, humans or have

regressed evolution or evolutionarily or something

like that, if that's even a word. and again Tufton

was like this prince he was like the conflicted

prince of like the tiger clan where you know

humans are subserving to us and we're the superior

species but he didn't believe in superior species

and was kind of a commentary on you know race

relations and such and he worked with commandeer

so I love that I love how they brought back the

Justice League which is definitely something

they're gonna need if they're gonna like steer

the world on the right path again and you know

like said like we've both read the next the next

arc folks in it it's gonna get good oh it's it's

it I'm telling you I love cut my favorite Batman

Beyond run besides Adam Beecham and and Norm

Bray Fogel's run my favorite to this point and

still is, is the Kyle Higgins run, because Kyle

did so much with the series, but Dan Jergens

turns it on its head. Like, Dan Jergens took

what Kyle started on some of this, and just basically...

Mind blown moments like things I was not even

ever expecting to see in a Batman Beyond comic

and I'm hoping That once we get eventually around

a rebirth that will still have those mind -blowing

moments I don't know because I haven't kept up

with the rebirth so I'm not really exactly sure

like how many issues is is happening right now

and things like that and whatever else so you

know I'm not really sure what's going on. I'll

tell you one thing. There is the end of the first

or second issue. There's a huge WTF moment that

eventually gives us another bigger WTF moment

later on. Once we get to that, I can't wait to

hear what you say about that. So yeah, I I'm

very much looking forward to Batman Beyond Rebirth

because I do know that You know that I'm I'm

still enjoying this series and I've enjoyed this

series throughout the whole thing so far Batman

Beyond Rebirth is up to seven issues. So again,

I'm wondering What we've seen from Batman Rion

in the past is that you know the series doesn't

last too long It's you know it ends up being

a short mini or a short maxi series where they're

you know Kyle's run only had 40 issues The original

run here only had 15 issues norm and and Adams

run only had a certain amount. I think that had

Maybe 18 issues or 17. I forget what it had.

But again, it only had a limited number of issues.

And I'm really wondering, just looking at Batman

Beyond Rebirth on Comixology, it says so far

that there are up to seven issues coming. So

far, the first four issues are out. So issue

five for Rebirth is next. So I'm just kind of

wondering, like, what's gonna, you know, how

is that gonna play out? You know, are we gonna...

Is DC gonna go and do something stupid like reboot

their universe again, and then we have to reboot

the Batman Beyond series again? I don't mind

it here between this 2015 series and then the

Rebirth series, because I know the Rebirth series

picks up, like, they don't just say, okay, it's

gonna be Terry McGuinness again. You know, they...

they work around to the point where you know

they explain to you why and what's going on as

far as the city of yesterday art absolutely love

it i think it's great um really have no complaints

other than little minor art quibbles but that's

okay that does not really anything that big huge

you know oh my god this is going to basically

ruin everything kind of thing oh my god i can't

believe they did this what the hell yeah yeah

yeah yeah there's no moments like that yeah Tim

Drake as Batman is not gonna you know be covered

in golden showers of pee somebody Grant Morrison

hey somebody had to bring that up because I know

you're gonna bring up your other buddy at some

point in this episode because we all know he

loves that image City of Yesterday what are you

gonna rate it zero to five Like I said, I'm gonna

give it a four and a half. Just again just some

minor art quibbles I really wish they would have

had a little more with tufted and The splicers

in there like maybe just a one page interlude

of them going to the wild lands But other than

that, you know, this is a solid arc. I enjoyed

it immensely and I'm looking forward to the next

one Yeah, absolutely Wired for death is up next

next week here on the pull bags Batman Beyond

coverage here inside Batman Month for May 2017.

We will catch you next time, folks. Make your

great escape into comics. You've just heard the

latest episode of The Pullback, the GCRN's comic

review and discussion podcast. There are several

ways to get in touch with us and leave feedback

for the show. You can visit the website, keycastradio

.com, where you can comment on the episode and

all of our different podcasts. You can rate our

show on iTunes. Be sure to leave us feedback.

Call the voicemail line, 502 -526 -5821. Please

remember to tell us the show you're leaving the

message for and your name. Become a fan of us

on Facebook by searching Geekcast Radio Network.

Send us an email feedback at geekcastradio .com.

Follow us on Twitter at Geekcast Radio. So until

next time, make your great escape into comics

and unleash the geek in you.