Batman Beyond Rebirth and Escaping the Grave Review

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Mr. McGinnis. Welcome to my world. Hello and

welcome to The Pull Bag's third annual Batman

Month. Okay, technically we missed a year last

year, but you get the point. I am, of course,

TFJ and Mike, and joining me this time around

once again is JT from Saskatoon. Hello, sir.

Good afternoon to you. And we are continuing

on with our Batman Beyond coverage because Batman

Beyond has had a rebirth! Yay! We're actually

going to be talking about three comics today

because we have rebirth number one, which is

the one -shot. which is the catch -all issue,

which is the catch -up issue for anyone who has

not read any of the Batman Beyond stuff from

the 2015 Dan Juergens Bernard Chang series. And

then we've got issues number one proper and number

two from the new Rebirth Batman Beyond series.

For those of you who listened last week, you

heard our final 2015 Wired for Death coverage

covering issues 12 to 16 of the 2015 series.

where at the end of that, Terry McGinnis was

found to be alive, he was rewired, blah, blah,

blah. Go back to that podcast and listen to that

if you want to hear all about that. And yeah,

we're here to talk about the new series, the

current series, and see if we're gonna like it

or not. You know, going from having Tim Drake

for 16 comics, or 16 issues of a comic, To going

back to chair McGinnis. It wasn't that hard for

me I I think and I think I said this last time

when we talked about wired for death from the

other series that Tim's story Ended well, it

didn't like there was no, you know Joker electrified

thing inside the back of his brain or anything

like that I mean the guy got a nice little send

-off and we now have to can I hit the reset on

on McGinnis and whatever else. The first thing

I want to get out of the way, though, is as I'm

reading this, and I don't have a real issue with

it, but I have something to where it's like,

hmm, why is Dan writing it that way? When Terry

does his internal monologue, and this actually

happened in the 2016 or 2015 series a couple

of times, I think. I could be wrong. But when

Terry's doing his internal monologue in these

three comics, at a couple of points, he calls

himself McG. And the only thing I can think of

is the guy who did Fastlane back in 2002, 2003.

And he is currently working on producing Lethal

Weapon, which is an awesome series, folks. Check

it out. Only two episodes left, I think. No,

no, that's... Oh, there's one series I watched

that only has two episodes left or so until they

take a break or so. I don't know. But anyway.

Yeah, no, it is lethal, because they just released

episode 16 last week, and it's only got 18 episodes

for the first season. Anyway, Batman Beyond,

rebirth, number one, the reboot, the rebirth,

reboot, whatever you want to call it. The revivification.

Yeah. Yeah. It's not a reboot, it's a rebirth.

Yeah, sure. Okay, DeDildo. You know what? Okay,

I'm gonna take a stance right here. On my end,

this is just a little bit of blatant self -promotion

here. A few years ago, I did my own podcast,

Authentic Geek, with a friend of mine here in

Saskatoon, Doug Goldie, and we did an episode

where we... Basically became whiny man babies

about the the new 52 like we were so pissed off

the time just like why why why and That's you

know where we start calling him. You know the

dildo and all that Honestly, I've seen interviews

with the man. I've read interviews with the man

I look back at his history where he started in

the industry. I Have to apologize to Dan to do

Well at times he has not been my favorite but

we were in shaker in the world the comic books

he does not deserve the hate that i have piled

on top of him he does not deserve the shade i've

thrown on him yeah he's not as bad as as uh...

he's not as bad as jesus jordan john's so and

even deadly charges no john's is a breaking tool

in my personal opinion my opinion has nothing

to do with the cast or network or the pullback

uh... I watched that Batman preview thing. Both

he and Kevin Smith are just utter fucking tools

in my opinion at this point because you know

what I'm talking about, right? There was this

special in the CW about previewing Wonder Woman,

previewing Justice League or whatever. You know

what I'm talking about, right? Oh, okay. Oh,

okay. So as long as you know what I'm talking

about. In this thing... Kevin Smith is a Kevin

Smith is self -proclaimed comic book nerd like

all of us are whatever He sits there and is asking

Jeff Johns these questions and when Johns says

something incorrect Kevin like the little bitch

that he is Just goes along with it and doesn't

try to like look I get it. He's getting paid.

He's getting paid to do a job. I understand that

but If you're getting paid to do a job and your

interviewee says something incorrect about a

continuity piece that is known for 70 plus fucking

years, you should at least say, well, wait, wasn't

that this? Isn't that supposed to happen this

way, not the way that you're... You know, I forget

what the specific thing was, but I remember in

that special, Jeff Johns gave him an answer that

was not... fully correct and Kevin just let it

fucking slide and I'm like damn I kind of remember

like I said both of us are we failed you audience

for not remembering exactly how we mis -correct

but honestly when it comes to media stuff appearances

like that as and I do have like a but a huge

lot of love for Jeff Johns as a writer as a creator

but I as much as you can for me my opinion is

as much as you can be mad at him for flubbing

like that and not correcting himself and again

smith not correcting him or at least you know

or at least yeah he doesn't have to he doesn't

have to correct him he doesn't have to speak

for john's but he should have at least asked

the question wait don't you mean you know something

just something don't just frigging gloss over

it even if it was just a 30 or 45 a minute or

an hour long oh god anyway batman beyond rebirth

i i love jeff johns more for his comic books

in the media appearances stuff like that he's

at the mercy of the paymasters the higher -ups

at DC so he is a he's the chief creative officer

chief whatever the hell he He is one of the higher

ups. The chief creative officer and the editor

in chief. I'm talking the suits that light their

cigars with hundred dollar bills. The guys that

own everything. The only suit that's higher up

than him is Diane What's -Her -Name, who is the

main owner at this place. Honestly, for that

whole special, it's like those media magazines

you get at a movie theater that have the quote

-unquote interviews with movie stars. for the

movies that have come out that month you know

the free the the free things they have their

like again yes i mean i'm not a fan of i'm not

i'm not a fan of most of late night tv now because

it all sucks and none of its johnny carson anymore

but even though they don't like even they even

jimmy fallon or jimmy kimmel or or what's his

nuts uh... not not no hell no not him uh... colbert

even they will call somebody out You know, but

whatever. Anyway, Batman Beyond Rebirth. The

rebirth number one issue, the one shot, starting

this whole thing off, I love the cover. The main

cover is Batman's kind of doing the Bela Lugosi

kind of pose across his face like that. You know,

it's just, it's simple and it works. is it just

me or is like part of his the way that this was

drawn it almost looks like it's like inside of

like where his ears are on the center part of

his head it almost looks like a suit in the middle

of it on the top of it's a bald head like a lex

luther type of thing i know that's the way the

art is but it just oh my god no you know what

it is it's the friggin red hood gang leader it's

the joker except it's in black anyway uh... so

yeah that's the main cover there is an alternative

cover where uh... apparently michael bay has

drawn batman beyond and gave him a pair of jordans

from the nineties to wear yeah i was standing

on the d .c. logo and uh... at the shoots all

his suits off the road up in the uh... these

Wolverine style like the the the flat the Flanges

on his gloves have now become like Freddy Krueger

claws or something. Mm -hmm. Yeah, not a huge

fan on that It's not obviously I prefer the regular

cover but I kind of like this one just it's not

often and I think we've mentioned this before

but It's very rare that these comics specifically

the Batman Beyond comics get variant covers,

unless it's one of DC's variant months or things

like that or whatever, but it's very, very rare.

I know probably past, I think I had, did I get

issue three yet? No, I haven't gotten issue three

yet. It's one of those things where some of these

don't always get variants, and sometimes I wish

they would. but anyway but then the third cover

we got is yes just a batman advertisement it's

not a real friggin cover i'm just saying that

oh sorry i was looking at the cover for the regular

number one issue never mind my bad yeah i know

it's a little bit later uh... so we start out

several decades from now i wish they would have

just said sixty five years in the future anyway

uh... so i do love it basically this is i see

it as an homage to the first episode of that

may be on riverwood will know that the animated

series that's early terry and The Joker comes

onto the Sky Tram. Right. Oh no, that's what

this is, but again, the first two -parter, the

opening two -parter of the series is called Rebirth.

Oh yeah. In Batman Beyond. So no, I wasn't making

a joke about the DC Comics rebirth. I was saying

that... That's what those two episodes were called.

I get you, Mike. I like this fact. There's these

two jokers. I'm going to call the one elf and

the other mariachi because it's got that awesome

kind of mariachi style hat. I'm sorry. I love

that visually. It's striking. But yeah, we're

back in Neo Gotham. The jokers are skyjacking

a school bus basically. Well Terry pops in and

does his thing I love the image like Ryan Souk

is doing the art for this one shot who did the

main cover in this I love the two -page spread

of him crashing in you know putting foot to ass

for Neo Gotham and It's just very it's this is

a straight -up classic comic book image. Yeah,

you're like this save the day Absolutely, I like

this when it goes to the full Because I'm looking

as always looking at this and coming all comicsology

.com through the guided view and I get two panels

that you know You know the first panel comes

over and it's chose Terry. I am not too keen

on Ryan's take on the suit But once it goes to

the full the full image of it without being close

up on the face I'm fine with it. I like and I

enjoy it I will say that it's gonna take me some

time getting a couple of pages getting used to

this art And I know he's only here for you know

for this one shot But it did take me a little

while to get used to this because again we ended

on Somebody else an issue 16 and then issue 15

was Bernard Chang and I was like wait I know

this is only one shot, but is Bernard going to

be back? And he will be back. But this first

arc is called Escaping the Grave. Yeah. As always.

I love how they have the coffin silhouette built

into the logo for how they did that. And according

to the indications, Carlos de Anda was the variant

cover artist, which... I've seen his work elsewhere.

I just again not impressed by that first cut

or that variant cover Yeah, and as I said Dan

Juergens on writing as always thank God and for

that And of course yeah, of course the Joker's

stumble around boo boo boo Batman, and I love

I Love Terry's inner monologue as he's as he's

beating these guys up I just love the way that

that that story beat is going through yeah Do

like the light though. I'm touched as he's slamming,

you know the one joker's head into the floor

and I just like Yes, that is an action hero point

for you That's some that's somewhere down the

lines to where they let off some steam Bennett,

you know, I love it and I love the other action

movie cliche of oh, let's call a mace the Joker

with a shotgun. He does the you know, you've

probably already got a shell in the chamber.

Why did you? you know rack the slide again because

it's like it's like yeah you're you're not scaring

anybody there face paint no and then we get a

nice little internal monologue after he's still

kind of pulling them but we go back into the

flashback here no matter what they no matter

what they're dangerous learned that when we mixed

it up the first time Back when I was a typical

high school kid, typical parents, typical kid

brother, and typical attitude. And then, you

know, we get the flashback to rebirth and the

bike chase through. I love how they kept, like

how Sukh kept the design, the Akira style design

of the motorbikes. I would love, if I knew how

to ride and I could afford it, I would love to

have a bike like that. You know, I'd probably

get it done up like Akira, but that's neither

here nor there. But yeah, we flash back to outside

Wayne Manor. Bruce showing he's still got it

because he's the goddamn Batman. You know, and

it's a pretty faithful recreation of these scenes

from the two part rebirth that from the series,

you know, really trying to get the back out of

the clock, seeing the. Seeing the cave. The costumes

and all that. I don't quite like the close -up

panel of the costumes. They just, they don't...

I'm not saying they have to be the animated ones.

I'm not saying that, and they really, really,

well, they are, because Nightwing in this was

always blue, but it's just one of those things

where the Batman suit just does not look right.

That's the current design where he's got the

full patch with the yellow outlines. Yeah, and

that's what I'm saying. If you're going to...

Look, I get it. This is Sook's own kind of thing.

He's modifying the current design. But if you're

going to homage the very first two -parter of

Batman Beyond, at least go in the style, or at

least close to the style of what it was. Because

that's the difference here when we see the if

you if you go back before we get to the flashback

here the the art style obviously changes between

when Terry as Batman is fighting the Joker's

it's a little bit more polished and then when

we get to the flashback, it's kind of like a

gradient kind of doubt a bit, you know, yeah,

it's it's it's very It's very gravelly kind of

like Christian Bale, you know, it's Like I said,

it's it's a gradient type of Hard not really

hard edge But just hard backgrounds and and some

of the like the the panel where Bruce is fighting

off the jokers Where what we're Terry's like

but he was in a class all his own that panel

there It's like Ryan is working with Instead

of rock salt rock colors or something. It's just

I'm not complaining about it I'm just trying

to explain how I'm seeing and I think it's interesting

comparing it to what the actual present -day

Art is and I get that they have to Distinguish

out. Yeah. Oh, yeah, and it's it's it's still

both the same art But it's like they even have

that panel where Bruce is yelling at Terry to

get out of the cave and they laid that over top

like the president yet this is he's remembering

that yet but it's just like how you have the

modern -day stuff is much more brighter and it

pops in the you know the the flashback is a little

dollar because you know it's in the past all

that i do love the whole line of uh... terry

telling the passengers to stay down there like

was the bill to stop the blasters like now just

needed a clear shot he does the the double takeout

Hopefully those jokers landed on something soft

because we are about you know 50 bajillion stories

in the air because The future of Gotham City

is basically that of Blade Runner Where everything's

like a million kilometers into the sky. Yeah,

or the Jetsons I'm just waiting for Astro and

orbiting to show up at this point Jesus don't

bring that on us, man Hey, hey orbiting orbiting

orbiting was not as bad as cousin Oliver Orbity

is the goddamn scrappy dude of the Jetsons. Hey,

you leave Scrappy out of this. I'll never leave

Scrappy out of this. You leave Scrappy alone.

Scrappy is evil. So we go back to the present

day and Barbara and Tim and we have Barbara Yeah,

not Tim. I'm sorry. Not wow. I'm pulling a you

from last time. terry barbara and terry thank

you uh... and barbara is back to her short red

hair which is fine uh... it's not only that the

future grandma jubilee glasses again the uh...

those glasses are a little weird all their goggles

and maybe they're targeting it's like some heads

-up display thing and they're talking about this

idea of something called joker town in the city

where the jokers essentially What if the jokers

took over, you know, the Bronx, but any time

the cops showed up, they took off their make

-up and the costumes and blended into the populace.

And then the two of the jokers that they caught,

it looks like Elf and, you know, Mariachi start

laughing uncontrollably, and essentially they've

been suicided with joker venom, I'm guessing

false teeth or something. That they don't control

because it's one's actually calling for help

and Then yeah, she'll prevent him. Is it possible?

He's still alive. No joke has been dead for years.

Mm -hmm, but Terry's still thinking about it

and then we go and we Hard right hard right turn

they go to She's a social worker now in this,

you know post brother. I Gotham City She's and

we haven't seen Dana since what futures and number

zero maybe something like that they literally

through the Tim Drake Batman Beyond series and

in Net as to my recollection. She was never mentioned

in any of Terry's shoes in which one Well, in

like Future's End, which was like the - Oh, okay.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. They just did not mention Dana

at all. Like even some of the flashbacks in the

Drake series, I don't think they ever brought

up Dana. I thought they brought her up like once

or twice, like at the point when it's Tim and

Terry, Terry's past and Tim's present. when he's

going into the place where you know where they're

supposed to find you know whatever i think that

that bruce mentions it in the past but again

that that was last weekend in the week before

folks a month before so so dana is a social worker

and she's going to help these people that are

in joker's town uh... but not really cuz the

uh... giant uh... boxing glove is going to knock

the cop out with her and uh... Just I mean, I

don't know about you. I love the idea of the

jokers running a protection racket in the territory

and then something straight out of the Tim Burton

89 film where You know because this lady essentially

ratted Dana out to the jokers because they kidnap

her and take her away She's like payday. It starts

throwing the money out and it's like that Scene

with Nicholson is like I'm giving you money money

money. How about? Float which I absolutely love

in the film And then another hard pivot we go

to Matt and Terry's apartment. Yep. And I like

this. I think this is cool because Matt is essentially

hero worshipping his brother because he's Batman

and Terry's just trying to say no, you know,

it's not, you know, you know. I guess it's maybe

the three of them because Max is there too, but

it's nice to see... Well, Max, yeah, Max does

show up. That's grown up a bit. Oh yeah, well,

you know, when you have to find your brother,

you know, in the other series, but yeah, so...

It's not like the animated series where he'll

put on a werewolf mask and give his brother a

coronary. You know, this little prick. I don't

quite like, and I know this is not a flashback,

so... I don't quite like the way Sook drew Max

in this maybe I don't know it just doesn't seem

to fit in with Like the panel where where she

kind of is introduced Terry I can't believe you're

here And he says something wrong Max like in

that panel here Terry and Matt look naturally

like they're supposed to be in the same panel

and then her design Yes, it is proper is correct.

It is the right skin tone, the right hair color,

but just the way that it's... I don't know, it

just doesn't... It's not the near buzz cut she

had in the animated series. No, well it is and

it isn't, but what I'm saying is that her design

doesn't look like it fits with theirs. I don't

know. It's 9 times out of 10. It's not always

perfect. And like I said, I will, you know, by

the end of this I will come around to Sook's

art, but... I would have much rather have had

Bernard Chang doing this, but anyway, that's

just my personal opinion. The best... Matt gets

a news alert that Dana's been kidnapped. Yeah.

And even Matt's like the first one, what would

they want with Dana? Yeah. And then since Terry

suits up, you know, we see a... Couple of shots

of him traveling through the city in a lot of

logging. I love these I love these shots like

the the faraway shot not so much But I'm more

concerned when I was reading through this I was

more concerned about the inner monologue But

that close -up shot where he says by the time

I came back. I didn't know what to say to her

I just I love that shot of him kind of coming

around the building and then the other one you

know at the end where he's like What do I do?

Walk up to her and say, hey, I'm back from the

grave. Oh, and by the way, I'm Batman. You know,

I just absolutely love, and even the panel after

this, now she's down here working the old part

of town, like that super close up. Even though

I'm still not too keen on the suit itself, I

like the shot. Yeah, and I do like the whole...

sound effect that terry landing hard and kicking

up the big plume of dust and walking out of it

in silhouette and all you see is his eyes and

the bat symbol like you know if the the homeless

guys weren't more scared of the jokers they'd

probably be soiling their already soiled clothes

and it's like that you don't have to fear me

oh we're not afraid of you we're afraid of him

and then terry just gets straight up cold cocked

by a venomized joker yep and not like Venom Titan

Venom Joker from like Arkham Asylum like this

is straight up. No, this is this is basically

What if Bane and the Joker had children? That's

that's what it is Well, there's an ugly guy right

there, so you know This guy's got his hair curled

up into this like Ace Ventura style like pompadour

Some kind of hook they like it just yeah Yeah,

he's basically got a bane a venom pack strapped

to his back. He's got the hoses plugged in like

Bane You know, he's Basically thrown Carrie through

a brick wall and then drops the rest of the wall

on top of him. Yep and then we go to a to a Club

called the no laughing matter, which to me I

hope it comes up again in this series. This could

be like the stack deck yep bar from the animated

series and Dana calls it I was like I know he

really are Carter and he's like that's when I

was a child I go by terminal now yeah and again

I like this because we're getting every piece

of what the animated series kind of set out we've

got Terry and Matt yes the parents aren't here

anymore the father died obviously years you know

was killed years ago and his mom You know died

in the war, you know with brother I apparently

but we're we're also getting I I just I'm wondering

and I don't think Dan will do this since he already

kind of gave her a good send off in the other

series. I'm wondering if ink will show up again.

I mean ink always reappears, but you know, I

mean we all can't be Marvin Acme, right? But

it's one of those things where I like the fact

that terminal is back and I'm wondering what

other villains will show up other than this.

you know reanimated joker thing because this

one shot ends on you know basically uh the man

i'm raising from the dead the joker yeah we see

him like all strapped up with like hoses going

in every possible orifice you know you know and

he's got like this whole like literally it almost

looks like that the net is coming alive and trying

to swell the Joker with all the lights and the

wires and the tubes oh my but yeah and I love

how they edit definitely to be continued no because

we're gonna end it in this one shot you're just

gonna have to wonder Yeah, really. The rebirth

number one one -shot for Batman Beyond, I did

very much enjoy it. I will say when I was first

reading through it to get the story, and I've

said this for the last four and a half, five

years here in the pull bag, when I go to read

the comics to take my notes for, you know, for

when we discuss these things, I'm reading for

the story. I notice the art if the art, you know,

kind of pops off the page, but when we go back

and go through them like we are here, I notice

things more as we're doing the recording when

it comes to visual gags or things like that.

The way I read comics, especially for reviewing

here in the podcast, is I read it almost as if

it's a book. And like I said, I notice the art,

but I don't really pay attention to every single

thing. And I like the rebirth issue. I'm not

too keen on Sook's art. It's good. I'm not saying

I dislike it, but it's not my favorite. If I

had... You know, to choose someone other than

Bernard Chang to be doing this one shot, or someone

other than Sook to be doing this one shot, it

would probably be the guy Thompson from a couple

issues ago. Well, yeah, Thompson did issue 16

of the 2015 series, I think. So overall, Rebirth,

Batman Beyond Rebirth, number one, what did you

think? I'm giving it a solid four out of five

It's I The only reason I take a point off it

is I'm kind of like you is like I like the concept

of these one shots Starting off these new series

in the DC rebirth era You know, I like that because

it you don't have to because when you get a brand

new issue number one of an ongoing series There's

almost a silent contract of you know, well you

got to get the next issue or maybe the three

issues You got to give it a four episode trial

to see if you want the series but with these

ones Maybe the arts not going to be the same

but if the story hooks you as it did with both

of us here You know, you at least have that taste

and you have now you you'll go forward with the

series which is something I like but at the same

time it's just kind of like can't believe it

on such a cliffhanger and then give us another

new number one so it's just a nitpicky reason

why i take that single point off see that's the

thing like i wish like with with rebirth okay

dc universe rebirth number one They specifically

called, you know what I'm talking about, right?

The flash, okay. The one shot. The one shot.

They specifically called that a one shot. It

might have had a number one on the cover, but

I don't think it was actively called DC Universe.

It was called DC Rebirth Special or something

like that. Yeah, yeah, exactly. So if these one

shots to start off the new series were called

that instead, because I got confused for a second.

where I'm like, wait, why are there two number

ones here? That's a little weird, DC Comics.

Come on now, guys. Get with the program. For

me, on this one, if this is somebody that has

only seen the animated series that has not read

any of the Kyle Higgins run, that has not read

any of the DC 2015 Dan Juergens run, The one

-shot is okay. It will remind you if you have

not seen the original Batman Beyond series in

a long time It'll remind you of that but for

us who have been reading this for so long it

kind of didn't fall flat but The the flashback

stuff is something I did not need because I know

Terry McGinnis' origin, but I understand why

it's here and I'm okay with it. Still, I gotta

give this a three and a half. I can't give it

any higher than that. It's still a good grade,

but it felt very repetitive to me unless it was

setting up with Terminal and Max and Matt and

Dana and the future Joker and all that. So number

one, Issue number one of the ongoing here. Juergens,

Chang, and Maialo? I assume? I don't know. Marcelo

Maialo. Maialo, yeah, that's, yeah, exactly.

The first cover is okay. I love this first cover.

It is a movie poster. It's got this great cinematic

feel to it. We got Batman right in the middle.

We got Dana and Matt and Max off to the side.

Barbara on the other side. We got Terry just

staring out from behind Batman. We got some jokers

on hover bikes with like looks like glowing Ghost

Rider style wheels coming riding away from an

explosion. Like this is everything you should

want in a comic book cover. and see I prefer

the alternate cover because it's very simple

it's just the Batman Beyond suit that is not

it's the new suit it's the current suit but it's

not the way that you know it it's not the more

robotic suit that the first cover has it's more

of the stylized suit and he has the the red batarang

kind of being thrown out. It's got more of an

organic look to it as he's crawling through this

window. Yeah, I love this one. I prefer the movie

poster that we got for the main cover. I prefer

the other one. So we go right into it with the

terminal, almost monologuing what his plan is,

but really not. He's being a hype man. He's selling

The his plan to Dana, but that first image like

chant Bernard Chang's back in this thing and

that first image of terminal It looks like somebody

pancaked his nose with a frying pan. Yep. It

looks like my It looks like mama came up with

a frying pan. Oh and that's what it looks like

Yeah, just like mama said knock you out. Yeah

And we see these who is the most influential

citizen in Gotham? It's Batman wrong. I told

you call me terminal Joker Yeah, the Joker. I

love that where he says like it's Batman wrong

Dana And then just I don't know what you in my

head is like Kevin Spacey and Batman or Superman

returns. It's like which I think is a vastly

underrated performance by the man in my opinion

Yeah, it is but that movie overall sucked even

with him in it well It's for various reasons,

but that's a whole other episode of a completely

different podcast. Yeah, Brandon Ralph is better

off as the Adam Although he was a great I like

this super move it anyway Go from the you know

looking at the Joker on his you know sick bed

and Terry monologuing and For a quick second

then we go back the terminal and data data Dana

Wow, dude, really? She does not look anything

like Brent Spiner. She looks better. Okay, and

who made the character flub in the last comic

book, Mike? Hey, I don't know what you're talking

about. Okay. And he's basically hyping up the

Joker because she's like, you know, Joker's important

to Gotham. If not for Batman, who's still here,

Gotham would have disintegrated years ago. And

he's like, well, don't overlook the obvious.

Who inspired a legion of followers? Who does

everyone really want to be? And that's like almost,

I would have to ask Juergens if you based that

comment off of the meme of, as a kid you want

to be Batman, as an adult you want to be the

Joker because he makes sense. You know, that

sort of thing. But it's who we really wish to

be when we want to kill our boss, spouse, neighbor,

or the evil librarian who hit us with an overdue

fight. Soon as I read that I'm like damn it Juergens.

You need to leave the killing joke alone That's

the first No, it she was a librarian in it. That's

the first thing. I thought it was a Redheaded

librarian. Hey evil librarian. Well, yeah, but

that's the first thing I thought of was Barbara

as the librarian That's where you took it Mike

yeah so we get to get it while he's doing the

hype up here we see these two jokers or menacing

ordinary citizen and well kill him because they

he refuses to pay tribute and then you know we

cut to max and matt and matt's uh we got her

blindfolded and he's gonna do all kinds of crazy

freaky shit no he's taking her into the cave

he's a 12 year old boy mike hey you never know

This is not Michael Dodd taking a woman somewhere,

okay? I don't know about that. No, I didn't lead

you there that that's your own twisted Canadian

sense Yeah, the bat layer It's the super hot

teched up back cave that we It's a slightly different

design than we saw the last time we still got

the t -rex out in the floor there Yeah, and it's

I gotta say I gotta say and I'm sorry I gotta

call bernard ching out on this this batcave design

It is one little panel and it looks like crap

Like the computer stuff is fine where the back

computer is but the panel where she where where

she says Batman's lair talk about sway layer,

what kind of word is layer? This is the Batcave

Woman. I would have been like, this is the goddamn

Batcave Woman. But what I'm saying is if you

look at this panel here, it just looks anti -climactic.

This is not, even in Terry's time, the Batcave

is supposed to look really friggin' cool. Even

in the time, you know, if Bruce is alive still

or dead or whatever, this thing looks like an

empty watchtower. It just looks too freaky. Yeah,

it's plain, but... Yeah. It's plain and boring

and there's nothing there. Yeah, pretty much.

So they're tracking Terry's suit and apparently

there's something wrong. Before we go back to

Terry, notice where Matt is standing. The signals

we're getting are weak, really weak. Something's

wrong. Look at where he's standing and then look

at the chair behind him. It almost looks like

a bat. The chair for the computer Well Everything's

branded with a bat motif in the bat cave. I mean

these probably know napkin holders for God's

sake Bat salt shakers bat book ends Oh lord.

Alright, so we go back to Terry and he is crushed

under the rubble of this thing that this joker

has pushed him under and can't really move. Again,

love the monologue. And I love Terry thinking,

uh, how is he going to get out of this? And he

can kind of hear Matt, but Matt can't hear him.

So, you know, he has this idea for these explosives

to go down this pipe. And if I drop them in and

Bing bada bing bam boom. He blows himself up

really good, but in a completely well thought

out and positive way. Yeah, because he can't

reach that far down, even in that suit. And we

see with this design, he's wearing the Air Jordans

of 2065. I do like that he's got bat coasters,

bat bookends, bat ball bearings, which are of

course explosives, because everything doubles

as an explosive with Batman. Mm -hmm. So yeah,

Matt does is like go get him bro, and he's back

into it with the Joker being here The yeah, but

right right before we get to that we get this

again through the comics ology guided view Close

up on the panel of him running because he says

I don't know if I'm lucky or good. I swear to

God Those are 90s Jordans. Oh, yeah He's wearing

Air Jordans of the future the future and I do

love again there's our second Batman 89 reference

of this series so far and I was like god bless

you damn Juergens you wouldn't in a man with

glasses would you yeah you beautiful son of a

bitch and Terry's getting work pretty good I

mean this is like John Cena versus the Great

Khali sorta, you know, you got this nigh unstoppable

force with a very movable object here. Yep. And

Matt's wondering, how can this be happening?

How is he kicking your ass? And Max is like,

he's been out of shape for like years, man. Like,

he's got ring rust. spellbinder had him under

his control too long and and this bane joker

up until the point where cherry realizes oh hey

i can just kind of you know rip these um these

these venom things out of you and then you'll

be gone because he even even says he even says

let's see how you'll be without the juice uh...

and honestly i thought uh... i didn't catch it

right away that he was slipping the batarangs

out of his utility belt. Yeah, I thought they

were coming out of his wrists. Well, coming out

of his shoes and he was like, like his toes,

like he has these, you know, X -23 style bat

claws coming out of his shoes. He was just going

to like, you know, kick the guy in the ribs or

something. But yeah, he slices the hoses off,

you know, Bane, Joker Bane goes down, picks up

a mad hole cover and like concusses this guy.

I don't care if this guy's coming down off of

venom like that dude is gonna be a Missing some

teeth and be being a lower reading group when

he wakes up you know, it's a solid and then like

a bunch of jokers and Again, kill the bat kill

the bat kill the bat and honestly and again,

this is just me. I'm reminded of Chris O'Donnell

versus the Day glow neon street gang led by Don

the dragon Wilson and Batman forever Yeah, you

know after he steals the batmobile and tries

to pick up some hookers. It's a true fact folks

watch the movie And then they're all like also

they're pulling out like knives and they're all

like I want a piece No, I want him. No, he's

mine. And you just see You know Terry getting

swarmed at the way this full page image and I

love that shot It's stuff like this that makes

me love comics where it's just these certain

iconic sort of images where the heroes being

buried down on it's like wolverine being swarmed

by hand ninja or something like it's just and

and some of the jokers i love the design of the

one guy in kind of the lower right side you see

the one guy with like a construction helmet or

a hard hat on and he's got the giant mallet yep

that's my favorite joker right there is just

like yeah i'm gonna go pound the bat boss he

looks like he's in a lower reading group on his

own and then oh yeah uh terry you know that activates

his suit taser he gets cold cocked by a crowbar

they pile on him again and then he blasts off

Yeah, because the suit is essentially shredded,

and again, I love these close -ups. I love it

when Chang does stuff like this. Basically showing

how the suit is so shredded that he needs to

get the hell out of there. GTFO. Uh -huh. Exactly.

I love them in the show. See, I'm a nitpick for

me here, and it's just one. I loved it in the

animated series where the suit would get ratched,

and you'd see the circuitry underneath, versus

here where it just looks like so much cloth.

Yeah, it does, but you know, it's yes, you're

right. But again, it's one of those things where

we as as the readers and as the viewers of the

comic have to realize that there's a guy in that

suit. Yes, the suit is super high tech and yes,

it can do a lot, but it's not like it's on Robert

damn Vance. Yeah. Because, you know, this isn't

Stacy Keach voicing the great -great -grandfather

here anymore. You know, this is Terry McGinnis.

And I get it. I understand where you're coming

from. But I almost like this just a little bit

better because it's more humanizing to realize,

hey, that's just a guy in a suit. Even though

the suit is amazing, but it's just a guy that's

in the suit. It's not the... It's supposed to

be the man that makes the suit, not the suit

that makes the man. Exactly. Which Terry proves

in the next few pages, because he comes back

to the cave, and Matt's like, I thought he was

going to kick all the ass. And Matt's just like...

Terry's like, nope. Well, Max even points out

the odds were overwhelming, and Terry is like,

no, I wasn't ready. I was treating it like I

still had it, and he doesn't have it. At least

not for another few issues, but we'll get to

that Yeah, and then what I love before we move

on what I love here is the exchange when they

come back when Terry says maybe this is one time

Batman can't do the job and Matt's like don't

say that Why not? It's true couple of thousand

Joker wannabes. That's beyond Batman I Love that

Just like the whole like how he is so totally

He's gone from being annoying little twat, sorry,

twit, that's what I meant to say, and now he's

like, and he was growing up in hero worshipping

his brother, now you see him, he's like, oh,

my brother's a quitter, he's a filthy quitter.

Yeah, but he's not because he said Batman couldn't

win, not quite. I said Batman couldn't win, couldn't

fight them. You cannot be serious. You know what

they say, if you can't beat them, join them.

Yeah, and I love the fact that literally in the

conversation, like there, you know, some time

has passed, but it doesn't look like that based

on the progression of the scene in the art. So

essentially, Terry steps into a quick change

costume closet and comes out like in about the

span of 30 seconds comes out suited and booted

as a joker. And it's awesome because it's a callback

to Justice Lords, the Justice Lords story that

Christos Gage and Kyle Higgins did because in

the Justice Lords timeline that Terry McGinnis

was a joker. Yeah. So that is awesome issue number

one overall. I think it's great I it's much better

than the rebirth number one for me because we're

getting Terry Re acclimated to being Batman we

see that he's not ready yet He's not ready to

face a thousand jokers, and we see Matt's kind

of hesitation even though you know throughout

the issue we have Matt kind of judging him, but

Terry's consistently shows him the proper way

I guess you could say or maybe that's not the

right phrasing I'm looking for but just the way

that okay just because I said Batman couldn't

do it didn't didn't mean that it couldn't be

done yeah I absolutely love this number one it's

four and a half easily yeah it's I'm giving it

five like I said it's straight up I love this

first issue there's you know the the Batman 89

reference that images of the Joker swarming on

Terry the fact that he is a quick change artist.

I love it. And like I said, that first cover,

man, that is just straight up, that is a cover

you want for your number one. You want a movie

poster for your first issue. Yeah, I like the

other one better. But anyway, going into number

two, Bring Down the Bat. And, okay, well this,

wow, so number two does have a variant, okay.

I don't necessarily like the regular cover for

number one, because it's essentially just terminal.

Holding a torn shred batsuit with other jokers

around him I do love the the variant though where

it's it's Batman in the center and and everybody

else around him and the orange and the blue juxtaposition

of color absolutely love that I'm gonna say like

the first cover. I'd probably like more. It's

just the Not saying the second cover is bad.

It's just it's not working for me. Mm -hmm You

know, it's just I like like you said like the

the difference in color like the Almost the color

clash with like that blue and terry in the middle

and then What I guess is two different images

of maybe max because you're not entirely certain

who those characters are in the background Yeah,

it's it's max and or maybe that's two different

images of max and matt who knows but You know,

it's just not my cup of tea And we we go back

to the no laughing matter Terminal is like, I

apologize for keeping tight up. I'm a bit busy

right now, and I don't want you running off.

Dana's still calling him Carter, and he's like,

I told you not to call me that. At least in this

one, he's not as messed in the head as he was

in the animated series. And some of the comic

books where he has this whole Two -Face vibe

going on. But he's using the Joker to transfer

some sort of data or get some sort of access

with this data pad. And we get essentially Terminal

giving us a flashback to when Bruce was in the

Bat -Beyond, a slightly different version of

the Bat -Beyond suit, like Bat -Beyond version

1 .0. And what I absolutely love, hey look, it's

Cesar Romero. It does look like the Caesar Romero

Joker. Just in this first panel here where he

says, I hate quiet and peaceful, so I'll change

it. I really do see the Caesar. As it goes along,

not so much. But in that very first panel, that

was the first thought I had. And we get this

kind of almost colorful Batman and Joker fight.

uh... because the backgrounds are so very very

colorful it's like snowing outside and you know

on the gotham bridge and things like that so

i like that about the art once again bernard

chang on the arts uh... and uh... we have uh...

uh... i assume that's barbara yeah it's barbara

okay i mean uh... you mistake those granny glasses

for someone else No, it's just she's younger

here like she's younger than what we saw her

in the first issues I know I understand that

but maybe it's the hair that just kind of throwing

me off, but I love My old friend Barbara It might

be cold. I just love that. That's one way Juergens

is just Taunting us with the whole killing joke

thing Yeah, and I like this, you know Batman

coming in and booting the Joker head first out

the window of this snowplow Mr. Plow that's my

name that name again is mr. Plow and then killed

captain clown I know I know I know it's mr. Plow,

but mr. Captain clown was on a plow I think at

one point and I love how Batman, you know has

rescued the plow operator and he's well, pardon

my Frenchies bootfuck the joker and Lee's them

you see this train coming down the tracks with

this massive snow fan blade thing yeah and the

joker starts laughing and this is what is seen

as the death of the joker in this continuity

and Dana is like I read that they proved with

the remains that that was what was left of the

joker and Carter says no he was just incredibly

fucked up And and he's got his gang put him into

a cryogenic freeze and He would have stayed a

cool as a cucumber until Carter found him and

and I'm perfectly fine with Joker getting supposedly

hit by a train uh... in this kind of again like

carter is saying like you're saying carter saying

you know i found him and he he was but you know

i'd like one one limb of life left on and then

wherever else but the thing that is is i don't

need again i don't need a rehash of return of

life Mark of the phantasm the the middle arc

that the final arc one of the final arcs that

Kyle Higgins did on his run That was fine bringing

the phantasm back and somehow tying it all in

and to get the DC animated universe kind of a

proper Continuity ending kind of thing. I don't

need return of the Joker here I I'm fine with

with terminal trying to bring back the Joker

in some new story form But I don't need to see

the Joker, you know turn Tim Drake again not

that we would because Tim Drake's already adult

and And whatever else, because of the whole time

travel thing, but I like what they're doing here.

I like that they're kind of, you know, giving

it its own spin without having to rely on any

of the previous Batman Beyond stuff. And then

of course we get to the best shots of the issue,

kind of, the Batmobile. Yay! Yeah. Use everything

you got. And as much of the detail like this

looks like... You know, the Batmobile, the Beyondmobile.

Yep, the Beyondmobile. They do pull a Chris O'Donnell.

Yeah, well... No, they do! Look out, Max! Sorry,

Matt, not like I've had a lot of practice behind

the wheel of this thing, you know? It's essentially

flying up the side of a building, kind of like

it drove up the side of the building when O'Donnell

was driving into the movie. Again, Juergens is

just kind of paying homage to everything in a

very subtle way that only us who, you know, only

those who have seen all of the Batman things

that have been referenced here are gonna catch

these things. Allow us to push our comic hipster

glasses up our noses and thumb ourselves at our

intimate knowledge, folks. We're better than

you. Yes, because after all, we are comic connoisseurs.

Thumbs up our asses thumbs up our asses anyway

No, we get another 89 reference sort of it's

upside down But we sort of get an 89 reference

just got word from my brother says he's in position

and we're good to step Go to step two. Look at

the Batmobile. It's in front of the sun. It's

upside down, but it... It still works. Yeah,

and I love hearing occasionally I'll see a review

of 89 Batman on YouTube or I'll read something

and people always bitch about the how forced

that was and there's no that was not forced at

all It's forced symbolism forced symbolism The

logo that was not forced symbolism forced symbolism

is is you know putting a question mark over the

bats signal in forever but the no because that

yeah you're right that was the bat logo oh hey

look but he did that specifically saying it's

for symbolism I'm just saying that's what a lot

of people bitch about that scene which is well

one of my favorite moments in 89 Batman where

yeah climbs up although even as a kid I was like

is he gonna have a hard time staring the thing

from like the you know pretty much terminal velocity

that he's flying at and and that's like way in

the back of my brain is the kid's like this is

so cool you know and he's just pulling i was

like i even though i did have to question because

i hadn't really read golden age batman stories

where he used the gun you know so i question

why is batman shooting at the joker you know

so anyway uh there it's all part of the plan

as they see here we see tiny Which is the Bane

joker is back and you can see he's kind of got

like an armored up chest piece on Because you

know, oh my god forethought from a choked up

supervillain. Oh my god. Who the funk it? Yeah,

he throws basically an air conditioner at the

battle field. It's this I don't think this is

a nod to almost Pardon me The episode almost

got him but in that image where he's hefting

the air conditioner was hit all I could hear

is It was a big rock. I threw a rock at him.

And everyone just stares at him. It was a big

rock. So yeah, then we see Joker Terry comes

out with, you know, a I love the purple and silver.

He's got. Yeah, it's not a bazooka that he shoots

at the Batmobile. It's a bazooka. It's a rocket

launcher. But it really is a rocket launcher.

But I'd like to think it's a bazooka. Yeah, well

bazooka, rocket launcher, grenade launcher, whatever.

It's a big thing that shoots a missile. Yeah,

yeah, it's a bazooka. You just don't want to

chew it. And I like that how everyone's like,

he shows that it's all in an effort to ingratiate

itself in the gang. And you can tell from word

one terminal is not buying this shit. Well, he

does, but he wasn't at first, you're right. I

think from word one, he's like, oh yeah, the

Batmobile totally went down. Batman is totally

out of it. He's definitely waiting for the turnaround,

but I don't think he bought it for one second.

Yeah, but the way that they did this was awesome

because they basically used the Bat's stealth

to show that it... Yeah, they drop a... I love

again. This is just me. I don't think this is

an 89 Batman reference, but they pop this little

baseball bomb out the side to make it look like

the Batmobile crashed and you know Terry's like

you think the bat bailed he's like maybe maybe

not and who are you and then he's like tiny comes

up to them and Yeah, it was all like who the

hell are you is like I just got out of the clink

and wanted to join up have some fun Oh, God,

yes. And then, of course, again, Jer - We have

got to talk to Jan - Dan Jergens. Oh my God,

I want to talk to the - Like, I've read his Batmite

series. I've read the 2015 Batman Beyond series.

I've - I need to talk to this guy because he

nearly made me both laugh and cry with this next

scene. You may - You know, I'm Trey Malone. You

must have heard of my old man. most people called

him matches work just about every angle there

was i nearly died i nearly fell out of my fucking

chair and i love that i i did like just two fists

in the air i was like matches malone lives yep

you know and yeah and and terminals like i didn't

know matches had a kid and we cut to dana that

voice it can't possibly be Yeah, and Terry alive?

Next revelations. Am loving this series. I cannot

wait to do we will be doing these folks on a

more regular basis as they come out I believe

number three is out now But I don't know how

long this series is gonna go I don't care all

as I know is whatever Dan Juergens and Bernard

Chang or whoever else like if Bernard needs time

off or whatever and somebody else comes on Don't

care what they do, but I need this is I'm loving

this this is awesome Honestly down the road.

I hope Dan Juergens does a fill -in issue on

the series I would love and Juergens do Batman

Beyond oh you mean his his art, okay? That would

mean somebody else might write it I don't know

you got to be careful with which with with wishful

thinking like that I know but simple issue a

one -shot an annual whatever just yes overall

issue no five it's hands down a fucking five

because it's amazing I as soon as they pulled

the matches reference I'm like oh god you Jack

holes I Know You know as soon as they played

the matches was like I was sold this whole issue

I mean the whole the flashback fight which Kind

of because it wasn't the Joker, but it kind of

threw me back to an episode of the Batman Yeah,

where we see it's a future one where like further

in the future where this archaeologist find the

Batcave and they flash back to this story of

like an elder Reno Romano voiced Batman and Jerry

O 'Connell is doing Nightwing and Barbara Gordon

has come full -on Oracle and they're fighting

like this jacked up Mr. Freeze you know who's

voiced to perfection by Clancy Brown in the series

I love that show but yeah no this whole issue

start to finish like bernard chang's on point

with the art you know i love the design of the

proto beyond suit that bruce wears where he's

strapped to the front of the snowplow you know

the whole kind of ongoing mystery with the you

know i i love the you see it in the first issue

there's like this they they make a specific point

to show this joker mopping the back room of the

no laughing matter club or bar well yeah random

well sorry random while terminal is monologuing

to dana you know the the whole plan of them to

get terry into the gang with like the trick bazooka

and you know faking it out with a batmobile and

again the matches malone card like if you don't

know who matches malone is for matches malone

is a criminal identity is an actual criminal

batman came across in his past that eventually

the guy died and then Batman assumed the identity

to when he needs to go undercover to, you know,

get the dirt on criminals. It's like Jake Lockley

in like the character Moon Knight, you know,

the superhero with like three different identities.

He's a skin that Batman wears. I love the fact

that whenever Batman shows up, he's got these

like Stanley glasses and a porn star mustache

and like this ratty like this style went out

in the 70s like some sort of loud plaid looking

suit and no one ever questions when matches Malone

goes away for months at a time years and then

the fact that they're using that in Batman Beyond

is amazing yeah I mean anytime Batman matches

shows up even that one episode of you know Brave

and the Bold Mm -hmm. Well, even in the DC animated

universe, when he has to sneak in Justice League

and StarCross, when Bruce dresses up as Matches

and Matches, it's essentially a dead -on Alan

Napier. Alan Napier Alfred from 66 is how Matches

looked at that point in that StarCrossed episode.

And I'm like, oh, that's kind of awesome. But

no, overall, Batman Beyond, Rebirth, whatever

you want to call it, the 2016 series, current

series, absolutely loving it. Can't wait to do

more of these. We will most definitely be doing

more of these. I think it's just so friggin'

great. We're gonna get the heck outta here, folks.

Coming up next week for Batman Month. uh... jaycee's

gonna go eat himself some turtle soup while joe

and i actually talk about batman tmnt this is

the six issue miniseries from idw publishing

in dc comics which combines the batman the animated

series type animation style with the twenty twelve

tmnt characters which uh... the twenty twelve

tmnt series is coming to an end and they're rebooting

it to go to the So there's that but yes Batman

Beyond we will be doing more of these as I said

Join us next week for Batman TMNT issues one

to six and then after that JT will be back to

talk about the Stephanie Brown Batgirl series

the first two issues of that to wrap up The third

annual Batman month here on the pull bag. Where

can they people find you online, sir? Well, you

can find me online sporadically on the comic

con of sirs podcast And on Twitter, at JT from

Saskatoon. Absolutely, guys. We're the comic

connoisseurs. We stick our noses up at yellow

printed Batman. You're going to pay for that

blanchard. It's a golden age Batman. He is drenched

in piss. It's piss man on the bat. I have no

idea how your mind works, sir. Yes, you do. No,

I don't. Yes, you do. Anyway, you can find me

on Twitter at TFG1Mike. You can follow at Geocast

Radio for all the other network updates. Also,

follow The Pull Bag at The Pull Bag on Twitter.

Go to the website, geocastradio .com. Check out

all the content over there as well. Make your

greatest game into comics. We will catch you

next week when Joe Reed and I talk about the

six issue miniseries for Batman TMNT from IDW

and DC Comics. We will catch you next time. How

am I supposed to fight advanced alien technology

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and unleash the geek in you.